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My father steps around Roman and grabs me by the shoulder, dragging me out of the room. Thankfully, he didn’t take the time to notice that anything was taken from his desk. “You’re done causing me trouble,” he growls at me through gritted teeth.
He drags me back to my room and tosses me inside, telling me that there will be a social event held here tonight, ostensibly a normal dinner party but in reality a chance for the police chief to get introduced to me. It’s to happen in a few hours, leaving me no time at all to do anything about it. But instead of sulking or plotting how to avoid this impending trainwreck I’m on course for, I remember the notebook I lifted from my father’s office. I pull it out of my pants and sit down to look at it. “PleaseGodlet this be something worthwhile,” I whisper as I open the small book.
Inside, I immediately notice that this isn’t just any notebook. It’s a ledger. More specifically, it’s a ledger of kills that keeps a comprehensive list of all of my father’s hits. And when I read the names, I find that this little notebook is even more incriminating than I could’ve possibly imagined. It shows that my father’s targets haven’t just been outside of his own family.
I clasp my hand over my mouth. I know my father isn’t the most moral of men, but killing within your own family isn’t just immoral, it’s also strictly forbidden. It’s one of the oldest laws that mafia families abide by. Sure, there are occasional breaks in that rule when warranted for an exceptionally bad person who needs to be put down. But overall, kills within a family are prohibited. But here in my hands, I hold the proof that my father has even taken down some of his own men. This is enough to turn everyone against him. This is enough to disband my father’s entire operation. No one will trust him anymore.
I finish looking through the book and then stuff it back into my clothing to hide it. What I need to do is figure out how to get this ledger into Malacoda’s hands. I hear talking in the hallway and go to press my ear against the door. The caterers are already filtering in. How in the hell did my father get everything together for this so quickly? My time is running out.
18
CHRISTIAN
As soon as I leave Malacoda, I track down Loreto. If there’s anyone who can help me get to Lara, it’s him. He’ll want to get his sister out of there just as much as I do. When I tell him what’s happened, Loreto’s face twists into a mix of outrage and extreme concern. I doubt either Malacoda or Lara told him of the deal they struck.
“I’m usually no longer welcome in my father’s place,” he says, “but I just happened to get an invite to go over there tonight for a dinner party. Some big announcement, apparently. I could get you in as well.”
We quickly talk over logistics and then Loreto heads off to ready himself for the party. I spend the time casing the building. As expected, Valentino has done a shoddy job with security, just like he does a shoddy job with everything; but he at least got all the exit points sufficiently guarded, or at least it looks sufficiently guarded. I keep enough distance between me and the men stationed outside to be able to scope the perimeter without being seen. When I get around to the back of the building, it doesn’t take me long before I find a hole.
When I rendezvous with Loreto later, right before he’s going in, I show him the place. He enters the front of the building, then a moment later shows up at the back door to let me in . “Did anyone see you slip out?” I ask him.
“No,” he says with confidence. “Everyone’s still just making small talk. I think they’re waiting on Lara.”
It’s just the two of us, the epitome of an undermanned mission. But bringing any more men along with us would’ve meant we couldn’t sneak in undetected. With only the two of us here, we need to play this right. The place is crawling with Ricci family friends and cops, both of which are on the other side of my enemy line. There’s no way we could win a fight in here with just the two of us. This needs to be handled with smart finesse or we’re screwed.
Loreto goes back to the party to play his part, while I start to slink around the house in search of Lara. I know this building almost as well as I know my own, since I spent many nights here tonight hanging out with Loreto when we were teens. It doesn’t take me long to find where she is. The door is locked, but some lazy security person has left the key inside the antique lock itself. I open it to find Lara. She lunges into my arms, visibly relieved and overjoyed to see me. The feeling is mutual. I kiss her, overwhelmed by how stunningly beautiful she looks in an ivory dress and her hair all gussied up. But the kiss, as passionate as it is, is short-lived, because I need to get her the hell out of here before we’re discovered.
Unfortunately, I’m quickly proven to have been overconfident. Although Valentino was lacking on the perimeter security on the outside of the building, he had anticipated an escape attempt from the inside. It was stupid of me not to have thought about that, especially considering how many times Lara has tried to run off already. As soon as all of the guests have arrived, he puts the entire place on lockdown with no way in or out.
“We can’t stay here. We need to move,” I say as I grab Lara’s hand to bring her alongside me as I step back into the hallway.
“I know a place where we can hide inside the building,” she says to my surprise. “If we can just get to the basement, I can show you.”
We slink down the halls, narrowly avoiding capture. I have to take out a few more of the guards along the way, but thankfully I’m able to keep it quiet. When we get to the basement, Lara lets go of my hand to walk up to one of the walls and push the edge of it with the palm of her hand. I’m amazed when the wall moves. “It’s a secret room,” she says as she pulls me inside. “I bet it used to be used for smuggling back in Prohibition days, but my father hasn’t used it for at least the entire time I’ve been alive. It’s where I used to hide from him when I was a kid.”
For the first time, I start to really understand what an absolutely terribleman Valentino Ricci is, and how awfully he treated his wife and children. “I will always protect you, Lara,” I vow in an intense moment of devotion to her. I can’t stand the thought of anyone ever being cruel to her again. “As soon as we get out of here, I’m going to throw all my power and money behind bringing your father and everyone involved in his operations down.”
She looks at me and smiles. “We can stay hidden in here until my father finally unlocks the house to let the guests leave,” she says. “At some point, he’ll think I’ve escaped somehow, and he won’t keep everyone imprisoned in here forever.” We decide to wait it out. I’m sure Valentino will exhaust every effort to find Lara first before he releases any of his guests from the building, though, so it’s going to be a while.
The little room is close quarters, but it’s clear that Lara and her brother spent too much time here. There are blankets and pillows stuffed inside the tiny space along with a big stash of flashlights and batteries. This is the first time since all of this went down that Lara and I’ve been alone together and not in agonizing pain from respective injuries. She finally gets me caught up on her father’s latest insane plan to try to marry her off a dirty cop. I can feel the angst rising in the air between us as I watch her chest heave up and down, full breasts cresting above the tight-fitting bodice of her dress. “I will never let you marry that cop,” I tell her, already feeling the throbbing bulge grow in my pants. “From now on, no more leaving my side or trying to go off on your own, vigilante-style. I’ll be the one protecting you now, not the other way around.”
I meanto sound authoritative. I refuse to let Lara put herself in danger again, especially not for me. For the first time since I plucked her from her father’s rule over her, Lara doesn’t protest or argue with me. I had expected her to make a remark about “not being under anyone’s control” but she doesn’t. Instead, her lips part slightly, and her breathing becomes more labored. I can’t control my urge to have her any longer, and when she leans forward to kiss me, I pull her up against me until I feel my cock press between her thighs. I lower her to the floor where the pillows are strewn, peeling layers of clothing from her body as I go. Something falls out from her dress, hitting the ground with a dull thud, a small book of some sort. But I pay it no mind, because the only thing I want to think about now is tasting her.
I kiss every inch of her neck ,making my way down to her collarbone. I free her breasts from her corset and bury my face between the soft mounds. My tongue laps at her nipples as my teeth nip at them lightly. I can tell that she likes to be kissed here so I linger and begin sucking, licking and nipping in a rhythm that causes her to whimper softly. My tongue takes the lead as it slides from her nipple to her abdomen, where I fuck her belly button with my tongue. She begins to arch her back and I know she’s wet for me and ready for me to feast on her. I spread her legs around my face and my tongue glides down her slit, which causes her to grind into my mouth. I take this as an invitation and I begin to suck her clit while alternating sucks with licking between her lips. Her hips begin bucking wildly as I penetrate her and fuck her with my tongue, and she comes hard into my mouth. She tastes like sweet nectar with a sprinkle of salt.Now this is my version of fine dining, I muse.
I see that she’s satisfied before I line myself up at her opening and tease her clit with the head of my cock. I slowly ease into her until I’ve filled her completely, giving her time to adjust to my size because I know once I get started, I won’t be able to slow down. She tries to muffle her moan so that we remain undetected, but I can tell it’s almost impossible with my cock buried inside her wet, warm pussy. I lean forward and take her lips into mine so that she can whimper into my mouth as I push into her with fierce hungry thrusts. My adrenaline is high and I can’t stop myself from fucking her aggressively, unable to slow my pace long enough to let her catch her breath.
“Oh God,” she gasps. “Christian.” My name on her lips is about to send me over the edge but I hold back long enough to slide a hand down to rub her clit in tender circles. She begins to pant and the sound ignites my desire to fuck her harder. “Yes. God, yes,” she groans as she clenches around my cock. Her back arches and I push deeper with one more savage thrust before I empty myself.
Both of our bodies are vibrating and dripping with the smell of sex as I lay there remaining inside her. She lays so motionless that I almost worry that I broke her, but eventually she stirs and whispers in my ear, “My answer is yes.”
Those four words practically send me over the edge and I’m tempted to take her again. Instead, I pull Lara up into my arms, pushing away the matted hair from her face that had come dislodged in the passion from the braids that crowned her head, my eyes catch sight of the little book. “What’s this?” I ask as I reach over to lift it up and bring it to my face to look at.
“It’s my father’s kill ledger,” she answers. “I stole it from his office. And you won’t believe what’s inside of it.”
I open the book and look to find that she’s right. But before I even have a chance to react to this gem that was just dropped into my lap, the door to the hidden room opens, and standing in the bright, invasive light of the doorway is the police chief Lara’s supposedly getting married to, and several of his men. I can tell by the look of confusion on Lara’s face that she doesn’t understand how they found us here, but then her confusion turns to sheer shock as Loreto steps out from behind the police chief. Her brother—mybest friend—has betrayed us.
19
