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“What? Going where? Come back with us.” I stare at him in confusion.
“I—I’m sorry, Lara, but I can’t. I need to just go.”
He glances over at Christian and, once again, the two of them seem to exchange a glance that only they understand between them. Christian reaches out to take my hand again, rooting me in place as Loreto quickly hurries off and disappears into the crowd before I can see where he went. “What are you doing?” I yell at him. “You let him get away!” I don’t even understand what is going on right now. “Why did he leave?” I ask on the verge of tears. “Why didn’t he want to come back with us?”
“He’s being used as a drug runner,” Christian answers to my dismay. He shakes his head and closes his eyes for a moment, as if he’s almost as devastated as I am. “It’s a true fall from grace. And from the looks of it, he’s not being treated too well even as one.”
“Then why doesn’t he just leave? He had the chance right now while we were here.”
“It’s not that easy, Lara. Loreto is playing a part to keep your father from doing something worse. For right now, we just need to trust his plan and let it be.”
I frown and let Christian walk me back to his apartment because I don’t know what else to do. Later that night, I’m plagued even in my sleep by images of my brother. Behind my closed eyes, I can see Loreto’s emaciated face, the dark purple crescents that frame the underside of his eyes, and the pale skin littered with cuts and bruises that have undoubtably been decorated there thanks to our father’s hand. I wake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, shaking and clenching my teeth so hard that my jaw hurts. I can’t go back to sleep. I don’t want to see Loreto staring back at me like that in my head. So, I leave my bedroom and walk down toward the kitchen to get a glass of water.
I’m surprised to see that Christian is already there, lingering over a glass of whiskey and looking as though he can’t sleep either. I sit down beside him and place my hand on the top of his thigh. He’s not the enemy here. For the first time since he brought me back to the apartment, I think about the fact that this is all hard for him too. He sighs as he takes a sip of his drink and wraps the fingers of one hand around mine. I wait for a minute or two before speaking, letting the quiet envelop around us as if it offers some modicum of comfort. “We have to do something to save him from my father,” I say.
Christian nods. “I agree. And I’m ready for action. Are you?”
“What do you mean by that? What kind of action?”
He pauses for a moment, swigs the rest of the amber-colored contents in his glass, and then stands up, bringing my hand with his. “Come.I want to show you something.” We walk out of the kitchen, down the hall, and then turn to walk down another hall. Christian takes me to a room in his place I haven’t seen before, even in my exploring. He pulls a key from his pocket to unlock the door, and when he opens it, we step inside.
The entire room is filled with gear and weapons. It looks like a mini-armory. The walls are laden with guns, knives, bombs, and things I don’t even know the name of. The tables in the center of the room are piled with shotguns and revolvers. In the corner of the room is a shooting range, and a rack stands weighed down with body armor. This is likely the best weaponry and gear money can buy. It’s nothing short of impressive.
“It’s time for you to make a choice now, Lara,” he says. “Taking down your father and saving your brother is a catalyst for all that will happen after—like setting off a bomb in a lake, there will be rippling effects throughout the city. You have two choices.”
I stare at Christian in silence as I listen intently to him. I’ve never seen his eyes so serious, so filled with clarity and purpose. The shadows in the room play across his handsome face, and I’m in awe of how much power is contained in one single man—a man who loves me enough to say what comes next.
“We can run away together right now—live a wealthy life outside this city and leave everything else behind,” he says with dire seriousness. “I’ll protect you forever, and if that’s what you desperately want, I’ll give up myborgatahere in Hell’s Kitchen and rebuild a new life somewhere else with you. Or you can resolve to stay in the mafia, and together we can take back everything your father has taken, including Loreto.”
In that moment, clarity settles on me and fills me with an inexplicable power. “We’re taking back Hell’s Kitchen and Loreto,” I declare. I feel so invigorated with purpose that my sadness and despair morph into conviction. In fact, I’m so energized that I turn to Christian and flick open the button of his pants and slowly unzip them.
He cocks his head to the side. “What’s this,il mio amante?” I drop to my knees between his legs and, as I free his thick cock, I look up at him and smile. I feel powerful in this moment, and I want to take control of something or someone. Lucky for Christian, he’s my target. He spreads his legs and says, “Conquer me, Lara.” That’s all the challenge I needed.
“You’re mine,DonGreco,” I say deliciously as I lick my lips. With one hand I pump the base of his cock while I take him into my mouth. I suck him hard, swirling my tongue around his shaft. As he leans his head back, he mutters, “Fuck, Lara, fuck.” His cursing spurs me on and I don’t stop sucking, taking him deeper than I thought I could to the back of my throat.
Suddenly I feel his hands grab fistfuls of my hair as he presses his hips forward, forcing himself deeper into my throat. He rocks his hips slowly, fucking my mouth as I gasp for breaths in between his thrusts. I try to reclaim control and my hands find his thighs so that I can slow the rhythm before I choke on his long shaft. He senses my desire to take the lead and I can tell he tries to release his grip on my hair, but the pleasure is too much for him. Almost apologetic for taking the reins, he says, “You’ve conquered me, Lara. I’m yours.” After his confession, he grasps my hair even tighter and fucks my face with even more vigor. The harder he thrusts, the further I take him in, until his head is hitting the back of my throat with each motion. I feel his body shudder right before his warmth explodes in my mouth, shooting down the back of my throat. I regain the upper hand by taking him all in and swallowing every drop. I’m filled with the satisfaction that I won as he stands motionless with his head tilted back and his body relaxed.
I pull my mouth off his long cock, licking and sucking as I go. His hands soften their grip on my hair and as my lips spring free, they curl into a smile, because now I realize the kind of power I have. I stand up triumphantly and his eyes meet mine. “I’m ready,” I say. “Let’s go kick some ass.”
22
CHRISTIAN
I almost can’t believe it when Lara makes the decision to stay in the city and become part of the very thing she’s despised all of these years. Her love for her brother is strong, and so is her thirst for vengeance and the desire to take her father down. But it’s more than just that. Something within her has changed; I can see it. It’s as if she’s grown stronger somehow, blossomed into a dark flower no longer afraid of the night.
With her commitment to stay and fight, there’s no longer any reason to wait. I suit her up with enough gear and weaponry to take down a small army, then show her how to use everything. “Have you ever fired a gun before?” I ask. She shakes her head at me as if she’s embarrassed by her virginity to violence. “Trust me, it’s a good thing you haven’t had to pull a trigger or slit a throat yet. Killing isn’t something I enjoy. It’s a necessary evil, a means to an end.”
“I don’t relish the thought of hurting anyone,” she says as she takes the gun from my hand. “But I can’t honestly deny the fact that I’d love to be the one to lodge a bullet in my father’s chest.”
Part of me feels an exhilaration at her words, as if they’re a mark of a darker, stronger side of her that is exotically appealing. But the other part of me mourns the innocence she’s managed to hold onto against all odds while growing up in a crime family, because it’s about to be lost forever.
She’s a quick learner, and within the hour Lara has demonstrated that not only can she aim and shoot a gun. I think back to how quickly Loreto became skilled at using a gun and I realize that the natural talent must run in the family. I’m glad to see it, because it makes me slightly less worried that she’s going to get herself killed amidst all of this. While she practices handling her new toys a bit more, I get ready myself. I take off the shirt I’m wearing in order to put on a layer of Kevlar.
“How did you get that?” Lara asks while my back is turned to her. I had almost forgotten that she hasn’t seen the scar on my back. I smile as I ready to answer her, remembering some of the more tumultuoustimes Loreto and I had back in the day when we were younger and infinitely more reckless.
“I didn’t become powerful and wealthy overnight,” I say. “It took years of work and grit and violence to take claim over what’s currently mine. Your brother helped me a lot back then. He was my right hand, and he always had my back.”
“Is this the intro to a story about a hit that went wrong and the two of you barely escaping with your lives? I’d imagine with a scar as big as that one, the story behind it is probably the stuff of legend.” She runs her fingers along the muscles in my chest.
