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“You didn’t want me involved.”
I nodded. “It was more than that.” I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to tell her how close she’d been to being involved, but I had to. It was the right thing to do, especially after she’d told me her entire truth. “Sierra, my father was going to use you to break me.”
She stiffened, turning to her side. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know how he found out the reason I planned to leave, but he somehow discovered my connection to you. On the final day of being tortured, there wasn’t a damn thing they could’ve done to stop me from finishing my deal. My father could’ve shot me through the heart, and I wouldn’t have given in to him. I would’ve rather died than stay under his rule, but he came into the room that morning. He saw my defiant grin, and he said that if I didn’t give in, he’d bring you in and deliver the rest of my torture to you.” Her eyes went wide. “He was going to use you to get to me, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
I had no idea what thoughts swirled through her mind as she stared blankly at me, but I finally turned my gaze to her, taking in every part of her face. “He was going to—” She cut herself off, clamping her lips shut.
“He was, but I gave in before he could. And then when he died, there wasn’t another option. I couldn’t leave my brother to handle the backlash alone, so I stayed. And I’ll be in the mob until the day I die because I won’t let any of my brothers do it alone. I won’t let them die the way so many people in this business do. It’s why I’m still here, and it’s why I never came back.”
“But he died. He wasn’t a threat anymore,” she reminded me.
“No,” I agreed, trying to smile. I knew it didn’t reach my eyes as I pointed to my chest. “But when I took this brand, I took it for life. It’s never going away. I saw what would happen if I got you involved in my life, and even though my dad’s dead now, I have plenty more enemies who could use you.”
“I’m here now,” she told me. “There’s no pulling me out of this anymore. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” She was telling the full, undiluted truth. She was involved. Even if I left her the way I had before, it’d be too late. Now she was stuck in this as firmly as I was, and nothing would change that. A pang of disappointment filled my chest as I considered that I’d been the one to put her in this position, and if something happened to her, it’d be because of me.
“I know,” I said.
“Where does that leave us?” she asked.
“Together,” I told her. “Because I meant it when I said nothing would ever happen to you again. Not under my watch.”
Sierra bit her bottom lip and nodded slowly. In one swift motion, she swung a leg over my hip and pulled her body atop mine. She straddled me and looked down at my brand, running a finger over the raised skin there. “You didn’t have to hide it,” she said.
“It’s proof of my failure.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s proof of your strength and resiliency,” she said, smirking down at me. “Isn’t that what you said about mine?”
I opened my mouth to argue, but there was nothing to be said. It felt like an entirely different situation, but it wasn’t one. We’d both been through more shit than anyone should ever go through, and we both stood here, still able to talk about it.
She bent, leaving a spread of kisses across the raised skin of my chest before lifting her gaze and meeting my eyes. “This mark shows how much you care about me and what you would do for me,” she said, pressing her palm flush against my chest as she lifted herself and positioned my cock inside of her, sinking down on it. I inhaled sharply as a new wave of longing filled me. “You might not like it, but I always will.”
22
SIERRA
I knew what needed to be done, but I put off doing it for a week. Virgil Lucchese didn’t leave the house often, and when he did, he left the office door closed and locked, so I never had the opportunity. I began considering sitting down and reviewing his budget and overall bill with him now that I had more definitive numbers, but my mind constantly veered back to the way he’d pressed himself against me and made it clear that he’d wanted me. I didn’t want to go to him again, but if I had to go into the lion’s den to keep the Bonannos safe and informed… He wouldn’t try anything too serious, would he? Because of this job, he had clear connections to me, and if he wanted to hurt me, he wouldn’t do it during the workday. If he wanted to try something, he’d be smarter about it. At least, that’s what kept me coming back here.
But today, rather than closing and locking his office, he charged out of the house an hour ago and hasn’t returned since. The door remained slightly ajar, and the room was empty. It was my only chance. I turned to Adam, who I’d brought with me every day since the incident with Virgil. “I need to go to the bathroom before we get the counter installed,” I told him. He didn’t pay me much attention as he nodded and continued his task.
As I moved toward the stairwell and looked around suspiciously, I gnawed at my bottom lip. I expected the other shoe to drop—for someone to walk into the house and shout curses at me for working with the Bonanno brothers—but silence met my ears. Only the constant drumming of my assistant pressing the countertop in the kitchen resonated through the house. All the household employees had been given a six-month hiatus during renovations, so the house was otherwise empty. It was the only time I had to do this. I fiddled with the small, magnetized device Tommy had given me in my pocket, running my fingers over the parts that I recognized from his quick lesson. In and out. That’s all I had to do. Everything would be on the computer, and Tommy could handle it from there.
Rather than turning toward the bathroom on the second floor, I veered toward the office. Each step felt like it took an eternity to complete. I knew the danger I was in, but I ignored the swell of panic in my chest and took a deep breath as I continued forward, pushing the office door open and striding inside quickly. I didn’t know how long I had, but it would be enough. It had to be. Once I had this in place, I wouldn’t need to continue taking risks. It would no longer be important, as Tommy could draw all the information he needed.
I made my way toward the desk, eyes laser-focused on the desktop. Something on the center of the desk drew my attention, and I glanced toward it. A file sat open, and a page of wallet-sized photos rested at the top. All were women, some as young as pre-teenagers and some looking a few years older than me. It wasn’t the photographs that had me mesmerized, though. It was the way all the women frowned, and some of their cheeks were tear-streaked and eyes frantic. These women wereterrified.
I bent and shifted the page, looking beneath it. The page beneath reminded me of something I’d find in a detective’s folder on a case. In the top left corner, a photo was clipped to a small packet. I began reading the information. Height, weight, location, and…
Price.
Roiling nausea spread through my stomach as I considered the implications of the papers. There were dates—all within the next few weeks—listed beside the price, and I knew it meant they were preparing to be sold. I recalled Bella telling me about the Lucchese family and their primary income source: the skin trade. They sold people, and this was proof of that.
I continued flipping through the stack of papers, sickened further when I found a series of young girls—girls I’d seen on missing flyers around the city. Some of these people were missed. They had people looking for them, and Virgil was responsible for keeping them away from their families and friends. Would I have been diminished to a photograph in a pile of papers if I hadn’t escaped?
The thought sent chills through me, but the reality of the situation had me sweeping the file into my lap and making a split-second decision. I wouldn’t let this go. I couldn’t just let all these women be sold like prized cattle. I was helping Carlo end his family’s feud with Virgil, so they could help me get these women out of this situation. I had no doubt they had the power to do just that.
The front door of the house slammed closed, and I stiffened, knowing I was out of time, and I hadn’t even done the one thing I was meant to do. I grabbed the device from my pocket and stormed toward the desktop, planting it on the back, tucked beneath a port. If he wasn’t looking for it, there was no way he’d find it.
