Page 6 of Bittersweet Endings (Agostino Crime Family #6)

CARMINE RAGETTI

M y temples were throbbing and my soundproof office was doing nothing to hold back the agony of the speakers. The bass from the club below was vibrating at my feet and screaming in my head.

Feds were breathing down my neck thanks to JP. The fucking asshole killed civilians. The mafia had trickled over to the media—front and center for all the world to see. My connection was reassigned until recently when he was currently charged with accepting bribes.

JP had gone after rival famiglias, drug dealers, cartels, and goddamn civilians in his way. Way of what? Not a single clue. He knew I was coming for him, so he set out to blow everything up in my face.

Tensions were high and I needed to get my dick wet. Pussy came and went in my club, but not a single bitch interested me. As much as I wanted to drown myself in ways to forget her… I couldn’t .

And it was pissing me off.

I was in goddamn Hollywood. Eventually, the right woman would come along and replace her. I just needed to bide my time and deal with business before I put it all behind me and forgot about her.

Octavia. On her knees, her hands behind her back and her mouth open… waiting.

“Fuck!” My arm scraped along my desk, sending everything flying across the room.

Jumping to my feet, I grabbed my chair and shattered it against the glass overlooking the bar. Rage filled me and I loathed the fact that this girl was fucking with me. My little doll had managed to crawl her way under my skin.

Lorenzo walked in, one eyebrow cocked in question. “Redecorating?” He grabbed a chair and leaned back in his seat with his feet on my desk.

I glared at him. “Fuck off.”

“A perky little brunette got anything to do with this?” Fucker looked smug until I grabbed his ankle and yanked, flipping him onto his ass. “Fuck! My back! Asshole.”

Matteo walked in, glancing at Lorenzo, who was pushing himself up before kicking at the broken pieces of chair. He cracked his neck and muttered something about my “dramatic flair.” If he didn’t watch his bullshit, I’d do a lot worse than that.

“We’ve got an issue,” Matteo said. “Eva.”

“What the fuck she do now?” I grunted.

My little sister was going to be the death of me. Raised alongside three older brothers in the mafia, Eva held her own with a vicious right hook for a sprite of a woman and a mouth to rival a truck driver’s. She did everything in her power to piss us off most days.

She was the first daughter in a mafia powerhouse, and with that, came certain precautions. While JP could give a fuck, a lot of people had their eyes on her. And she made it clear she didn’t like having guards.

I’d made it clearer that I didn’t give a fuck. She got them anyway. Thankfully, she didn’t try to dodge Alessandro. He was the only one who seemed able to put up with her.

“She and Alessandro got into an argument.”

I rolled my eyes. Most days, I guess.

“She took off and we can’t find her.”

“Call Diego.”

“I already have men out looking for her.”

“No, call Diego. He can track her,” I repeated. Matteo paused. “I told you I wasn’t playing last time. We put a tracker in her necklace.”

“She needs to be locked away… for our sanity.” My brother tapped out a message on his phone before adding, “What’re we going to do with the feds?”

We switched topics and jumped into what we had on JP. His resources kept his name out of the news, but the suits were knocking. They knew.

I’d have it handled, if I could find him. But the bastard had gone underground.

“Eva’s back.” Lorenzo stared over the railing as she marched through the club and up the stairs. Diego had a rough hold on her upper arm, handcuffs clear around her wrist as he practically dragged her along.

“Goddamn it, Diego! That hurts!” she screamed from the hall.

“So does my face, Eva!” The door opened and a bleeding Diego shoved my baby sister inside. “Fuckin’ take her before I do something I regret.”

Red nail marks trailed down his cheek. Eva was disheveled but unharmed. And downright pissed. I ran a tired hand over my face. Sometimes I wondered if I should’ve been harder on her. I hid her from JP’s rage, but this spoiled child act was old and goddamn dangerous.

“What’re you three clowns looking at?” she seethed, lifting her arms. “Uncuff me, assholes!”

“Sit down,” I ordered. Normally she’d have fought me, but the look on my face told her I wasn’t playing. “The fuck is wrong with you?”

“What? I’m tired of Alessandro and his games?—”

“Then you fuckin’ call one of us! You don’t fuckin’ take off.

Especially when JP is missing!” My chest heaved as I leaned closer to her face.

“Wasn’t it not that long ago he wanted to marry you off?

And now you’re running wild like an idiot, practically asking to get picked up by one of his soldatos .

Gesù Cristo, Eva. Use your goddamn brain. ” My roar made her flinch.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“No, your fuckin’ not. As soon as you get a bug up your ass, you’ll do this shit again.” She opened her mouth to speak, but I silenced her. “I cannot deal with JP, New York, the fuckin’ feds and then your fuckin’ mood swings.”

A knock on the door interrupted us. “Come in,” Lorenzo barked.

A second later, Alessandro walked in, pissed off and sporting a black eye. My blood boiled at this bullshit. She was being careless.

“Fuck, Eva. This isn’t how I raised you.” I sighed. “One of these days, someone’s gonna snap and you’ll suffer for it.”

She was smart to stay silent.

“You’re protected by my most trusted men, but everyone has a breaking point. A woman putting her hands on a grown man…” I shook my head .

“I said I was sorry,” she mumbled, then turned to Alessandro. “And I am sorry for what I did.”

“You’re not,” I repeated. “But you will be.”

“The fuck does that mean?” She straightened her spine before stumbling over the chair.

I motioned to Alessandro and Diego. “Take her to Slab City.”

Eva stepped backwards.

“You have my permission to keep her in line, Alessandro. And bring two men with you, newer soldatos , guys we can spare right now. I can’t deal with all this shit and her.”

“No… Carmine. No, please. I said I was sorry.” She tried leaning towards me.

Alessandro grabbed her cuffed wrists and tugged her back. “How long, boss?”

She glared at me with tears in her eyes. I ignored her. “Until I call.”

“You son-of-a-bitch! Not The Slabs! I’ll fuckin’ kill myself with boredom, Carmine.” She struggled as Diego and Alessandro lifted her by her arms and carried her to the stairs.

“You’ll live, Eva. That’s the goddamn point.”

Slab City, also called The Slabs, was an unincorporated, off-the-grid alternative lifestyle community in the middle of nowhere, California.

Thousands of campers and RV owners, many retired, used the site during the off season.

The “snowbirds” only stayed for the winter before migrating to cooler climates in the spring.

This time of year, not many people would be there and it would be too fuckin’ hot for Eva to escape.

Years ago, I’d positioned a large camper out there and kept it a secret. There was nothing around for a two mile-radius and you could see all threats coming.

“That sucks.” Lorenzo laughed .

“Keep pissing me off and I’ll send you there to babysit,” I ground out.

That was one more problem solved so I could focus on the task at hand. Making sure we survived the shitstorm headed our way.