Page 11 of Reckless Forever (Jennings Mafia Family #3)

Ivy

“Good afternoon, Padrino,” I sang as I went to the kitchen and saw him reading the newspaper at the table with a half-eaten plate in front of him.

Before I could round the table and kiss his cheek, one of the housemaids sat on his lap.

I froze for a beat, swallowing the unease that always came when I saw him like this.

Instead, I went over to the fridge and grabbed the items that I had come down for.

I should have been used to their displays of affection.

That was one thing that never changed as long as I knew him.

My godfather had always been a powerful man who surrounded himself with women, a lot of them.

They were all ready and willing to do anything he asked of them.

Granted, when my cousins and I were younger and visited, they were discreet.

They wore clothes and had boundaries. But once we were all grown and away from the house, he was living life to the fullest.

He glanced up from the newspaper and gave me a short smile.

He didn’t give me the warm greeting that I had grown accustomed to, and I knew that something was wrong.

Before I could inquire, the front door opened.

With wide eyes, I looked around the corner, and in came the five soldiers from the compound.

They were dressed in all black and had two people tied by their arms with burlap sacks over their heads.

Emilio cracked one of them in the head and yelled for him to kneel.

One of the others shouted for me to go upstairs.

My feet moved at a turtle’s speed as my godfather rounded the corner and removed the sacks from their heads, revealing the faces of his brother and his wife, my aunt and uncle.

She screamed at the top of her lungs for mercy before my godfather ordered them to take them out into the backyard.

I turned the corner of the steps as if I had disappeared. But when I heard the door slide back, I returned downstairs and over to the window. My aunt’s screams were so loud. I could hear her shouting the Bolivian chant even through the thick, bulletproof glass.

Standing in the window, not even trying to be discreet, I watched as Padrino took the machete from Emilio’s hand and stood behind my aunt and pulled her hair back with force, before he swiped the knife across her throat.

My uncle shot free from the hold of the men who were keeping him in place and tried to stand to charge him.

He swung the knife, hitting him across the chest with it, and it brought him to his knees.

Then he reached into his back pocket and aimed a gun at him with a shaky hand.

His mouth moved, and he said something just before the gunshot went off. I read his lips, but I didn’t have to. I already knew what he was saying.

“Todo tiene un final… y el tuyo es hoy.” (Everything has an end, and yours is today.)

He said it every time he had to take a life, and I had grown to know the phrase by memory.

It wasn’t just a phrase; it was his signature.

Then he spat on the body and put the gun back into his pocket.

I went back towards the end of the estate and went up the stairs before they could notice that I had been standing in the window.

I had seen many things, but especially in this house, that death just didn’t affect me anymore.

I said a prayer for them as I continued to go up the stairs with my snacks cradled in my arms. I sighed once I closed the door.

My godfather was ruthless, and this wasn’t even the lowest that he had gone.

But if he could take the lives of his brother and sister-in-law like nothing, imagine what he would do to someone else.

It just solidified my decision to keep Judah away from me.

Or try to anyway, we had both crossed the boundaries of flirting, one too many times.

Now that he wasn’t in the house with me, with the snake crawling up and down his thighs, I could think clearly. I could tell that he wasn’t happy about it; he didn’t even try to hide it. But now that he was back in the States, it was easier to decide.

Everyone in Padrino’s life was disposable if they crossed him, even family. That knowledge had put something close to fear in me that I didn’t want to admit.

I sank onto the edge of my bed and stared at the ceiling.

Judah may have come from the Mafia, but he didn’t understand this world.

He had a family who loved and cared for him.

He was raised in love when the Cartel only preached survival.

He was outside of it. And the thought of dragging him into my life, even as a “friend,” was terrifying.

Every time we touched each other, the dominance in his kiss, the way his hands felt against my waist, I felt the weight of something neither of us could afford.

Love or even the thought of it was dangerous when life was measured by the Cartel in loyalty and blood.

And with my godfather’s promise to take out his entire bloodline without hesitation, I couldn’t risk it. Not for me, not for him.

I picked up my phone and scrolled through my messages.

None were important, except his, which had gone unanswered.

My thumb hovered over Judah’s name. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat.

I didn’t need to answer him. I couldn’t.

He probably deserved better than someone whose childhood had been tainted with death and silence.

Someone who grew up watching the world burn, taught to walk away as if it were nothing.

I went to his contact and saw the red Block Caller message.

But I couldn’t bring myself to press the button.

A soft knock at the door broke me from my thoughts.

I didn’t turn around. “It’s open,” I said, knowing that Padrino was the only person who came to visit me in my room.

No one replied, and the silence that followed made me grateful.

I was in the midst of a war of my own, and right now, I didn’t want any company.

I didn’t want to force laughs or conversation because I had nothing to smile about.

I finally sat down at the small table in my room and unwrapped one of the snack cakes.

A school of birds flew by, causing my eyes to shoot toward the window.

I smiled before I went to enjoy one of the only things that would ground me.

Nature. But once I stood in the window, my smile immediately left.

The soldiers were loading the bodies of my aunt and uncle into the truck like they were cattle.

I gazed at the sky; I couldn’t escape this, no matter which way I turned.

I sat back at the desk and ate my snack quietly, each bite tasting of resentment and control.

Judah may have been friendly with Padrino, but a relationship would never spare his life. It has never mattered for anyone else. I picked up the phone, and this time I read the message that he had sent me. The message was attached to a money payment.

Judah: Since I can’t take you out to celebrate, shopping trip on me. I’m proud of you, baby.

I exhaled, letting the tension in my shoulders ease. How was I supposed to block the only person who allowed me to escape the life that swallowed me?

Violence didn’t shake me anymore. It didn’t scare me. But love… love was a different kind of danger. One that I never thought I would have to be on guard against. But I was quickly learning that I would. So, for now, I would avoid it. Even if it ate me up from the inside out.

It was 10 p.m., and I got a FaceTime from Judah. I was standing in the middle of the room naked. I had run over a bit at work, and I was off schedule.

I knew that he was going to call at this time; he had said that 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. was our time, and I thought it was the cutest thing that he was trying to recreate our time in Bolivia together.

I pressed the green button and kept the phone to my face.

His face came into view, looking handsome as hell while he walked through the door of his estate.

“I need to call you back,” I said before he could get out his greeting.

“Why, Ma?” He asked. The question took me by surprise because I wasn’t expecting him to say anything other than okay.

I laughed, “I’m about to go bathe, I’ve been working late.”

“Aight, you can do that with me on the phone,” he said as he flipped on his room light and flopped across his bed like he was ordering a pizza.

I looked at him and waited for him to say that he was just joking. But he just returned my blank stare, and I didn’t debate him as I walked into the bathroom and turned on the tub. I filled it with my relaxation bubble bath, and then I slid down inside the warmth of the water.

“How was the office today?” I asked as I lay my head back on the marble and held the phone with my dry hand.

“I didn’t stay there long. Right after I made it, I had to end up handling some business on the other side of town.”

“Well, at least you’re home tonight. A win is a win,” I noted. Normally, business would have him so busy that being inside at this hour was unheard of. Every time we talked, he was inside a truck. If I didn't know better, I would think that he lived in one.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said before he started a complete conversation like he wasn’t cutting into my relaxation time.

I propped the phone against the wall and grabbed my net sponge, body wash, and lathered it up. When I realized that he had gotten quiet on the other side of the phone, I turned toward it, wondering if it had lost connection.

I couldn’t have been any more embarrassed than I was because the phone had slid from its position and had my entire shower on display. He had gotten closer to the camera, if possible, and was smiling at me the whole time.

“You are a creep,” I laughed as I repositioned it.

“Stop teasing me, Ivy.” He growled, his voice now low.