Page 10

CHAPTER

TEN

ADALYN

F or the next week, I was banned from leaving the house.

My credit card was thankfully still in my purse, but my relative freedom and happiness were well and truly down the drain. I had lounged by the pool, practiced my cooking, read books and worked out in the gym…never once coming into contact with Marco.

By the eighth day of house arrest, I was going stir-crazy and just about ready to trash the place in frustration.

Luckily, Jesse brought me some good news that morning.

“We are going out tonight.” He announced after he had swallowed a mouthful of orange juice.

“We are?” I exclaimed with unprecedented excitement.

“Yup. We have business at one of our clubs in Milwaukee. It’s an overnighter so don’t forget to pack a bag.”

“Alright. What kinda dress code are we talking?”

“You know, the norm. High heels, lots of makeup, slutty dresses.” He winked and I laughed.

“You won’t have to abandon me the whole night, will you? I hate dancing by myself.”

“Naa, just some of it.” He grinned. “We are there for business after all.”

The rest of the day was spent on cloud nine, excited for the evening and getting back some relative ‘freedom’. I had packed my bag for the night and spent the next few hours planning my outfit.

I had decided on a very short black dress with long tight sleeves and a high neckline. The dress clung to my curves in a sexy but sophisticated way, showing off my best features. I finished off the look with a Yves Saint Laurent clutch and over-the-knee leather boots that accentuated the tops of my thighs. I dabbed on an intoxicatingly red shade of lipstick and paired it with dramatic smoky eyeshadow.

By the time I came downstairs it was six o’clock and Jesse’s G-Wagon was waiting out front for me. I could see two other armored SUV’s already heading down the driveway as we left the house and presumed that Marco was inside one of them. I was suddenly grateful I wasn’t expected to ride with him.

Nothing like postponing the inevitable.

My stomach flip-flopped violently, though whether it was from anxiety or something else I didn’t know.

The drive to the club took just under two hours and by the time we arrived in the underground garage it was close to eight. My stomach grumbled with hunger as we made it to the elevator and proceeded to ascend the numerous floors.

When we came to a stop, we weren’t in a club as I had expected, but a very classy restaurant complete with a live pianist and waiters in white-tailed coats.

A friendly hostess immediately approached and greeted us, making sure to pay extra attention to the man at my side.

She swiftly walked us to a glass corridor which seemed to boast multiple private-function rooms, and she gestured for me to continue as we turned the corner. Layton and Wyatt stood outside the last remaining door and they both nodded to me as I passed.

Unsurprisingly, Marco sat at the head of a modern glass table as I entered. He was typing away on his phone, looking very much like sin incarnate as I took my seat across from him. Once I’d settled, he placed the phone to the side and fixed me with his gaze for the first time in over a week.

My stomach somersaulted.

He smiled. “You loo?—”

“Save it,” I dismissed.

I didn’t want to hear it.

Not when there had been such a dangerous moment between us before. I needed to keep him at a distance. The lines were beginning to haze and blur between us, and I couldn’t afford for that to happen.

He scowled at my rudeness.

“I’m a bit surprised you brought me here,” I said, inspecting the room. “I thought you would be too ashamed to be seen with a Mannino ,” I jeered.

He smiled half-heartedly and shook his head. “As it turns out, not very many people know who you are around here.”

I pursed my lips at his backhanded comment.

Before I could respond, two waitresses entered carrying plates of food and poured us both some wine. I didn’t miss the flirty smile one of them flashed Marco as she filled his glass, or how she pivoted her hips to show off her cleavage. He shot her a charming smile in return.

I bristled at the sight but couldn’t exactly place why it had annoyed me so much.

I bit back the crappy comment I had on the tip of my tongue the moment they left and focused on eating the creamy pasta dish instead. It tasted absolutely divine and was a welcome distraction from the awkward tension in the room.

After a few minutes, I decided to break the silence. There was something I did, in fact, want to talk to him about.

“I’ve actually been thinking about that. I think it’s probably best for me to change my name now that I’m, well…not part of my family anymore.” I couldn’t deny the pain I still felt saying the words aloud. “I thought it might be safer.”

While the decision made sense, it didn’t take the pain away from my suggestion.

He looked at me quietly a moment. “I agree. I’ll have someone come by the house in the next couple of days to help with the paperwork.”

“I don’t know what I’m changing it to yet.” I admitted.

“Does it matter?” His dark eyes burned into mine.

“Of course, it matters. It’s going to be a fresh start.” I fidgeted nervously, looking down at my food to break his unflinching gaze.

“In which case, I would suggest you change it to La Torre.” He suggested.

I immediately began choking on the food in my mouth.

“W-what kind of suggestion is that?” I asked incredulously, clearing my throat with a gulp of wine. “You can’t be serious.”

My stomach knotted both from anxiety and something else—something that felt oddly like anticipation, but primarily like fear.

He shrugged and lounged back in his seat. “The name La Torre is respected and more importantly, it is feared . It would provide you simultaneously with opportunity as well as protection by way of association.”

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to piece together my argument despite his sound rationale.

“Or it could put an even bigger target on my back,” I pointed out. “First of all, your family are not going to take kindly to a Mannino using their name. Secondly, changing it to a rival family’s would only give my real family more reason to hate me.”

“What I say goes in my family, whether they like it or not. I’m it’s head and they obey me. End of story. As to your second point—your family abandoned you. If you want to join another family, then that’s on them.” He took another swig of his glass. “At least my family protects its own,” He added quietly.

I sighed, “The answer is no, Marco.”

His fist clenched, and I could tell he was unhappy with my rejection.

The silence resumed to a painful degree, and I could feel his anger lingering in the air up until the waitresses flittered back into the room, collecting our plates. A decedent cheesecake left in their place.

“How long have you been a Don for anyway?” I grappled to say something. Anything to stifle the discomfort in the room.

“Seven years.”

Around the same time my family went into hiding. It was a strange coincidence.

“And no, it’s not a coincidence,” He answered my internal thought, completely freaking me out.

“What do you mean it’s not a coincidence?” I asked, confused.

He seemed to contemplate answering my question for a few moments.

When he did finally speak, his voice remained slow and measured. “Seven years ago, my family was in negotiations with the Manninos over a narcotics deal. It would have united our families logistically speaking and established a new country- wide line guaranteeing an expansion of profits. Your father decided that instead of honoring that deal, he was going to make another deal…a deal with the DEA.” Marco’s face remained cold and calculated. Unfeeling.

I knew Marco was telling the truth.

I could remember the two DEA agents coming to our mansion in Las Vegas before we disappeared and became the ‘Parkers’. I remembered the numerous meetings my family had hosted with them, the numerous times their cars were on the driveway… I hadn’t known what it was about at the time. It was like a puzzle piece finally falling into place.

“He set us up. It was practically an extermination of my family, and my father died in the process. I had no choice but to become the head of this family when I was twenty-two. I’ve been seeking revenge ever since,” he finished simply. He slid his empty tumbler across the table and rubbed at his chin, as if he could rub away the hint of emotion etched across his skin.

“That’s why you took me. To take someone he loves away from him… You were going to kill me,” I said, finally understanding everything.

“It did cross my mind to kill you, but it turns out that I’m not as ruthless as I thought. So, I held you hostage instead,” he said, looking away somewhat shamefully after admitting his weakness. His humility.

“My intention was to get back the money my family had lost and make him suffer in the process. But your father is even more abhorrent than I could have anticipated. He didn’t hesitate to turn his back on his own.”

The sentence hung there for a minute, weighing heavily against the silence. Against me.

My family were rats… A disgrace to everything our society valued about honor.

“I’m sorry you lost your father so young… And I am truly sorry for what my family has done to yours. It is unforgivable,” I said after a quiet moment. “I now understand why you hate me so much. I don’t even blame you,” I said, meeting his eyes so he could see my sincerity.

“I don’t hate you, Ada.” His deep voice took on a rough edge, raw with his own honesty. “None of what happened was your fault. I will not punish you for the crimes of your father.”

Our eyes fell into a kind of deadlock across the table, and I felt something shift in the air between us. I couldn’t be sure, but I swore I could see the darkness in his eyes simmer into something softer.

Something I was certain he would have seen echoed in mine.

He wasn’t the cruel, calculated Don I had convinced myself existed. He was a man who had lost his father and tried to enact revenge in the only way he knew how. Only he wasn’t cruel enough or twisted enough to go through with it, so he changed tact and demanded a ransom instead. He wasn’t the merciless killer he needed to be or thought that he was.

He was a square peg forced into a round hole—just like me.

Something like recognition flickered between us.

Thankfully, the door slamming open and Jesse waltzing into the room broke through the trance that had ensnared us, stopping Marco from uttering the next words poised on his lips.

Jesse immediately informed Marco that the men they were meeting with had begun to arrive and a flurry of activity ensued. The three of us accompanied by our collective bodyguards made our way down to the main club in preparation.

When the elevators opened this time, it revealed a private seating arrangement on its own mezzanine floor above the rest of the room. It was both intimate and classy, featuring its own solid oak bar and two waitresses ready with decanters full of whiskey. The guards took their positions by the exits, and I took that as my queue to leave, heading down the stairs to the floor below just as three leery middle-aged men approached.

At the bar, I ordered myself a drink and took one of the open seats, swiveling around so I could look up at the balcony. I was intrigued by what the meeting was about and who the unfamiliar men were that I had passed on the steps.

The first thing I noted was Jesse standing against the rails observing me and I did a little wave at him. He smiled before taking a seat with the other people. I say people… The men had apparently been joined with six or so other women. All scantily clad and all extremely beautiful. Hookers .

My lips pursed, and I turned my chair back to the bar, not wanting to watch any longer.

After an hour of crowd watching and drinking, I became restless and bored. I had downed my drink and, feeling gutsy, decided I would go in search of Jesse.

Alonso was at the foot of the stairs now alongside Tom. I greeted them both before making my way up to the raucous laughter and undeniable smell of sickly-sweet perfume.

Jesse was the first to notice me, grinning as if he was genuinely happy to see me. I began to smile back but stopped the moment I saw the full scene in front of me.

The three men I had passed earlier were sat with Jesse and Marco on a luscious red sofa. Women were scattered between them, languishing suggestively over the men and serving something on a platter. As I came closer, I realized the white trails on the silver surface were, in fact, cocaine.

It didn’t bother me that drugs were present in the booth—as much as I despised drugs, I had half expected it—what bothered me was that Marco was shooting a line while a stunning brunette sucked on his neck and groped at his crotch.

The moment he pulled away our eyes met, and I felt inexplicably… hurt .

The closeness and care I had felt toward him earlier all but vanished in an instant.

They were all the same—Mafia men. Whatever I thought was happening between us earlier, I had been wrong.

I turned on my heel and escaped back to the bar, fully intending to drown my stupidity and hurt into oblivion.

I ordered three shots of vodka and downed them one after the other.

When that didn’t dispel my unease, I ordered another round and drank until the buzz of alcohol overtook everything else. Until all that I cared about was enjoying the music.

“Hey, Girl. What’s your name?”

I looked over my shoulder to see a muscular blond guy leaning against the counter beside me. He was clearly the athletic type with heavy-set shoulders and the most dazzling blue eyes.

I flashed him my flirtiest smile and stuck out my hand.

“Adalyn. And you are?”

“Brandon.” He smiled handsomely at me and shook my hand. “Can I get you a drink?”

“No, no it’s on me.” Well Marco…

I gestured to the bartender, and he quickly got me my signature lime spritzer (don’t ask me how he knew what I drank) and a beer for my companion.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, are you from Milwaukee?”

Ha! If only you knew.

“No, I’m Chicago!” I lied, yelling over the music. “And you?”

“I’m Milwaukee born and raised. I thought you weren’t local… I’d remember a girl like you.” He winked.

“Oh, really?” I leaned in closer, resting my hand on the back of his neck. “Now tell me…does that pickup line ever work?”

“Like seventy percent of the time,” he admitted sheepishly, and I threw my head back with laughter.

“I admire your honesty,” I said, shooting him a flirty smile.

His hand gently came to rest on my thigh, and my smile faltered for just a second as I fought the inevitable flinch. The physical touch making my mind flash away from the club and to a distant point in my past. The unpleasant memory rattled in the back of my mind, and I shoved against it, blocking it out. Unable and unwilling to think back to then . To him .

I regained my composure and leaned in closer to the handsome jock before me.

“You really are beautiful you know…” He trailed off as I stared squarely at his lips, effectively giving him the green light.

I wasn’t usually so forward, but with everything going on lately I was craving some kind of escapism. No matter what it looked like.

He took the bait, planting a hand on the side of my face and pressing his lips to mine. I opened my mouth to deepen the kiss and then…

Then he was gone.

A second later something wet splattered across my face and I tore open my eyes in shock. Brandon was on the floor bleeding profusely from his nose.

I whipped my head around and found a murderous looking Marco standing over him, fist still clenched and smeared in blood.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I screeched at him, bending over to help Brandon up from the floor.

The man was already on his feet and squaring up to his attacker challengingly, pushing me out of the way in the process.

“What the hell is your problem, dude?” Brandon demanded.

But before the question was fully out of his mouth, Marco had a Glock pressed harshly beneath his jaw.

“ You are my fucking problem,” he spat through clenched teeth, the veins protruding from his forehead as searing rage contorted his features.

Jesse and Layton quickly emerged, descending on us and looking to diffuse the situation. But Marco was already too far gone for that, his finger dangerously close to pulling the trigger.

“Stop it!” I yelled, but he either ignored me or didn’t hear.

I knew there was a chance I would get hurt, but I wasn’t going to let a man get shot over one drunken kiss.

I lurched forward and forced myself between the two men.

“Marco!” I shouted up at him.

Nothing.

“Marco, enough!” I grabbed either side of his face with my hands and forced him to look at me.

His black eyes sliced to mine, full of nothing but violence and I flinched at the brutality I saw within him. A brutality I had never seen before.

“Please don’t do this.” When the words didn’t seem to be enough, I caressed the side of his face gently.

His breathing remained heavy, but I could see the turmoil on his face as he weighed up whether or not to listen.

He eventually gave me a slight nod and relief flushed my skin.

“Jesse! Get him out of here!” I immediately yelled over my shoulder.

I felt, rather than saw, the man be shoved away.

Marco retracted the Glock and stored it back behind his waistband, never taking his eyes off me.

I waited until I was sure Jesse and the other man had left the area, before I let my hands drop back to my sides. “What the fuck was that?” I demanded, stepping away from him.

He smirked and shrugged as if nothing had happened. “What was what?”

This man’s personality was like a tornado, and I was starting to grow fucking tired of it.

Anger and frustration engulfed me in an instant.

I downed the rest of my drink and grabbed my bag off the chair. “I’m leaving.”

I shoved past the asshole and after spotting Jesse in the crowd I walked toward him. One look at my face and he immediately took me to the elevators, calling one for us and letting me in first when it arrived. But just as the doors started to close, a hand swung in, and they jerked open with a whine.

My scowl of annoyance quickly turned into a growl.

Marco barked something I didn’t understand at Jesse as he stepped into the confined space, and it quickly sent Jesse flying back out the open doors. He shot me an apologetic look from the hallway, leaving me alone with the Don as the doors slid shut.

I seethed quietly in the corner as the elevator began moving, descending the floors and heading for the underground parking garage.

I couldn’t hold back my irritation any longer. “You’re a fucking asshole, d’you know that?”

Marco let out a boyish laugh and my blood boiled.

When the doors dinged open for our floor, I immediately sprung out of the elevator and marched over to Jesse’s SUV. I pulled at the handle, but unfortunately for me, it was locked and there was no sign of Jesse. I mentally smacked my head against a brick wall.

“Why are you so mad? You don’t even know the guy.” Marco leaned against the car casually, as if he hadn’t been holding a gun to someone’s head less than five minutes before.

“Why do you think?” I yelled. “You can’t just scare off everyone that approaches me and threaten to shoot them! Who do you think you are?”

I could see his light-hearted expression turn irritated at my question.

“ I’m the guy that owns your ass. I do what the fuck I want. When I want. If I don’t want another man touching you, then he isn’t fucking touching you!” He shouted right back at me, storming closer as he spoke.

“This isn’t the middle-ages. I can do whatever I want. Get over yourself!”

“I can’t decide if you’re brave or stupid speaking to me like that,” he spat, now less than a foot away.

“Guess it’s easy to be brave when you have nothing to lose.” I glared. “It also doesn’t help when your captor’s a total piece of shit.”

Probably shouldn’t have said that.

Within a second, I was cornered against the car door.

It was then that I felt his other hand.

I expected to flinch like I had earlier with Brandon, like I always did when a man touched my skin…but it never came. The warmth of Marco’s hand felt nothing like the one that frequented my nightmares.

My breathing faltered as I became keenly aware of Marco’s touch, feeling him trace along the outside of my thigh, skimming upward along my hip. His hand slowly reaching my waist, then grazed against the side of my ribs. I fought a shiver as it rolled down my spine. His eyes traced his touch, following the path upward across my dress until I felt his warmth settle over my breasts.

Heat instantly pooled between my legs and my breathing hitched in response.

“You might think you are in control, Ada, but you are not.” His words brushed against my neck. “I can do whatever I want with you…or to you.”

His words washed over me like a bucket of ice.

“What’s your point? That you can touch me and no one else can?” I spat.

I’ll show him who’s in control.

I called his bluff and grabbed his wrist, leading his hand back down my body and under my mini skirt. When his hand rested on the outside of my lace panties, I stilled. His eyes darkened with lust and his head sprung up to look at me, arousal and confusion clouding his features as his eyes swam in and out of focus.

“What about here?” My voice came out breathier than I intended it, but I was getting to him and couldn’t stop now.

With my other hand, I caressed his face like I had earlier, and he leaned in, closing the distance between us.

I waited until the last second before turning my head away, brushing my lips to his ear.

Don’t do it. Don’t do it… DO. NOT. DO. IT.

“You’re not the first, Marco. Many men already have. You wouldn’t be anything special.” I let disgust drip into my voice, and he growled, roughly moving every inch of his hard body against me. Trapping me against the side of the car.

His hand roughly fisted the material of my panties while his other hand simultaneously wound around my neck. The muscle in his jaw twitched uncontrollably.

“You’ll see how special I am when my dick is so deep inside you, you can’t fucking breathe.”

My mouth slackened in total and complete shock. His brutal words sinking beneath my skin, causing my stomach to flood and pool with something that felt entirely too much like arousal.

He grinned devilishly at the sight of desire clouding my features, very much enjoying the show.

I was both irked and relieved when a booming voice rang out against the silence of the garage. “What’s going on here, then?” Jesse’s voice echoed across the cement, but I could detect his usual lilt of humor.

Marco released me and shoved himself away two seconds later than I expected, turning toward the other man as Jesse crossed the lot. They both exchanged a few sentences again that I didn’t understand, deliberately omitting me from the conversation judging by the glances they both occasionally threw in my direction. Marco ran a hand through his hair, muttering another sentence in Italian before storming back in the direction of the elevators without so much as a backwards glance in my direction.

Part of me breathed a sigh of relief when his form disappeared. The only problem was that a larger part of me was frustrated he’d walked away before we could see where our little game was taking us.

“What was all that about?” I asked, turning to Jesse incredulously. Not sure what the two had talked about and what had subsequently caused Marco to storm off back into the club.

“I was about to ask you the same question,” he responded, eyeballing me and opening the passenger side door. “Now get your ass in before you give the CCTV guy another heart attack.”

I immediately glanced around to check for cameras and flushed bright red when I spotted several. I threw myself into the SUV and leaned my head against the cool leather.

What the hell are you playing at? I didn’t even know. The whole world’s gone bat shit crazy .

MARCO

I had to stop attacking the clientele—it was becoming bad for business.

I slammed my palm against the buttons on the elevator panel, the metal thudding dully as the light flickered on for the floor I wanted.

You wouldn’t be anything special.

Anger bubbled under my skin and, unable to stem the tide of rage burning within me, I threw my fist straight into the mirror at my side. The shards fractured and bowed under the force of my knuckles, microscopic pieces quickly embedding themselves into my skin. Good . The stinging helped clear my head.

I gripped the handrail, glaring at my crooked reflection as the lift slowly ascended the floors.

I couldn’t unhear the disgust in Ada’s words or unsee the hatred in her eyes as she had said them.

I had more power and money than 99.9% of the fucking planet—it wasn’t often I felt unwanted .

And yet, she had kissed that blonde fucker— a fucking nobody.

My teeth snapped together as my muscles clenched, anger once again churning beneath the surface.

How could she do that?

I could have sworn that something had shifted between us at dinner. We had found common ground, talked about difficult and personal things…things I didn’t freely discuss with just anyone .

Then she ran off and made out with some randomer at my bar, like it all meant nothing.

The doors slid open, and I promptly crossed the hall toward the main room. It was hot and heavy as I entered. Alcohol tinging the air with a stale, sweet smell that mingled inelegantly with tacky perfume. The bass of the speakers were cranked as high as they could go, almost cancelling out the squelching of spilled beverages underfoot.

I really need to raise the entry fee, I thought disdainfully. This type of clientele was not to my usual standard.

The private seating area was still littered with people as I retook my seat. Integrating myself back into their drunken discussions and deftly batting away an insolent woman that tried to mount me the second my ass hit the cushion.

I grabbed my drink and downed the double shot of bourbon in one, gesturing for a refill.

“That bloody Mannino is more hassle than she is worth, Cousin.” Roberto slapped me on the shoulder, taking the now vacant seat beside me. “You should just kill her already,” he said, finishing off the remainder of his beer.

“If I wanted your advice, I would have asked for it,” I muttered, sipping my own drink.

“Even you must see that she is bad for business.”

I swiped my hand across my face, trying to quell my temper as it slowly began building once again.

“We could say it was an accident,” he offered, grinning like it was his greatest idea yet, and perhaps it was. Roberto had always been as thick as shit. “If you don’t want to pull the trigger, Cuz, I can always do it for you. I’ll even do it for free if you let me fuck her first.”

I didn’t even try to control my response.

I grabbed him by the back of his neck and slammed his face against the edge of the table with a sickening crack. Blood sprayed up my leg and screams from the women dotted amongst us rang out, but I hardly even noticed.

I bent over him. My head inches away from Roberto’s ear, as his face leaked all over the floor and onto my leather Tom Ford’s. Goddamn it, these were new. His pleas and apologies quickly cut off the moment my hand tightened against his scalp.

“You’re done .” I spat. “Get the fuck out of my club and disappear or I will kill you myself.”

I released the miserable excuse of a man and shoved him away. I had been trying to get rid of him for years anyway.

He quickly scrambled to his feet and without so much as a glance back, ran for the exit.

“Let that be a lesson to you all.”