Page 24 of Their Reckless Thief (The Below #1)

CELESTE

As soon as I pushed the door open to my apartment, a wave of emotions I wasn’t prepared for hit me.

Vivian stood there, her chest heaving as if she’d just sprinted down from the roof, eyes wild and frantic.

The relief in her expression was quickly followed by a wave of fury so hot, my skin felt like it was on fire.

“Oh my god, Celeste!” she half-shouted, half-sobbed as she rushed toward me. “Where the hell have you been?”

Before I could get a word out, Vivian pulled me into a bone-crushing hug, clutching the back of my shirt in her fists. She held me so tight I could barely breathe, and though I winced from the pressure on my sore ribs, I hugged her back just as fiercely.

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

She pulled back, her green eyes narrowing as she looked me up and down. “You didn’t mean to worry me ? You’ve been gone for days! I thought… I thought something horrible had happened. I was ready to tear the entire city apart looking for you.”

When her voice cracked, guilt settled in my stomach even though there was nothing I could have done to change it.

“I’m okay, I swear,” I said, but even I didn’t believe myself. I could barely stand, and my body felt like it had been through a meat grinder. “I’m here now.”

Vivian gripped my shoulders. “I did everything I could… kept trying to get back into the security cameras to see if you were okay. They must’ve figured it out and put up safeguards because I haven’t been able to get back in.

What the fuck happened, Celeste? I heard those assholes talking, then the connection went dead. ”

A rustling behind her caught my attention, and I looked up to see Will’s lanky form stepping into view.

He stood awkwardly in the hallway, his tousled brown hair even messier than usual.

His wide, fear-filled eyes were stark against his pale face, but the moment he saw me, relief washed over his features.

“Celeste,” he breathed, and the next thing I knew, he wrapped his arms around Vivian and me, pulling us into a clumsy group hug. He was only eighteen, still a kid in so many ways, but he’d been my family ever since Roberto pulled him off the streets and put him to work.

Vivian had found him in an alley ten years ago, shivering, cold and begging for money or food. She pleaded with Roberto to break his “girls only” rule and take Will in. I suspected the only reason Roberto had acquiesced was because, like him, Will was a stray.

Vivian had been like a mother hen to him ever since. The three of us were like siblings.

“I thought we’d lost you,” Will mumbled into my hair, that vulnerability he usually tried to hide breaking through in the hitch of his voice. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Guilt crept up my spine, digging its thorns into my heart. What had I been thinking, trying to drown myself in Vincenzo’s bathtub? Gods, I was a selfish bitch. I would’ve abandoned Vivian and Will, and they never would have known what happened to me.

I squeezed both of them tightly. “I’m here, okay? I’m sorry.”

Will let out a shaky breath as he pulled back. “Viv was about to drag me out on some half-baked rescue mission to The Below. We thought we’d have to break down some fucking mafia doors or something.”

Another pang of guilt hit me. That’s exactly where they would’ve had to go. And if they had, they wouldn’t have made it out alive. Not against Vincenzo, Luca, and Dorian.

“I was in The Below the entire time. Things… got complicated.” I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

“I got into some trouble.” That was an understatement, but there was no way I could explain what really happened without dragging them deeper into this mess.

“The heist went wrong, and… Vincenzo Moretti caught me.”

Will’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Wait, Vincenzo Moretti ? As in the Night Lord? The mafia lord?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, avoiding his eyes. “That one.”

Vivian turned to Will. “Sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to worry you.”

“You knew?” Will looked somewhere between betrayed and angry.

“Celeste willingly broke into Vincenzo’s mansion without Roberto’s knowledge.

In case you idiots didn’t know, that’s called a suicide mission.

That was a fucking reckless decision on both your parts.

I thought I was the idiot of our group.”

“I know,” I said. “I should have listened to Vivian. She told me it was too dangerous. I was trying to pull off a job without Roberto knowing because I wanted to set us up for a while, so we wouldn’t have to depend on him.

I was confident I could do it. I’d had a vision that the mansion would be empty. It wasn’t.”

Will shook his head in disbelief. “And you got caught. What did he do to you?”

I swallowed hard, memories of the past few days flashing through my mind—Vincenzo beheading a man in front of me, Dorian feeding me grilled cheese, and Luca’s shadows searching every inch of me.

My skin tingled at the thought, and I pushed it away.

“It’s a long story, but he didn’t kill me. Obviously.”

Vivian’s mouth twisted in frustration, and tears welled in her eyes.

“Celeste, this is… this is insane. You can’t keep doing this to yourself, to us.

You can’t make unilateral decisions like that anymore.

It’s my fault for going along with it, but I tried to talk you out of it.

Those men are ruthless. I was scared to death. Will and I can’t lose you.”

“I know.” Tears burned the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away. “I know, Viv. I’m so sorry. I’m okay. Lesson learned.” I held my hands up in defense. “Never again. I’m here now.”

But for how long? When would Vincenzo decide he needed me in The Below? Would I always have to look over my shoulder, wondering if each shifting shadow was Vincenzo or one of his men, waiting to strike, to drag me back to a prison cell?

Vivian sighed and dragged a hand over her face. “You’re going to have to tell Roberto something. He’s been breathing down our necks, constantly asking where you are. I covered for you as best I could. Told him you were super sick. That you couldn’t even lift your head off the pillow.”

Right. Roberto.

I reached for my phone and suddenly remembered Vincenzo had broken it in two with his bare fucking hands.

Shit.

“Viv, can I borrow your phone?”

She nodded and handed it to me. Dread coiled in my gut as I dialed Roberto’s number. It rang once, then twice, and finally, Roberto’s oily voice answered.

“Vivian?” Roberto answered.

“It’s Celeste.”

“Celeste,” he drawled. “Finally decided to resurface, have we?”

I forced a light tone. “Hey, Roberto. Sorry I’ve been MIA. I was really sick.”

Silence. Then, “Sick?”

“Yeah.” I coughed for effect. “Food poisoning or some flu-like virus. It knocked me on my ass. I’m still recovering.”

There was a pause, and I could almost feel him weighing the lie in his mind and reading my aura through the phone. “Interesting timing,” he said slowly. “Because I have a lot of jobs lined up for you, doll. I can’t afford for you to go MIA again.”

I suppressed a groan. “I just need a couple more days to get back on my feet. I’ll be ready.”

He hummed in approval, though it sounded more like suspicion. “You better be. And Celeste?”

“Yeah?”

“Rest up. I need you good as new by Monday, are we clear?”

I clenched my jaw. “Loud and clear.”

I tossed the phone onto the table with a frustrated sigh. I couldn’t stay out of danger forever, not if I wanted to survive. I needed to work. I needed the money.

Vincenzo’s warning flashed in my mind. How serious had he been about me staying out of harm’s way and never returning to The Below unless he came to get me? My stomach sank. I knew one thing for sure: Vincenzo wasn’t the kind of man to make idle threats.

But I couldn’t just lie around and wait for my life to fall apart again. I couldn’t afford that. No matter what promises had been made, or what threats had been whispered, I had to keep going. Keep fighting.

Because if I didn’t? I’d end up right back on the streets. And that was a place I swore I’d never return to.

I stared at the box of mac ‘n’ cheese like it held the answer to all of life’s mysteries. It didn’t, but at least it was normal. Comforting. Something I could control, even if it was just a bowl of gooey, cheesy pasta. I needed that. Gods, I needed something normal.

When the water started boiling, I poured the noodles in, stirring absentmindedly. My mind kept drifting back to him . The fucking paradox that was Vincenzo Moretti.

I scowled into the bubbling water as if it could drown out my thoughts.

He was such a controlling prick. Demanding.

Threatening. And he’d made it clear that I was nothing but a pawn in his world.

I’d been sure of that from the beginning.

But then he went and saved me. He’d pulled me out of that bathtub and cradled me in his arms like I was something delicate, something precious .

My mind couldn’t reconcile it. Was I just not worth his time after all?

A little project he quickly got bored of?

Did I disgust him so much that he couldn’t stand having me in his home any longer?

And wasn’t he the one who said he’d kill me without a second thought? Why did it matter to him that I had chosen death as a way to escape from him?

I drained the pasta, steam rising in my face as I tossed butter, milk, and powdered cheese into the pot.

The way he looked at me…

I stirred harder, my grip on the spoon tightening.

No one had ever looked at me the way he did.

Like I mattered. Like he saw me—the real me—underneath all the bullshit.

He’d dried me off so carefully, his hands shaking slightly as if he was afraid for me.

No one in my life had ever cared for me like that. No one.