Mia laughs, lifting her glass of Blue Moon and clinking the edge of it with my glass of water.“Agreed, but he hasn’t taken his eyes off you since you walked in that door.Those jeans, strappy heels and that halter top, mamma you are looking hot and classy tonight.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh at my dramatic friends who are both grinning from ear to ear.It is so fun to be out and about, away from the stifling rules and security that make it feel like being chained in an ivory tower most days.I forget how downright oppressive all the protection detail is, but as soon as I get home for school break, all my privileges get curtailed again.I’m back to all the protocols that are put in place to protect the daughters of a crime family, especially one as notorious as ours.No matter that it’s supposed to be for my safety, it’s exhausting.
The bartender returns and the way his eyes slide over my body sends a chill down my spine.I quickly turn away, taking a sip of my drink before he even has a chance to spark a conversation.No matter what these two try tonight, I am not in the market for a relationship, date, or anything of the kind.
The bartender walks away, and I turn back towards Mia who looks up at me with a smile from her drink.“I can barely stand coming home these days.If it weren’t for my sister Anna, maybe I wouldn’t even bother.At least on campus I have a little freedom.It’s given me a true understanding of just how isolated and secured we really are when not at a school, where no one knows my real name.There, I’m not a mafia daughter, a mafia princess, or anyone but me.You know?Just one of many, working hard and pursuing a degree in business.”
I take another sip of the lime water and place it back on the bar, not really thirsty at all, just increasingly annoyed with all the protocols placed on me, half tempted to order a margarita and call an uber tonight.That would give everyone something to talk about in the morning.
Just the imagined look on my father’s face causes me to smile, but the trouble it would bring to my guards, especially Delz.He’llno doubt already be on the firing line of my father’s wrath for letting me slip out of the estate without security once he finds out, and it’s hardly worth the fun of a couple drinks.
Mia shrugs and links her arm with mine.“At least you’re at college most of the year.You have one more year before you have to think about anything definitive.Tonight, no tails, and we can do what we want.Forget about the rest, Sophia.”The tempo of a popular song picks up and Olivia half drags us to the dance floor singing at the top of her lungs with the rest of the crowd as the chorus to Tipsy is shouted from the stage.
One minute I’m following my friends, laughing and care free and the next minute my ankle twists, and I fall right into the arms of a brick wall, who’s looking down at me with the most intense dark eyes I’ve ever seen.
3
Massimo
Imake my way through the crowd, towards the bar.A group of women heading to the dance floor almost run smack into me in their haste to dance to a popular song, but the trailing beauty trips.The dark-haired lovely with flecks of gold sparking from her dark eyes and olive skin flushes with embarrassment as I catch her, keeping her upright on her sexy little heels.“So sorry,” she murmurs, giving me a big smile and then wide eyes like it was all my fault and not any of her own.
It’s hard not to smirk, or to enjoy the fact that she doesn’t recognize me at all or she wouldn’t be looking at me with curiosity and a little bit of heat.Instead, she’d be running for the fucking hills as fast as those little heels could get her there.I remove my hands from her tiny waist.“No apology necessary.”
The ladies turn, giggling as they weave in and among the other dancers, but my eyes stay on the one with the jean encased hips as she and her friends reach the dance floor.The beauty doesn’t hesitate, instead begins swaying seductively to the sultry beat as if in a trance and a world of her own.I take in every elegant move of her sexy little ass, and shape of her delicious curves.But the glow on her face, the laughter with her friends, the light in her eyes, and smile in the upward turn of her lips, all so genuine and somehow pure, intrigue me above everything else.
Pureness… A sight so uncommon in a world as dark as mine.In stark contrast to most of the conniving and cunning plays of the women who would do anything to snare a Roselli, who undoubtedly could keep them in the lap of luxury and give them everything their little hearts desire.That’s one thing about Desiree, although under duress from her father who will do anything to get our money, she couldn’t care less about the dollars, she just wants her freedom.
The bartender gives me a nod.A new guy, here only a few months, but already he knows the score and meets me as I reach the bar.“Delmar, boss?”he asks.
“Thanks.”I take a seat on a stool and watch the crowd, my mind running through the cover charge, multiplied by the number of chairs in the house and average number of drinks consumed on a night like tonight.Not to mention the various percentages from the services offered, that while not on the menu, can always be found in the dark rooms of an establishment like this.
It may not be my product of choice, but it’s been that way since our family came over from Sicily and isn’t likely to change as long as the girls are looking for safe, protected work and the johns keep showing up to pay.
My mind wanders back to the dark-haired beauty, my eyes scanning the dance floor, easily homing in on her presence among the rest.Picking her out easily, no matter the crowd.
She sways a little, causing my brows to knit.At first, I think it’s the dance, a sassy little spin perhaps, but then she puts her hands on her thighs for a moment and shakes her head while her long, thick dark hair falls around her.When she stands upright again, her eyes dart around almost frantically, as though looking for something.I track the direction and don’t see anything of interest, but she leaves her friends and begins to weave among the throng of dancers on the floor, swaying every once in a while as she makes her way to the restroom area.
My eyes track her every step of the way, like a hawk watching its prey.The minute she reaches the wall that leads to the bathrooms, her hands lean against it for a moment and then she sags as though catching her breath or holding herself upright.
What the fuck?Even running into me in her exuberance to get to the dance floor, she certainly didn’t appear intoxicated.Not like her friends.That close up, I would have smelled it.No, all I smelled was the minty fresh scent of her toothpaste, mouthwash or gum, and that sexy little vanilla scent mixed with a little bit of coconut.
My eyes scan the immediate area for a friend or boyfriend who should come find her and keep her on her feet although mine are already moving, because now she’s really leaning on the wall and not moving towards the bathroom.But instead, and much to my annoyance, she appears to be all alone, in the offset little space with no one coming to her aid at all.
Except the greasy fucker standing by the jukebox.His beady eyes dart around, looking both left and right, before he strides toward her in a hurry, puts his arm around her waist and walks with her toward the exit, whispering something in her ear that causes the light in her eyes from earlier to turn from her now confused state to fucking fear.
My blood pumps with rage immediately recognizing him for what the fuck he is, and I almost topple an empty bar stool I pass by, propelling myself faster across the floor.You do not snatch girls in my fucking club and that fucker is going to learn that the hard way today.I stalk them through the club, parting a sea of writhing bodies in my haste to get out the back door and follow them into the parking lot.There is nowhere this fucker can hide from me.
He’s slowed by her inability to move, but still the fucker’s clipping along, half dragging her between the vehicles.I move quicker, knowing Enrico and Mario are right behind me, never far away wherever I go.I move in and around the parked cars, racing forward to come behind him as the fucker opens the door of his beat-up old F-150 truck and tries to keep her upright at the same time.
The end of my Glock presses against his temple, the same move that has rendered many men motionless over the years, frozen in fear of what’s about to happen next.Seldom did many have a chance, their fates sealed tight by their indiscretions, double cross, or bad deals.They were going to die, and they knew it.And the man who looks up at me with bloodshot eyes and wide dilated pupils, he knows it too.
This man may live to see another day if he’s lucky, but only because he has information that I plan to obtain while he writhes in pain for the sins he planned against the dark-haired beauty.No one runs a snatch and grab at a Roselli’s club, and he along with the one who’s calling the shots are going to pay dearly for the stunt this jerkwad pulled tonight.They should have done their research and picked another club far outside this town’s limits, because there is no mercy at the hands of a Roselli, and I do not tolerate trafficking in my fucking city.And especially in my club.
Enrico and Mario are already securing the man before I’ve had to give an order.“Take this fuck to the warehouse, I’ll deal with him later.And tell Jimmy to meet me around front.”I grasp the girl around the waist, drawing her body to my own to hold her upright.“Get your fucking hands off her,” I growl at the prick.
Mario wrenches the fucker’s hands behind his back.I hear a joint crack, a satisfying pop of his shoulder coming out of place as he’s restrained.That shoulder is going to be the least of his worries after I get my hands on him tonight.
The woman slumps in my arms.Whatever she’s been given has rendered her completely immobile now.The way it came on so fast, my bet’s on a quick acting Rohypnol and whatever the fuck they lace it with these days.“Get him to the warehouse and tell Jimmy to get here faster,” I growl at Mario and Enrico, lifting her into my arms, letting her face cradle against my chest and carrying her to the end of the parking lot, waiting barely three minutes before my capo pulls up in a sleek black limousine.
