I settle onto the bed, letting her rest a little while longer before calling Jimmy to have the car brought around.She stirs and her eyes flutter gently.“Did you like your present?”she asks softly.
My dick hardens immediately.Why this woman has a stranglehold on all of my senses I do not know, only that she does.I gather her clothes and begin assisting her into them, only so I can peel layer after layer of the sexy pink lingerie from her skin once at home.“You know I did.And you?How do you feel?”
Her eyes tell me everything, she needs no words to convey her thoughts with me but I want her to feel comfortable talking with me about the intimate things.“It was amazing.As always, but different somehow.”Her eyes shine with gentleness.“Never in a thousand years did I think for a second I would let someone do that to me, or tie me up, or bind me, or any of this at all.And with a Roselli, never.But I don’t think we’re the same people anymore, at least not enemies.I trust you, Massimo.”
I gather her close once she’s dressed, looking down at my little kitten who is coming into her own.Young and innocent in so many ways of the world yet trained and hardened in some of the necessary ways too.A mixture of sweet innocence and ruthless tenacity.All traits I love in my dark-haired beauty, and I plan to tell her that soon.When the moment is right, not in a sex club or when she feels she’s in a prison of necessity.When the time and place are right, then I’ll tell her.Fuck, I’ll scream it from the rooftops, so everyone knows exactly who she belongs to because she fucking belongs to me and I’m keeping her for my entire life.
The minute we’re out of the club and safely into the back of the sleek black limo Jimmy brought around, the tension on the sides of my temples that started to grow at the thought of having her outside of the estate begins to subside.It was reckless to bring her here.Only knowing that my soldiers have all the families under surveillance, and that we now have inside men watching the bastards made the little trip out of our estate with Sophia a possibility.But still, it was something I don’t plan to do again.Not for a while.
Jimmy is driving, and when he’s around, no one is getting to us unless it’s through his cold dead body.He’d take a bullet for me or any of my brothers and even my dad, and every fucking one of us feel the same about him.He’s more than a part of the family, maybe not blood but one of us just the same, a Roselli where it counts the most, in the heart.
He pulls out into the closest lane and heads to the middle, putting his foot on the gas to get us through the light before the yellow turns red.“Straight home, boss?”
I give him a nod.“Let’s stick to the main roads.”
“Okay.Enrico and Mario, they’ll stay on our tail, and Lennie and the others are up ahead and behind.No need to worry.We’re good, boss.”
I glance to my right and notice the short beard on the face of another of our drivers.Jimmy has put in extra security for which I’m grateful.We’re well protected.“Thanks, Jimmy.”I appreciate him thinking of the extra detail, but then it’s what I expect him to do.Me and my brothers can always count on him to do whatever it takes, no matter the situation.Even when we’ve given him different instructions, just like at the boat, rounding back because of some sixth sense, intuition or whatever the fuck he calls it.He’s got our backs, no matter what.
And the newest of my inside men in the Amorte and Gallini crime families had better be doing exactly what I need them to be doing too, which is get me more fucking information than I’ve got today.I need concrete fucking proof, not pieced together conversations that can come back to mean a number of things and bite me and my family in the ass if we were to act prematurely over any of them.
We didn’t just send anyone in, either.I sent a couple of my best men in, safeguarded in the old country until flown in a couple of weeks ago.When Amorte and Gallini needed men, they just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and of course their backgrounds all checked out.Flights from Italy confirmed, even the family they worked for confirming their loyalty and dedication, because they fucking work for us too.
Now, hopefully all that coordination and bother gets us the information we need because the Amortes have something on someone, there’s not a doubt in my mind because he sure as fuck doesn’t have the influence.Once we find out what it is, and who he’s blackmailing, we’ll use it to get them off our back and make new friends at the PD.Then we’ll find out who’s pushing detectives Brice and Loch’s buttons or if the detectives have a personal grudge of their own that I’ve not yet uncovered.Either way, I’m fed up with these games.Information, that’s what I need.
The fucking detectives are the last people I expect to see as the limo climbs the road above the shore, leading to my estate.The guardsmen have them waiting in their cars, and they watch us as we make our way past them, through the small ornate gate and into the estate above the sea.I pull my cell out of my pants pocket and connect with Leandro.“Brice and Loch are at the estate.We just got home from Carnal Sins.Stop whatever you’re doing and get here now.Have Emil meet us here in half an hour.”
He doesn’t answer, just disconnects but there’s no doubt that he’s doing exactly what I asked without hesitation.But until then, I guess we’re going to spend the next half an hour in a sparring match with the two detectives who are quickly making their way onto my shit list.A place no man should ever want to be.
Sophia grasps my hand and leans in, whispering to me as though Jimmy shouldn’t hear what she’s going to say.“There’s nothing to worry about.I’ve been trained to deal with men like them all my life.Watch and learn.”
12
Sophia
Massimo is not pleased by my joke, although I meant every word of it, which he probably knew.His protective arm tightens around me, bringing me face to face with him.“Our attorney is on the way.You will say nothing.We’ll keep the officers company until he arrives, politely but with no discussion of the case or by answering any questions they have.They were warned already with their barrage of accusations.More of that and they’ll find themselves out of jobs.”
He doesn’t say,or worse, at the bottom of the sea, all things that run through my mind as I contemplate what my father and his men would be doing right now if the positions were reversed.Someone must be pushing the detectives’ buttons, especially for them to be back already after getting such a firm dismissal and warning from Massimo.
They don’t scare me.Well, maybe a little, but I’m not going to let them get under my skin.What did Papa always say.Don’t let them unsettle you, tell them everything without telling them anything, be overly cooperative and not cooperative at all, make them feel like you’re bending over backwards to help them, when you’re not helping them at all.Monkey dust.It always comes down to that.Sprinkle a few things into the air and let them start chasing that while it gives you time to do what needs to be done.I’ve got this Massimo, whether he thinks I do or not.
I am a Cassone, not some fragile little doll, and even though he protected me from the repercussions of committing the act, I did nothing wrong but defend myself.Maybe being at the wrong place at the wrong time is my only crime, and of course not coming forward and divulging what I did to the police.But it’s simply not our way.Amorte has to be the one I’m being chased down and questioned for, but if Papa were in old man Amorte’s place, he would be doing the same.If he had lost sons, the whole world would be toppled on its head.Unlike losing a daughter and my father not doing anything at all, or at least it seems that way to me.
As if Massimo can read my thoughts, he turns me to face him with a touch to my chin.“Say nothing, kitten.You keep those claws ready for me in the bedroom.Let the attorney deal with the detectives, understand?”
It’s not like he’s asking a question, really, but there’s a part of me that wants to show him that I’m not some little princess he needs to worry about leaving on their own.I do know how to take care of myself.I will prove it to him the minute I get the chance with those lousy detectives.They don’t get to get away with accusing me of crimes without one bit of evidence to back it up, because I was there and saw it all go up in flames.Not that I’ll tell the detectives that, but I will give them something to think about whether Massimo likes it or not.
I glance over at the non-descript popular sedan the detectives are driving as Massimo gives me his hand and I get out of the car.The plain clothes detectives join us and walk with us up to the door just as a black sports car roars up the hill and parks behind us.
Leandro gets out and strides toward us as Elsie opens the front door and lets us inside.Massimo guides us all to the great room.Leandro looks like he’s just come from the office, dressed in a dark black suit that looks similar to Massimo’s but with a flashy red tie compared to Massimo’s conservative one.It’s hard not to liken their tie preferences to their personalities, at least on the outside.Although I think Leandro can be just as intense as Massimo when the need arises.They are definitely brothers and just the fact that he dropped whatever he was in the middle of to be here clearly shows their bond.
We walk into the great room, letting Elsie and the men meet our uninvited guests at the door.They walk into the great room and look around, taking in as much as they can without a warrant of any kind.Massimo is far from kind.“You’re not welcome here without a warrant or our attorney.How dare you intrude on our night?”
The detective with the dark hair, Detective Brice, ignores Massimo and focuses his eyes on me.He thinks he’s going to make me avert my eyes, let them shift to something else, belying my nervousness, but instead I look him dead in the eye.“What brings you here again, Mr.Brice?”It’s been so long now since seeing them last that I thought the issue was done.
His irritation at my lack of address of his detective status is clear but he doesn’t take the bait or rise to the intentional oversight.“We have a few more questions, things that have just come to light, and as you know, gives us the right to ask when in the middle of an investigation, especially of this magnitude.”
I give him a wink and cross my legs, letting the length of the long flap of my trench coat fall to the side, exposing a great deal of thigh.His eyes track the movement and his jaw tightens.I watch him swallow through his emotion and interest.
