Three nurses rushed into my room and played with the machines connected to me. A wave of grief plowed through me. I heard the sounds of muffled voices as I felt myself go numb. I vaguely remember hearing Kade yelling at the doctor to do something before I felt my brain get fuzzy and everything went black.
A bark from my service dog, Lucy, was enough to get me out of the trance. It wasn’t unusual for me to look at the scars and remember… remember everything that had happened. Lucy was trained to pick up on my tendencies and knew how to keep mefrom spiraling. I looked at her cute, round Rottweiler face in the mirror. She huffed, trying to get my attention. I knew what she wanted. It was breakfast time, and I had taken way too long getting to the kitchen.
I hung up the towel wrapped around my waist and put on the gym shorts I had left on the bathroom's marble counter. Lucy’s nails clicked on the concrete flooring of the penthouse as we walked toward the kitchen.
After feeding my girl, I looked around the vast space of the apartment and couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath. Being the second in command to the Don of the Mafia came with shit hours and dirty jobs, but it paid well. I had come a long way from the impoverished lifestyle I was used to as a young boy. My mind wandered back to the tiny motel suite that my mother rented so I could go to the prep school.
Kade and I had become friends in third grade after my mother had worked her ass off to send me to private school. She had refused to let our impoverished lifestyle impact my education. He had seen a group of boys approaching me on the playground, making fun of my hand-me-down uniform. When Kade had seen that the bullying was escalating, he intervened and kicked their asses. When we learned that we were both obsessed with Batman and loved sports cars, friendship came naturally.
My mother knew about Kade’s family, and she made me promise that I would join the military to get proper training before I joined the Mafia. I think part of her always knew that she would die at the hands of a man in the underworld, and she wanted me to have a fighting chance. When she was killed in a drive-by shooting when I was fourteen, Kade’s father took me in as his own and taught me the skills I would need to excel in the military.
During my time with the Marines I became one of the country's most decorated Veterans, and started getting called The Machine.
My phone chimed, signaling a text coming through. I smiled as I saw it had come from our childhood friend, Lennie. Today’s GIF was of a corgi wiggling its ass. The girl had some weird obsession with corgis, and every day she sent us a GIF or meme of a corgi.
Lennie and I had bonded as the only two students at the prep school without a trust fund. One day, I got my ass handed to me while Kade was in class, and Lennie came to my aid. After that, Kade swore he would do everything in his power to protect Lennie.
Suddenly, a slew of CODE RED texts came through on the screen—there was a data breach at Romano Security Systems. Moving as quickly as I could, I got ready and rushed to RSS to see what was going on.
As soon as I walked into the building, I knew that whatever we were dealing with wasn’t good. Employees talked over each other, fumbled with phones, and typed vigorously on their computers.
My job at RSS was complicated. I wasn’t a CEO or a vice president; however, everyone knew I was Kade’s right hand, which afforded me some jurisdiction. I knew Kade was in business meetings this morning and most likely wasn’t looking at his phone.
I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Kade, once again asking where the fuck he was. I’d left him four voicemails and three texts so far. When he didn’t respond to my texts, I called again. Finally, he picked up.
“Dude, where are you?!” I hissed through the phone.
“I was in a meeting, I couldn’t look at my phone,” he barked back.
“Well, you need to get to RSS quickly. We have a security situation. The Hive is?—”
“I’ll be there in two minutes! Make sure no one leaves the building!”
“Yes,compagno.”
The call disconnected and I took a breath before posting myself at the entrance. Well, this was going to be fun.
FOUR
MACHINE
By the time Kade arrived, Evelyn had single-handedly resolved the cyberattack. At first, he ripped her and Lennie a new one for failing to follow protocol. He changed his tune when he learned that client files were almost leaked, not to mention more dangerous information nearly being discovered.
Now we were walking through the industrial-chic building of Dominos, trying to get back into Evelyn’s good graces. Dominos was an elite gym for an elite clientele, and was also where my best friend’s hot obsession worked. I was excited to finally meet the “badass” in charge of all the martial arts and self-defense classes. Kade had told me enough about the chick, and I was dying to meet her.
After swiping our day passes, we headed to the weights room where we were greeted by one of the most breathtaking women I had ever seen.
Skin-tight navy-blue yoga pants covered her long legs, and a matching sports bra showed a hint of her peaked nipples. A high ponytail of blonde hair revealed her slender, tan neck. Her body was sculpted to perfection.
“Oh, hi Mr. Romano, nice to see you again,” she said with a beaming smile while holding out her hand.
Kade gave her a smile in return. I knew that smile. It was one that many women had fallen for.
“Nice to see you again, but please call me Kade,” he responded, shaking her hand.
“And you are?” she asked, looking at me.
I shot out my hand and said the first thing that came to mind. “Friends call me Machine. But you can call me anytime.” I gave her a wink for good measure. Women typically enjoyed my cheesy pickup lines. Judging by the look she gave me, she was immune to my charm. “What is your name, gorgeous?”
