Enchant (Eagle Elite) (4 page)

Joyce was pale, sitting in a chair with an IV hooked up to her arm. She was reading a magazine, she looked happy.

I could make her happy.

But only as much as she let me.

Damn.

I pulled up a chair.

She yelped and then narrowed her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Had to get blood drawn.”

“Liar.”

I smirked, “You wanna watch? That type of thing get you going woman?”

With an eye roll she pushed at my arm, not hard, damn the girl had the strength of an ant.

“Why are you here Frank? I won the wager, remember?”

“Ah yes…” I leaned back, “The Wager, tell me, how was my brother in bed? Did he cry afterwards?”

“You’re an ass!” She hissed.

“I’m the ass?” I leaned forward, “I’m the ass? I didn’t lure a man to my bed under false pretenses.”

“They weren’t false.”

“I also didn’t seduce a twenty-one year old kid for money.”

“Leave me.” Her color was high. “Now.”

“Is that how it’s gonna be Joyce? You’re going to play with your new toy until you get bored?”

I was goading her.

She was playing directly into my hands.

“Maybe I will!” She threw the magazine at me as I stood. “Luca is twice the man you are.”

“Perhaps.” I inclined my head, “But you’re less of a woman for lying to him.” I pointed at the machines. “How long Joyce? How long do you have if this all goes away?”

Fear radiated from her entire body. “Not long.”

“I can fix that.”

“What? You’re suddenly God?”

“Everything…has a cost, Joyce. Everything.”

Her steely eyes narrowed.

“And it’s time you pay up.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Not now.” I opened the door, “But soon, very soon, you will. Have a nice evening and be sure to say hi to Luca for me.”

I left the room and was intercepted by Jim in the hall.

“Did you get it?” I whispered under my breath as we walked briskly towards the exit.

“Recorded every damn word…you sure this is what’s best for Luca?”
      “He needs to be hard. This world…it isn’t meant for us.” I swallowed the dryness in my throat. “Better he learn his lesson now, better he take what’s his for the taking before it’s too late.”

“Right…” Jim whistled. “I guess I’ll set everything up for this evening.”

“No…” I grabbed his shoulder. “Give the kid another day with her before it all goes down…he deserves at least that.”

“You think it a kindness to give him heaven only to send him to hell?”

“I think it a kindness that he experiences heaven at all while on this earth, obey me in this or I’ll be carving out your heart before dinner, capiche?”

“Yeah,” Jim croaked, “Yeah Frank, I get it, no need to put me on ice.

CHAPTER SEVEN

We made love under the stars… our love affair lasted two days. Two days of knowing that you were one with your soul mate. Forty-eight hours of awe inspiring seconds that turn into minutes, that pour into hours where you lie to yourself and tell yourself it will last forever. Forever, my dear, is a very long time. I should know… because I’ve been missing your Uncle Luca exactly that long. – Joyce Alfero

H
IS LIPS WERE MADNESS
, coaxing me toward the ledge, begging me to jump with him. He teased as much as he fulfilled my every desire.

“I love you.” I whispered against his mouth. We were back at his apartment, wrapped in blankets, having just finished Chinese. It wasn’t the most romantic scene a person could witness, but as he’d said before. It was us.

“Joyce, I’ve loved you since I was a boy.”

“And you’re a man now?” I teased. I was older than him by five years, not that it mattered, the heart wants…. well mine wanted him.

He nipped my neck, then ground his naked body against mine sending shivers of pleasure all the way down to my toes. “I don’t know, Joyce, you tell me?”
      I reached for his length, “All man.”

“Damn right.” He moaned, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he turned me onto my stomach and pinned my arms above my head. I felt vulnerable but with him always safe.

“Forever.” His gruff whisper was wet against my ear as his lips moved in a sensual rhythm matching that of his hips. He drove into me over and over again, promising forever, promising things no man has the power to promise.

And the worst part?

I believed him.

Just as much as I believed in us.

We made love for hours.

And then, something peculiar happened. Around two am, the neon sign flickered.

Signs flicker all the time.

It shouldn’t surprise me.

But this flicker hit me like a warning.

Time’s up… it said.

I burrowed my head against his chest and ignored the warning bells ringing through my body.

I was being paranoid.

Four hours later.

I awoke to a pounding on the door.

With a curse, Luca jumped from the bed, put on a pair of slacks and grabbed his gun. “Who is it?”

He must have recognized the people on the other side, because he swung the door wide open.

And was shot directly in the chest.

The scream that erupted from my lungs was silent, as if the sound had been stolen directly from my throat.

Luca crumpled to the floor.

Men I didn’t recognize grabbed me and threw a dark sack over my head. The last thing I remembered was pain slicing through my skull.

And severe loss.

**

It could have been hours or merely minutes. I woke up chained to a chair. Things didn’t look good. The men circled me like prey each of them grinning at my state of undress. Whoever had captured me had at least thrown a dress over my body though it hung across my shoulders, almost revealing my breasts.

“We do this easy or hard.” A man with a thick accent said from the shadows.

“W-what?”

“Easy or hard. Ladies choice.”

“I don’t understand.” I gulped, “Please, just let me go.”

Laughter erupted around the room. “Let you go?” The thick accent grew louder. “Just let you go? You are our bargaining chip, sweet.”

A loud knock sounded at the door and then. “He’s arrived.”

Frank entered. I breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s the meaning of this Nicholas?”

Ah so the man had a name.

I waited while Frank crossed his arms as if bored of the entire scene.

“She belongs to your family?” Nicholas pointed, “Belongs to your dead brother?”

My body convulsed.

“Bull shit.” Frank rolled his eyes, “She belongs to me.”

The hell I did.

“She was in your brother’s bed, no?”

“Yes.” Frank hissed as if the idea was so abhorrent he couldn’t even mutter an affirmative answer. “And she’ll be punished. But she is my wife.”

I felt my body tighten. Wife?

“And your own brother…” He laughed, “Decided to try a piece?”

Franks swore and hit the man across the face. “A life for a life, Nicholas.”

The gun went off.

Nicholas fell in a heap to the ground.

Men around him began pulling out their firearms as Frank lifted his hands in surrender. “Don’t do him the honor of even defending his miserable life, all of you Nicolasi men are the same. Now, who stands to take over? You better find out and find out soon because we will come for you.”

Another shot rang out as the person closest to me fell to the ground, blood seeping from his skull onto the cement.

“And we will destroy you.” Another gunshot.

Another body.

I closed my eyes willing the nightmare to go away.

“You need a boss, lest you turn on one another and lose what precious money and respect you have left.” Another gunshot.

A man screamed.

Frank laughed. The bastard laughed. “We are the second most powerful family in the Cosa Nostra, you either stay and suffer my wrath or nominate your next boss by midnight and leave the country.”

Men murmured in Sicilian. Then one clipped. “It is a tedious situation, the man to replace is young, he is… injured.”

“Then you better hope he wakes up, you better pray to God that he survives whatever has been done to him, because if you don’t elect a new leader, one you trust, one the rest of the Families approve of…” Another gunshot.

More cursing.

“I’ll destroy you all.”

I opened my eyes to see dead bodies all around me, blood caked to the floor, running like a river towards the door.

And then Frank was in front of me, unlocking the chains and lifting me into his arms.

“Shhh.” He whispered in my ear. “I’ve got you… I’ll never let you go. I swear it.”

“H-he’s dead.”

“I know.” His eyes flashed, “And we’ll get our revenge.”

I nodded. Next to Luca, Frank was the only other man I could trust.

“I’ll protect you, Joyce.”

“I know you will.”

“Until the very end.”

Had I known what he was referring to… had I been able to comprehend the betrayal of that man’s words… well I don’t know what I would have done. Perhaps instead of clinging to him like my lifeline, I would have been the one with a gun, and I would have been pointing it at his forehead.

For within forty eight hours he’d given me both a reason to live and a reason to die.

And sometimes, I still hate him for it.

Hate him for what he forced his brother to become.

And hate him for what he forced me to endure.

Then again, hate only breeds more hate, more anger, and in the end, I was gifted with a beautiful family, a beautiful life, would I take it all back?

Some days yes.

Some days no.

CHAPTER EIGHT

When someone dies, a part of you is buried along with them. I never got to say goodbye, I wasn’t even done saying hello. That’s the thing about introductions, you never know if it will be your first or your last, better make it good is what I always say. I live by my greetings. I live by my words. Because I never know if I’m to be silenced. I never know when my time will come. – Joyce Alfero