Harmony (34 page)

“
He’s doing this for you, Mony. Don’t know the man. Antonio hated him, said he was evil and cruel. I haven’t seen that since I’ve been here. I know he loves you sis. But he’s one of them, and sooner or later they coming for him. It’s best we be gone before they do.”

“
Eat your food,” she said and walked out. In the hall she closed her eyes and touched her heart. The fantasy was far better than the cold reality of her brother’s words. Quickly she rushed down the stairs to the bottom level. She went to his door prepared to throw it open. She sucked down several breaths and pressed her ear to it to listen instead.

“
It’s done boss. Luciano has given the order. Collins wants a meeting, says you can choose the place.”

Romano chuckled. He picked up his glass of imported whiskey and downed the contents. The burn of the whiskey soon soothed along his tongue and cleared his head. “Tomorrow Harmony leaves. Do I have until tomorrow?” Romano asked, he closed his eyes and rolled the tension from his neck.

“
I believe so. The Irish delivered another shipment today. Word is there’s a big deal that Collins will control. The Atlantic City deal.”

The contents of Romano’s stomach soured. He glanced at the stew and cut of fresh baked bread and wanted to throw the plate into the wall. The bastard now had his deal. He swore under his breath in Italian. On his mother’s grave he intended to fire a single bullet into Mickey Collins face, before they sent him to hell. “Tomorrow. We can deal tomorrow. But we know it’s not going down the way they expect.”

“
Meaning?” Ignacio.

“
We’ll be waiting for them. Here. And we’ll remind Luciano of
La Cosa Nostra
by sending him what’s left of Mickey Collins. I want the men, those who choose to remain, to arm themselves tight. If Mickey tries to ride in tonight and take us by surprise we’ll be ready for them,” he said in deadly earnest.

Ignacio cleared his throat. “Maybe you should consider another way. Take your lady and the kid and leave tonight, under the cover of dark. We’ll cover your back, out of the state.”

Romano let go a deep ball of laughter. There wasn’t an ounce of humor in it. He glared at Ignacio with murderous intent. “No. My time is over. I won’t fucking run like a coward. They want me they can come for me.”

“
NO!” Harmony yelled throwing open the door. The men looked back in surprise. No one was more surprised than him from her sudden appearance. Had she been listening at his door? He narrowed his eyes on her. Harmony marched into the room glaring in return. “You lied to me! Didn’t you? You had no intention of going to New Mexico with me!”

“
Leave us alone boys and do as I said.”

“
Answer me dammit!”

Romano rose from his chair. Ignacio and Gio both made a quick exit. Not before giving his Songbird curious looks. He figured no one would understand them, how deeply he cared for her, and she the same for him. He didn’t give a shit. It had been the wild panic and anger in her eyes that set him on edge. He couldn’t deal with her breaking down on him now. It was hard enough to make the choices he had.

“
You were going to give up. You coward! Why not tell me the truth, instead of making me think you cared?”

“
That’s enough Harmony!”

“
Go to hell!” she shouted back. “You’re a coward!”

“
Coward? Coward! You think this is easy for me? Do you?” He leveled a finger at her. “I don’t owe you any explanation. You do as you’re told!”

Harmony laughed. She crossed her arms. “I’m not those men, or that scared boy in another room hoping you won’t take out your vengeance on him. From day one I did as I please. You don’t order me around!”

Romano ran his hand back over his head and tried to calm himself. He paced before his desk to keep his anger in check before he spoke again. “There are things you don’t know. I won’t go into it further…”

“
I know enough! I heard enough!”

His gaze whirled to her and he stood still. “You’ve been spying on me?” he seethed.

“
Just like you’ve been lying to me. Funny thing is Vinnie, I believed in you. Believed you could fix this, truth is you’re giving up! That’s not the man I love!”

“
Let’s be clear Songbird, you don’t know half of the man I am. If I say you’re leaving you’re leaving dammit!”

“
No! No! NO!”

The woman was making him crazy. He reached for her, only to try and get a hold on her screaming at him, but she reacted swiftly. She swatted her hands at him and went on the attack. The more he tried to contain her the wilder her fury grew. She hit at his face and shoulders all at once. Sharp stinging slaps that knocked him back. He grabbed her by the waist to stop the abuse and she howled with outrage. “You bastard! I won’t let you! I won’t!”

Romano lifted her bodily from the floor as she clawed, shoved, and kicked to be free. There was nothing he could promise that would undo the reality of the situation. He had screwed this up with Annie. Lost her, with her hating him in the end. Though he was furious that she spied on him and spoke to him the way she did, he couldn’t finish things with the men hunting him now if she didn’t promise to love him. He brought her down on the sofa and pinned her arms above her head. Harmony screamed to the top of her lungs. She bucked beneath him crying and shaking her head furiously side to side.

“
Listen! Listen dammit.”

“
I hate you! I hate you for making me believe that we… I hate you! Noooo!”

“
I hate me too. Don’t you understand that?”

She stopped, blinking up at him, her chest rising and falling with her heavy breathing. He nodded. “I hate myself. I always have, Songbird. I tried. I really did. But this is over. And I need you, if I’m going to see it through. My way.”

“
Please don’t,” she wept. “Please don’t do this.” He brushed his lips over her wet cheeks. He tried to kiss her mouth but she turned her face away and refused him, exposing her slender neck. Romano inhaled her skin and pressed a soft kiss over the bulging vein along her neck. He put every ounce of his weight down on her to keep her pinned beneath him. There was an ongoing struggle to catch his own breath.

“
You’re right,” he panted. “If I were stronger Antonio would have never robbed me of everything. But I’m no coward, Songbird. It’s taking everything in me to release you. Everything.”

She cried harder.

The flaming heat of his humiliation burned in his chest and flushed his face, which he buried against her neck. He hated weakness in any man, least of all him. Antonio knew this. Their father had taught them both how to exploit an enemy’s failures. But if his brother hadn’t steered him in the path of her, he’d never know the love she’d brought him. So for that, on the eve of his downfall, he found a measure of gratitude in his heart.

“
Let me go,” she moaned.

Harmony’s misery and his was complete. Didn’t she know this? Romano squeezed his eyes tightly shut to prevent his own tears from falling. “I’m trying,” he wheezed.

The deep sobs escaping her were unrelenting. How could a woman so strong come apart completely over the end of him? He wasn’t worthy. She didn’t become his willingly. He exploited her desperation to find her brother to lure her into his bed. That was the beginning of their love song. Even he believed that this ending fit his crime.

Romano released his hold on her wrists and let his open palms run gently down her arms. Her sobbing began to ease. It didn’t matter. Her tears and the sounds of her pain had broken his fragile hold on control. If he was to see this through now, he’d need her help.

“
Don’t punish me.” He captured her lips and tried to force her to respond. “I love you so much,” he said against her tightly pressed lips, then eased his tongue between her teeth. “The last thing… I want… is… to lose you,” he breathed between deep throating her. If she stayed he couldn’t protect her. And if she left, his death would be the only guarantee she’d be free—he’d seen to it. This sacrifice was the only repentance he had left. He’d done a lot of bad things since he crossed the shores into America. He’s murdered, robbed, bootlegged, turn friend against friend, and brought about the death of his own brother.

“
I’m sorry.” He dragged his mouth from hers and leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m so sorry, Harmony.”

She grabbed his face and returned his kiss. Her lovely tongue licked his lips and stroked inside before sweeping deeply and he felt a surge of lightheadedness. Romano closed his eyes and shut out the sight of her pain. Instead he focused on the heat between their bodies and the safety he felt to be himself in her arms.

The hard tightness in his groin made him selfish. He should just hold her and talk out their goodbye. Find the comforting words to give her so she would remember him fondly, and not like this, broken and needy. But he craved the physical more. He grabbed the bottom material of her dress hiking it up her thighs. He’d fuck her now. The urgency twisting his gut into a tight knot told him so. Damn if she didn’t kiss him harder, forcing her passion to consume him, making him fumble with clumsiness. But he managed to ease his zipper down and release himself. He had no time to remove her undies, pushing the seat of her panty aside Romano flexed his hips and thrust into her.

To his relief he found her wet and ready for him. Her thighs cradled his hips. Her silken walls squeezed and suctioned him. With another push he braced himself by gripping the arm of the sofa and sank deeper. His strokes were slow, measured for pleasure, hers and his. When she tried to wrap her legs higher around his waist, he lifted and pushed her right thigh down and away to open her to his invasion, so he could slam unimpeded into her juicy pussy. Harmony’s soft cries were music to his ears, yet tears still trekked down her damp cheeks.

Oh how he loved her body, her spirit, her ability to care for him even when they both knew he was undeserving. Nearly mindless he thrust into her repeatedly edging them both toward a new release. He’d take the sweet feel of her with him to his grave. He lifted his belly to look down to where their bodies joined. A deep shudder of pleasure and lustful need sliced through him. Her hand eased between them to ring his shaft and slow his pumping so he glided easy through her fingers into her tight pussy. And his strokes began to gently tunnel deeper, driving them closer to their breaking point.

Romano tossed his head back and closed his eyes moving in and out of her molten channel, and she let go of his cock, digging her fingernails into his butt cheeks. The love he carried for her made his sacrifice burn his gut. He groaned and felt tears form behind his closed lids as he pumped harder and faster, trying to outrun the doubts and weakness that made him want to grab her now and drive away from it all just to live his days with her. His hips circled, grinding the base of his cock to her clit. He thrust harder, deeper, until the pressure in his balls exploded and he couldn’t think of regrets or second chances. The built-up passion between them exploded and he released his seed deep into her womb. A brief flutter of hope passed through his racing heart that tonight a baby would take root and a little person in his image would be his legacy.

When his eyes opened he gazed down at Harmony. She burst into tears once more and he collapsed against her breasts, breathing hard. Her legs eased down and she rubbed his head as she wept.

“
I’m sorry, Doll. Forgive me.”

Harmony rolled silently to her side. Vinnie slept next to her, his arms and legs thrown across her. Her move forced him to shift and drop to his back. He’d been half-drunk when she barged in on his meeting. The emotional attack they waged on each other had wiped him out. Before his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

Careful not to disturb him she eased out from under the covers. The room was so frosty her skin prickled with tiny goose bumps covering her. Vinnie rolled and she thought he’d wake. He didn’t. But she stood perfectly still to be sure he remained sleep. When a soft snore escaped him she bolted for the chair and grabbed her robe, throwing it over her naked body. She hurried out of the room to the stairs. It was Saturday morning, near dawn. The Cotton Club would be nearing its final act and the girls would be changing and dressing to leave. If she was lucky she’d reach Paulette.

Harmony crept into his office. Careful, she closed the door softly behind her and locked it. Then she went for the phone. She rang the club and prayed Charlie answered. He did. She begged and pleaded with him to get Paulette. She wasn’t sure why Charlie granted her wish but after a ten-minute debate on the subject her friend was given the phone.