Jerked: A Stepbrother Mob Romance (City Series) (23 page)

He was my kind of guy.

“Boss O’Brian,” the Don called out. “We thank you for this generous gift.”

O’Brian nodded. “It was our pleasure.”

“Tell me, why does he look so abused?”

I glanced at Fabrizio and couldn’t stifle a smile. For the past few hours, our men had worked him over again and again, keeping him awake but inflicting as much pain as possible, all as a lesson to him and his New York people. We had kept him from losing his leg, but we had made his life miserable in other ways. They weren’t going to fuck with the Irish ever again.

“Don, I can only say that he must have fallen down a flight of stairs. I do not know why he is so abused.”

The Italian boss smiled and stopped in front of O’Brian.

“Your boys didn’t have anything to do with it?”

“Don, I am offended,” O’Brian said, playing it up. “We would never injure a member of the Cosa Nostra, not on purpose, at least.”

“And so, this was an accident?”

“Purely an accident.”

Fabrizio looked terrified and shocked as the two men shook hands amiably. I knew that the pageantry was all for the enlisted men. In fact, the Italian Don knew from the start that we had caught Fabrizio, and approved of our violent activities against him. As it turned out, the Italians didn’t take kindly to members of their own who went rogue and tried to start a war with another powerful gang.

“Very well, I take your word,” the Don said.

“Most appreciated, Don.”

“Please, send the man over and let’s be done with this whole thing.”

“Gladly.”

O’Brian jerked his head toward me, and I shoved Fabrizio forward. He stumbled but caught himself and walked over to the Italian side, limping on his wounded leg. I followed him up until we reached O’Brian and the Don, and watched as Fabrizio continued on over to his people. Once he was there, someone ripped off the duct tape and cut his hands free. Fabrizio gave me a dirty look but couldn’t meet my eyes.

Good. He was lucky to be alive. But at least I had broken him like the dog he was.

O’Brian gestured at me. “Don, this is Colin Blake, my second in command.”

They spoke softer, not wanting the men to overhear.

The Don nodded. “Good to meet you. I’ve heard good things.”

I dipped my head in respect. “Thank you, sir.”

“But please, don’t beat anymore of my soldiers. They get angry when you do that.”

I grinned. “I won’t, sir. At least not without a very good reason.”

He laughed. “Good enough.”

O’Brian gave me a nod and I walked back over to our people and leaned back against the hood of my car, watching. Fabrizio was hustled into the back of a car and it pulled away immediately, driving fast to whatever hole they were going to put him in. I wondered what the Italians were going to do to him in the long run, or if we were punishment enough for the piece of shit. I hoped he had more pain in store.

O’Brian and the Don spoke in low tones about something. I didn’t bother trying to listen in, since O’Brian would tell me all about it later. Still, it was a pretty big deal to see the two most powerful gang leaders in the city speaking out in the open like they were. They communicated all the time, but usually through back channels, and never in person. We had to keep up appearances, after all.

Finally, they finished and shook hands again. O’Brian came back to our group and the Don went back to his people. We watched as the Italians got into their cars and drove off, and O’Brian dismissed most of the other men on our side. Finally, after all the cars pulled away, it was only me and him left behind, looking out at the empty parking lot.

“You did a good job,” he said.

“Thanks.”

He leaned up against the car next to me and sighed. “About that thing you mentioned.”

“You mean, Davin betraying us?”

He winced. He hadn’t exactly taken the whole thing very well, especially considering Davin had been such an important part of the gang for so many years.

“Yes, about that. Did my daughter have a sentence for him? I want her to feel safe again.”

“She wasn’t exactly in the state of mind to deal with that.”

“I see. Well, I just want her to feel protected.”

“I know that, sir. She left it up to me.”

He looked at me in silence for a minute.

“Okay then. Davin’s fate is up to you.”

I nodded. “I’ll take care of him.”

We sat in silence for a moment. I wondered what was going on inside of his head, but figured I wouldn’t press the man any more than I had to.

“About the adoption,” he said, breaking the silence.

“I’m in love with Brenna,” I blurted out.

He stared at me, clearly surprised. I had no clue why it came out like that, but it did. I couldn’t keep bullshitting the man when I had no intention of becoming his adopted son. If he didn’t approve of it, well, then I would deal with what happened next. Maybe take Bren and leave the city, find someplace safe.

Instead of chewing me out, he started laughing. I stared for a second then joined in, laughing loudly in the empty night.

“So, that’s it, then,” he finally said.

“Yeah, that’s it. I’m in love with your daughter.”

He shook his head. “And what does she think?”

“I think she feels the same way, sir.”

He nodded and our laughter died down.

“I guess becoming her stepbrother would make things awkward.”

“It would, yeah.”

“Okay. Forget about the adoption.”

“You’re not angry?”

He shrugged. “Frankly, I’m not surprised. I saw it years ago. I should have seen it again this time.”

“Still, it messes up your plans.”

“Actually, this is good for me. The adoption was a play, but it was a weak play and we both knew it. If you happened to marry my daughter....” He shrugged. “That would make you my son-in-law.”

“We haven’t talked about marriage.”

He gave me a wicked grin. It was absolutely terrifying. “Well, you better start, son.”

I said nothing, just nodded. I hadn’t realized that I was the marrying type, but maybe I was. Maybe I could learn to be, at least.

If I was going to take the plunge with anyone, it was going to be with Bren. It could only ever be with her.

“For your sake, she better feel the same way,” he said. “I’m not going to try and adopt you a second time.”

“I’ll take that risk.”

He looked at me seriously for a second, appraising me in that way he had.

“That’s good to hear. Men take a risk on the people they care about. I’d think less of you if you had answered any other way.”

I laughed and shrugged. “What can I say, sir? I am what I am.”

“Aren’t we all?”

O’Brian pushed up off the car and began to walk away.

“What now, sir?” I said after him.

“Take care of Davin. Do whatever you’re going to do tonight.”

“Why tonight?”

“I’m sure he knows we know. If he’s not trying to run right now, he will be soon. Be careful. Davin isn’t as weak as he appears.”

I nodded. “I will.”

He sighed. “I’m going home to see Bren. I’ll tell her the adoption is off.”

“She already knows.”

He laughed. “Tell me next time.”

“I will.”

“And Colin?”

“Yes sir?”

“Don’t make a fucking mess.”

“I’ll try not to.” I grinned.

He nodded then climbed into his car. I watched him pull away.

The wound in my shoulder throbbed, but I couldn’t let that get in the way of what I had to do. There was one last thing, one final move I had to make, and it would arguably be the most dangerous thing I’d done so far.

At least things were good with O’Brian. At least he wasn’t going to cut my throat for fucking his daughter. Or at least he hadn’t done it yet.

I pushed off my car and climbed into the driver’s seat, starting the engine. I took a second to collect myself, and then began to drive fast toward Davin’s apartment, ready to finish everything.

I laughed softly. I knew I would have to take care of him eventually, but I never imagined it would be at the end of the gun. Life is funny sometimes.

––––––––

D
avin lived in a small neighborhood in the deep southern part of Philly’s west side. I parked two blocks away, tucking my loaded and ready pistol into my pants, and walked through the dark streets. Once across the street from his building, I stood and watched it for ten minutes, waiting for any sign of movement anywhere around the area. There was nobody, or at least nobody that I saw, which meant that either Davin wasn’t home, or he didn’t have any people with him yet.

He might even have thought he was safe.

I walked across the street, stood on his stoop, and took a deep breath. It was now or never. I rang his buzzer.

There was silence for a minute then the intercom crackled.

“Davin,” came his voice.

“It’s Colin. Can we talk?”

There was a pause. “Colin my boy, it’s late! What are you doing here?”

“O’Brian sent me. Shit went wrong at the drop earlier.”

Another pause. “Fabrizio got away?”

I made a face. The rat fuck had the nerve to sound hopeful.

“Not exactly. Got shot a few times. We need to talk, but not out here.”

“Come up.” The door buzzed open and I pushed through, moving up the steps slowly. I fingered the pistol in my waistband, going over in my mind the precise movements it would take to pull it out and fire it as fast as possible.

Davin’s building was a new construction thing, all modern angles and glass lines and green plants. Not many people lived there, and I was pretty sure that was because Davin had bought up half of the apartments in the place to use as his own space. I had only ever been there once before, but I knew the door as soon as I saw it.

He pulled it open after the first knock.

“Colin, come on in.” I followed him into a spacious foyer that led us into a kitchen and living room area. It was richly furnished with expensive paintings, lamps, white couches, and white plush rugs. It reminded me a lot of the farmhouse, but much tackier. Davin didn’t have the eye or the knowledge to pick things out. Instead, the place looked gaudy and overdone.

He had two glasses of whiskey poured, and he handed me one.

I grinned at him. “Nice place.”

“Thanks. How’s the arm?”

I shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“Here’s to the Mob.”

He held his glass up. I clinked mine against it, but instead of drinking, I put it back down on the counter. I didn’t know what he had put in my glass, if anything, and I didn’t want to take any chances.

“We need to talk.”

He laughed. “What’s wrong? Staying sober?”

“Right now, I am. Shit went down.”

“What sort of shit?”

“The Italians were more pissed than we thought. As soon as Fabrizio was on their side, they started shooting. O’Brian took some, but I think they got the worst of it.”

“Fuck,” he said, but his eyes suggested excitement instead of concern.

“Yeah, fuck is right.”

“Is O’Brian okay?”

“We don’t know, honestly.”

“Fuck,” he said again, sipping his whiskey. I could see the joy rolling off him in waves.

I had to control myself. I was half ready to try and strangle him then and there, but I couldn’t win a fight with him, not with a gunshot shoulder. I had to surprise him if I was going to get out alive. I couldn’t let it turn into hand to hand fighting, either. It had to be quick and clean.

“We need to go see him,” Davin said.

“Soon, we can soon.”

He moved around into the kitchen.

“Let me just get my things.”

He moved fast. The drawer whipped open and his hand came up.

But I was faster. I saw his move coming from a mile away, and my hand was already wrapped around the gun. As soon as that drawer opened and I saw the look in his eyes, I pulled my gun out and fired off two shots. They took him in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. The noise of the shots filled up the space.

He stumbled backwards, dropping his own gun, and collapsed into the ground.

And it was over. I wasn’t sure if he had seen through my bullshit story or if he just wanted to eliminate me from contention for leadership, but he had gotten overconfident.

I walked around the counter, gun pointed at his face. Davin smiled at me, blood on his lips.

“O’Brian is fine,” I said.

“Yeah, I figured.”

“And Fabrizio told us everything.”

“I knew it would be you,” he said. “I knew O’Brian would send you. It was always fucking you.”

“Don’t start crying on me, you fucking bitch. You piece of shit rat. How could you put Brenna in danger like that?”

“She was never in danger,” he said, rolling his eyes. He tried to move, but winced in pain instead. “I made sure that Italian idiot didn’t try anything stupid. But when you guys left for the farmhouse, he took matters into his own hands. Didn’t listen to me.”

I nodded. “I figured that’s what happened.”

“Asshole wasn’t supposed to go right after you.”

“You did this all to make me look bad, didn’t you?”

He coughed up a small bit of blood and nodded.

“I’ve been in this fucking gang for years. I was a Right Person when you were in diapers. I deserved to be second, not you.”

“You coward.”

“Maybe. But the plan was good. That Fabrizio bitch fucked it all up.”

“No, Davin, you fucked it all up. Instead of being a man and trying to win back O’Brian’s favor, you decided to act like a snake.”

“You don’t get it. You’re the fucking prodigal son. The boy he always wanted.”

“And you’re dying on your kitchen floor.”

He started to laugh but quickly stopped, wincing in pain.

“Looks that way.”

“Any last words?”

“I made my move. I got unlucky.”

“You got beat.”

“Good luck, Colin.”

I raised the gun up.

“I don’t need luck, you scum piece of shit.”

His eyes went wide. “Wait—”

I pulled the trigger. The room was filled with the sound of the shot, and then nothing.

I flicked the safety back on and slipped the gun back into my waistband.