Licentious (24 page)

Aléssandro

God, last night was amazing. The way Jo gave herself over to me,
trusting me enough to allow me to push her. It was utterly beautiful.

It was relieving to be able to be myself with her in the bedroom. Not that I haven’t been, but sometimes, in order to clear my mind, forget about certain days and events from work, I need to be able to unleash
—take a woman hard until we both are too spent to think.

I slipped out early this morning, swam my usual laps before dawn even broke, and quietly got ready for
a family meeting that Dad called. I left Jo a note, letting her know I’d be back as soon as I could and then slipped back out.

Making my way around the house to the driveway, I see Dad waiting in the black Escalade for me. I slide into the front passenger seat without a word. And then we’re off.

“We’re going to send a message,” Dad announces firmly, breaking the silence.

Wondering where he’s going with this, I look over at him, cock a brow, but remain silent.

“I want every member to know that no matter their position in the family, there are no exceptions to the rules. I want them to watch what will come of them if they betray us,” he tells me firmly as he drives us to the warehouse we use when we hold someone captive for information.

“We have to be
patient,” he continues. “I don’t think he acted alone in this. He’s not smart enough for that. We need him to tell us who he was working with.”

“Or for,” I add my two
cents.

“Smart man,” Dad smiles as me. “You’re going to make a find boss one day,” he tells me with pride shining in his eyes.

We pull up to the warehouse and all you see through the dawn light breaking is vehicles littering the area, not a soul in sight.

Walking through the rusty, metal door, men line the wall surrounding the wide open space. Tommy,
Nikolas, and Uncle Jack stand at the center of the room. Tommy and Nikolas nod at me once in greeting as Dad and Uncle Jack exchange a few words.

“We’ve called this meeting here today,” Dad talks loudly, his voice nearly echoing against the walls, “
to remind you of the rules you swore to when you became a member of the family. If you look around, you’ll see that I’ve also called upon some Associates to join us. It seems that they, too, need a reminder,” he announces firmly. As he turns in a slow circle, his gaze briefly meets every set of eyes.

“It’s been discovered that we have a thief among us. Whether you’re a member of Cosa Nostra or simply an Associate, I don’t take kindly to thieves. Thieves are treated just the same as liars,” he says gruffly.

“It was explained to each and every one of you here today the consequences of lying or stealing. Today, I’m going to remind you what will happen if you break your oath.” He pauses, looking around the room.

“
Alé. Chair,” he orders. I retrieve a chair that’s next to an old metal desk, then walk back and place it in the center of the room.

“Bring him to me,” Dad growls, eyes fierce.

I nod once and begin to walk the outer edge of the room, slowly circling around. Men shift uncomfortably under my gaze from the anticipation of what’s about to unfold. I stop abruptly in front of Walt. Smiling wickedly at him, I clasp his throat with my hand, dragging him over to the chair, and pushing him down.

Sweat begins to bead on his forehead, his eyes
darting rapidly around the room. His breathing turns heavy and ragged, but he doesn’t utter a word.

Nikolas and Tommy step forward and begin to bind his hands and
feet to the chair. “I’m going to give you one opportunity to confess your wrongdoings,” Dad tells him, his voice deep and rough.

Walt begins to gasp for air, his body visibly shaking.

“I-I-I’m s-sorry,” he stutters. “I-I needed the m-money.”

Dad steps aside
and allows Uncle Jack to step forward. He points a throw away at point blank range of Walt’s right knee cap and pulls the trigger. He then proceeds to take out the left. Walt screams out in pure agony, crying like the pussy he is.

“Did you act alone?” Dad questions.

“P-please,” he cries. “I’ll tell you any-anything you want t-to know,” he sobs. Desperate to find a way out of the grave he’s already dug for himself.

“Speak,” Dad commands sharply.

“I-I owed a large amount of m-money to Marco. I-I was unable to s-settle.” He chokes on a sob. “H-he helped me f-figure out a way to get h-him his money with interest,” he explains with ragged breaths. His eyes are wide from fear. Blood is pouring from his knees, his body shaking so severely he looks as if he’s about to have convulsions.

Marco? That slimy son of a bitch!

“Tommy,” Dad calls. Tommy steps up and Dad nods in his direction, pulling pliers from his pocket and steps in front of Walt, malice filling his eyes.

“Tongue,” Tommy orders. Walt shakes his head furiously, crying, mouth tightly closed. Tommy holds his hand out by his face. “Now, Walt,” he says sharply. “You don’t want me to force you. If I have to, this will only cause you more pain than necessary,” he fakes compassion. “Tongue!” he spits.

Walt reluctantly sticks his tongue out, tears and snot running down his face. Tommy opens the pliers, pinching Walt’s tongue as far back as he can in his throat. Clamping it closed, Walt’s eyes close and he begins to sob.

Dad nods at Nikolas, signaling it’s his turn to proceed. “We don’t associate with snitches either,” Dad informs him, malice at the forefront of his words. And with that, Nikolas proceeds to remove Walt’s tongue from his mouth. His cries echo against the walls, his agony piercing my ears.

Dad shakes his head at the disgrace before us, before turning and facing the men standing witness to this example.

“This is a reminder to
all
of you of what
will
happen if you snitch, lie, or steal to me or from me.
I
will find out. And when I do, you’ll be begging for death.”

Dad turns and nods in my direction. I walk up to Walt
with the .22 in my hand, and I rest the barrel against the center of his forehead. He cries, screams, and then mumbles words that are unrecognizable due to a missing tongue. I smile at him as I stare into his eyes and pull the trigger.

Joey

I rest my head against Kellan’s shoulder, my hand resting in his as we sway from side to side. “It was a beautiful wedding
.” I sigh smiling.

“It was,” he smiles
down at me. “I’m glad we hashed shit out.” Shaking his head, he adds, “I can’t imagine doing any of this without you.”

I send him a sad smile as I lift my hand off his shoulder so our eyes are level with each other’s. “They’d be happy for you, you know,” I say quietly.

A faraway look takes over the excitement from the day that was shining through only moments ago.

“What is it?”
My brows pinch together.

“Nothing,” he shakes his head, forcing a smile to touch his lips, even though it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Who would’ve thought that we would’ve ended up here, huh?” he says trying to break the tension.

“Yeah,” I smile. “Kellan,” I whisper his name.

“Yeah, Jo?” he whispers back.

“I’m really glad to have you back in my life,” I tell him as a tear slips down my cheek.

“Me, too
.” He kisses my forehead and wraps his arms around me.

“Mind if I cut in?” I don’t even have to look to know that
Alé stands behind me. I can pick out his deep, sexy voice anywhere. Chills run down my spine as I imagine that voice taking control later tonight. My panties growing damp with the thought.

“Sure,” Kellan smiles, stepping back.
Alé holds his hand to Kellan. Shaking hands, Alé tells him nonchalantly, “Hurt my sister man, I break your face.”

Kellan laughs, “No worries there
.” He winks before turning away.

Alé
scoops me into his arms, softly swaying our bodies to the rhythm of the music. “You look beautiful,” he breathes against my ear.

Lifting my head
to gaze at him, I laugh. “You’ve already told me that. Like a hundred times!”

“I know,” he winks
, “and I’ll tell you a hundred more times if I want to.” He grins.

“
Alé,” a familiar baritone voice sounds from behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention.

“Michael,”
Alé greets him. “I didn’t know you were invited. I do believe this is a closed event,” he spits bitterly.

“Are you going to introduce me to your date?” the man asks, a hint of humor in his voice.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Alé growls.

I
pull myself from Alé’s embrace, slowly turning around. Praying that this isn’t happening. When my eyes connect with his dark chocolate brown eyes, my breath hitches. My entire world slips from under my feet.
Vinny
.

I try to take a step back
, but I’m blocked by Alé. I step to the side, turn, and run from the center of the dance floor as fast as I can. Exiting the ballroom, I run down the hallway in search of an exit.

“Joey!” I hear
Alé call after me. “Joey!”

I don’t stop. I run down the long hallway until I see a vacant, open doorway. Running through
, I realize there’s no exit through here—it’s an empty conference room.

“Joey!”
Alé yells, his voice full of concern as he enters the room. Kellan, Tommy, Nikolas, Frank, and Uncle Jack are all on his flanks. Tommy is dragging Vinny by the collar of his shirt.

“Care to explain what just happened back there?”
Alé asks softly, but firm.

My eyes don’t leave Vinny’s. My breathing
is so heavy that I don’t think I could speak even if I wanted to. Hot, angry tears are rolling down my cheeks. I suck my bottom lip between my teeth to keep it from quivering as I shake my head wildly.

“Jo,”
Alé says softly as he steps in front of me, breaking my eye contact with Vinny. “You mumbled Vinny under your breath when you saw him,” he tells me as he points to Vinny. “This is Uncle Marco’s son, Michael. Do you know him?”

I shake my head yes, but make no attempt to speak
as my knees grow weak.

“You son of a bitch!” Kellan’s voice rings out as Vinny is thrown across the ground, landing a few feet from me.

I jump to the side, trying to get as far from the monster before me as possible.

“Is this Vinny, Jo? Is this the man who got away?” Kellan yells angrily. I start to cry, a whimper sounding from the back of my throat. “Jo!” Kellan snaps. I shake my head yes, and he charges toward him.

“Wait,” Franks’ voice rings out in an authoritative tone. He steps toward me, places a hand on Alé’s shoulder, and sighs. “We need to stay rational, Alé. He’s family.”

“Family?”
Alé snarls. “Family? You know what he did to her and her sister. That’s not what we were taught. That’s against the rules,” Alé growls. His eyes narrow into slits, anger radiating from his body.

Vinny stands from his position on the ground and
brushes his clothes with his hands and rolling his shoulders. “Yes,
I’m
Vinny.” He smiles wickedly. I was approached by someone whom I trusted. She helped Johnny and I set it all up,” he grinds wildly. “Of course, she didn’t know about the score I had to settle with a certain officer for bringing down my best friend and right hand man. She only thought Johnny and I were helping her for the money. And when you survived, she thought it was an accident that you made it,” he smirks.

“Who?” I finally ask my voice thick.

“Hello, Josephine,” my mother sneers from the doorway.

I gasp in disbelief at the woman who’s just reappeared after all this time. My hand clasps over my mouth as I shake my head.

She struts toward me as I continue to step back. Alé and Kellan look dumbfounded. Vinny has a look of excitement plastered on his face as everyone else’s expressions remain unreadable.

“Why?” I cry.

“Aw,” she fake pouts, “the fact that you even have to ask that proves just how foolish you truly are.” She smirks. “Did you know that from the moment we discovered you and Eve were in fact
female
,” she snarls on the last word, “your father doted over you from that moment on?
I
no longer was the main woman in his life,” she tells me, as she perches her hands on her hips. “The only way I could think of to rectify the issue was to eliminate you and Eve completely.”

“I’m
your daughter!”
I yell out at her. “We didn’t cause him to take you off the pedestal,
Mom
. You did that, you crazy bitch!” I snap as I charge toward her.

Alé
snatches me before I reach her, his hand snaking around my waist. “Shh, Jo,” he tries to soothe me. “Patience,” he whispers into my ear. He loosens his grip but doesn’t let me go.

“Of course, I should’ve known better than to trust anyone else to complete the job,” she rolls her eyes in Vinny’s direction.

“
You
killed Aedan,” I tell her. “You blamed me!
You
made me think all this time that it was all my fault. It was yours!” I scream at her as a fresh batch of tears appears and my body shakes violently in rage.

“I didn’t realize that they had their own agenda. Of course, they were unpaid due to their failures
.” She purses her lips.

“You make me sick,” I hiss between my teeth.

She smiles viciously at me, voice even as she says, “I heard your dad passed away a few years back. That’s too bad,” she juts out her bottom lip. “Good news, though!” she smiles, clapping her hands once together. “I found someone who treats me the way I deserve.”

My eyes dart around the room and settle on the only face that I don’t recognize. He smiles lovingly at her as he slowly makes his way to the front to stand beside her.

I hear Alé suck in a breath and mutter, “Uncle Marco.”

Uncle?

“Did you know that I begged your father for an abortion with you and Eve? Of course,” she gestures to me with her hand, “he told me no. I don’t like anyone telling me no.” She smiles.

“What’s your point?”
Alé growls.

“My point is Aedan Sr., Joey’s father, forced me to walk away. I would’ve been alone if it
weren’t for Marco here loving me the way I need. So, I taught Aedan a lesson,” she smiles vindictively, “and ultimately, he died. Alone.” She smiles evilly.

My breath leaves my body as sobs try to break free from my chest. I shake my head back and forth trying to process everything she just told me. “Why kill everyone
else,” my voice breaks, “but leave me?” I cry.

“I saved the best revenge for last,” an evil gleam shines from her eyes. “You always thought you were so gifted. Everyone falling over you,” she snarls. “But,” she holds a single finger in the air turning it in my direction, “Johnny, AKA Tony, was the son of a mafia member. And
you
killed him.” She grins. “Do you know what happens to people who murder a member of the Italian mob?
Or
in this case, the son of a Capo?” she raises a perfectly groomed eyebrow at me. “No? Well, I’m sure you’re about to find out,” she tells me coolly.

Mafia? Members of the Italian mob? I shake my head, trying to get my thoughts straight.

“You didn’t know?” her voice rings out in shock. “My, I did produce a foolish one! Josephine, your precious Aléssandro is a Capo, who one day will act as Boss.

My chest grows heavy, palms damp. My eyes dart in every direction. I feel
Alé’s arm tighten around me. I’m unsure if he thinks I’m about to run from him or kill her. Either way, he’s not ready to release his hold on me. Suddenly, one thought starts to pound through my mind.
I’m in love with a mobster. Possibly, a monster.