Motown Breakdown (Motown Down #4) (2 page)

“Calm yourself.”

“Fuck calm! Fuck you! Why are you doing this? I’ve done nothing to you!”

“True,” he says pinning me against the wall easily and I hated that I had no skills to defend myself. “But your father has.”

“My – ”

“I didn’t want to do this,” he says softly and more to himself than to me.

“Then don’t,” I beg him. “You don’t know what Frank even wanted with me. If you know who Marco is, you don’t want to get caught up in this. Please…”

“I know what he wanted, mama, he isn’t the only one here for you,” he says sticking me in the neck and for the record it fucking hurts. “Because I’m here for you too.”

“You fucking dick,” I slur just as my legs gave out.
Oh God this was really happening
… As the hall started to pitch I made myself a promise that I was never borrowing anything to anyone ever again!

I actually stuck her in the neck with a fucking hypodermic and carried her to my truck. There are no words to describe how shitty I felt about doing that. She wasn’t supposed to feel betrayed by it or make me feel like I had just committed the biggest fucking sin for doing it. But I did it and there was no going back now.

She was in my home, out cold in my bed.

After months of searching, digging in the trenches and paying for information, I found
her
by fucking accident. I didn’t even know there was a her until I spotted her getting into a blacked out vehicle. Her father’s signature was Lincoln sedans. His men drove them, they were everywhere, like rats in the sewer. One night I got lucky and followed the sedan with her inside to an apartment building. I watched her get out and storm inside. I also watched the way the men watched her, like she was important, untouchable. So I used cash for the lease adjacent to hers, laid low and paid attention. Unfortunately, the girl worked, came home and spoke to no one. Almost as if she was afraid to. Her living in the shitty building made no sense to me considering her old man was loaded. The whys of her living there didn’t matter only that she was. This made her accessible to me, only it took a lot of time and even more nerve to actually do it.

I decided dosing her was my safest option because it worked fast and she was small. Finally, finding a guy to get me enough to take her down, I was ready to act when Frank moved in.

That’s when shit got interesting. Not only was he sloppy when it came to covering his tracks, the looks he gave her were fucking sick. Frank wanted a piece of Luna, badly. Meaning he’d prefer it if she fought back. This meant I had to wait to see what he would do on top of making sure he didn’t hurt her. I knew he meant her harm and I did not like it. While I watched from my place I started asking not about Marco but Luna herself. Turns out, a lot of people knew her history and I have to say, none of it was good.

Luna Bella was Marco Bella’s only child, one he drug into the business whether she liked it or not. From what I hear, she hates what he does for a living and shuns him and his blood money at every opportunity. Choosing to tend bar and sleep in an old ass apartment spoke to that. I believed she didn’t agree with what he did because to live in this shit hole you had to be desperate. But she was the angle I was using regardless, the only angle I had. Luna Bella had the information I needed and I was doing what it took to get it.

Except whoever Shade was could be a problem. Of all the info I gathered on him the story was the same; stay away from him or die. Word was he coveted Luna. Sheltered her, protected her, that they were tight but I never figured it was romantically. Seeing as she lived alone and I’ve never seen the guy (any guy) at her place, I assumed the rumors were false. Until Frank mentioned him, I never considered him a threat. I wasn’t a criminal (abduction withstanding), so what the fuck did I know? Clearly, jack shit.

With her passed out cold on my bed, I took the time to look her over. Careful not to wake her, I sit next to her and push her sleeves up. No track marks (not that I suspected any). A moon tattooed on her inner wrist that’s been touched up more than once. Soft skin, small hands, blunt nails. I forced myself not to stare at her face because it was perfect like the rest of her. And her hair… she had so much of it. Frank had really hurt her when he pulled her pony tail so I undid the band sliding it out of her hair. While her body was small and petite, it was curvy in the right places. She was the prettiest thing I have ever seen but I couldn’t afford to like her, the stakes were too high. But fuck me, she had fire. A man wouldn’t mind burning himself out on a woman like her.

Unlike her father who was a modern day Attila the Hun, seeking power and destroying anything in his path, she was gentle. I knew for fact she was a bleeding heart which could get
me
killed if I got too close. When she tried sparing me, the look of betrayal on her face when I told her I came for her… As far as she was concerned, I was no better than Frank or her father and she’d be right.

“Why?” she asked quietly while I continued holding her wrist in my hand.

“It’s business,” I tell her dropping it.

“It’s bullshit.”

“Your opinion means little,” I inform her.

“Where are we?”

“My house,” I tell her standing up.

“Who do you plan to use me against, Shade or Marco?”

“Does it matter?”

Rolling away from me, she curls into a ball doing her best to ignore me. If she wanted to play this game, I’d let her. The less I spoke to her the better. Because I already liked her and now I liked her fucking voice too. Heading for the door, I was just about ready to leave when she spoke. “I’ve done nothing to you,” she says quietly. “Just before they kill you for doing this, remember I said that.”

“People
may
die,” I tell her. “But I won’t be one of them.”

I swore I heard her whisper, “No, but I will.”

Locking the door behind me, I went into the living room to shake this feeling off. It wasn’t guilt. Fuck, I didn’t know what it was. She was a means to an end. She would help me or the odds were good I would be dead sooner rather than later. Slamming back a shot of whisky, I stare at the ceiling knowing I had just made a huge fucking mistake. I worked in construction, I used a hammer and nails, not a gun and bullets. Sure, I knew how to use one and demonstrated that on Frank but I’d never taken a life before… And it was shocking how easy it was. I told myself I killed Frank because I needed her as leverage and not because the thought of her being hurt turned my stomach. But it was done and I had come this far, I couldn’t turn back now, this was my last shot.

Three shots later when my buzz creeped in, I debated on going back up there to check on her but forced myself to stay seated. God, she was pretty, too pretty and she smelled so good. She was nothing like her father or the thugs that worked for him either. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t dangerous, it just meant she had different weapons…

“So what’s the plan?” she asks sitting down next to me. Her sudden appearance scared the fucking shit out of me, but I did my best to play it cool and I won’t lie, it took a minute. As she reaches for the bottle, I check out her ass wishing I’d thought this through. She was dangerous alright, fucking
lethal
.

“How’d you get out?”

“You’re cute,” she says throwing a shot back easily.

“I’m serious.”

“I know you are,” she chirps. “Let’s put it this way, next time you want to keep me locked up you might want to chain me down. Because unless you do, I’ll always get free.”

“You could have run,” I point out wondering why she didn’t, what she knew that I didn’t know which would be… everything.

“I’m not big on cardio,” she says tucking her tiny legs under her. “Besides, I find myself feeling sorry for you.”

“This Shade guy’s gonna come after me?” Who goes by the name Shade? Ridiculous. “Should I be worried?”

“Shade will come after
me
,” she says pouring us each another. “He’ll kill you for touching me. But that’s after he tortures you for taking me first. Be worried or don’t, it’s your call. I’m just preparing you.”

“What about Marco? Won’t he be looking?”

“So you don’t know who Shade is then? Interesting…” she grins and it was cute, too cute. “No, Marco won’t because no one tracks better than Shade. Especially when it comes to finding his future wife. Congratulations neighbor, you’ve managed to accomplish what dozens could not. A successful Luna-napping. Any preference for your last meal?”

This isn’t fucking happening to me…
 

He was drunk
and
clueless.

He was also a fucking idiot but that kinda goes without saying.

Not that I gave a shit if Shade worried about me, I didn’t. For the moment I was still feeling bitchy about Frank being sent there to watch me and not being told about it. We were supposed to be a team, he and I. It didn’t matter how long the song and dance went on, I would always have a detail.
Watched from across the hall, how fucking tragic
. Thing is, I knew how Shade operated and if he wanted my attendance he wouldn’t send Frank. He would have called and I would have shown all by myself. I’m easy like that. Which meant Shade sent him to watch over me but Marco sent him for another reason. Unfortunately, Frank was too dead to tell me what it was. Frank was technically Shade’s guy but if Marco gave the order, he’d follow it. I’ve seen it before and the ending is always the same, death. Marco liked reminding Shade he was king dick. Since Frank was currently decomposing on the carpet, this would blow back on me, it always did. Which brought me to now. My neighbor seemed like an alright guy. Kept to himself, worked hard and was decent to me. I spent a lot of time watching him. I found him to be completely boring and predictable but I was intrigued by his lack of life all the same. Because when you were free you could wake up and choose not to be boring and predictable, you could be whatever you wanted to be. I did not have that luxury. So while I did the creeper thing by being nosey and wanting to know what made him tick, I didn’t see him for the threat he was. That was a mistake I wouldn’t be making twice.

Speaking of mistakes, this idiot was the furthest thing from a thug as you could get. He may do some shady shit but he wasn’t on Shade or Marco’s level, few were. He also wouldn’t be the first to make a play for me thinking to use me as leverage with Marco either. It wouldn’t work, but I suppose you can’t blame a guy for trying. I had to give him credit though, he was the first to get this far.

Still, I felt betrayed, granted we didn’t talk much but I loaned him a few things when he needed it and left him to his business. He had dealers, pimps, and dirty cops coming and going but every morning at seven sharp he left in construction gear. Weird but honestly, I’d seen weirder.
Hello, raised with killers over here…
Being raised by Marco taught me a few things; such as keeping my mouth shut so even our brief run-ins weren’t chatty. But I won’t say I didn’t notice how manly he was because I always did. This guy took manly to the extreme and he wasn’t even trying.

Just under six feet, built for manual labor, from his big shoulders to his tree trunk like legs. He was sporting the middle age gut but I never saw it move. My guess was he ate a lot of burgers and it solidified in his stomach. His beard was unruly and if he was smart he’d keep growing it to cover the rest of his face. I was positive he didn’t wash his hair, ever. His eyes were nice but that’s all he had going for him from what I could see. And that was me being polite. Even still… I
liked
it. He was the complete opposite of Shade and the men I ran with so yeah, I liked it.
A lot
.