Reckless & Ruined (40 page)

“And the others?” someone asked.

“The Rossis are partial to us at the moment—keep them that way. The DeLucas are smart. Volatile right now, but smart. For the time being, they’ll choose the safe route. One that won’t get half of them killed. That means our side. We’re simply tipping the scales to our favor.”

“Sounds good,” came a new voice.

Confirmative murmurs passed along the men.

“Then let’s get this over with. I would love to be home before midnight,” Riley said, a hint of a smile in his tone. “I’m sure we can finish this out within the hour.”

Jesus.

Alessa put her back to the door as men began to file past her hiding spot. Their shoes barely made any sound at all as they walked down the long hallway that would lead to the middle of the home where Joel was entertaining his guests.

Once the footsteps had faded, Alessa opened the door of the bathroom and stepped back out into the hall. She knew she wasn’t alone instantly. Adriano leaned against the wall a few feet down like he had been expecting her to show.

“Hey,” Adriano said, grinning.

His green eyes seemed darker as he looked her over.

Alessa’s heart swelled. “Hey.”

“Still miss me?”

“Like crazy,” she said softly.

“Still love me?”

“Always.”

Adriano pushed off the wall and met her in three long, smooth strides. His hands grabbed her shirt and pulled her into his chest roughly a split second before his lips crashed down on hers. He kissed her harder, deeper. His tongue warred with hers, making her hot and weak at the same time.

How long had it been since she kissed him?

Too long.

Alessa let him steal that kiss, because that’s exactly what he did. There was no give; there was just him taking.

Like he missed her.

Like he needed her.

Like she was all his.

Alessa supposed she was—she had always been.

“Stay out of sight, all right,” Adriano said, fixing Alessa’s wayward waves of hair. “I’ll be worried, otherwise.”

“I will,” she promised.

Her secret was like a thunder rolling around in her stomach, wanting out.

“What is it?” Adriano asked.

Alessa laughed quietly. “How do you always know when I’m hiding something?”

She could lie her ass off to anyone if she wanted.

Never to Adriano.

He touched the spot between her eyebrows with the pad of his thumb. “You get a little line right here. It tells me you’re thinking too damned hard about something or other. What is it, Lissa?”

The words stuck in her throat like they suddenly didn’t want to come out. Alessa wouldn’t give them the choice. They might not have another moment anytime soon. If Riley got his wish of forcing Joel’s hand tonight, it could very well make things a hell of a lot more difficult between Adriano and Alessa.

She refused to tell him about the pregnancy over the phone.

“Alessa, I need to catch up with the rest of the guys,” Adriano said.

Alessa nodded. “I know. Just … this is important, Adriano. Really, really important. More important than the Outfit or anyone else. Okay?”

Adriano frowned. “Okay.”

“Don’t do that—frown like that. You’ll make me nervous.”

Alessa already was terribly nervous.

“You’re rambling.”

“I am.” Alessa blew out a heavy breath and whispered, “I’m pregnant.”

Adriano’s grip on her waist tightened briefly before it loosened just as fast. He swallowed hard and watched her almost warily. “What?”

“I missed a couple of pills and didn’t realize—”

“No, stop that,” Adriano muttered.

Alessa blinked up at him. “Okay.”

“Don’t excuse it like I’m going to be angry. I’m not angry. I’m …”

“Not angry,” Alessa echoed.

“Pregnant?”

She nodded.

Adriano didn’t ask for dates. He didn’t ask if he was the father or if there was someone else. He didn’t question her on a thing. Alessa knew he didn’t have to because she had only ever been his.

She loved him all the more for it.

“Oh, my God,” Adriano breathed. “A baby …
my
baby.”

That was all he said before he held her face in his palms and peppered her lips with soft, light kisses.

“Love you, love you, love you,” he chanted.

“You’re not … mad or anything?”

“No. Why would I be? So we’re fucking twenty and stupid. We’re not the first, Alessa. Trust me.”

Alessa giggled, but the reality of their situation weighed her happiness down. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Adriano said. “But we’ll figure it out. It might take a little while, but we will figure it out, Lissa.”

“I’m worried.”

She needed to say that. She needed to get it out. Her mother and sister didn’t seem to listen when she raised her concerns. They brushed it off and told her to wait it out. She wanted to hear something different—something concrete and promising.

“I’m scared,” Alessa added when Adriano stayed silent.

Adriano ghosted the pads of his thumbs over her cheekbones. “Yeah, me, too.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Pregnant …

Huh
.

Adriano felt almost numb as he strolled through the hallway leading to the main area of the Trentini mansion. He knew he should be worried, maybe even scared, but something inside wouldn’t let him be either of those things.

Instead, he just shut it off so he could get through the night. Once he did that, and all was good, he could start putting together a plan for him, Alessa, and their unborn child. He’d gotten this far and did okay, he just had to go a little bit further.

“How in the fuck did you get in here?”

Adriano chuckled at Joel’s indignant, angry roar. The fool might as well have howled the words like a crying child, unhappy at having their fun spoiled. Silence followed Joel’s shouts, and then two soft pops echoed, like a gun going off with a silencer attached.

“Shit,” someone cussed.

Adriano slid into place at the large entryway to the entertainment area. Men stood around, mouths agape and confused. Riley, with his back facing Adriano, stood a few feet ahead of his son with his arms wide like he was gesturing at the party.

One of Joel’s men laid dead in the middle of the space with two bullet holes to the face and a puddle of blood pooling outward. A gun rested just a couple of inches from the dead man’s outstretched hand. He must have come at Riley.

Adriano’s father had been clear. No one was to shoot unless someone else did first or they were threatened. And then their bullets and guns would simply be used to make a point; to draw fear; to control.

Damn.

Adriano missed out on the first bit of fun.

“As you can see,” Riley murmured, taking a couple of steps further into the room and glancing around at the quiet men. “I am very much alive and well. My son handled a few things on my end while I took a break to clear my mind and get things settled. But I’m back now, and ready to discuss business.”

Joel scoffed. “Clear your mind?”

Riley acted like Joel didn’t say a thing. He snapped his fingers at one of his enforcers and said, “Get me a drink, would you?”

“Don’t touch a damn thing in this house,” Joel barked at the man.

“Oh, but it’s no fun to have a party without a drink. And you are having a party, aren’t you Joel?” Riley asked, unbothered by the dead man at his feet

Joel’s face turned red and his teeth gnashed together. “Who let you in?”

“That’s unimportant.”

“I think it is,” Joel spat. “You were not invited to my home. You haven’t been invited here since you killed my father.”

Riley barked out a laugh. “Now he’s your father? Because before, he was just the asshole who donated the sperm. I’m not surprised. You’ve got the chance to gain something with Terrance dead and your parentage out in the open, or so you think.”

Joel’s gaze narrowed. “This is my birth—”

“Birthright?” Riley interrupted calmly. “Is that what you’re going to say?”

Joel refused to answer, but his fists balled tightly at his sides.

Adriano scanned the faces of the men, taking inventory and tallying numbers. He wanted to know who they were up against if someone turned on them tonight and also, who seemed to be leaning toward his father’s side.

Most were quiet, gaging the scene with interest and worry. That was to be expected. Adriano quickly picked out the most important faces—the ones who would be valuable to their side of things.

Tommas Rossi. He stood in the far left corner with a glass of cognac lifted to his smirking lips as he watched the scene unfold. Tommas had a lot more to gain with Riley as the boss than with Joel.

Adriano found another face quickly.

Damian Rossi. The hitman leaned against the wall just a few feet from his cousin and barely graced Riley or Joel with any of his attention. But Damian had things to gain with Riley as the boss if Adriano’s last chat with him was any indication.

Walter Artino, a secondary Capo for the DeLuca family but still carrying weight, moved closer to Joel. Adriano didn’t give a fuck about that man. He could be handled easily and then his body would vanish before the night was over. Adriano just needed a reason to do it.

Adriano found the last man, the final one who could sway opinions.

Theo DeLuca. He was pissed and it was obvious. Adriano didn’t blame the man. Theo probably still believed Riley’s hands were all over Dino’s death.

Riley still wasn’t denying it, after all.

“Your birthright,” Riley repeated. “Isn’t that what you were going to say to me, Joel?”

Joel’s jaw clenched. “You know it is.”

“I know you’re thirty-years-old and in need of a reality check.” Riley dismissed Joel with a wave of his hand, saying, “The Outfit has never been about birthrights, Joel. None of the men in this room got where they are because their fathers were important men. They got where they are because they put everything but themselves first to earn it. You have done nothing but throw tantrums, make demands, and pull triggers.”

“Bullshit,” Joel hissed.

“Facts,” Riley retorted. “The only reason you got your button at eighteen was because Terrance felt obligated to give it to you. It certainly wasn’t because you deserved it. And if I remember correctly, there were at least ten men who objected to your nomination but despite their protests, Terrance went through with it. You never should have gotten it by the Outfit’s rules, but people turned their cheek, knowing there was nothing they could do about it.”

“You lying bastard.”

Riley shook his head. “I do not lie. But your father? He regretted giving you that button every single day after, Joel.”

“Let’s not forget that he’s the same man you killed to try and get where you are,” Joel said, sneering.

Riley waved his arms wide again. “I never killed Terrance. I never ordered his hit. I had no reason to.”

“You’re showing us one now,” Walter Artino put in.

“Wrong.” Riley smiled coldly. “I’m here to fill an empty seat as the only man alive in this family that is worthy of sitting in it.”

Joel scoffed. “You’re not welcome here. You weren’t invited. Leave.”

“I’m a made man, Joel,” Riley said. “Every man I brought with me tonight is a made man in the Outfit. Tell me this is not what I think it is, and we’ll turn around and go.”

“And what do you think this is?” Joel asked, seething.

“I think you opened the books. I know you spread the word over the last couple of weeks, wanting to draw me out like I was some scared little kitten afraid of you. Well, here I am Joel. I’m right here, my boy. I’m looking you right in your face and I haven’t given you what you wanted, I have yet to bow down to your ridiculous shows, and I have yet to turn tail and run.”

Joel’s fists shook. “I …”

“Speechless?” Riley asked. “Come on, Joel. A good boss has an excuse or a deflection right on the tip of his tongue, always. Where is yours? Where is your reason to make me give this to you? Where is your worth, Joel? Come on,
give me anything
!”

Joel took a single step back, frustration writing heavily across his brow.

Riley smirked and said, “You want to open the books, so let’s open them.”

Nobody said a word as Riley’s enforcer moved to the bar, poured a glass of forty-year-old cognac, and walked it to his boss. Nobody moved, blinked, and they might as well have not even breathed. It was like they were all waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Even Joel stood stunned and stupid.

That wasn’t particularly new.

“There is a man at every door,” Riley informed. “Each one is armed and willing to die to keep anyone from getting past them. There are six men in this room that everyone can already see with guns ready, but I would be willing to bet there are more just waiting to show. No one leaves this house until we are finished. And if you do wish to walk out now, I will make it easy for you and have you carried out in garbage bags. I hope that’s clear.”

“Is that how you’re going to play this?” Joel asked quietly. “You’re going to force yourself into the seat and take it because you’ve frightened them into giving it to you? You’re going to strong-arm your way into a position you don’t deserve?”