Chapter 3
CARMELA
I t’s my high school graduation party. The house looks amazing after the party planners decorated everything. My best friends are all here, along with Jessica, who is even wearing a dress under protest. We’re out on the lawn having photos taken.
“I can’t believe Dante brought that bitch model with him,” Jessica mutters under her breath.
He was tagged on an Instagram post with said model two days ago, which was swiftly taken down. Jessica screenshotted it for me and is now stalking her just in case she posts anything again .
She wanted me to confront Dante about it.
As if I would do that?
I told my father I wanted to wait until after college for the wedding. At least part of that decision was my feeling that I’m not ready for a man like Dante yet. I’m not even eighteen. He probably still thinks of me as a child. No one would expect him to remain celibate while I go to college.
Did it burn seeing that picture of them together, knowing he likely put his hands on her? Damn right it did.
Do I want to rip her pretty hair out and kick him in the balls? Yes, I do.
“He didn’t bring her,” I admit. “She came with someone else.” Usually, I would be excited for any opportunity to catch a glimpse of my father’s consigliere, and the man I will soon be officially betrothed to.
But yeah, the swimwear model turned Instagram influencer he is dating turning up has given rise to a heap of ugly feelings.
He brought me a diamond bracelet for my graduation present. When he gave it to me, I wanted to believe it meant something special—I’m wearing it right now.
“She was all over him,” Jessica says with a scowl. “The bitch definitely wants another piece of his pie.”
“Smile please!” the photographer calls.
I plaster on a smile and say under my breath, “You’re not helping.”
“We’ll put laxative in her party punch,” Jessica says with a broad smile for the camera. “That’ll cheer you up.”
I snort a laugh. Then I’m distracted by the gangly figure of a young man wearing a formal suit too big for his frame.
Cosmo Gallo, younger brother to my father’s underboss, cuts a path across the lawn, heading toward the house, holding something that looks familiar. “Is that my wrap in Cosmo’s hand?”
I’d left my wrap on the patio chair. A glance back confirms it’s gone.
Why is he taking my wrap inside?
As I watch, he lifts it to his nose and sniffs it before tucking it into his pocket.
“Eww, yuk,” Jessica says. “Yeah, that was your wrap. Like, burn it. Why does Papa even let him attend?”
I don’t have an answer. Every time I have the misfortune to meet Cosmo, he does something that I find disturbing or just plain gross.
“Now, if we could have all the girls together,” the photographer calls.
Another hour later, the photo shoot is over, and we finally join the party.
CHRISTIAN
As parties go, it’s pretty uninspiring, but I suppose the party girl is only seventeen, and a mafia princess—everyone here is well and truly vetted and knows better than to get drunk and rowdy.
The star of the show is talking to her school friends on one side of the room, oblivious to the way every head turns her way. Carmela Accardi is a stunner. I’d nail her in a heartbeat. Not that I’m going to get a shot. Carmela is off the table in all ways and destined to be my brother’s wife.
“Bored out of my fucking mind,” Jero mutters beside me.
Our head enforcer is one of the few guests not looking at Carmela.
Instead, he surveys the crowd with his usual watchful intent.
Jero wouldn’t normally frequent this type of event, but the party girl is the big boss’s daughter, so no thug is spared to ensure the select crowd doesn’t lose their minds on the alcohol-free champagne being served.
“Tell me about it,” I reply. “Can I have a beer?”
“Wot? Fuck no, you can’t have a beer.” He directs his flat, disapproving glare at me. “You’re underage, mate.”
I consider pointing out that he passed me one from the refrigerator yesterday after we’d put a beating on a sloppy dealer. But maybe the highbrow crowd or the fact that we’re supposed to be working has gotten his panties in a bunch.
Ettore is over on the right of me talking to Don Cedro like the good little ass-licker he is.
With his overly slicked back dark hair and sharp, black suit, Ettore looks like an extra on The Godfather.
In the short time since he became underboss, he’s positioned two of his brothers as capos although I’ve heard they’re doing a shit job.
What can I say? It pays to keep up on the gossip in this game, and I fucking love a bit of juicy gossip.
A dark shape skulking around the edges of the crowd catches my eye. “Who the fuck let Cosmo in?”
Jero grunts, following my line of sight to where Ettore’s youngest brother is doing what he does best: being a creep.
He’s in his early twenties, but wearing a suit that looks a size too big with his hair slicked-back like a mini-Ettore playing dress up.
I can’t even say exactly what makes him weird.
It’s a million and one subtle mannerisms that come together in some creepy planetary alignment.
“Ettore blew a gasket after he found pictures of Carmela on Cosmo’s cell phone.
Thought Cosmo’s time might be up,” Jero mutters.
His eyes are narrowed, and his entire focus is on Cosmo as he passes through the crowd and out of view.
“I told Ettore he should leave the fuckwit at home, but he wanted the whole family here.”
“What the fuck?” Dante’s going to be pissed when he hears about this. “Maybe I should go and have a word with Cosmo? Remind him not to be a dick?”
Jero shrugs. “Be my guest, mate.”
Great! Show time.
I circle the crowd, heading in the direction I saw Cosmo take.
Carmela is on my right. From this angle, I can see her legs and the fuck-me heels she’s wearing.
I definitely approve. Jero says I’m in the ‘sowin’ my wild oats’ phase.
It helps that I look older, plus most of the women in Ettore’s strip club know who I am, so they don’t ask questions.
Getting kicked out of school was a game-changer. Dante believes violence is my calling. When I consider the easy access to alcohol and stunning women falling over themselves to ‘teach me’ anything and everything I want to know, I’m literally living the dream.
A strange twitching shape behind a giant potted fern catches my eye.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” I mutter under my breath, taking a sharp left so I can approach him from behind.
It’s Cosmo. He has his dick in his hand and is jacking off into a long piece of silky fabric.
The actual fuck. Is he unscrewed?
Then I follow his line of sight: Carmela, the star of the show.
He’s about to be fucked up… “Evening, Cosmo,” I say cheerfully.
His head whips around to face me, and he spins a little. His fist still wrapped—mid-stroke—around his silk-enswathed cock, which is now pointing at me.
His facial expression would be comical if I wasn’t busy worrying about his primed dick going off.
“Fuck! Chris!” He shoves his worm back in his pants, fumbling to close his zipper and getting the scarf and his shirt stuck in the process.
I grin and crack my knuckles for dramatic effect. He swallows, ripping the silk free and shoving it deep into the pocket of his pants. His eyes go from my hands to something over my shoulder. His throat works again, and all the color leaves his face.
“Tut-tut, Cosmo,” Jero says from behind me. “Your brother is going to be very disappointed.”
Cosmo has been dealt with, bundled in the back of a car, and taken away for his big brother’s judgment. So that’s something to look forward to. Thumping deserving assholes is the absolute best part of this job.
Jero has relaxed somewhat since Cosmo was whipped away. I’m thinking about pushing for the beer he denied me, when I spot Dante in the crowd.
“Going to have a word with my brother.”
Jero gives me a chin lift of acknowledgment.
It’s only when I get closer that I realize Ettore’s sister is hanging all over Dante.
I think about aborting. Dante hates her. He can handle himself—and Helena with her beauty queen curls and too much lip filler—and I can talk to him later. But I’m too late, and she notices me staring.
“Christian,” Helena purrs. Breaking from Dante’s side, she cuts off my escape by sliding her arm around me and squeezing my ass. “Have you gotten taller?”
I’m trying not to breathe in her cloying scent when I glance over her shoulder, and catch Dante’s smirk. I throw him the ‘save me’ look, which he should correctly interpret as ‘save me or I’ll do something stupid’.
“Don’t think so, Helena,” I say cheerfully. “Have your lips gotten plumper?”
Dante makes a choking sound and buries his nose in his glass of champagne.
She laughs it off, her hand sliding up my chest as she leans into me and dips her voice seductively. “Why? Do you like them fuller?”
Nope, you creepy predator.
“Do you mind if I quickly have a private word with my brother?” Dante interrupts, probably sensing I’m about to go off the deep end.
“Don’t forget to find me before you leave.” She pouts at Dante, relinquishes her hold on me, and sashays off.
“That woman is nuts,” I say, which is probably a bit hypocritical coming from me. “Did her husband finally croak or something?”
Dante tips his fluted glass to his lips then grimaces at the taste and pulls it back down—I’m guessing he got a zero alcohol one.
“Last week. Her left her with significant debts and she’s already sizing me up as his replacement.
I wouldn’t willingly touch her through a hazmat suit, even were it not for Carmela. ”
“Weird runs in their family. I just caught Cosmo jacking off behind a potted plant while staring at your girl.”
“She’s not my goddamned girl.” Dante scowls, his eyes passing over the crowd and coming to a stop at the swimwear model who I thought he had broken up with. “Which part of leave the fucking house did she not understand?”
“You broke up with her?”
“It was over before she decided to post a damn photo of us on Instagram. Someone must of informed Cedro. He was not impressed.”
Alright then…
“Not that one. The good girl.”
There is a split second before understanding blooms and death enters his eyes.
“She’s just a child. I’ll fucking kill the fuck.” He’s reaching for the gun he rarely carries and definitely isn’t tonight. Dante’s not even a hands-on kind of guy.
I cut him off. “Dealt with. Jero bagged him and sent him home. Ettore was already set to castrate him and probably will for real now.”
“Fuck! Why was he even here? Wait, why does Ettore want to castrate him?”
I probably shouldn’t have dropped that part while Dante is all riled up. Still, it’s fun to see him cracking like this when he’s usually so contained.
He’ll probably find out soon enough anyway. “Ettore’s been covering up Cosmo’s perversions for a while, so I learned tonight.”
“Does the Don know?”
I shake my head. “Ettore is keeping it under wraps.”
Dante nods, his scowl still firmly in place. “Let me know what Ettore does.”
He disapproved of me working under Ettore’s enforcer at first. He’s seeing the value today.