Blood and Secrets (The Puglisi Crime Family #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Sergio

Downtown came alive as the lunchtime crowd bustled around us. The smell of food saturated the air. The blasts of car horns and engines sounded in the background. And the constant sound of conversation drifted along the warm breeze.

Of course, I should be in school. But life in the streets, doing work for my old man, beats listening to stuffy ass teachers talk about shit I couldn’t care less about.

Would Giovanni Puglisi care that I skipped school?

Most definitely. He wanted all his kids to get a good education.

But he liked that I tried to bring in more money by getting our product out on the streets.

He’d be pissed for a while, but he’d also be proud of me.

Humidity clung to my skin like damp cotton as I pulled another drag from the cigarette stuck between my lips.

The pavement pulsed with heat, and I stood just off the curb, not too far from Lucky’s Diner, half-listening to my friends Kai and Finley cracking lame ass jokes.

I had just pocketed another wad of bills for the two baggies of coke I had just unloaded to a businessman who said he needed a quick fix before his big meeting.

I didn’t care what his reasons were, just as long as he paid me my money.

Kai Rossi and Finley Esposito had been in my life for a long time. Their fathers were Puglisi soldiers, and we’d been raising hell since we were old enough to walk. They were closer to me than my brothers, Gianni, Lorenzo, and Dante.

Shouts and laughter captured my attention. I watched a young girl around my age, wearing our school uniform, come around the corner with her books clutched against her chest. She rejected the advances of the older guys on the hockey team. She looked uncomfortable, and I didn’t like it.

She kept her head down and walked fast, trying to ignore them. But they didn’t look like they were giving up anytime soon. They kept trying to hug her, or touch her hair, and she’d shrug them off. She looked familiar, but I didn’t know who she was.

“Come on, Seraphina.” Jake said. “Just give me a chance.”

Seraphina. That’s a pretty name.

Jake Hollinsworth. I couldn’t stand the motherfucker.

“Please leave me alone.”

Jake grabbed her arm, stopping her from walking any further, then backed her against the brick wall of Lucky’s Diner.

“Just stop and talk to me.” Jake crowded her space, his face only inches from hers. “I want one date, that’s it.”

“And I just want to go to the library.”

She tried to push him away, but he didn’t move.

First shock crossed Jake’s face, then anger.

As captain of the hockey team and a senior, it wasn’t often girls turned him down.

All he had to do was smile, and they’d melt like ice.

But not this girl. Jake never heard the word no.

He never had to chase a chick either. Yet, he wouldn’t take no for an answer even though he could have his pick of any girl at our school.

He was used to getting anything he wanted, and he wanted her.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Kai asked.

His hand gripped my shoulder hard. I hadn’t even noticed I’d moved from my spot. But I was closer to them than I had been before I spotted her.

“This isn’t our business,” Finley said. “We have to meet Don Puglisi, anyway.”

I agreed that this wasn’t our business, but I was making it mine.

I hated this motherfucker. Not because he was a rich prick.

Let’s face it, so was I. However, Jake Hollinsworth and I were different because he was a trust fund baby.

He believed everything should be handed to him, including this chick right here.

I hated motherfuckers like that. I worked for the shit I wanted.

It wasn’t legal, but I got what I wanted by putting in work.

I had shit to prove to my old man and had no problem showing him I should be the next Don.

I tossed the cigarette down and shrugged Kai’s hand off my shoulder. Both Kai and Finley cursed under their breaths but followed me as I stepped toward Hollinsworth. It might come back and bite me in the ass, but I couldn’t let him harass her.

My father would be pissed I gave up the chance to make thousands to stick my nose in something that didn’t have shit to do with me for a bitch no less. But I didn’t give a fuck.

She tried to move again, but Jake trapped her where she couldn’t walk away. Her emotions shifted from annoyance to genuine fear, and it made me fucking furious.

“I…I need to go.”

The way her voice stammered caused him to smile.

Jake liked that she was flustered. He liked the fear in her eyes and voice too.

Asshole.

He planted both of his palms on either side of her face. “Once you agree to go on a date with me, I’ll let you go.”

“I’m not interested.”

Her trembling voice pissed me off even more.

“Hollinsworth, I fucking swear she said she needed to go,” I said, shoving my hands in the pockets of the blue jeans to seem less intimidating to her and so I wouldn’t choke his ass out here in broad daylight.

Even though we were around the same age, she only reached my chest, so I towered over her much like Hollinsworth.

My gaze slid to her wide eyes, and my heart hammered against my chest.

Holy shit, she’s so beautiful.

Even in the ugly ass light-yellow collared shirt with the school’s crest over her breasts, and maroon plaid tennis skirt that landed midway down her thighs, white socks, and black shoes, she looked sexy as fuck.

I understood why he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

But that didn’t make that shit right. If she wanted to be left alone, he should listen to her.

“This doesn’t have shit to do with you, Puglisi.”

I shrugged. “It doesn’t, but I’m making it my business. Let her the fuck go before I fuck you up.”

He stepped toward me and crowded my space instead of hers. Her shoulders relaxed, and while Jake and his friends’ attention was on me and my friends, she eased away from us.

My eyes flicked to hers, and I winked when she mouthed thank you before walking in the direction she had come. She glanced at me one last time, giving me a small smile that pierced my heart like a speeding bullet before she disappeared around the corner.

For the first time in forever, I’d done something that mattered beyond trying to impress my father. Although I didn’t know who the hell this girl was, we were meant to cross paths today. But this wouldn’t be the last time I saw her.

“If I don’t, what the fuck are you going to do about it?” Jake’s question brought me out of my thoughts. The clueless fuck didn’t even realize she was already gone. “Your brothers aren’t here to save you.”

That made me laugh. Everyone thought my brothers protected me and fought all my battles.

They couldn’t be more wrong. My brother Gianni had his nose stuck so far up his girlfriend’s ass he didn’t know if he was coming or going.

If it didn’t have anything to do with Phoenix Blaine, he didn’t give a fuck.

Lorenzo didn’t give a fuck about anyone but himself.

And Dante’ s too young to care about shit.

No, I didn’t depend on my brothers for shit.

I depended on no one but Sergio Puglisi.

I guess it was time Jake found out why fucking with the Puglisi's was hazardous to your health. After I was done with him, I’d make sure he never played another sport again. He’d be lucky if he made it out alive. Today, might be the day I earn my Puglisi tattoo across my chest.