Bones and Paisley (Rizzo Mafia #1)

One

Hawkes

T he enemy was the girl who condemned my daughter.

Paisley Deville - my favorite obsession.

I would make her understand some day.

Why I hated her.

I’d take her hand and take her on a spinning dance in the ballroom of my long-ago forgotten memories. Even the ones better kept in the darkness, where no one could see them and use them against me.

Would Paisley understand?

Se tu vuoi che ti ami, fa’ che ti brami.

If you want me to love you, let me crave you.

Knocking back a drink to stave off another few hours of sleep, my shoulders tensed at the sound of approaching footsteps, and then, the door of my office flying open without a knock.

“We found her.”

I turned around sharply at the sound of Jett’s voice, my fingers tapping impatiently on the marble of my desk. The non-knocking was now inconsequential. “How?”

This, I had to know.

Someone else had achieved the impossible. I berated myself for not making the sighting myself, and yet my blood was flooded with adrenaline, pumping with desire to clasp my palms around Paisley’s neck again, less than a day after our first meeting.

Jett sauntered into the room and took a seat in front of my desk, motioning for me to pour us drinks. My fists tightened and I glared at him. He knew better than to make demands of me when I was so on edge. Though he raised his eyebrows, my best friend did not comment on the fact I’d ignored his words. With a deep sigh, Jett Rizzo leaned back in my chair and stretched his legs.

“We hacked into an app from the information we pulled off her phone. Geotracking from some walking watch she must wear to track her steps. Paisley is alive and well. Would you like me to pay her a visit, or should I save you the honor?” Jett smirked.

I felt even angrier at the thought of him seeing Paisley first, instead of me. Irrationally pissed off, I eyed him warily. “Has anyone made contact yet?”

Jett shook his head. “Figured you’d want to know first.”

I nodded with gratitude. He understood how important this was to me. I was thankful he didn’t bring up my deepening obsession with the girl. But I would have denied it, anyway.

Even if Paisley Deville was imprinting her way onto my brain, slowly but surely.

“Can you send me the address where she is?” I asked. No further explanation needed. I was ready to go.

With a few clicks of his fingers, Jett did as I asked. My phone went off and I pulled my jacket off the coat rack, hurriedly putting it over my shoulders.

“Hawkes… Don’t kill her.” He said after a moment’s hesitation.

I shot my best friend a pointed look. “I’m not stupid.”

“That’s not what I’m implying,” Jett sighed, rubbing his temples. “Look… Just because Glasgow broke the rules of our brotherhood, doesn’t mean either of us should. Especially not over this girl.”

I nodded somberly. “We don’t hurt women. I remember.”

“You say that,” Jett muttered. “But you came pretty fucking close last time, didn’t you? And it was with Paisley Deville.”

I challenged him with my glare, pinning him until he groaned, rubbing his forehead.

. “Don’t look at me like that. She’s not worth it.” There was an insistent tone in his voice I refused to listen to.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t suffer,” I promised half-heartedly. In the past, my promises actually had meaning. That was no matter the case, at least when it came to Paisley Deville. The fucking devil incarnate.

“ last thing.” Jett picked himself up, squaring his shoulders. I noticed his suit was too large, realizing he was losing weight though his tall physique still made him dangerous.. “She’s gone to her foster mother’s house. You’ll remember the woman, Sarah. Where she grew up with your daughter. She’s been there for a while… You may want to hurry up.”

I drove myself, pulling up on 190 Van Nostrand Ave as fast as I could without killing myself or someone else in the process.

I assumed Paisley had taken a cab, as there was no other car parked on the street. Mine stood out, and several kids had already gathered to stare. If they messed it up or stole it, fuck it. Let them play with a piece of treasure.

Glaring at a couple teenagers as I walked up to Sarah’s house, I knocked and reached for the knife tucked into the waistband of my pants. A reminder I could end her life then and there.

I’d be damned if I let Paisley get away this time.

The girls’ foster mother, Sarah already knew me. When I got out of jail a couple of years ago, she was my first stop to find Rubi, my daughter whom I’d never met. But by then, it was too late. Rubi Rizzo was missing - the only trail of my daughter, a girl named Paisley Deville, who ran away from me during our first encounter.

She would have been a fool not to run.

I had a knife pressed to her neck, the same one behind my back now.

I could have… should have killed her.

Now, less than a day after that, I’d tracked her down. Why was she visiting her foster mother? Sarah had never mentioned any contact with Paisley to me, she just said Paisley Deville was a girl growing up in the foster home besides my daughter.

Sarah was an interesting character of her own.

I didn’t know everything about her, but I knew her terrified look well enough to be able to tell she’d never call the cops on me. She’d either done something wrong herself, or I reminded her of someone who hurt her.

Sneaking another look over my shoulder at the car, I gave up on getting it out in one piece. It was a really bad neighborhood. I felt distraught that my daughter had grown up there.

I’d be face-to-face with Paisley again in moments. It was less than twenty-four hours since I’d seen her. How long had she been at Sarah’s? It was around dinner time now.

The door opened, and a woman in her fifties appeared, wearing a flour-streaked apron. Sarah’s pale face turned more wary at the sight of me on the doorstep. My loafers blocked her from closing the door in my face, and I invited myself inside, ignoring the chaos of running children in the hallway. I let go of the knife. Another Rizzo rule: never involve children.

I walked straight into the cramped living room, past familiar knock-off Lego blocks and broken toys. My runaway, Paisley Deville, was sitting on a ratty tartan print couch, her fingers wrapped around a pillow with tassels. She was clinging on for dear life, her face becoming paler as she recognized me.

“Any particular reason you ran away from me, Paisley Deville?” I asked casually, making room on the armchair in the corner while she shivered on the sofa. “Are you finally ready to admit you’re complicit in my daughter’s disappearance?”

of Sarah’s kids - or the woman herself - clearly used the chair to sleep in, as there were pillows and a comforter draped over it. I sat down, managing not to acknowledge what Paisley’s presence was doing to me.

She still smelled like the perfume she’d worn the previous night.

I couldn’t deny it, and neither could anybody else - Paisley Deville was gorgeous.

Not that her appearance concerned me.

I forced myself to ignore the young woman sitting in front of me. My hands shook with effort as I clasped them, ignoring the way my dick was already tenting my slacks.

“I ran away as anyone would when someone had a-” Paisley flushed. She coughed, glancing at an incoming toddler barging into the living room. “Well, I’m sure you know why I ran, Mr. Rizzo. You’re a dangerous man.”

The little girl who had found her way into the room tugged on Paisley’s sleeve. Never taking her eyes off me, Paisley leaned down and the child whispered something in her ear, making the corners of Paisley’s lips lift up in a smile.

She shook her head at the little girl and whispered something back. Giggling, the little girl gave me a curious look.

Sarah reappeared, calling the child to her side.

“Paisley, are you okay?” the woman asked tentatively, and Paisley nodded, glancing at me.

“Why don’t you make us some tea?” Paisley suggested. “I’ll talk to this… gentleman… in the meantime.”

Sarah was tense. I counted on my impression that she was afraid of cops as she disappeared back into the kitchen, kid in tow. Hopefully she wouldn’t interrupt us again. She closed the door of the living room, and we were finally alone.

“What did you do today, Miss Deville?” I asked. “After you ran away from me, refusing to give me an answer, I mean?”

“I came to see Sarah to arrange a place to stay,” Paisley seethed. “I can’t exactly kick out my boyfriend. It’s his place we live in. I haven’t gone home yet since… our meeting..”

“You’re breaking up with him?” I asked. This, at least, elicited some genuine surprise from me. I hadn’t expected her to leave him. “Why?”

“ Why ?” Paisley laughed. “Because I’ve cheated on him. With you .”

I laughed out loud. “How trivial. Don’t you think he’s ever cheated on you?”

Her shoulders fell, and she looked away. “Doesn’t matter. It’s over between us now.”

“I don’t think it is, Miss Deville,” I breathed, and she snapped her eyes back to mine.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll find out soon,” I muttered, crossing my legs as I kept my eyes pinned on her. Paisley’s beauty was distracting, and I was starting to get pissed I kept losing my focus. “But let’s start at the beginning. What have you not told me about my daughter? Why did Rubi Rizzo disappear, and why were you the last person to see her?”

“Mr. Rizzo, I told you everything I know already,” she insisted. “I’ve been the only one looking for Rubi since that night. For years.”

“Another lie,” I hissed. “I’ve been looking for her too. You hid from me.”

“I didn’t know you existed, so I had no idea someone else was looking. Until last night,” she reminded me.

“But Sarah knew.” I stared her down, trying to pinpoint the moment she’d lie to me again.

Paisley raised her eyebrows. “If she did, she never told me.”

I mulled it over, realizing Sarah had probably hidden Paisley’s identity from me to protect her. Of course Paisley’s foster mother would try to shield the girl. She didn’t know everything, but I knew Sarah wasn’t oblivious to my jail sentence, at least. She tried to keep Paisley Deville away from me.

Smart woman.

Just then, Sarah opened the door again and Paisley jumped to attention, helping her with a platter of tea. It was cheap fruit tea, and Paisley mixed a hefty dose of sugar into hers and Sarah’s. I noticed there were three cups, but I wasn’t keen on having the other woman in the room with us.

“Thanks for the tea,” I said. “We’ll have it alone.”

Sarah glanced at Paisley, which annoyed me more. Why was she looking at her for answers? It wasn’t like either of them had a choice.

“Why are you protecting her?” I asked sharply, my eyes trained on Sarah as I motioned to Paisley. “This one here. Why does it matter, unless you’re hiding something from me?”

“I have nothing to do with any of this,” Sarah muttered, fingers shaking as she stirred her tea. “All I did was give the girls a home when they had nowhere to go. Would you like to explain why you were not more involved in Rubi’s life?”

“Sure,” I said breezily, leaning back. “I was incarcerated before Rubi’s birth, as I’ve told you before, Sarah.”

I felt Paisley’s cold stare, as well as her foster mother’s. They inspected me, from the expensive loafers to the quiet luxury I presented myself with proudly.

“Doesn’t look like you just got out of jail,” Paisley muttered. “Very well dressed for an ex-convict.”

“Do you know a lot of ex-convicts, Miss Deville?” I asked sharply.

“Just the one.” Her eyes bore into mine. “Can’t say I’m terribly impressed.”

I didn’t dignify her with a reply. Instead, I drank my own tea, unsweetened and bland.

Sarah and Paisley kept exchanging looks. Neither of them asked why I went to jail. Seemingly, these things were commonplace in a home like this. I didn’t ask about Paisley’s family, or how she ended up there, either.

“No matter the circumstances, you know more about Rubi than anybody else. You’re instrumental in helping me find my daughter, Paisley. As you know, I can’t simply let you walk away,” I said.

“It’s too late. I’m moving away from the city.” She swallowed and put her teacup down on a saucer. “I can’t stay here anymore.”

“Moving from the scene of the crime,” I said bitterly. “Something a guilty person would do. Not suspicious at all, are we, Miss Deville?”

“Think of it what you want, it’s not going to change the outcome,” she replied firmly, and Sarah squeezed her palm for support.

I, on the other hand, had enough of these stupid charades. “Give us a moment, Sarah, would you?”

Sarah hesitated, but didn’t argue with me. I didn’t care if she lingered by the door on the other side, eavesdropping on our conversation. I was sure Paisley would tell her everything, anyway. As it seemed, only one of them kept secrets successfully.

Once we were alone, I picked myself up and walked to the window, staring at my car through the window. My lips pressed together as I watched some punks gathering around the vehicle. I had to force myself to ignore the young woman, now alone in the room with me. I remembered my knife, feeling an indecent desire to use the blade to make Paisley talk.

How sweet it would be to see the fear in her eyes again.

“Who else are you in touch with that knows my daughter?” I barked in Paisley’s direction. “Give me their names.”

“Well, I suppose Travis…” I watched her bite into her bottom lip. “My boyfriend. I know he still does poker nights with Elias. An old classmate.”

“Any connection to Rubi?” I demanded.

“He liked her at the time,” she shrugged weakly. “Nothing ever happened. They didn’t know each other that well. That night she disappeared, he was with us. They talked a bit more.”

“And Travis? He seems too good to be true, doesn’t he?” I turned to face her. “Is he not concerned your best friend went missing?”

“Rubi and Travis weren’t close,” Paisley admitted. “Travis… He thought Rubi got in the way.”

I tapped a finger against my chin. “An excellent motive.”

Her eyes snapped to mine. “Travis McCormack is not a bad man.”

“Weren’t you going to leave him two minutes ago?” I mocked her.

“I am leaving him.”

“Yeah, about that.”

I walked closer and knelt in front of her. She recoiled in surprise, lashes fluttering as she lifted a hand to her reddening chest. I allowed myself to take a good look at her again. The fragile frame of her collarbone, the milky skin flushing a dark red. Her lips, so full and inviting, masking a scowl. Her eyes were blue. Wide, trusting, scared.

I couldn’t allow myself to get distracted by her prettiness.

Paisley Deville was still the girl who was responsible for my daughter’s disappearance three years ago. The last one to have seen her, alive and well. No matter what Paisley said, I knew she was my only way of getting information.

“I don’t make a lot of promises these days,” I said softly. “But I promise you I will find Rubi.”

She nodded. She believed me.

“I’ll need you to help me.”

I grabbed her hands on an impulse, and she shivered when we touched again. Memories of our forbidden night in the alley behind the club assaulted me, her sweet scent and the feel of her curves trapped beneath my muscle.

“You will stay in New York City. You will stay with your boyfriend. And you won’t do anything without my supervision. We need to find Rubi.”

She yanked her hands away from me, trembling as she walked away from me. I picked myself up and watched her. “You want to find Rubi, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” she whispered. “But why force me to stay with a man I don’t love? I want out. Our relationship was doomed from the beginning. Let me move out. I’ll stay in touch with you, I swear. I’ll help you find your daughter. I swear.”

“Are you really so blind?” I demanded, staring her down. “You’re staring down the barrel of a gun already, Paisley Deville.”

“How so?”

Her face was the picture of innocence, and I wondered if she truly was this gullible. Or maybe she was playing a game with me.

“Maybe you can’t read between the lines, sugar, but I can.” I cursed myself for letting the nickname slip from my lips with such ease. “Stay put in New York, with your boyfriend, or else.”

She had some fight left in her, but I pinned her with my gaze. I wanted her to know what my daughter’s disappearance had done to me. If she cared about Rubi at all, she wouldn’t walk away from this. And currently, Paisley Deville and this asshole boyfriend of hers were my only clues.

“I don’t want him to touch me,” she admitted in a low voice. “I don’t want to sleep with Travis anymore.”

“Then figure out a way to get information without that,” I threatened. “Or I’ll intervene.”

She didn’t ask what I meant, just nodded somberly. I smiled, and before I could help it, the words slipped from my lips.

“Good girl.”

I fucking saw the shiver go down her spine, and relished it. I didn’t want Paisley to know she had an effect on me, so I forced myself to pour every vestige of power in delivering the next words.

“Look, Paisley. I need to find my daughter,” I started. “At any cost. You’re too important to get away. Do you really want the entire world to forget Rubi existed?”

“Of course not,” she whispered, toying with the necklace at her neck.

“Then don’t let it happen,” I said, a vague threat.

She looked up at me, so pure and different. Was I really capable of locking her up in a loveless relationship, just for the sake of getting answers?

Yes.

Yes, I fucking was.

But I’d make it better for her, so we could suffer in this unrequited feeling together.

I reached out, fingers brushing some hair off her collarbone. She had such pretty bones underneath that pale skin, and I longed to watch them. Her hair was too long for my taste, brushing her shoulders. I imagined it shorter, so I could see her veins, her bones and her muscles stretching.

Gathering the hair at the back of her neck into a ponytail, I smiled.

“What are you doing?” Paisley whispered.

“Just checking something,” I said. “Don’t worry about it, sugar.”

She stared up at me still, and I touched my free hand to her lips, gently parting them. “Stop…”

“I already told you your safeword,” I reminded her gently. “I’m not going to listen to you if you just tell me to stop.”

She swallowed thickly, remembering the night prior, when I’d whispered my daughter’s name into her ear. She’d never use it, and I was counting on that.

“Please, Hawkes.”

My name on her lips was a dangerous sound. I craved more than anything else, making me forget about everything. All that mattered is that she kept talking to me, right here, ready to be caught.

I took a step closer, wedging my knee between her legs as I pressed her up against the dingy, wallpapered wall. “What are you begging for, sugar?”

“Let me go,” she managed.

“The one thing I can’t do,” I said, closing the gap between us and pressing my lips to hers.

She turned her head to the side, unwilling to accept my kiss. I knew she wanted it, she was soaking my knee through her panties. My hand idly wandered behind my back, and I pulled out my knife silently as I pulled back, keeping my thumb on her chin.

“Look,” I implored her gently, showing off the glinting steel. “Your old friend.”

Her eyes were full of fear, fingers still toying with the necklace as I closed the distance between us again. This time, she kissed me back. Whether it was out of fear or lust didn’t matter to me.

I pressed the knife’s tip to her hair, grazing her shoulders as I pushed it out of the way. Paisley moaned against my lips, making my hand shake. I didn’t want to cut her, but this feeling of letting go of control was so fucking intoxicating, I couldn’t stop myself.

Nobody had made me lose control before.

But with little Paisley gasping my name as I ran the knife between her tits, it was easy.

“Did you miss him?” I asked, grinning as she recoiled from the knife. “Tell me how much…”

The door to the room flew open, and I sprang away from her. Paisley flushed, nearly tripping over herself as she did her best to cover up. The little girl from before waltzed in again, running straight past me and to the young woman I was becoming so infatuated with.

Fuck.

What just happened? I’d let go of my guilt.

And it was beautiful.

“Mr. Rizzo?” Paisley asked, and I snapped back to reality. “Do you need anything else from me? I should get going…”

“No,” I said, turning my back to her. “Just go back home and we’ll stay in touch. Don’t tell Travis anything.”

Looking back one more time, I tried to tell myself Paisley was nothing. But the sight of her with that kid instinctively clinging to her was too fucking much.

“If you need me, text me,” I muttered, shoving my business card into Paisley’s trembling fingers. “Don’t lose it.”

I didn’t give her a chance to react, swayed by my own thoughts. I nearly tripped over Sarah, eavesdropping in the hallway. The crowd of kids parted in the street, revealing a freshly keyed in scratch on my Merc.

Kill the rich, free the poor.

I barely noticed any of it, my thoughts full of Paisley.