Chapter 38 #2
The family seemed appeased, and I only hoped her compassion was not all for show.
“Go lay down, figlia. I’ve called Doc Straus to look at your injuries. He’s waiting in your suite.”
“Grazie, I’m just so tired. I’d like to sleep and forget this day ever happened.”
“And what have you learned?” Vigo asked.
Her shoulders slumped. “That it’s best to stay within the confines of your protection.”
He nodded. “Very well. You are excused.”
“Luca, il mio amore.” Her eyes found mine, the rims still red and swollen.
“Don’t be too long. I need you. Buona note,” she said to the others before leaving with Rocco by her side.
She was safe, but my chest tightened in her absence, which felt too permanent.
When the door closed, Vigo poured and dispensed a glass of whiskey to each of his sons.
“Salute.”
We tapped glasses and drank.
Vigo swallowed, then rubbed a knuckle over his lips. “Tell me about the problem we have now.”
“The fucking guard was found.”
He waved away Stefano’s concern. “I know of the body. What is the new issue?”
“An eager cop.” Dante poured a second shot.
“Tanaka ain’t mobbed up. He’s clean as a fuckin’ boy scout.
In January, he busted a guy running numbers, and he got interested in the business.
Caught up with Mancini last month, and now he’s a little too persistent, wanting more information about the family. ” He swallowed the whiskey in one gulp.
“So, he tried to pinch Luca and our Vivienne today.”
Stefano nodded. “He’s got nothing but a dead man and ideas to bring our trade industry to heel.”
Vigo stared at his empty glass, rolling it through his fingers.
“Mio padre, and his father before him ruled the camorra. A century of regime that I brought to America for a new opportunity. What became my business. I deal in fair trade. Cash for product that crosses many shores. No one will stop what I have worked a lifetime to achieve.”
His speech sickened my stomach. The work he spoke of spanned beyond drugs and weapons.
Money laundering was insignificant to the network that bridged eleven countries.
A secretive operation that grew too large to stay silent because one girl escaped, and then there were two and five who had similar stories that the FBI pieced together.
When they did, they called me to infiltrate the largest human trafficking ring in modern time.
Vigo Cabello was a monster, and it would take another one to crumble his kingdom.
I didn’t know everything about him, but I had spent the last five years learning.
A half decade of time committed to the underworld and becoming a made man, infiltrating the family circle in order to wreak havoc from the inside out.
It was a battle of good versus evil, and on some days I felt more like a fiend than a friend.
None of this was easy. Finding Vivienne made the deception less and more of a burden.
The exact paradox I’d feared from the moment our eyes connected.
Only recently had my priorities changed.
At one point, my sole motivation was to be in Vigo’s inner circle.
Now it was his daughter. An old commitment warred with the new.
“I work for more than money,” he said. “Respect is true power. Tanaka will learn to honor my name, or he won’t exist. Is that clear?”
“Crystal,” Stefano said.
“Bene. Send him the message before I hear his name again.” He waved his oldest son from the room and then spoke to Dante and me. “This is no time for error. All five families come together under my roof to grow my business. Handle your wife, Luca. Ensure her silence.”
“She said nothing,” I assured him with a step forward and a hand over my heart. “Vivienne beat herself into silence, so she didn’t have to speak. Her only concern was for me and my welfare. God’s honest truth. We are not talking to anyone.”
He nodded, and relief surged through my veins.
“Loyalty above all else. It is good that her love for you runs so deep. It’s also wise for her to fear us.
Let her see what happens to those who betray the family.
Too many, especially in the Angelini house, have not been held accountable for their treachery.
They will learn that the omertà is sacred here.
I have no problem managing filth who hold no allegiance.
Go now, both of you. Morning brings the first initiation.
Carlos will kiss the ring or take a one-way ride through the gates of hell. ”
We gave twin bows and left his office, stalking down the hall side-by-side. Dante caught my arm just before we walked up the stairs to the house. “I’ve seen it before.”
“What?”
“His iron fist. He doesn’t wish to be a king among kings but to rule the entire Italian monarchy. Anyone in his way is already ash for the urn.”
“You think I don’t already know this?”
“But I’ve seen how he deals with domestic infidelity firsthand.”
I swung my gaze to the camera at the top of the staircase—a good distance away—and then turned to face him with a lowered voice. “Simone?”
“My mother.” Catarina. “She knew his interests had shifted… ” His pause held as much animosity as his tone. “…to international trade. Human trafficking was a problem for her morally.”
“You were a toddler when she died. How could you know this?”
“I was four years old when he struck her down for challenging his power. No matter the age, when you watch your mother burn to death, it’s ingrained in your mind forever. Vivi got the same message at the mission, but she’s not as quick to learn lessons.”
I fisted his shirt, bringing his nose in line with mine. “She is not the enemy here.”
“I believe you.” He loosened my fingers and pushed me back a step. “Neither am I, fratello, I promise you this. Keep your wife under wraps and get her off his radar for at least a few more weeks.”
He didn’t wait for my next question. Dante disappeared at the top of the stairs when I took my first step. Silence and shadows filled the house as I made my way to Vivienne. The day’s events clouded my mind, ending with her brother’s warning. Every thought vanished when I entered her room.
She kneeled by the side of the bed, head bent, fingers steepled.
Her silver hair was a frozen river slicing over her bare shoulders.
Flawless ivory skin was broken by the naked line of her ass, heels pushing into the padded flesh.
With her final prayer whispered into the night, she rose to her feet and turned.
If divinity had a name, it was Vivienne. She wore only a gold chain, her pink nipples furled into balls. Gorgeous tits, the slope of a taut stomach, the slit to her perfect cunt all on display from a triangle of light illuminating the room through the bathroom door.
I was many things, but I wasn’t stupid. If she was offering reconciliation in the form of her body and mine, I would agree. Even if it seemed too simple. Words needed to be spoken. Promises made.
“Uccello?” I removed my shirt.
“I thought…” She blinked and started again. This time fire lit up the frost. “I need.”
It was a language I knew well, so when her hand landed on the pillow, I kicked off the remainder of my clothes and put my head where her palm had landed. She was quick to follow, kneeling over me. I held her waist as she rubbed her slick pussy over my hardening cock.
“I need,” she said again.
“Then take, il mio amore. Take what you need.”
“I want to forget.”
“Then let me make you mindless.”
She went onto her knees, held my base, and rolled my tip over her clit.
I groaned with satisfaction. Then she pushed my crown down through her slit and impaled herself on my dick as if her life depended on the fullness.
Her head fell back, and she rolled her hips, using my chest for balance as she rode me, dominated, and found her pleasure without caring for my own.
She was magnificent and close to coming so quickly; her murmured cries and trembling limbs told me what she needed but couldn’t quite grasp. I licked my thumb and rubbed her tight clit. My free hand found her hair, curling it around my fist until she winced and ground harder on my cock.
“Hate me, Vivienne. Show me how much.”
Her eyes squeezed shut, and I immediately missed the frost. But then she held my face and kissed me through her own moan.
I took that as confirmation that her feelings were not so easily crushed.
That we were stronger than lies and bolder than my deceit.
She bit my lip, a reminder it wasn’t that easy.
That her animosity ran strong and deep. I expected nothing less from my stubborn bride.
I also knew what she needed and wouldn’t ask for, so I rubbed faster, pressed harder, and held her still, fucking up into her glorious body.
Sweat slicked our skin as we slammed together with blind need.
I felt nothing but each merciless thrust, my beating heart, and the joy of having Vivi take what she needed to explode, and she did, clenching and quivering into groaning pleasure while her eyes stared intensely into mine.
She drew me in so deep, I had no choice but to follow, releasing myself into her goodness and erasing any doubt that we wouldn’t make it beyond that night.
She collapsed on my chest. I held her, whispering my devotion into her damp neck.
Before I was ready to let her go, she wiggled out of my arms and sat up, her tits still heaving, her skin slick, and her face haloed in silver.
My little star, glowing and blindingly beautiful above me.
Leaving me no time to linger in my feelings, she reached over and grabbed two water bottles from the table next to the bed.
“Here,” she said, giving me one. I propped up on my elbows, downing every drop in three swallows. It’d been a hell of a day that I wanted to wash off with Vivienne in the shower. We needed to talk as much as we needed to fuck and find fulfillment.
“You should know, Luca,” she whispered, drawing my gaze to her eyes. “That I loved you. That’s the honest-to-God truth.”
“Loved? Vivi, no…”
My heart gave a hard thump.
My mind whirled.
I struggled upright.
She tapped me back to the mattress with a finger, and I fell as if every muscle untied within my body like a loose string.
“What are you doing, uccello?”
She reached for something new. Something long. A syringe gleamed in the limited light. Her arm reared back and then fell, the needle piercing my jugular with a swift jab.
“I’m searching for the truth.”