Chapter 6
SIX
Sable
Once we pulled into the driveway of the Accetti estate, the uneasiness that had been brewing in my stomach intensified. I couldn’t shake the feeling that coming to this house was a mistake. It was as if I was certain that once I left here, I would never be the same.
What choice did I have? We were broke, Chance had fallen in with the wrong people because he was young and delusional. He was trying to provide for us, but he went about it the wrong way. Now it was my turn to protect him.
“Look at this place,” Chance said. “It’s huge.”
“Bigger than anything we’ve ever seen.”
“Sable,” he said. “I still think this is a colossal mistake. We swapped one gangster for another. No good can come of this.”
“I’m not getting into this with you again.” I pointed at him. “You fucked up, and I fixed it.”
“At your own expense. ”
“Well, maybe next time you won’t put me in that position.” I patted his cheek. “I can get through this. Just don’t piss Milo off. Don’t make this difficult.”
“We passed difficult hours ago.”
“After this is over, we can move forward with our plan to start over somewhere else. Somewhere less dangerous.”
“Do you think that’s possible?” he asked, and I saw the uncertain boy I remembered as a child. Always looking to me for the answers I tried so hard to provide.
“This isn’t the first snag we’ve hit.” Chance and I had been through a lot during our short lives, but we managed to get by. We dodged Bello tonight. All I had to do was survive Milo.
When the SUV stopped in front of the massive house, illuminated by soft, white lights, Milo hurried down the porch steps. He had removed his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, allowing me to see a tattoo of two hands in a prayer position surrounded by black roses in the center of his upper chest.
As he came toward the car door, his shirt swayed from his body, revealing more intricate ink along his ribcage, but I couldn’t make out what the tattoos were. I tried not to stare when he opened my door, but his chiseled abs and lean stomach made it difficult not to ogle him.
I am so out of my league.
“You kept your word,” Milo said as he extended his hand. “I’m impressed.”
“I said I would.” I let him help me out of the SUV that was lifted about six feet off the ground.
“I figured once Chance got your ear after I left, the two of you would have fled.”
Chance did his best to get me to reconsider, but Milo was our best option while I figured out how to get us on our feet.
“I did have eyes on you the whole time, so you wouldn’t have gotten very far.” With my hand still in his hold, Milo stuck his head in the SUV. “You’re going about a quarter mile up the road to the pool house.”
“Why is he going there?” I asked.
“That’s where he’s staying.” Milo didn’t turn to look at me as he continued to speak to Chance. “Ricardo, one of my guys, will be looking after you until I figure out what my best option is for you. Don’t give him any trouble.”
“He won’t.” I looked over Milo’s shoulder and into the car. “Right?”
“What plans do you have for my sister?” Chance asked. “Why can’t she come with me?”
“It’s not going to work that way,” Milo said. “Sable comes with me. That was the deal.”
“Why are you such an asshole?”
Why couldn’t Chance control his temper and shut his mouth for once? Wasn’t my sacrifice enough? Why did he insist on making this worse?
“I’m an asshole?” When Milo lunged forward, I grabbed his arm. He glared over his shoulder. “Let go of me.” His low, threatening tone should have made me retreat.
“Please don’t hurt him,” I whispered as he glanced down at my fingers still clutched around his bicep. My hold on him wasn’t some struggle for power but more of a plea to leave my brother alone. I had brought Chance here to protect him, even if he didn’t understand that. “Take me inside.”
“You two have a lot to learn if you’re going to survive here.” He turned back and looked at Chance. “For the record, I’m not the one who put Sable in this position.” He slammed the SUV door and tapped on the top, indicating for the driver to leave.
“I wouldn’t let him come between us if I were you.” He slid my backpack off my shoulder. “It won’t end well for either of you.”
“Understood.”
“You say you understand, but I don’t think that’s true.”
“He needs time to adjust. Neither of us know what to expect by being here.”
“All you need to know is that I agreed to help you when you asked. When dealing with men like me and Bello, there are always consequences. You borrow money, you have to pay it back. If you don’t, you get hurt.”
“You made sure that didn’t happen.”
“But you sought my assistance, so now you are bound by the terms of the agreement. Asking me for a favor comes at a high cost.”
Wasn’t me being here enough for him? We didn’t try to run. I intended to pay my debt.
“Where’s the rest of your stuff?” He placed his hand on my lower back and guided me up the steps that led to a beautiful wrap-around porch.
“I didn’t know how long we would be here.”
“Longer than what you packed for.”
“I don’t really have that much,” I said. “How long am I going to be here?”
“You’re not even inside and you want to leave?”
“I didn’t say I wanted to leave, but I don’t have any idea what you expect from me.”
“That’s why you don’t frantically barge into a restaurant and demand to see me to ask me for something that only I can provide for you. That gives me the upper-hand, and it’s exactly why you don’t have any idea why you’re here. ”
When he opened the front door, my legs were weighted down with fear. If I stepped through the threshold, my life would change. I would belong to Milo. I didn’t even know the full extent of what I had agreed to. I did what I had to do to save Chance, but what would that cost me?
“Come in.” He widened the door. “With the exception of Antonella, we’re alone.”
“Antonella?”
“She takes care of everything around the house. I couldn’t manage without her.” He nudged me inside and closed the door. “She’s been traveling back and forth to Italy, because her mother isn’t well, but she’ll be here for now.”
Once the latch on my prison door caught, the sound echoed throughout the elaborate foyer and I was reminded that I had given up my freedom.
I didn’t know what to focus on first. The Italian marble shimmered beneath my feet and flowed down a hallway that never seemed to end.
To the right of that hallway, there was a grand staircase that split on either side, leading to two separate landings, and one continuing up the center with more steps.
“You live here by yourself?” I asked.
“No, my brother and father also live here.”
“Oh.” I gazed up at the moonlight that drifted in from windows surrounding the foyer. “Where are they?”
“My father is away on business, and Marchello and his wife Lissia are on their honeymoon.”
“So, it’s just us?”
“And Antonella.”
“Right.” The reality of coming to a gangster’s mansion and agreeing to unknown terms of a contract I had no idea how long would last began to set in.
“You need to relax. ”
“This situation might warrant some anxiety.”
“Not for me.” He winked. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“Why?” I glanced at the staircase of no return. “Why don’t you show me the downstairs first?”
“You can explore the downstairs all you want tomorrow when I’m at work.” He took my hand. “But now I want to take you upstairs and work out some of the details of this arrangement.”
“Uh-huh.” I let him lead me to the marble steps with glossy, black railings on either side.
There wasn’t a speck of dust, a fingerprint, or a scuff mark to be found in the immaculate house that smelled of cinnamon and citrus.
“I have certain expectations,” Milo said as we climbed the stairs, taking the left-hand side. “I didn’t pay your brother’s debt out of the goodness of my heart.”
“I’m aware.” I pointed to the center staircase, trying to distract myself from the inevitable. “What’s up there?”
“My father’s suite is in the center, and Marchello’s is to the right. I have the left wing of the house.”
“I’ve never been in a house that has suites and wings.” We continued down a hallway with several doors throughout. “The car business must be lucrative.”
“You could say that.”
He opened a set of double doors that led to a room with a white, leather sectional and one of the biggest televisions I’d ever seen. It looked like it could be in the middle of Times Square. One of the walls was lined with built-in, black bookcases filled with hundreds of books.
“This is my sitting room.” He placed my backpack on the sectional adorned with a black leopard throw and matching pillows. “We have a family room and a home theater downstairs, but each of us has our own living space when we need a break from one another.”
“It’s inviting.” I glanced at the books. “Have you read all of those?”
“Most of them.”
“I didn’t expect that.”
“The books?” When he grinned, his scary features disappeared, or maybe I wanted to believe he wasn’t as frightening as I perceived him to be. “What? You didn’t think a thug like me could read?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You thought about it.” He opened another set of double doors that led to a bedroom. “You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing with me?” I peered into the room, wishing that king-sized bed wasn’t in my sight line, reminding me of what I was here to do. “Judging me because I don’t look like the women you’re used to.”
“You don’t look anything like the women I occupy my time with.” He motioned into the bedroom. “That’s why you’re here.”
“I know why I’m here.” I slowly put one foot in front of the other, willing myself to enter the bedroom. It’s just a room.
Milo took my hand and tugged me into the bedroom, leaning me against the side of an armoire. His intimidating body, covered in tattoos and muscles, caged me in, not only trapping me physically but filling me with immense fear.
Why am I so afraid of him?
“The sooner you stop blaming me for the reason you’re here, the better things will go between us.” He flattened his palms against the dresser on either side of my shoulders. “You came to me. I didn’t take you against your will. ”
“I’m free to go?”
“I didn’t say that.” He leaned into me. “I may not have taken you hostage, but that doesn’t mean you’re free.”
His warm breath swept along my cheek, causing my skin to prickle. Not even the fear of knowing what he wanted from me could make me resist him.
“I intend to make you work off every penny of that ten grand.” He trailed his lips to the corner of my mouth. “With interest.”
I turned my head slightly so our lips aligned, waiting for him to kiss me like he had the night we met. He had claimed me with his fierce gaze and possessive hands, instilling me with a strange sense of hope. That New Year’s Eve kiss started my obsession with the mafia prince.
But as quickly as he drew me in that night, he cut me off even faster. Telling me to go with his authoritative voice and his cutting words. Should I have listened? Probably. If I had, I wouldn’t be in his bedroom, silently begging for more.
“Don’t worry.” His lips curved into a smug smile. “There will be plenty of time for kissing and so many other things.”
It’s the other things that worry me.
“We have to set a few ground rules if you’re going to be my companion.”
“What kind of rules?”
“I don’t go around telling people my business,” he said. “But since your brother already introduced you to my world, there is no sense in lying about who I am and what I do.” He caressed my cheek. “Bringing you into my home requires plenty of trust on my part. I expect you to be discreet.”
“I will.” I had no desire to get myself ensconced into the mob any further .
“You have to be careful with your social media and who you talk to and associate yourself with.” He cupped the side of my face. “If anyone approaches you and asks questions about me, I have to know that you won’t give them any information.”
“I don’t know anything about you.” I dropped my gaze to his lips. “I don’t have anything to tell anyone.”
“For now.” He released me and stepped back, creating an emptiness I hadn’t expected. “Being in close proximity to me puts you in a position to hear and see things about my business. Things you could interpret the wrong way. I’d hate for you to get on my bad side.”
He took his gun out of his waistband and gripped the handle as he continued to stare at me as if he saw beyond the surface. His daunting gaze burned into me, exposing all of me.
“Can I trust you?” he asked.
“Yes.” I didn’t want to end up at the bottom of a river, and betraying him would earn me a ticket to an early grave.
“Good.” He set the gun on the top of the dresser. “Now we can get to the fun part.”
“What part would that be?”
“What I expect from you.”
He slipped off his shirt, placing his upper body on display. My eyes were drawn to his stunning perfection. I couldn’t look away from the elaborate artwork on the canvas that was his body.
“Come here.” He took my hand and led me closer to the bed. “Let’s get to know one another a little bit.”
I swallowed hard when he ran my hand along his solid chest, moving it down to his stomach. The warmth of his flesh heated my insides, making me tingle all over. When he reached the top of his pants, I curled my fingers into a fist, not sure if I was ready to touch all of him.
“Remember when I said seeking me out and asking me for a favor would come at a high price?” He wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me to him. “It’s time you learn how expensive my services are.”
“What do you want?” I regretted the question as soon as the words left my lips.
“Take your clothes off and I’ll show you.”
“You’re asking me to undress in front of you?”
“Asking?” He brushed his jaw along my cheek, scraping my sensitive skin with his stubble as he tightened his hold on me. “In this arrangement, I’m going to ask very little of you.”