Chapter 27 Presley
Presley
Ispent a week quietly making my plan.
Within that time, I wandered out to the greenhouse early in the morning while the fog still clung to the tips of the trees and the world was cast in shades of gray. The door to the greenhouse gently opened as I pulled it, and my eyes dropped first to the stone where Adrian was laid to rest.
Just like every time, my heart seemed to jolt in my chest at the opportunity to visit him like this.
Kingston had automatic watering misters set up for all his plants, which seemed to be thriving.
I realized there was something blooming around the headstone where Adrian’s name was carved, and under his name was the phrase, “Beloved Fiancé.”
I’d hung my engagement ring with a silver chain over the stone, but there, near the soil, were flowers beginning to bloom.
Gently touching the small petals with my fingers, they almost looked like night-blooming jasmine.
I decided to take a picture of the petal with my phone to see what Kingston had planted. The soil had been covered.
Gladiolus. A flower that represented courage and resilience.
Fresh tears found their way down my face as I began to talk to my dead friend.
After my birthday, I felt a strange echo in my soul that I couldn’t figure out how to fill.
It was a void that brilliant blue eyes and an easy smile used to fill.
Hearing him call me Bellissima. Hearing his laugh, or the way he touched me at night.
I ached for him. Even with the return of the twins, I still longed for my friend.
Each day throughout the week, I’d spend my mornings in that greenhouse.
I’d leave a piece of my soul and let my broken heart take refuge in visiting a man who lost his life because of his loyalty to me.
By midafternoon, I’d take a different sort of refuge in feeding the cows and tending to the new chickens that had arrived.
We also had two new goats that were particularly obstinate when it came to respecting their enclosure.
Gio had to repair it at least three times a day just to keep them in.
Every night, the twins would hold me, and we’d fall into a routine where I’d spend time with each one individually.
Gio liked to watch movies with me at night, while we relaxed in the living room.
He liked to rub my shoulders and play with my hair while my head was in his lap.
Kingston didn’t mind spending time with us, but our time together was always a little different.
It was quiet walks along the property, or me helping him create planter boxes in the backyard.
One time, I found him in the greenhouse and decided to show him how grateful I was for the flowers he'd chosen to plant near Adrian.
I dropped to my knees right there, letting the soil stain my knees while I greedily accepted Kingston in my mouth until he finished down my throat. I woke to kisses, being told how loved I was, and I accepted it. I believed it.
There were times we argued too, but I mostly did that with Kingston, and I had a feeling he did it because of the way each argument would end.
Typically, me on his bed, with my ass up in the air and his fingers gripping me hard while he fucked me senseless.
There were times Gio would sigh and just go to his room and shut the door when King and I would start up, likely because he knew exactly how it would end.
I’d always find my way back into Gio’s arms afterward, needing him to put me back together after Kingston would effectively break me apart.
While I loved that Kingston never hid his darkness from me, without Gio, it would be too much.
I needed his twin’s softness and the gentle way he cradled my heart.
Gio was protective of me in a way that I felt like no one had ever been, and for that, I found a certain kind of solace in him.
Which is why having him angry with me felt infinitely worse than his brother.
I’d waited long enough to put my plan into action, so I pulled out my phone and dialed. I was in the woods, away from the house and the manor, so I didn’t bother lowering my voice when the person on the other end picked up.
“Lánya.” Scotty’s voice was firm, not curious or surprised at all that I had called.
“I told you to stop calling me that.”
He laughed but moved on. “I assume you’re either calling to threaten me or to accept the alliance. Knowing you, you’ve run the scenario through your head enough times that you know I’m right. If you stay with the twins, it’ll eventually end with their deaths, which means you need an alliance.”
“I know…” I replied, doing my best to keep my true intentions at bay. “I—I can’t lose the twins, and I don’t want to risk anything happening to them.”
He was quiet for a moment before he let out a sigh.
“You’ve let them go once; you can do it again.
I’m going to send you an address in New York.
I’d like you to meet a new contact…he’s young, only twenty-five, but his family is powerful.
Up and coming…a connection with them could be all that we need to finally have the edge we’ve needed. ”
“I understand,” I replied evenly.
“I’ll send back up for you, don’t take the twins. They’ll see it as a threat.”
I nodded again. “Okay.”
“I’m proud of you, Presley. Even through everything, you’re exactly how I always knew you’d turn out.”
With that, he hung up.
My chest felt like I’d just rammed it with a two-by-four. I wanted to scream at him, to fight with him, and tell him to fuck off with his pride and all the ways he envisioned me growing up. Instead, I tucked my phone into my pocket and turned to walk back, only to freeze in place.
“You better explain what the fuck I just listened to, right now,” Gio snapped with thunder in his eyes and devastation on his face.
“Gio.” I stepped closer, but he stepped back.
“You’re not going.”
“I am,” I explained, taking another step closer. “This is the only way to defeat him, Gio. You have to trust me.”
“Trust you to be sent into the arms of another man?” His face twisted angrily.
“The only other person I will ever share you with is my twin, and I am barely managing that. I know our roots are joined, there’s no untangling the three of us, but if there was even the slightest chance you could love me alone, be happy with just me, you have to know I would take it.
Sometimes I fucking dream of it, Elvis.”
I refused to feel guilty about hurting him. The truth was, there was no way of tearing my heart out of their hands. They each owned a piece. If one returned it, that portion would break, and there was just no way around that.
“Gio, I’m not—” I tried to explain, but he took off walking toward the house, unwilling to hear me out.
I didn’t chase him, but I did return to the house where I knew Gio would tell Kingston what he overheard. Taking my time with my shower and getting things prepared, I wasn’t surprised when Kingston darkened my doorway with his shadow.
“You’re not playing bride to be again,” he rumbled.
I glanced up from where I was cleaning one of my guns. “Never said I was.”
“Gio overheard—”
Snapping the case for the gun closed, I scoffed before moving to a larger gun. “He overheard shit that wasn’t his business.”
“You are our business, Presley. Everything you do, every breath you take, and every person who threatens you. That’s our business.”
I shook my head. “Don’t you guys get it? There is no way to get ahead of him. There is no outsmarting him, or outmaneuvering him. He will win at every turn because he has no weaknesses. Except two.”
Kingston’s amber gaze narrowed on the suitcase behind me while his nose flared. “You’re placing yourself back on the sacrificial stone for Scotty’s plans. We will not let you do this!” His voice was so loud it made me flinch.
I walked over and immediately wrapped my arms around him. “You have to trust me. I am begging you to trust me.”
It took a few seconds for his hands to come around me, but they eventually did. In a rare, tender moment that Kingston and I rarely shared, he hugged me. The seconds passed by, and his hold on me intensified, squeezing me to him while he rasped near my ear.
“I can’t lose you again. I refuse to let you slip through my fingers and into the arms of another man.
I can’t—” He choked back a sob. “I can’t go through it again.
Pres. Seeing you break over Adrian. Knowing you started a new page with him when Gio and I were supposed to have been your story still kills me. ”
I pulled back, feeling annoyed. “Well, it literally killed him, so rest easy.”
“Pres.”
“You either choose to trust me or you don’t, but trust has to be a part of what we’re doing here, or else it won’t work.”
He tucked a piece of my hair back before finally heaving a sigh that seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. “We’re coming with you on that first initial meet up. Scotty could be setting up a trap.”
I nodded, already knowing they would push for that. “Okay, but you have to remain out of sight.”
With a kiss to my nose, he agreed. With a glance over his shoulder, I saw Gio’s closed door and wondered how long he’d choose to remain upset with me.
I wasn’t sure if the twins had told my father of my plan, but as we drove into the city, the only car I knew of that followed us was Henry’s and the twins’ extra men.
Our windows were blacked out, so it would be difficult for anyone to see who was with me, but as long as it was only me exiting the car, it wouldn’t set anyone off.
Kingston drove, but Gio sat in the back and had still refused to speak to me.
Scotty had given me a location near the docks to arrive and then at the last minute changed it to a small eatery near an underpass.
I wasn’t sure why he changed it, but it didn’t matter.
El Peligro was all over the city, and when Gio had texted them the new address, they’d already scoped it out.
There were five men watching for threats, stationed around the property. No sign of Scotty.
I flipped the vent for the car and changed the temperature, so cooler air blew out.
“Why are you wearing such a thick coat?” Kingston asked. I wore a dress with tights and tall heels under a long, heavy dress coat. The outfit was long sleeved, and the tights were fur- lined, so I didn’t need the coat, but they didn’t know that.
I glanced out the window. “Just cold.”
“Yet, you’re blasting the AC; makes perfect sense,” Gio mused from behind me.
“What did you find out about this guy?” King directed his question to Gio via the rearview mirror.
Gio shifted in the back. “Fernando Vissimo. He has prostitution charges that never stuck, but a few reports of women who claimed he tried to kill them.” His voice became high… “He’s a big player for his father’s organization…which has recently gained power after aligning with the Mariano fortune.”
So, this man was already an ally of Markos then.
“What’s your plan, Elvis?” Gio asked while leaning closer.
“I just want to see where this leads. If I manage to convince Fernando that I’d be a good option for marriage, then it would allow me to get closer to Markos again. I need a way to be able to access him again.”
Gio began muttering something in the back, but we had arrived.
The small restaurant wasn’t more than a shack lit up with fluorescent lights.
The parking lot, however, was massive, and only one lone light illuminated the dark sky.
It made it practically perfect for our first meeting.
I was able to see the five men gathered in front of a similar looking SUV to what we were driving.
“I need you both to trust me. I know what I am doing, and I am begging you to stay put.”
Kingston glared over at Gio, who had clenched his jaw so tight he looked like he was chewing on glass.
Unbuckling, I clarified before I got out, “Your men are watching the Vissimo crew?”
“They are,” Kingston promised.
I gave him a solemn nod. “Trust me.”
He nodded while I exited the car. It remained running behind me while I walked toward a group of men. Small pieces of loose gravel echoed under my heels as I walked over.
In the center was a man that was in his twenties, with dark hair, who watched me like a toddler watched a piece of candy being dangled in front of him. The other men were tall, burly, and looked bored.
“Presley James?”
I smiled brightly, showing my freshly shaded lips and white teeth as I approached. “Hi!”
Fernando looked excited and even took a few steps forward when he began muttering to his men in Italian.
He was talking about my body, and how he wanted to use it later, and even explained he’d share with one of the men.
I’d planned my steps prior to even arriving, but his words only made it easier.
“I’m so excited that we were able to set this up!” Fernando called, getting closer.
When I was within fifty feet or so, I began unbuttoning my coat. He remained oblivious to my intentions until it was too late. From the lining, I pulled up two automatic assault rifles and began shooting.
The men were so caught off guard, they didn’t have time to pull out their weapons.
This was a lesson I had learned from Scotty, and how fitting that I was able to put it to use on an alliance he’d set up.
All five of them were down within seconds.
Someone in the car began driving away, peeling out of the parking lot, but the twins did the same and cut them off by ramming our car into theirs.
Fernando’s car flipped, and then Gio was out, walking with his hands wrapped around a hand gun, ensuring whoever was driving wasn’t alive any longer.
In my five-inch-high heels, I sauntered over to Fernando and pulled out the note I had written. Grabbing the staple gun I had stolen from Kingston’s work table in the barn, I secured the note to his forehead.
Scotty,
Cheers to another great alliance.
I’ll be in touch.