Chapter 24
Mina
“He must have died from his injuries,” Dominic states the obvious. “The Crane twins did a pretty number on him before they brought him. It was just his time, I guess.”
“How disappointing,” Vincent muses, staring at Dimitri’s corpse. “Dr. Goldberg usually does so well with lost causes.”
“Can’t win them all,” I interject, standing in the corner of the room.
“No, I guess you can’t,” Vincent asserts evenly, eyeing me and his eldest son far too attentively for my liking.
Thankfully, Jude keeps his placid mask on and doesn’t quiver under his father’s scrutinizing glare.
“I was able to get a name before he died,” Jude volunteers.
“How fortuitous that Dimitri’s last breath was to help us,” Vincent retorts with a hint of sarcasm.
Vincent isn’t stupid. He knows that something went down in this room. There was foul play conducted here. But let him have his suspicions. He’ll never hear the truth from me.
If he so much as suspected that Jude killed Dimitri just so I could keep a promise, Lord knows what he would do to his own son.
I’m not blind. Anyone with a pair of eyes can see that Vincent has a soft spot for his eldest son. But being a father and a boss are two very different things.
Vincent would have to make an example out of Jude, even if every fiber of his being told him otherwise.
“Well, don’t leave me in suspense. What’s the name?”
“Donato,” Jude is quick to announce.
“I see.” Vincent’s lips take on a scowl, the name obviously familiar.
“I don’t understand. Dimitri confessed to working for the Cosa Nostra. Still, I can’t recall the name Donato,” I chime in since it’s blatantly apparent I’m the only one in the room who’s never heard of it before. “Are they a new family in Sicily?”
“They’re not from the old country,” Jude starts to explain beside me. “They’ve always been based in New York.”
“I thought the Irish mob held New York?” I ask with a furrowed brow.
“A part of it, yes. But not all of it. The Donatos still rule the majority of the city.”
“ Basta !” Vincent shouts when he’s had enough of Jude’s explanations. “The Donato name has been dead to us for nearly thirty years. If it’s resurfacing now, well… it doesn’t bode well for our family.”
I want to ask a slew of questions about what he means by that, but I know when to keep my mouth shut when the boss is in one of his moods. It’s evident the name Donato has triggered Vincent.
“I need to think,” he says, striding toward the door. “Get someone to handle the body. I’ll be in my office, so if either of you remembers anything else about what really happened here this morning, come see me.”
“There’s nothing left to say. Mina and I fell asleep, and when we woke up, Dimitri was dead.”
“Is this really the hill you plan to die on, son?” Vincent asks, his menacing glare settling again on Jude, causing me to hold my breath, praying he doesn’t crack under the pressure.
If the tables were reversed and it was my father who looked at me like that, I would have spilled my guts out to him. But Jude stays silent under such scrutiny, which surprises me.
I never questioned his loyalty to his family. After all, he chose them over me. So, for him to keep this secret actually thaws a bit of the frost that has hardened my heart.
“May I have a word with you, son?” Vincent asks, the forced politeness causing my hackles to rise.
“Of course,” Jude replies, but he doesn’t take a single step in his father’s direction.
Instead, he stays rooted to the spot, right beside me. He shoves his hand into his pocket, letting me know he’s fiddling with my ivory chess piece to keep him grounded.
Vincent also picks up the underlying message that Jude is trying to convey without words.
Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of Mina.
“Yesterday, you pulled your gun on a man who has loved you like you were his own flesh and blood,” Vincent starts, my gaze instantly flickering over to a mute Dominic. “Not only that, but you also pulled a gun on your own brother—the same brother who idolizes you and would follow you to the ends of the earth. Your actions didn’t go unnoticed, Jude. Not by a long shot.”
“Understood, boss. And I’m ready to take any punishment you see fit,” Jude responds with his head held high.
“I doubt that you are, son. I doubt that you are.”
I can’t explain my next reaction, but before I can stop myself, I take a step forward, closing some of the space between me and Vincent.
“In regard to yesterday’s… misunderstanding, I will be having words with Rolo and Romulus about their conduct. It was never my intention to disrespect you in your own home.” I hold his gaze, steady and unflinching. “That being said, I don’t fault my cousins for being protective of me. Yes, they overstepped, but I would have handled the situation peacefully if you hadn’t intervened first. They simply reacted like any family member would when someone they love is threatened.”
Silence settles, thick and suffocating. Vincent’s stare sharpens, assessing the situation, his presence commanding the entire room. He then exhales a quiet chuckle, but there’s no humor behind it.
“But that is the crux of the matter, is it not, Lady Crane? ” His voice is smooth yet weighted with something dangerous. “I saw two families at that table yesterday—together yet divided. And what troubles me,” he continues as his gaze shifts, slow and deliberate, settling on his son like a dagger pressing against flesh, “is that some of its members looked out of place.”
The tension in the room coils tighter, suffocating, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
I don’t dare look at Jude. I don’t need to.
I can feel the weight of his silence, the storm brewing behind it.
With one last lingering glower thrown at his son, Vincent leaves the room, and I finally let out the breath I had been holding in.
My father was right—Vincent Romano is in a league of his own when it comes to being a boss.
Not everyone has the stomach to lead the kind of life where fear and unquestionable loyalty must be commanded the moment he steps into a room.
It must weigh on him. Having to be so demanding, even to his own children.
It must weigh on them, too.
I know it does for Jude.
“I can take care of this,” Dominic says, pointing to Dimitri’s corpse. “Looks like you guys had quite a night anyway. Go and have some rest. I’ll find you if there is any new development.”
“Dom,” Jude starts rushing toward him with a heartfelt apology on the tip of his tongue.
“Don’t even sweat it, kid. I knew you’d never pull the trigger on me.” Dominic gives him a warm smile.
Jude adds nothing to the remark, though.
Truth be told, I don’t think there is a person in this room who can be a hundred percent certain of what he would have done if things had gotten out of hand, Jude included.
The only thing I know for sure is that when Vincent ordered him to stay put, Jude followed the order obediently like a good little Outfit soldier.
That stung.
I walk out of the room without looking back, aware of Jude following close behind. I can feel his heavy gaze on me, and I hate the way it sends a delicious shiver down my spine.
Jude Romano has always had this uncanny ability to take my breath away just with one look. And it pains me that my body reacts to it even after all these years.
It’s like it hasn’t forgotten how his hands felt on my skin. How the pad of his fingers loved to run up and down my back, creating goosebumps in their wake. Though my heart has permanently rid itself of the vicious addiction that is Jude Romano, my body doesn’t seem to feel the same way.
It yearns to be touched by him.
Craves it.
Needs it.
“Mina,” he calls out behind me, his voice rough and commanding.
I swallow hard and quicken my pace, pretending I didn’t hear him.
“Mina, stop.”
Again, I hurry my steps, thankful when I reach the staircase of the large mansion. But before I can grab onto the rail, two strong hands grab my waist and hurl my body into a nearby room. Jude quickly closes the door behind us and pins me against it.
“The silent treatment? Really? Is that what I deserve after what I just did for you? Even after I went against my father’s wishes for you?”
“No one asked you to do that.”
“No, but it was what you wanted. Please tell me that killing Dimitri has earned me enough favor with you to at least warrant a glance in my direction.”
With his arm braced above my head, I lock eyes with him, my rage building as his free hand slides behind my back, locks the door, and then tosses the key to the floor.
“There. I’m looking at you. Happy?”
“No, not like this,” he whispers, his gaze falling to my lips as he eats the tiny distance between us, pressing his chest against mine.
“Like this,” he says, running the back of his knuckles against my cheek.
I don’t say a word, my expression lethal, while inside, I’m burning alive with a simple touch.
“Is this how it will always be between us? Will you always hate me?”
“Yes,” I state flatly, keeping my disdainful expression in place while I stare in awe at the gold flecks of his eyes.
“I can’t accept that, Mina.”
“I couldn’t care less.”
“Yes, you can. You do care.”
“No, I don’t,” I state matter-of-factly.
“If you truly didn’t care, you would have left by now,” he whispers softly, brushing my hair away from my eyes and tugging a strand behind my ear. “You wouldn’t even allow me to bring you into this room.”
“Who says I intend to stay?”
“Ah, but that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Don’t you want to?” he asks as he leans closer. “Don’t you want to stay here with me?” I don’t dare answer that minefield of a question. Not that I could find my voice right now when his nose shoves itself into my hair and then trails down my neck, taking a whiff of my perfume.
“Fuck, I missed this. Your scent… it smells like coming home.”
My knee-jerk reaction is to kick him in the balls for even uttering such nonsense, especially after all the misery he put me through. But that’s my broken heart talking. My body is perfectly fine staying exactly where it is.
“Did you miss me at all?” he continues to woo.
“No,” I spit out, but when he presses a tender kiss on the hollow of my neck, my body arches to meet his warmth.
“Liar.” He smiles into the crook of my neck.
I grind my back molars at the little chuckle he lets out when my body begins to melt to his.
“Mina,” he whispers again before closing his eyes to pepper the slope of my neck with one tender kiss after another. “Tell me that you missed me. Tell me you missed how I used to touch you… kiss you. Tell me that I’m not alone in this. That you yearn for me as I yearn for you.”
“Who’s the liar now?” I breathe out erratically, his kiss, paired with his words, starting to make my brain foggy.
“I’m not lying, love. I missed you. So fucking much.”
“Don’t call me that,” I demand through gritted teeth, the endearment snapping me out of my hazy, lust-filled fog. “Never call me that again.”
His face looks troubled at the sudden anger in my tone.
“Is your heart so full of hate that you won’t even admit the truth? That you missed me as much as I missed you?”
“There was never anything to miss,” I bite out, more in control of my emotions now.
“Mina, stop,” he orders, hugging my hips to slam me against him. “I know you still feel something for me.”
“I feel nothing.”
“Stop, Mina. I mean it. Tell me the truth… for once.”
“I’m not the liar amongst us. That’s your department. If I tell you that I feel nothing, then accept that as fact.”
“Never,” he says with conviction.
“Then that’s on you. Not me,” I reply, placing my hands on his chest and pushing him away from me. “I came here to do a job. I didn’t come here for you. So whatever illusions you might have to the contrary, let them go. They only make you look like a fool.”
He steps back, his eyes filled with a gut-wrenching pain. Unable to face his anguish, and without revealing my own, I drop my gaze, focusing instead on searching the floor for the key. I need to get out of this bloody room as fast as possible.
“So you’re over it? Over us? Completely?” I don’t answer him. “I don’t believe you,” he says before pushing me up against the door again. “I’ll need proof.”
“Proof?” I cackle.
“Yes, proof.” He surprises me by cupping my face in his hands, his gaze locking onto mine. “If you feel nothing for me, then this shouldn’t hurt.”
That’s the only warning I get before his mouth crashes onto mine.
It happens so suddenly that my mind can’t stop my lips from yielding to his every demand. And it does hurt. The kiss is desperate, pleading. It’s angry, furious. It’s every promise ever broken. And the atonement that it demands.
I gasp as his hand starts slithering down my body and under my top, his hand grabbing my left breast with such force that I feel my pussy clench.
“Tell me this doesn’t hurt?” he demands after breaking our kiss and lowering his head to lick my nipple before sucking it into his mouth. “Tell me that you didn’t miss this. That you’re unfazed by all of it,” he repeats, grabbing my leg and perching it on his hip so that his hard cock rubs against my swollen clit. My head falls back to the door as I gasp for breath, my body too willing a participant in the madness. “Fuck, I missed you so much, Mina. So fucking much,” he says, sucking on my right nipple now while his other hand pulls down his zipper.
If I don’t put a stop to this now, he’s going to fuck me against this door within seconds. And though I have spent the last five years hating him, my body needs him more than it needs to cling to that hatred.
Jude spins me around, his deft fingers quickly unbuttoning my jeans, pulling them and my panties off in quick haste. I stare at the pile of clothes on the floor, inches away from our feet, when he grabs my hips, pulls my ass up, and knees my thighs apart.
He then leans in until his lips are at my ear, both of us moaning as his fingers find me wet and ready for him.
“Tell me you feel nothing again. Continue to lie to me if you want to. But this,” he says, dragging his fingers through my drenched pussy, “is not nothing. Your mouth may say one thing, but your pussy says another. It won’t ever lie to me.”
My chest heaves for breath, panting in anticipation of what he’ll do next.
“Tell me you want me, Mina. Let me hear you say it,” he orders, and when I don’t submit, he starts playing with my clit, my whimpers and soft wails his answer.
And when he aims the head of his cock at my entrance, I have to grab onto the door to keep my bearings.
“If you want me to stop, say it now, Mina. Or, by God, keep that beautiful mouth of yours shut so I can fuck you like we both want.”
My mind is yelling at me to stop him, to pull away from his grasp, but my body has already submitted to his demands all too willingly.
I let out a wail when his cock thrusts deep inside of me, my eyelids closing of their own accord. I had forgotten how good it felt to feel whole like this. Jude has always been the only one who could make me feel like this. Like he was the missing part of me.
“Fuck, Mina. You feel so fucking good,” he praises and laments all in the same breath.
His thrusts are slow and purposeful at first. As if he were acquainting himself with me for the first time. Memories of when I had given him my virginity come to me in full force. How beautiful he made me feel. How wanted and cherished. Just like right now.
Even when I hate-fucked him back at my penthouse, there was a moment of tenderness that I couldn’t deny. A fleeting moment of weakness on both our parts.
But I told myself it was all part of my sweet revenge.
Fuck him once and leave him wanting.
But this… fucking Jude a second time was never in the cards.
This is more than just a moment of weakness.
This… is submission—to his heart’s desire and mine.
“Mina,” he whispers in my ear like a prayer as he begins to pound my pussy from behind. “Fuck, Mina.”
With his head on the crook of my neck, I let myself reach for his hair, tugging at the strands.
That one touch must do something to him because I feel his cock double in size inside me, causing me to lean forward and press my sweaty brow on the cool surface of the door.
“I fucking love it when you touch me,” he confesses with a hiss. “Almost as much as I love you.”
My eyes squint shut as I try to expel his words from my mind.
Jude lived under my roof for years and never said those words to me. I’ve been in Chicago for little over a week, and he’s already told me he loved me twice.
That might be the worst lie he’s ever said.
The Outfit will always be the thing he loves most.
Not me.
Never me.
I try to hold onto that thought as his lies keep spilling out from his lips—words of praise, declarations of love—and searing into my soul every lie I refuse to believe.
However, I let him pretend, if only because I like how his claim over my body makes me feel.
“Kiss me,” he begs, and I give him what he wants, turning my head just enough for him to capture my lips in his. He groans as his tongue invades my mouth, urging me to comply. His kiss is ardent and passionate, and again, I pretend that it’s real.
His cock continues to demolish my pussy, while his thumb rubs against my clit, urging me to come before him.
And even with all this hatred locked away in my chest, my body responds to his touch with utter ease. I let out a toe-curling wail when I see falling stars in my line of vision.
“Just like that. I love watching you come,” he susurrates in my ear.
I lick my parched lips before I grab his hair to kiss him again.
I feel Jude’s fingers dig into my hips while pounding into my cunt like he wants to split me open with his dick.
No.
Like he wants to bury himself inside me.
And to my dismay, my body reacts again, craving… hoping he somehow will succeed.
“I wish you could see what I see. The way your greedy pussy swallows me whole. Fuck, Mina. Look how good you take me,” he roars, standing behind me, his dirty talk only spurring me on.
“I can’t hold on. I missed you too goddamn much,” he hollers in desperation, rubbing my clit once again with his fingers so we can come together. My core clenches around the girth of his cock, Jude hissing out in pleasure and pain. He then weaves his fingers through mine on the door, that small tenderness pushing me off the ledge and into blinding white light. Jude comes with my name on his lips, which hurts me more than anything he’s ever said to me thus far.
It sounds like a prayer.
It sounds like another broken promise.
With our fingers still entwined, he presses his forehead on my shoulder as we pant for breath. Once we recuperate, he spins me around, his eyes soft and loving, only to find mine hard and hateful.
I don’t wait for him to say anything and instead pick up my panties and jeans and rush to put them on. I then pick up the key from the floor and pocket it before he has a chance to steal it.
“Mina—”
Before he says anything, I quickly bend down to my left boot and then cover his mouth with my hand, placing my newly retrieved dagger across his Adam’s apple.
“That’s all you get. Don’t kiss me. Don’t fuck me. Don’t even look at me like that again. If you needed closure, then you got it. After I leave this room, I don’t want to ever feel your touch again. Is that understood?” His nostrils flare as my dagger cuts into his skin. “I said, is that understood?” He nods, the clench of his jaw telling me he’s pissed. “Good. Leave the past where it belongs—in the past. That girl you missed so much… loved so much… no longer exists.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care what you believe. All I care about is the job. You, more than anyone, should understand that.”
I turn to leave, but he grabs me by the arm to halt my quick escape.
“It hurt, didn’t it?”
More than you know.