7. ~Julian~
7
~Julian~
“So, bachelor party? I’m thinking—”
Nico rushed me, slamming me into the wall, grasping my arms painfully and effectively pinning me there.
I was sure it would have been a lot harder than merely a little jarring normally in the same situation, but he didn’t want to do damage to his little obsession’s apartment.
It was sweet. Well, almost. It was Nico we were talking about.
“What the fuck are you playing at?” he roared in my face. “I told you to back the fuck off! That was not how I wanted the news relayed to her!”
All right, so he was still partially in his feral state then. Jesus Christ, I hadn’t ever known it to last this long for him before.
“You clearly didn’t want it relayed at all. You supposedly came here to tell her and yet when I walked in, you were all over her instead.”
“It wasn’t your decision to make!”
“No. It was yours. But you didn’t do it.”
He snarled in my face, like the animal he was at the moment.
It looked like he was about to fire back some more harsh words.
But I pulled him up short by jerking one of my hands free and using it to grab his dick through his pants, his still very hard dick.
It was one of my many dominant moves that I used on Subs at Nocturne. I’d also used it on Milo before. It was certainly an attention-getter.
And this instant was no exception.
It had Nico pulling up short in surprise.
There was confusion too because I didn’t do this sort of thing with him.
But this current situation was rendering it necessary.
I stroked him, then squeezed again, moving between the two, and it had him groaning, pushing into my hand and actually starting to calm as the slow and sweet pleasure worked to cut into his rage and the pain he was trying to conceal behind all the rest.
“Everything you do is for the Family. You earn for them, work your ass off for them, punish, and even bleed for them. You exist for them. But this thing with Caterina, you wanted to have something for yourself. Then, with the news tonight, you felt it all crashing down, her being pulled back in, this marriage directive tainting what had been building carefully between the two of you. When you laid eyes on her, when you were in her vicinity here, you wanted to hold on to that. So desperately.”
His grip loosened around my biceps.
“It’s too late now. It’s ruined.”
“Or not.”
“What? Of course it is. You witnessed her reaction for yourself.”
“She also agreed to hear you out with the deal and she’s taking a shower right now while we’re both here, instead of actually kicking us out and telling us to go to hell, the deal idea be damned.”
She had been covered in Nico’s blood, but judging by the more than favorable way she’d reacted to that, and what I’d heard about their encounter at Il Forno that time, I’d doubted that had really bothered her, that she’d felt like she’d needed to wash it away so quickly. I was wagering that it was more about giving an excuse so that she could take a beat and get her head on straight. Although Nico had been too far gone to notice as he normally would have, especially when it came to him very closely observing her reactions, I’d seen how exhausted and worn down she’d looked.
“That’s true, but it was just about the deal, just business to her.”
“That doesn’t matter. For now, at least. This marriage will put you in close quarters. No more watching her from afar. This might actually be the jolt both of you needed to make the next move. Instead of seeing it as a problem, see the opportunity in it.”
I watched him taking my words in and it became apparent that he hadn’t actually been able to see the good in it at all. He looked so surprised by my take on it that it was fucking sad, because that was how he’d been taught, how he’d grown to be. Somebody entrenched in pain and darkness. He never expected anything beyond that. His obsession with Caterina Leone had been a brief bright spark, but with the way he lived his life and approached things because of it, that had been steeped in a whole lot of twisted bleakness, too. Instead of just asking her out or going about it the normal way, he’d been playing fucked-up games with her. Taunting and tormenting her. That was his version of flirting, or making a connection.
“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” he murmured, calming now, his breathing leveling out.
“You’re gonna have to work on your control issues, though. Open up a little.”
“What?”
“She doesn’t trust easily. In fact, I’d say it’s verging on paranoia.”
“You’re saying it’s more than her just being that way with me because of our little war?” he asked, knowing how incredibly well I was able to read others. Hell, it was one of the reasons I was so successful in my career and at such a young age. I used that knowledge to my advantage and my competitors’ disadvantage.
“Yes, it’s more than that. It’s who she is, what she’s learned to be.”
“That makes sense with the way her father treated her.”
“It’s clearly not unfounded, because she thought she was free of it. Now, she’s gonna be pulled back into it all and used as a bargaining chip, traded like a piece of property with no agency of her own. You and I both know how that feels.”
I heard the elevator ding in the distance, and the next thing we knew, Milo was striding around the corner.
He pulled up short when he saw me against the wall with my hand still grasping Nico’s cock.
“I thought you were going to use your infamous schmoozing skills to stop him. Not your other set of skills.”
Nico jerked away from me, and I pushed off the wall.
“Relax, big boy. Just trying to help him calm down. He needed a jolt.”
He looked at Nico worriedly. “This is worse than it’s ever been for you, then.”
Nico shoved a hand through his hair. I could see his concern too, as he acknowledged the truth to it. But then he blew it off as he tended to do when his control and judgment was being called into question in any way whatsoever—his defense mechanism—and told us, “I’m fine. Relax.”
Milo and I exchanged a look, but didn’t speak to it. Now wasn’t the time, especially when I’d only just managed to calm Nico down.
“I was about to head down now he’s okay.”
“You should,” Nico told me. “It’s not a good idea to have all of us up here in her apartment when she comes out.”
“I’d be right there with you on that too,” Milo said. “ If she hadn’t just texted me and invited me to come on up.”
“She did what?” Nico asked.
He lifted a shoulder. “She obviously gets that the three of us are a package deal.”
Interesting.
Milo caught my eye and shook his head. “Not like that, nympho.”
Or maybe exactly like that.
I mean, I could see why Nico was so fascinated with her.
She was impressive, to say the least.
Strong, independent, and forthright. And obviously sexy as hell.
And the way she’d been giving it right back to him all these years was incredible.
I’d never spoken more than a couple of words to her in that time or been within her vicinity because she had been his obsession to play with. Plus, there was that whole thing about Nico taking away the location she’d wanted for her club and giving it to me for Nocturne, which had made her only look at me with disdain, not exactly starting us off on the right foot. Also, I’d been busy immersing myself in my work and a whole lot of hardcore partying. I didn’t stop for a moment to assess things, really, especially not my personal life. I didn’t like the stillness or the silence. I always had to be doing something.
But then tonight had happened.
And I’d had to stand still for a while and deal with this.
She’d been right there in front of me.
Right up close.
And I’d liked what I’d seen.
Especially her having this odd power to put Nico in his place. It was hot as fuck. He actually compromised in her presence. For her. I’d never ever seen that before from him.
But more than that, I liked how she was willing to go against her father’s wishes with this marriage directive and that she wasn’t afraid to. I’d experienced a similar thing with my father, defying him and being punished for it as a result. I knew how that went.
The door to the master bedroom opened and the sexy piece in question strolled on out, her laptop in hand. She’d taken it in there with her before she’d locked the door, not wanting it to remain on the coffee table within our reach without her supervision.
She was wearing a pair of Balenciaga yoga pants and a strappy white tank with a black bra beneath, somehow giving off a sexy yet cozy look at the same time. Christ.
Her wavy brown hair was damp and wild and even from here I could smell her perfume. Chanel No. 5 as Nico had mentioned it being before.
“Good, you’re all here,” she said, briefly glancing at Milo, before taking a seat on the edge of her wraparound couch and settling her laptop on the coffee table. She gestured at the far end of the couch and told us, “Come on then, let’s get to it. I need to get at least a couple of hours’ sleep before work tomorrow.”
Nico went to speak, but she held up her hand. “If anything out of your mouth is about the craziness that went down in my bedroom, I’ll kick you out and we’ll do this via secure video call instead.”
“So, you’re back to denial again,” Nico grunted and Milo and I grimaced at one another as it looked like he was on the way to getting worked up again—in a very dangerous way.
“If I was back to denial, I would have actually kicked both you and your whore-of-the-century best buddy out. And I certainly wouldn’t have invited your guard dog up here.”
“Whore of the century?” I uttered, grinning.
She lifted a shoulder. “Am I wrong?”
“I enjoy fucking. Being referred to as a whore, though, that’s another thing entirely. It speaks to some major repression from you, darlin’.”
I expected her to bite right back at me, but instead she smiled and said, “Hmm, touché.”
“How long?” I asked.
She looked between all three of us, and then her gaze settled on Nico. “I’m sure you already know with all your stalking.”
“Three years,” he revealed. “Levi and you were each other’s firsts. It’s the only time you allowed yourself to let your guard down and go there with anyone.”
“Almost. It was actually more of a therapy sort of thing for the both of us.”
“Because of his trauma with the kidnapping and you wanting to prove to yourself that you were free of all your father’s expectations, including the whole ridiculous remaining-a-virgin-until-an-arranged-marriage thing.”
“And now we’re getting married, that doesn’t bother you?”
I could tell by the way she asked the question that she didn’t really give a crap what he thought, but she was testing him.
“He prefers them broken in,” I told her.
Now nothing Nico could say could be worse than that. He was home free.
I saw him discreetly smile at me, knowing what I was doing.
“Lovely,” Caterina said, glaring at me.
Nico broke from us and walked over to the couch, keeping a couple of cushions between him and Caterina as she’d intended when she’d gestured further along the couch.
He sat on the edge and told her, “You wouldn’t have been able to take me if you were still a virgin. Although, the fact it’s been so long for you is still concerning.”
“You didn’t seem concerned earlier.”
“I thought we weren’t talking about that?”
“So did I.”
He nodded. “You wanted to see if I could abide by your wishes, despite how badly you knew I wanted to discuss it.”
“Yes.”
“I lost control,” he admitted.
“I know.”
“And you didn’t seem to care.”
“I’m not as fragile as I may seem.”
“I know you’re not. But this sort of thing is different. Especially after three years of not—”
“There are sex toys available, you know? It doesn’t always have to be a dick.”
I choked.
Milo looked stunned.
And Nico looked mighty intrigued.
“A dildo can’t compare to a fuck from a real man,” he told her.
“It’s ten inches and thick as fuck.”
I burst out laughing.
“You may have met your match in her,” Milo told him, taking a seat beside him.
Nico didn’t take his eyes off her. “I already know I have,” he said, gazing at her in wonder.
“That goes both ways,” I said, walking over to join them and settling beside Milo. “He needs to be supervised when he gets carnal.”
She raised an eyebrow. “That wasn’t just for tonight because he came here upset?”
“And after dealing out some brutal beatings,” Milo added.
“Is this just a way for you to fulfil some voyeur kink?” she asked me.
“It’s not one of my kinks. It’s a necessity to protect him and whoever he wants to fuck. He doesn’t like the supervisory aspect, hence him being celibate going on four years.”
“Four years?” she choked. “And you were going to break that tonight?” she asked him.
“I was.” He glared out at me. “Until a certain aggravating interruption at the worst time possible.”
“You know it was right on time.”
“You could’ve hurt her,” Milo told him. “And you never would have forgiven yourself for it.”
“He wouldn’t have hurt me,” Caterina said.
“You don’t know—” I started.
But she cut me off, telling us all, “I have the means to stop him.”
“How so?” Milo asked, intrigued.
“I told you, you wouldn’t have made it to that gun safe in time,” Nico told her.
“I don’t need a weapon. I am the weapon.” She blew out a breath and eyed him. “You don’t know everything about me. I made sure of that.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A couple of years back, Carlo Benzino tried to make a deal with outsiders to expand his heroin op. It was ratified by the other two families, so that wasn’t an issue. But the gang leader he was trying to close the deal with got greedy. He wanted more out of it than Carlo had offered. So he tried to make a point by sending some of his goons to attack the Leones and the Marchettis. The first target was you, Nico. The four of them sent to blindside you were killed by a mysterious interloper en route.”
“I remember,” he said.
“That interloper was me.”
“What? How the hell?” Milo exclaimed.
“They were completely brutalized. Their bodies were only identifiable by dental records,” Nico said.
“Yeah, well, things took a turn when one of them stabbed me. It set me off.” She lifted the hem of her tank and showed us a nasty scar on her left side. She told Nico, “You would’ve seen this if you’d ripped my slip all the way down instead of stopping at my breasts.”
“You weren’t in the hospital. I would’ve known,” he said.
“I stitched it up myself.”
I whistled. “Jesus, that’s hardcore.”
“Like I said, I’m far from fragile.”
Nico frowned, deep in thought. “That was the long weekend when you were visiting Levi.”
“Yes, stalker. I came back into the city covertly a day early.”
“You protected me from that hit?”
“I protected us all. If the hit had gone ahead, it would have been suspected as betrayal from the other two families, before they’d been able to see reason and figure out that it was actually an external threat. It would have brought war upon us. And we all would have been dragged into it—including me.”
“Why are you revealing this to us?” Milo asked. “It’s a risk. You just admitted to murdering people and interfering in the business of the three families.”
“It can’t be proven. Believe me, I made sure of that. It’s just my word.”
“And this is a test,” Milo realized aloud.
She nodded, then opened her laptop. “One of them.”
“One?” I asked.
“Yes.” She looked at Nico. “I can’t just blindly trust that your goal is to destroy the three families for your freedom, for all of ours, or that you’ll do right by me just because you say you will. I need proof that I can believe in that.”
“Understandable,” I said.
“Difficult to achieve, though,” Milo pointed out.
“Not if something binds us together.”
“Marriage isn’t enough?” Nico questioned.
“That’s a fake, arranged thing.”
He tensed at her words, clearly not liking it one bit.
“ This ,” she said, turning her laptop screen so the three of us could see it. “It’s something substantial. Go ahead. Look through all the windows,” she told us.
We took a few minutes to do just that.
Jesus Christ.
Was she… was it actually what I thought it was?
Before I could think past my shock, Nico absorbed it in that swift, analytical way of his and said, “Santino is involved in human trafficking?”
“That was supposed to be just a rumor, and something he disproved when he was questioned at the meeting of the three families a few weeks ago,” Milo said.
“Disproved with a whole lot of bullshit and fakery,” she muttered. “I already stopped the beginning of this a while back and he retreated. But he’s grown bolder. Now I see why.” She looked at Nico. “His intention to partner with your family. Santino must have found out about Marco’s desire to trade in military-grade weapons and he’s looking at it as an opportunity rather than a threat, unlike the Benzinos. That’s what happened tonight, right? The Benzinos struck against you in some way?”
“Goddammit,” Milo exclaimed. “How the fuck do you know all of that?”
“I keep my ear to the ground.”
Realization shone in Nico’s eyes. “You’re watching everyone. You infiltrated Milo’s phone earlier to send him that text message, because you sure as shit wouldn’t have his number by conventional means. And that’s also how you managed to gain access into my highly secure mansion and vandalize my Norse warrior statues a few months ago.”
She grinned. “Yes. Let me guess, you thought I’d had help. Lev, maybe?”
“Something like that,” he admitted.
“Knowledge is power, gentlemen. Especially for someone like me who’s on the periphery and been at the mercy of men who think they’re my betters just because I’m a woman.” She grabbed the laptop and settled it on her lap. “As you can see from my research, it’s a complicated job. The bottom line is that I can’t take the house alone. At least not without harming the hostages in the process with an explosion that decimates everything and everyone. I need an assist. And that will be my proof that I can trust you.” She stared between us, then told us, “And just to be clear, if you double cross me or betray me to my father or Marco, I will disappear into the ozone. Believe me, you’ll never be able to find me either. The marriage will be off. You’ll be fucked, Nico. And the Leones will be up and running with a fucking human trafficking ring. This is the optimal time to stop it before it gets off the ground. If your plan to decimate the three families is the truth, then you’ll recognize this as the first major step on the road of that dangerous and long-term journey.”
Jesus, she was good. Really fucking good.
As fucked as I was, my cock was growing hard from it all.
Knowing what she’d done, what she was really capable of, it meant she was on our down and dirty level.
And that was hotter than the fires of hell.
“All right,” Nico said. “We’ll devise an op together.”
“How long do you think we have before I’m clued into this whole marriage deal?”
“According to my sources and Milo’s technical savvy, we believe Santino is going to push for a public proposal during the Tolhurst Annual Business Forum.”
“A bitch move, basically, to undercut your achievements and the award,” I uttered.
She gritted her teeth. “Sounds like my father. Right on point for him. Well, at least it gives us enough time to see to this and be ready. A few weeks at least.” She put her laptop on the coffee table again, then sank back exhaustedly against the couch. “I would offer you guys a drink to take the edge off, but I don’t have anything alcoholic.”
“You don’t drink at all?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“What about having some on hand for entertaining? If friends come by?”
“What friends?”
I started.
That was… unexpected.
She had an enigmatic persona, sure, but that should be enticing to others and draw them to her. Not the opposite. And she was definitely charming, too.
Her trust issues were really fucking deep then if she couldn’t let anybody in even to form friendships. Well, except Levi Knight, but he was a strange one to begin with, so he didn’t really count.
This, with us, letting us into her home, it was only by necessity, because of what had gone down tonight. She didn’t trust us. She was even roping us into this deal so she could test us to see if she could allow herself to form an alliance. An alliance, not a friendship or relationship.
It was really sad. She had to be incredibly lonely.
“You don’t need to offer us anything,” Nico said, cutting through the quiet stillness that had enveloped us at her upsetting revelation.
The fact I cared at all was really strange. Aside from the fact that I didn’t like to entertain deep emotions, I barely knew her.
Nico rose to his feet. “We’ll head out so you can get some much-needed sleep.”
Disappointment flooded me. “Already?” I blurted out, earning looks from the guys.
“It’s almost dawn,” Milo reminded me.
“She needs to be up for work in a couple of hours,” Nico told me.
“Fuck that, I’ll send a couple of my best in to take care of whatever needs doing.”
That earned me even more incredulous looks.
“I don’t need help running my empire,” she told me, clearly unsure about my intentions, not sure what on earth to make of them.
Hell, I didn’t really understand it either.
“This is an extreme circumstance.”
“I’ll be fine. But… thanks.”
“It can’t be known that we’re here or involved with her. Not at this stage,” Nico said.
“Not until she’s told about the marriage deal,” Milo added.
“Santino will want to be the one to tell her. In his own way,” Nico went on.
“He will,” Caterina agreed. “In his own sick way.” She sucked in a breath, trying not to show how much talking about her despicable father impacted her. “I’ll wipe any trace of the three of you from building surveillance and from the surrounding area. No one will know you were here, so long as you ensured you weren’t tailed.”
“We weren’t,” Milo answered, so sure about it.
Well, it was part of his job with Nico to be certain about that sort of thing.
I loved it when he showed his know-how and experience there, it turned me on.
And right now was no exception.
Although, getting excited was more than just that at the moment.
Strangely enough, it was her. The firestorm of a woman right before us. The beautiful nightmare of a woman.
I couldn’t wait.
As fucked-up as the circumstances were, I just couldn’t wait until we got down to it all, starting with that operation to take down Santino’s new business venture.
As my thoughts consumed me, Milo grabbed my arm and started easing me away. “See? You’re overtired too. We’re heading out,” he was saying to me, as I found myself being pulled further and further away from Caterina.
“Right, yeah,” I murmured, managing to blink out of it, and finding Nico staring at me with a whole lot of suspicion sparking. “Overtired.”
He lingered at the elevator, clearly not wanting to leave either.
But then he sucked in a breath and forced himself to, slapping the button.
A couple of moments later, the elevator arrived, the doors pinging open.
And then we were inside with them closing, shutting out our view of her apartment.
Cutting us off from it. And her.
Just for the time being.
In that moment I knew, I just knew, everything was about to change.
In the best and craziest ways imaginable.
And I was undeniably here for it.