Chapter 7
What the actual hell was my Papa thinking?
I huffed out a breath as I paced back and forth. The usual comfort of being in my own space was doing nothing to contain the rage building beneath my skin.
I can’t work with that guy! The dude looks fishy as fuck.
That and he’s clearly classed himself as god's gift to man.
I sank into the arm chair opposite my bed and ran my fingers through my hair.
I could usually follow my father’s logic, but that?
That was insane. We never invited outsiders into our business.
Ever. Did he not think Red, Emmet, or even Gino were capable of training me to handle stuff?
These were people we could trust. They were family.
And I did not trust that guy, at all.
“Bells?” The sound of my brother’s voice dragged me out of my reverie.
“Come in, Luc,” I sighed. The door opened to reveal my brother in a sky blue button down and a pair of Levis with his hair neatly styled. He sat on the very edge of my bed, picking at the comforter. The guilt flowing off him in waves made me super uncomfortable.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t—” He started.
“Luc, don’t… Please,” I breathed. “You did what was right for you and Theo, and I am so proud of you for that. If this means Theo can have his Papa around more, then I’m willing to do it.
He needs you.” Relief broke out across Luca’s face.
Without another word, he stood, pulling me to my feet and into his embrace.
And just like he’d done since we were in the 8th grade, he rested his chin on the top of my head and squeezed my shoulder.
“God, I love you, Bells.” He whispered. “You’re going to make a kick-ass leader. Better than any version I ever could have been, and you know it.” I knew he was trying to be reassuring but it didn’t help.
“Not with that bastard’s help I won’t.” I scoffed as I removed myself from his hold.
“Ah, you’ve met the infamous Arturo Ramos then?” Luca said. His tone sounded impressed.
“Uhm, excuse me… Infamous? Who died and made him king?”
“Wait, are you seriously telling me you’ve never heard of him?” Luca looked taken aback.
“Nope. Should I have?” It was the truth. I had no clue who the dude was. I only knew him as the smug bastard who had annoyingly captivating eyes.
“Bells, he’s the most sought-after assassin in the world.
Word is he trained with the Hamiltons, and that he was tight with its leader, Frank Hamilton.
” Huh… That explains the British accent.
“Pa said he’s been the most difficult fucker to track down.
Seems to me you’ve scored the jackpot.” Jackpot? Was everyone high?
“God, how lucky I am to have an arrogant psycho like that in my corner?” I huffed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for dinner.”
“And to welcome the new arrival with that famous Isabella smile?” He laughed and I could have gut-punched him there and then.
“I’m sorry, what?” I spun back around and gave him my most lethal stare.
“Uhhh. I thought you knew. The guy starts tonight, and you know Ma’s rule.” He at least had the decency to look guilty for breaking the news.
“Oh, for the love of God!” Does my mom’s hospitality know no bounds? “Well, he won’t be here long, not if I have anything to say about it.” At this, I started flicking through my wardrobe with angry swipes of my hand. I heard my brother curse under his breath before blurting.
“Bells, please don’t do anything stupid.
We both know this’ll be easier if you go along with it.
Besides, he seems like a decent enough guy.
” Yeah, right! For a serial killer maybe.
I rolled my eyes and contemplated throwing one of my pumps in his face when Luca started for the door saying, “Give it a chance, he may surprise you.”
“Doubt it!”
“Oh, and Papa asked if you could make an effort for dinner tonight, seeing as it’s a special evening.” Nothing else was said as he closed the door behind him.
Special evening my ass.
As much as I despised the idea of joining everyone for dinner tonight, I had to attend.
I couldn’t do that to my mother, she had always placed a high value on family.
It had been the same since we were kids.
We always ate together as a family, even with Pa’s men.
And it had always been my favourite time of the day. Until tonight anyway.
After showering, I slipped into a fitted black dress, and teamed it with a pair of black converse.
A quick glance in the mirror made me groan.
My hair was still straight but now a tatty mess.
With less care than normal, I dragged a brush through it before swiping some chapstick over my lips.
I never really got into makeup. It just wasn’t something I enjoyed.
All my friends in high school made fun of me for it but I just didn’t feel like it was for me.
Blowing the errant hairs from my eyes, I straightened my dress and tried to ignore how flushed my cheeks were.
No doubt London boy would have a comment about that.
Luckily, I hadn’t seen him for the rest of the day and I already wanted to stab him in the eye with a fork.
With any luck he’d be at the far end of the table and nowhere near me.
I shut my door with a faint click and made my way down towards the dining room.
Chatter and laughter floated up to me the moment I reached the staircase.
A shiver down my spine made me pause before descending.
Tilting down, I squinted through the staircase slats to find Arturo already there, leaning against the wall connecting the dining room and lounge with a sly smile on his face.
He wasn’t looking at me but he knew I was there.
“Plannin’ to stay on those stairs all night, are we?” His posture was all quiet arrogance but his eyes gleamed with humour and dark thoughts. The view made my anger bubble up again. “Better hurry up. You wouldn’t want to keep your Papa waiting, would you?”
“Fuck you.” His responding chuckle made me groan. ‘ Fuck you.’ Seriously? I gave my head a shake before folding my arms.
“Very original, love.” I winced as he started stalking his way up the stairs.
Was this his way of trying to scare me? Well he’d better learn that I never backed down, and I wasn’t about to start with him.
In my distracted state, he’d made his way up to me, our bodies now mere inches from each other.
“Let's make one thing very clear, alright darlin’?” I narrowed my eyes at him as the tip of his index finger began toying with one of my dress straps.
“Your father has hired me to train you. Bad attitude and all. And do you know the one thing I don’t tolerate?
” His tone had gone whisper soft. I swallowed and raised my eyebrows, tilting my head to one side.
“No… But I’m sure you’re going to enlighten me.”
“Attitude.” He emphasised the word by pulling my strap and letting it ping against my skin.
“Now, for whatever reason, you’ve got bags of it aimed at me.
That leads me to believe that you don’t like being told what to do.
” I ground my teeth together as he spoke.
When I looked up into his eyes, they were flicking back and forth between mine like he was trying to read me.
“Is this monologue of yours going anywhere, London?” To this I got the briefest smirk.
“Fact is, princess, you are going to do as you’re told when you’re told. And you know why? Because I’m the best chance you’ve got of becoming who you need to be and making dear ol’ Papa proud.” Fury blazed through me. How dare he?
“Look, I don’t care what deal my father made with you, I’m not?—”
“I’ve got rules, love, and you’re going to follow them to the letter.
Best of all? You’ll do it with a smile on your face.
” My breaths came in fast, rapid succession.
I was losing control of my temper and needed to rein it in quickly.
But then he glanced down at my lips and without thinking I shoved him.
“I don’t give a shit about your rules!” Though taken by surprise, he merely blinked and pressed his palm against the wall.
“You may have my father believing you’re some dangerous, terrifying killer, but I see past your bullshit.
You’re just some jumped up street fighter in need of a quick financial fix.
” Then, for the first time, I saw rage reflected in his own dark eyes.
Good! The feeling was mutual. “Now, do us both a favour and keep your filthy hands to yourself or else I’ll hack them off. Okay, buddy?”
I expected him to push back or maybe even try to touch me, but he did neither.
With a shrug and a crooked smile, he gestured for me to walk past him with his hand, before settling against the wall.
Relieved, I carried on down the stairs. But just as I reached the last step his voice floated into my ear, making jolts of electricity jump to my stomach.
“Tell me, Isabella.” The way my name rolled off his tongue caused warmth to pool in my belly.
I squeezed my eyes shut and ignored the ripples of goosebumps that flowed down my neck.
“How would you feel if these filthy hands were to sink into those panties of yours?” Body warmth sinking into my back told me he’d followed me down the stairs without making a sound.
He slid his fingertip down my spine before he whispered, “Down under to cup your warm, bare pussy?” Panicked, I tumbled down the step and spun around to face him.
“You stay away from me, okay? Just do the job my father hired you to do and that way you won’t end up with a bullet in the back of your head.” With that, I ran in the direction of the dining room.
I knew he was just trying to mess with me and I wouldn’t let him. My pride couldn’t give him that satisfaction. He had swanned into my home, like some malicious stalker, and just expected me to say, “yes, sir”, “no, sir”, “whatever you say, sir”. I don’t think so.
Before I reached the door, Red greeted me with a pearly white smile.
“There she is!” He draped his arm around my shoulders and led me away from the devil incarnate to my waiting family. “Nice shoes.”
“How much trouble do you reckon I’ll be in this time?” I whispered.
“Nothing you can’t handle, Iz.” He gave me a big smile before lowering his voice. “So, uh… how you doing, kiddo?” His eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at me.
“Does it matter how I’m doing?” Red frowned at the venom in my tone and heaved a deep sigh.
“Look, kiddo, I can’t say I’m a fan of the tattooed prince either, but it’s not my call. Just know your father loves you. Try to trust his judgement, okay?”
“A prince, huh? Thanks for the compliment, Red, but I’m far from one of those.” My skin bristled as Arturo’s cocky, annoying voice whizzed past my ear. When we turned to face him, the grin he wore made me want to drop kick him in the face.
“Oh, trust me, kid, I know you aren’t.” Red quickly walked me to the seat beside my father who was waiting with a wide smile on his face.
“Bells! We were wondering where you’d gotten to.” I sighed as he pulled me into his embrace. All the anger and irritation I had quickly dissipated.
“Sorry about earlier Papa, I shouldn’t have stormed off. You raised me better than that.” He held me at arms length, and of course, dropped his gaze to my sneakers.
“Isabella, we’ve talked about this.”
“Oh, stop with the pouting, they’ll be under the table and I’m comfortable, that’s all that matters.” He let out a deep sigh before shaking his hand down towards the floor—a gesture that he usually used to communicate that I was impossible to live with.
As he went to pull out my chair, I noticed the one beside mine—the one where Luca usually sat in—empty. Confused, I glanced along to find he’d moved down one. This plan stank of my father.
“Papa, why isn’t Luca sitting in his usual place?” I asked, crossing my fingers against the answer I knew was coming.
“I thought it would be best if for this evening Arturo sat beside you. It’ll give you two a chance to get to know each other and try to find some common ground before you commence training tomorrow.
” He said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Giving him my sweetest smile I quickly retorted back.
“Surely finding some common ground can wait until tomorrow, right?”
“Your father has a point, Isabella.” Speak of the devil and he shall appear. “If this is going to work, it would be better for you to accept sooner rather than later that you’re under my command now.”
“Your command? You can’t be serious.” I couldn’t hide the disgust in my voice.
“Bella, he will control your training and your safety, that’s all.” I looked up at my father but he seemed completely at ease. He couldn’t be that oblivious to this guy’s mind games, could he? I knew my mother wouldn’t fall for his shit. Where the hell was she?
“Exactly.” He lowered himself into the seat beside me.
As much as I tried to follow the conversation my father and Red were having, the asshole to my left just wouldn’t let me ignore him.
“What’s wrong, princess?” The warmth of his breath skating across my ear made my whole arm tingle.
He leaned in further, making it look to everyone else like we were in a deep discussion as he whispered, “still thinking about how good I could make you feel?”
“I hate to burst your bubble,” I turned to face him, “but the only thing on my mind right now is how fast I can get you out of my house. Maybe I’ll start with trashing your bike.
” His nostrils flared and I knew I hit a nerve.
Good! “Papa, will you excuse me for a moment? I’m going to go and hunt down Theo. ”
“I can go.” Luca jumped to his feet but I caught his gaze and gave him a wide smile.
“It’s okay, you stay here. I know exactly where he is.”
Tucking my chair under the table, I pulled my shoulders back and made my way out towards the flower garden, not looking back once.