Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
Hades
The bright sun rose over the skyline just as I entered my suite. Despite my heavy eyes, I was too keyed up to sleep. Doing most jobs didn’t affect me. I could usually complete the task and move on with my life. This one wasn’t much different.
A basic hit in a dark parking garage. The mission was to eliminate an associate of Romero’s who had been stealing from him. Why anyone would be dumb enough to steal from a Bilotti was beyond me, but if not for stupid people, there would be no need for my services.
I removed my gun from the back of my pants and set it on the table by the door. The shiny, black weapon glimmered in the light of the sun streaming through the windows, reminding me how effortless it had been to pull the trigger.
It seemed to get easier every time I did it.
New York City didn’t disappoint when it came to street vendors setting up shop in the early morning hours, making it easy for a man to buy his girl flowers.
I had slipped out of bed hours ago, leaving Zeus at the door to guard Capri while she slept. I didn’t want to leave her in the middle of the night, but when Romero requested my special skill set, I decided it was better not to keep him waiting.
He had intel that told him where the target would be. He hadn’t anticipated moving as quickly as he did on securing the hit, but everything fell into place, including having a world-renowned assassin right here in the city on the exact night the mark decided to steal his biggest payout yet.
Greed is a downfall.
I stretched out my back as I gazed down at the street below.
Because it was a Saturday morning, the city was a bit quieter than it would have been on a weekday morning.
A few runners heading to the park, tourists getting ready to board buses to see the sites, and some hotel guests hustling down the street with their roller bags behind them, rushing to the train station or the airport.
Now that I was away from the scene of the hit and back in the room, I waited for the calm to return to my demeanor.
Perhaps it was the fact that I hadn’t done a job in New York for a long time that had unsettled me.
Maybe it was the urgency of this hit that left me feeling off.
I was more of a planner. With precision and detail, there was less of a chance of mistakes happening.
Time wasn’t always a luxury when it came to executing a hit.
Opportunity played a large part in logistics.
Romero had the information, and I had the skills.
I had delivered what was expected of me and pleased my client.
Having the head of the New York crime family on my side was a huge benefit.
One that I had planned on using if the situation arose.
“Sebastian,” Capri’s groggy voice jolted me from my grim thoughts as she joined me by the window.
I turned and smiled at her, taking in her tangled hair cascading over my shirt that I had worn to her party last night.
She hadn’t bothered to button it. The last I remembered it was on the floor by the bed where it had landed after I took it off her.
Her long, toned legs went on forever. As I took them in, I recalled how powerful they were when hooked around me as I fucked her against the wall.
“Good morning, beautiful.” I trailed the rose down her neck and between her breasts before handing it to her. “I hope you slept well.”
“I did.” She smelled the flower. “I didn’t even hear you get out of bed.” The space between her perfectly groomed brows wrinkled as she looked me over. “You wore that to the gym?”
Black jeans and a tight-fitting, black t-shirt covered my body.
Plain and unassuming. Nothing about my clothes would stand out if I had crossed paths with anyone who might have to identify me later.
I suppose my silver hair and beard could give me away, but most people were too occupied with their faces in their phones these days to give an accurate description or place me at a scene.
“I didn’t go to the gym.” I reached for her hand and brought her to my chest. “I had to take a meeting.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“Most of my business is done in the middle of the night.”
“What kind of business?” She glanced at the table. “That wasn’t there before we went to bed last night.”
“My gun?” I smoothed out her hair. “It wasn’t.”
“How long were you gone?”
“A few hours.”
“Where did you go?”
“I had to work.” When I touched her face, she inched back, still fixated on my gun. “Why don’t we go for an early breakfast, and then we’ll make arrangements to head to Greece?”
“You’re able to eat after you…” She dropped the rose on the table next to the gun. “Like nothing happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you… I’m not sure…”
“What is it that you want to know?” I backed her to the edge of the table. “Are you asking me how I could end someone’s life and go about my day?”
She nodded.
“It’s part of the job.” I stroked her cheek. “I told you who I was that night in my study. You remember that night, don’t you? The night you came to me and asked me to take your virginity?”
“I didn’t know what you did for a living then.”
“No, but you knew who I was, and even after I warned you to stay away, you didn’t.” I swiped my fingers along her neck. “When I did tell you I was a hit man, I told you that I would hold the door open for you if you still wanted to leave, but you didn’t go.”
“I didn’t want to go.”
“Do you want to go now?” I lifted her up and sat her on the edge of the table. “Is reality finally starting to set in?”
“I thought I knew who you are but…” She trailed her hands along my chest. “I didn’t expect you to leave our bed and…”
“And what?” I reached for my gun, checking to make certain the safety was on. “Work?”
“You haven’t been here in years.” She focused on my gun as I clutched it in my hand. “Why now? You haven’t even been back for that long.”
“Everyone still knows who I am.” When I brought the barrel of the gun close to her neck, she tensed. “What I’m willing to do.”
“What are you willing to do?”
“Capri.” I ran the cold metal between her breasts and to her stomach. “What is it that you’re asking me?”
She dropped her gaze and followed my hand as I moved the gun over her panties and between her legs. I leaned forward and swept my lips across her jaw as I spread the shirt open and exposed her breasts.
“I can’t tell you the specifics of what I do,” I whispered into her ear as I grazed the gun up her stomach and to her nipple, circling it around. “I’m not going to compromise you.”
Leaning back on the table, she grasped the edge when I wedged my knee between her legs and forced them open.
Gliding the gun down her ribs and to her hips, I kissed her with a wild hunger.
When I reached her panties, her muscles tightened, but she didn’t stop me from skimming the end of the barrel along the elastic band of them.
“Hades… I…” She clenched my wrist and pushed my hand inside her underwear. “Tell me what you did tonight.”
“I got paid to end someone’s life.” I removed the gun from between her legs and set it on the table before sliding the shirt from her body. Lowering my lips to her breasts, I firmly held her thighs as I licked her heated flesh.
“Whose life?” She grasped my shoulder. “Who did you kill?”
I slid my fingers inside her panties and grazed them along her wet slit.
Propelling her back, I stepped between her legs as I undid my belt.
I had been inside her less than ten hours ago, but that didn’t satisfy my obsession or my desire to be close to her.
I needed her more than I realized after the impromptu job I pulled for Romero.
Once I had my pants unbuttoned, I shoved them over my hips. She propped herself up on her elbows and stared at me with a darkness I had never seen in her gaze. Twisting her panties around my fingers, I yanked them down her legs, fighting the question in her eyes.
“You knew who I was, but you kept coming back.” I hooked her legs around my hips and entered her hard enough to jostle her back. “I tried to send you away, but you didn’t listen.”
“Oh!” She yelped when I thrust deep into her. “I need to know if…” She held onto my shoulders as I slammed into her. “Sebastian, did you…”
“Hades!” I grunted. “What do you need to know?”
“I need you to be Sebastian.” When she took my face between her hands, I lost myself in her innocence. She really didn’t know what she had gotten herself into when she approached me. How could she? “I need to know how far you’ll go.”
I blocked her out, choosing to chase the high she gave me when we were one.
I surrendered to my instincts as I pounded into her.
She continued to hold my gaze, with my face still trapped between her delicate hands.
Her prisoner. I could overpower her and take control.
If I wanted, I could spin her around and not look at the torment that ate away at her.
But I needed to see her. More importantly, she needed to see the man she chose.
Whatever I was capable of doing in the middle of the night in a steamy, tragic parking garage had nothing to do with the two of us. I would never let that part of me taint her.
“Please…” She closed her eyes and bit the corner of her lip, enticing me to do the same. I nipped at her lips before driving my tongue inside her mouth and violently swirling it around, matching the rhythm I had set inside her. “Hades,” she screamed out.
As she released, I followed, because when we were together, we were identical. We coveted the same desires, the same needs. It was as if our souls had meshed seamlessly together and we were nothing without the other. How did I let that happen?
She let go of my face and rested her head on my shoulder, silently trembling in my arms.
“Hey.” I tilted her chin. “I’m the man I was before I left in the middle of the night. What I did wasn’t anything different than I always do, but you will never be burdened by my choices.”
A flicker of uncertainty flashed before me as tears leaked from her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. Morally gray might not be her favorite color.
“Did you kill my father?”
“What?” I shook my head, but not because I was answering her question. My reaction was in disbelief over that question. “How the hell could you ask me that while I’m still buried inside you? My come is leaking from your pussy and you want to know if I killed Leo?”
Pulling out of her, I released her and stepped back. The rage threatened to break free from my chest, and if that happened, I would unleash the monster on her. We could never come back from that.
“Is it that far-fetched of a question?” she asked. “You hate him.”
“With good reasons.” It was bad enough that Leo had destroyed my life all those years ago, but now he attempted to ruin Capri’s by forcing her into a marriage with Christopher. If I hadn’t intervened, who knew where she would end up. “Leo deserves whatever he fucking gets.”
“Sebastian.” She hopped off the table and retrieved my shirt from the floor, covering herself with it. “Can you blame me for asking?”
If she were anyone else, maybe I would have expected it, but not from her.
Not after these past few weeks. Didn’t she know I could never hurt her that way?
No matter what my feelings for Leo had festered into or what my initial motivation for pursuing her was, I could never destroy her the way she just annihilated me.
“I’ve had a long night.” I sucked in a breath and gritted my teeth. “I’m going to take a shower.”
Clearing my head was vital, and I couldn’t do that with her doubts taunting me.
“Maybe you should call your father.” I headed to the bathroom. “To make sure he’s still fucking breathing.”