Chapter 3 Lord and Lady
Lord and Lady
Leo steps into the room with that confidant, commanding air I know well.
He’s cleanly shaved, dressed in his signature black, the top buttons of his shirt undone.
Not a flicker of the man I saw barely hours ago covered in blood.
No, instead who stands before everyone is the Head Mafia Don of New York City, son of Riccardo Marchetti, Leonardo Durante Luciano with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
He strides into the room, aiming for me as I begin to stand. Leo shakes his head once, and I remain seated. Rossi suddenly tries to get to his feet, deterring Leo’s path. A few of the men stiffen, while others mumble under their breaths.
“Luciano, sh-she shot me…your w-wife—”
“For good reason, I presume?” Leo questions.
“He fucked my daughter!” Finstrum yells suddenly. “He blackmailed her and fucked teenagers!”
Finstrum continues yelling, DeLuca chiming in as Leo’s gaze catches mine. I nod once.
Leo holds out his hand, and Michael hands over the gun I gave him.
Without warning, Leo shoots Rossi in the head.
Blood splatters over the documents and photos.
Trickles of it hit the men as Rossi’s body slumps onto the floor.
The room goes quiet. Leo gives the gun back to Michael, striding towards me.
My heart pounds in my chest as I avert my gaze from Rossi’s body.
Carefully, Leo brings his hand to my throat, lightly pressing his palm against the silk of the blouse I wear. I feel metal. He’s wearing his wedding ring.
Leo brings his mouth to my ear, murmuring so very low, “Good girl.”
The tightness around my chest vanishes as I grip the gun in my hand, smiling faintly at him. His hand lightly squeezes against my throat in a possessive manner.
“Leave us. Wait in my office,” he instructs quietly, letting go and stepping back.
I stand, keeping the gun tight in my hand as I walk to the door. I don’t look back as Isaac comes up behind me, and I avoid all eye contact as I make my exit.
“Gentlemen,” Leo starts to say as the doors shut behind me.
I continue down the empty hall until I reach Leo’s office. Isaac shuts the doors behind us. “Miss Autumn…”
I shove the gun at him. Bile builds up from my stomach as I sprint towards the bar area to the bathroom, barely making it to the sink as I hurl finally.
My hands shake as I grip the porcelain, releasing what little I had in my stomach.
Isaac comes rushing into the bathroom after me, grabbing a towel to help clean up any mess.
“Breathe, Miss Autumn.”
My throat scratches as I dry heave, keeping a hand at the bottom of my corset as it presses against my stomach. I close my eyes as I finally stop, breathing through my nose and spit out the last of the bile. The water turns on, washing away what I puked up as I take the towel and wipe my mouth.
“Do you want me to take the corset off?” He asks.
I shake my head. He steps back as I stand fully, turning off the water and lean back against the sink. My hand continues to run over the corset, feeling the velvet and pressure around my body. Yeah, it’s harder to breathe given what I just did, but I don’t want it off. I still need it.
“I’m alright,” I murmur, tossing the towel aside. “Last minute there…really thought he left.”
Isaac is quiet.
My breathing calms, but my hands still shake as well as my legs. Anxiety, pressed down and turned to anger, begins to crawl up my spine again.
“Did I make things worse?” I whisper, finally meeting Isaac’s blue eyes.
“You made your point. Both of you. Potentially a new target on your back, but I think you garnered a different type of respect from them.”
“Nice answer. Now be more frank, Pretty Boy.” I half-smile at him.
He gives one back, leaning against the opposite wall. “You scared the fuck out of them. Including myself, and likely Jameson. But no, I don’t think so.”
“Jameson was testing me. Along with Finstrum.”
“Yes, they were.”
“Your thoughts?”
“You succeeded,” he says, clearing his throat. “In more ways than one.” It’s silent a few moments as my limbs become less shaky. “Curione wasn’t your first kill, was he?”
I shake my head. His face becomes somber.
“First guy tried to assault me outside a club. Shot him. Second guy, I stabbed after he killed another girl. Roger knew about both. Told me never to speak about it, and that it happens on the job.” Isaac’s eyes widen.
The memories slam into me. The blood on my hands and those lifeless eyes before me. I never truly gave them a second thought. A few times I’d think about those random moments, wondering if Roger would turn me in for murder. Maybe he forgot. At times I did. Blocked out like so many other nights.
“You never spoke about that,” Isaac murmurs, voice despondent.
“None of you liked me discussing my undercover days, so murder was definitely off the table. Dr. Maxwell knows.” Isaac’s brows raise, and I shrug. “We’ve talked. I’ve long moved on. And he’s a therapist for mobsters, so I’m not worried.”
I stare next to Isaac at the cream-colored walls.
The anxiety crawling up my spine disappears as I shut off those memories.
A different time of nightmares where I did whatever to survive.
Perhaps some of my nightmares and panic attacks were from those men, but I never felt sorry for them. Not when they would’ve done worse.
“None of y’all thought I was…capable of murder, huh?” I whisper, staring at the wall not fully present. “Then again, guess their underestimation kept me alive. Except Roger…he always knew. I think he always did.”
Suddenly, Isaac comes into my vision. I jerk back as he approaches, but don’t pull away when he clutches my shoulders. He strokes a hand over my hair as I stare up at him, seeing melancholy amongst his features, yet there’s respect.
“I think you’re capable of whatever you wish, Miss Autumn. You don’t need to be a man to pull the trigger.” Isaac briefly places a kiss on my forehead, pats my shoulder as he gestures toward the bar. “How about some tea? It may be a while until he’s…done, well…”
“Renegotiating their lives?” I smirk.
“One way to put it,” he mutters.
We walk out of the bathroom. Isaac goes behind the bar, pulls out an electric kettle, and starts to get tea started. He starts to pour himself a drink, and I almost snort when I notice it’s a martini.
“We didn’t know about Rossi,” Isaac suddenly says. “Leo would’ve…none of us—”
“I didn’t know until two months ago, after hacking into his personal mainframe,” I interrupt, and he stops to stare at me.
“Chiari nor I knew what to do but collected as much evidence as we could until we’d be able to nail him.
It was two weeks ago I realized one of the girls was Fintrum’s daughter. ”
Isaac sighs, then sips his drink. “There’ll be some upset with his death, until Finstrum drags his name through the mud.”
“Which he definitely will if he walks out of that boardroom.”
“Curione’s death will have less of an impact, given how new he still was. Either his underboss or another will take his seat, Leo may have more of a say on who now.”
I lean against the counter, running my hand over my torso. I glance at his gun on the counter, next to the one I used. My stomach flips.
“He’ll be seen as the savior as it were, they’ll listen to his judgement now,” Isaac says slowly. “Not to mention that amount of blackmail would keep anyone in line or the fear of his wife shooting off their cocks.”
I smirk, but he winces.
“Wasn’t the plan at first,” I say. “Or Curione’s death. See? Sometimes my plans don’t go my way.”
Isaac’s quiet as he turns away, getting my mug ready as the water starts to boil.
“What would you have done if he hadn’t shown, Miss Autumn?” He asks, and I inhale slowly, then let out the air in a controlled breath. He stops, turning around to face me with that worry in his eyes again. “You were going to kill them all, weren’t you?”
I stare down at the counter, tracing a finger along the woodgrain.
“It crossed my mind.” Few hundred times in five minutes.
“But, no…I’d have fulfilled my promises of dumping everything onto public servers.
Given over the men who were alive, let the feds take them along with all the information and bribe them with Castor 2.
0, probably slip Curione’s body out of the building.
There’s more blackmail for people not in that room, help distract them for me to get out of the state next if that was the case. ”
Isaac pours my cup of tea, then adds the proper amount of cream and sugar before placing it in front of me. “How much exactly did you acquire with…Eleanor, was it?”
I nod. “Information on any association with the mobs or those who’ve done any dealing with them in the past. Such as politicians, real estate brokers, investors, CEOs, and whoever else fits the bill.
Figured if the blackmail for the mobsters wouldn’t work, then I’d go directly to another source that would fuck them over to save their own hides. ”
Isaac leans onto his elbows, putting his hands under his chin as he cocks his head at me. “How did you get all of this so quickly in only a few months?”
“Eleanor was built to be simple and quick once you know what you’re looking for,” I say with a shrug.
“Under all our noses, too?”
I lean in closer. “The last time I did this was on a battered Toshiba with the worst RAM and WIFI speeds. This time I had a high-tech laptop with software I’ve only dreamed of using.”
Isaac snorts, then sips his drink. “That’s what Enigma and Iron Buffalo get for gifting you a laptop.”