Chapter Two
Rafeal
“Let me know if you need any help with anything, cousin,” Tony says, in his usual jumpy way.
Tony can never sit still, which is a contrast to his immaculate appearance.
His shirts are always pressed, teeth always bleached white, and hair combed to within an inch of its life.
“I’m not much of an artiste, but you know, anything at all. ”
“I know,” I say, staring at the city as it rises out of the fog.
Nico drives. My most trusted muscle. A scarred man with a twice-broken nose and a smile almost tugging at the corner of his lips. He wears his hair longer than most mafiosi, fluttering as he scans the road.
This city…
It’s been almost a year since I was last here. Almost a year since I looked across the bar and saw a woman in a form-hugging black dress, probably twenty years younger than me, her hair wild and gorgeous around her shoulders. Her smile lit up the whole damn room.
I’m not some hopeless romantic. In my line of business, I can’t afford to be. But when I saw her, everything stopped. I wasn’t struck by lightning or hit by Cupid’s arrow or anything like that. It was tangible. Like solid foundations rising from some primal mist and suddenly making me feel steady.
All my life, my thoughts have fallen and clattered chaotically. The mob. The violence. The business. Staying afloat. Burying the bodies. But the moment I laid eyes on her, everything stopped moving. I didn’t even know that was possible.
I offered her a drink, and she said she wasn’t drinking for the night. “I’m the designated driver. But my friend has disappeared.”
I smiled, and for the first time, in a long time, I meant it. My smile isn’t fake. It’s real. “Let me help you find her.”
We went from bar to bar, making a game of it, sharing secret looks that felt significant.
At some point, I casually slide my hand over her back, as though guiding her.
She shivered. Stared at me wide-eyed. Ava was so expressive with her eyes, seeming to be able to speak whole sentences without a single word.
Eventually, we learned that her friend had drunkenly gotten a cab home, sending Ava texts of apologies. Before Ava could say she was going to leave too, I leaned in, brushed the hair from her face, and savored the reaction my touch had over her curvy, perfect body.
“Why don’t you be my designated driver instead?”
“Do you need a ride, Michael?”
I said something cheesy. But with her, nothing seemed silly or out of character. It was like I’d been pretending to be some ruthless mafia king my entire life, and she’d brought out the real me. “You’re already taking me for a ride…”
She laughed and slapped my chest. “Did you seriously just say that?”
“I’m afraid I did.”
“Oh, Michael…”
Yeah, Michael.
I gave her a false name. Because, of course, I did. Because I’m a bastard who lives in a dark world, and if she knew who I really was, she’d be in danger. It’s an old habit. One I’ve never even tried to shake. Lies and shadows and blood, that’s my world.
I had to take a call. After she asked what it was about. When I mentioned the art auction, she lit up. Her cheeks flushed, and she became so vivacious, I felt like metal to a magnet. She talked enthusiastically about the auction, saying she wanted to work in the art world one day.
My mind was already ticking. Figuring out ways to make her wish come true. Her passion alone convinced me she was worth a shot.
But then…
I grind my teeth, not wanting to think about after the way I left. Abandoned her.
Left her to die.
I glance at Nico, his eyes focused on the road. After we went home, I sent Nico back to check on Ava. I wanted to know… Hell, what did I want to know? Something. Anything. Perhaps something insane, like a sign she was missing me. Or just the bare fact that she was doing all right.
Instead, he returned with a death certificate in his hand. “I’m sorry, boss. She died in a car accident a couple of weeks after we left. Skidded straight off the road in the rain. Nobody’s fault. Just one of those things.”
I never wanted to hit Nico before that moment. But when he called it just one of those things, I thought about shattering his teeth.
Ava Ward was a special person. She had a special light in her eyes. Enthusiasm seeping through her every pore. She had the ability to stop time for a bastard like me who has only ever known how to go, go, go.
When we were together, it was lovemaking. Sure, it was filthy and hotter than sin. She made every inch of me blaze. But it was lovemaking, dammit. Something I’d never had before and will probably never have again.
I remember thinking, that night, damn, she’s a deep sleeper. And now she’s asleep forever.
I stare at the city, the towers, the grayness, and think about getting in and out of this city as quickly as possible.
“There won’t be much need for security,” I say. “The Irish, Hungarians, and the Russians know we’re here for the art auction, nothing else. They know we’re not making plays on their turf.”
Assuming, of course, we stay at the auction and the surrounding area… assuming a certain mob boss doesn’t meet a girl and take her back to her place, which, it turns out, was Hungarian turf. That was the problem last time. That was why they – whoever exactly it was – did what they did.
“Our job is simple,” I finish.
Tony nods from the back seat, eager. He’s only a few years younger than me, in his mid-thirties, but sometimes my cousin seems much younger.
Perhaps it’s his unchecked eagerness. “It’s a good plan, Rafe.
The way you’re taking things… it’s legit.
No more seedy shit. Nah, this is better.
Blackmailing fools who deserve it, using the proceeds to buy art, real stuff we can funnel into legal enterprises? ”
Nico grunts. “No offense, Tony, but when you talk like this, it’s like you’re wearing a wire.”
Tony’s face goes ghost-pale.
“Relax,” Nico says. “I’m fucking with you.”
I chuckle
. “He’s not wrong, cousin.”
Tony folds his arms and sulks. “Excuse me for trying to get a handle on the business.”
I wink at him in the rearview mirror. He smiles bashfully, turning his face away.
“Jokes aside,” I say. “You and the others will stay outside the auction. You’re only here at all on the very slight possibility that the mob presence here tries to pull some shit. I highly doubt they will. They never have before. Plus—”
“They know who the fuck you are, boss,” Nico snarls, looking at me with that savage glint in his eyes.
I nod, gritting my teeth.
I’m the devil who scares the demons, the beast who scares the animals. I’m the piece of shit who abandoned a beautiful, innocent woman and left her to slide off a rain-slick road and die.