Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
GINO
My phone jolts me awake. Alonso.
“Hello,” I say.
“We got him. He’s in rough shape. We’re taking him to the nearest hospital,” he responds.
I look over to Juliet, who’s still asleep. She was right.
“Watch your back,” I tell him firmly. “Casualties?”
“Three men on their side; Lorenzo wasn’t there,” he replies.
“Got it. I’m calling Anthony now.”
“Good. Juliet was right. I would definitely go after his assets in the States.”
I hum in response and hang up.
Juliet stirs awake.
She leans up. "What is it?”
“They got him. He’s hurt, but he should be home soon,” I tell her.
“Are you going to tell her yet?” she asks, immediately more alert.
Vanessa.
Do I want to tell her? Absolutely.
Should I tell her? Probably.
Should I tell her this early in the morning? Definitely not.
“I want to—God, I want to. But I need to know he’s okay,” I reply.
“Don’t delay too long or she’ll resent you for it,” she says softly.
“I know.” Of course, I know. This could go south quickly.
I get out of bed and change into a T-shirt and sweats.
“I’m calling Anthony to negotiate a deal,” I say. “Regardless of his involvement, he’s not getting away with this.”
She starts to sit up and throws her legs over the side of the bed.
“Jules, go back to bed,” I tell her. “If I need you, I’ll come get you. Until we know he’s healthy and able to get here, I need you to help Vanessa as you have been.”
I hope he comes home ASAP. Not just for me, but for Vanessa, too. For his children.
She bites her lip and gets back into bed.
I kiss her forehead and leave the room.
Once I get to my office, I close the door and immediately call Anthony.
“What’s it now, Gino?” Anthony grumbles on the phone.
“Two of my men just rescued Mateo from a warehouse that’s in your wife’s name. Care to explain that?” I ask.
He grunts.
“I’m prepared to make a deal, Anthony. One that will get us out of each other’s hair.”
“What do you have in mind?” he replies.
“I want all of your assets in the US.”
“That’s not happening.”
“Why not?” I ask. “Your son kidnapped my second-in-command, and it took almost a year to find him without your help. We deserve some form of compensation.”
“If you are so convinced it was my son, why don’t you kill him or handle him yourself?” he asks.
“I don’t want to kill your son,” I tell him, my patience slowly fading.
“I want this to be as even as possible. We killed three of the men holding Mateo. I assume they weren’t your men; they were his.
That seems to be enough on his end for punishment.
But you didn’t assist us; you kept insisting it wasn’t Lorenzo who did this, even after you had evidence it was him. ”
“I’m still not going to give you anything.” He pauses for a moment, and I can hear someone speaking to him.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Who?” I ask.
“Lorenzo, I can’t believe my own flesh and blood would betray me like this.” He sounds angry.
“Who told you?”
“Salvo walked in and told me a warehouse under Anna’s name was raided. I didn’t know she had them,” he says.
“She didn’t; that was Lorenzo using her name as a cover,” I answer the question for him.
“I’m not denying it. He did do this, and I will handle him in my own way. But I’m not giving you anything.”
“If you don’t, I will find a way to take you down,” I say.
“Fine, I’ll give you the properties in New York,” he grumbles.
“You’re going to need to do better than that,” I reply sternly.
He doesn’t say a word for a moment, and I think he may have hung up.
“I’ll give you New York and Chicago,” he replies.
“No, I want all of it.” My voice is firm, my mind already made up. “You sat on the sidelines while your son did this. And I want all your people out of the city by tonight. I’m not dealing with your men in my territory anymore.”
He laughs.
“You are just like your father,” he scoffs.
“Excuse me?” My anger rises.
“Don’t need to get so upset,” he says defensively. “You Espositos are as hardheaded and bullish as they come.”
“Just agree to it, and we’ll never speak to each other again.”
“Fine. But give my people a week to leave.”
“A week,” I agree. “After that, any man left behind will be dealt with.”
He hangs up, and I throw my phone on the desk.
Running my hand down my face, I hear the door creak open.
Juliet walks in with two cups of coffee. She hands me one.
She gives me a sly smile as she takes a sip of her coffee. “You really sound like a mafia boss, you know?”
“Oh yeah? You liked that?” I ask with a smirk.
“Honestly, no.” She looks at me flatly. “But you were going head-to-head, and getting what you wanted was hot.”
“Hmm…so what you’re saying is when we finally start that company we’ve been talking about, you’ll think it’s hot when I get what I want?” I question.
She snickers. “No, when you do what you just did. Telling him what you want and not backing down.”
I grab her waist and lift her, and she wraps her legs around me. I place a rough kiss on her lips.
“Bella, this outfit is killing me.”
She laughs. “It’s a tank top and sleep shorts I wear every morning.”
“And every morning it kills me watching you wear this,” I grit out.
She snorts. “Gino, I don’t think that’s how that works.”
“Hmm, I think it is.” I turn us around and set her down on my desk.
My cock is straining against my pants, and I need relief. But first I need her ready.
She bites her lip and looks at me with seductive eyes. She looks down and then makes eye contact with me.
“Looks like you could use some help with that,” she says as she stands from the desk.
“Could I?” I ask.
“Go sit in your office chair.”
Oh, so she’s taking control now.
I stride over to my desk and sit down.
“Juliet, what should I do now?” I stare at her as she stands in front of me.
“Take your cock out and start jerking it,” she instructs me.
I don’t hesitate to spit in my hand and follow her instructions.
“You’re being a very good boy right now.”
Fuck. If she says that again, I will come.
“Bella, please tell me I can touch you,” I say.
“Ah ah, not yet. I want to watch you, and you’re going to watch me.”
Fuck.
“What are you doing?”
She smirks at me. “You’ll see.” And she winks; she fucking winks. That’s my move.
She turns and strides over to the couch, which gives me a perfect view of her.
As she takes a seat, she asks, “Did I tell you, you could stop?”
Shit. I was so entranced by her, I didn’t realize I stopped.
She takes off her sleep shorts and panties. And now I have the perfect view of her and her pussy.
She cocks her eyebrow at me, and I realize I still haven’t continued what she told me to do.
I glance down at my cock and see the pre cum leaking. Wrapping my hand around my cock I start to stroke again.
“Good boy,” she says again.
“Are you trying to get me to come in less than ten seconds?” I grit out.
“Maybe, but I didn’t tell you to stop. Maybe I should stop?” she questions, almost pausing to think.
“Don’t you dare,” I grit out.
She smirks. “Oh, I won’t because I’m very much enjoying this.”
I watch as she fingers herself, and her pussy is so wet I can see it dripping from here.
Continuing to stroke my cock I know I’m close, but I need to wait for her. She’s in charge, and I don’t know what she wants to do.
I can tell by the way she’s breathing that she’s close too.
But then she pulls her fingers out and gets up from the couch. I stop stroking my cock to watch what she’s going to do.
She strides over to me. “I didn’t tell you to stop—yet.”
“You really are making me work for it, aren’t you?” I ask.
She smiles at me. “You can assume that, but I’m running the show right now.”
“That you are,” I smirk back.
“Take your pants off.” I obey as she removes her tank top. “Your shirt’s next.” I do as she says.
She then gets closer and opens a drawer to my desk and pulls a condom out.
You never know when the want to fuck will happen, just like now. I’ve been stashing condoms in different places around the house. I didn’t know she knew where I put them, but she must have found them.
She hands the condom to me, and I tear it open and roll it down my cock.
Then she moves forward and straddles me and slides right onto my cock.
“Fuck, Gino,” she cries out as she moves up and down.
“God, you’re perfect.” My hands are all over her.
I suck on one of her nipples as I massage her other breast.
Her hands run through my hair, and we both moan as she continues to ride me.
“Bella, you better milk my cock,” I grit out.
“Fuck, Gino,” she breathes out.
She keeps riding as her breathing gets more rapid and her moans get louder.
She’s close and so am I.
“I’m gonna—” she cries out.
Before she can finish her sentence, we’re both coming.
She leans her forehead to mine and breathes heavily.
She moves her head to my shoulder
“You’re so beautiful, Jules,” I whisper in her ear as she collects herself.
We both allow ourselves a few minutes to collect ourselves before she gets up and we walk into the bedroom to take a shower.