26. Chapter 26
Dario
Much like the drive over, the ride up to the sixteenth floor is silent.
It wasn’t Jasmine who humiliated me tonight, but like always, it was my father.
I’ve always been his biggest disgrace, reminding him far too much of my mother.
She was an angel living under the devil’s roof, and that’s ultimately what led to her demise.
I swallow down the lump in my throat as memories resurface from the night she was gunned down simply for being his wife.
The beautiful woman who was the epitome of grace and elegance was not responsible for any of the decisions made by my cruel father, yet she’s the one who had to pay for his crimes.
Martina and I were upstairs, playing the newest video game in my room, when the gunshots rang out.
Gio and Luca were out of the house, accompanying my father with one of his dealings.
They were already considered men worthy of threatening and killing our enemies, even though neither was old enough to drink the celebratory bourbon my father forced upon them when they did a job well done.
“Stay here,” I told Martina as I stepped out of my room and descended the grand staircase.
The door was open, and I could feel the chill of the air.
It may have been three days past Christmas, but the desert never saw snow, and I remember the shudder running through me as I stood there in shorts and a T-shirt.
I wish cold was all I felt that night.
Lying in front of the door in a pool of blood was my mother. I froze, unable to step toward her, knowing she had already ascended back to her home in heaven. There’s no doubt in my mind they would have welcomed her with open arms.
“Mama!” Martina shouted from behind me, and I widened my stance, attempting to block her view. It was no use; she had always been slightly taller than me until we hit our teen years, and I was graciously granted a much-needed growth spurt.
“Don’t look. You shouldn’t see this.”
Unsurprisingly, Martina didn’t listen to me and rushed to our mother. When she stepped back, bloody footprints stained the wooden floors.
“Where were the guards?” she shouted between sobs.
I stepped around the body, knowing it no longer held the woman who raised me, and embraced the frigidity of the night.
A half dozen of my father’s best men were scattered across the lawn in similar positions as my mother.
When I looked up from the carnage, my father and brothers were pulling into the driveway.
“What the fuck happened?” my father growled as they all three jumped out of the armored vehicle.
Martina stepped outside at that point, no doubt wanting to see for herself what had happened to the men hired to protect us. “Mama,” her voice quivered. “She’s dead.”
I watched as Luca dropped to his knees. Gio’s face hardened. Papa ran to the scene I had actively been trying to forget.
Tears fell down my face as he roared from inside the house. Heavy footsteps sounded from behind me, and the next thing I knew, I was off my feet as my father was dangling me from the fabric of my shirt. “What the fuck happened? Why didn’t you protect her?”
“It’s not Dario’s fault, Papa,” Martina whimpered behind me, but the man had lost all of his senses and wasn’t listening.
I sniffed back the tears that were falling more rapidly. “We were upstairs and heard the gunshots. I went as soon as I heard, Papa.”
He dropped me to the ground with such gusto, I collapsed on my back. “Were you playing your stupid fucking games?”
“We both were, Papa,” Martina spoke. She always tried to protect me from him, but where I could never escape the hardened gaze of my father, Martina could never be seen by him, no matter how hard she tried.
“You were playing while your mother took her last breath. You’re a fucking joke. Her death is on you.”
“Dario?” Jasmine’s voice is concerned as she stares at me. I take a moment to process where we are and note that she’s inside her condo while I’m still standing on the other side of the threshold. “Do you want to come inside?”
I shake my head, trying to rid the rotten memories creeping back into my brain after over two decades of suppressing them.
“Oh.” She looks down, and seeing this strong woman look broken is what causes me to snap. I charge toward Jasmine, slamming the door behind me and grabbing her chin. I lift her face so I can see those stunning hazel eyes of hers filled with curiosity as she waits for me to make my next move.
I don’t hesitate. I capture Jasmine’s lips with mine, pulling a moan from her as her hand reaches up and runs through my hair. My hand snakes down and cups her luscious ass, pulling her body against me.
Her hands continue to explore, making their way down to my neck, over my shoulders. Tender fingers dance over my abs and up my chest, where she gently pushes me away.
“We can’t,” she whispers.
“We did.”
“We shouldn’t.”
“I disagree.” I brush my fingers against her cheek, delighting in the way her body responds.
When she leans in to me, my lips brush against hers, and once again we’re doing what she swears is forbidden.
My tongue caresses over hers, and the taste is so goddamn heavenly it has me ready to spread her thighs and feast on what I know will be the most delicious-tasting cunt one could imagine.
As I trail kisses down her neck and slide myself down her body to do just that, she steps away from me. “Dario, this isn’t why I invited you in.”
I hang my head, knowing exactly her reason. “I don’t need your pity, Jasmine.”
“I didn’t invite you in to pity you either,” she insists. “I thought maybe we could sit and talk about your family. About what I’ve somehow managed to get myself involved in.”
I huff out a sigh, knowing nothing about this topic is going to make her excited about her new employers. Walking over to that damn floral couch, I plop down and rest my elbows on my knees, looking at her. “What do you want to know?”
She bites her bottom lip, and I have to close my eyes at the sight, so I don’t haul my ass back over to her and replace her teeth with mine. I reopen them when I feel her sit directly beside me. “I have a feeling your family is involved in organized crime.”
It’s a statement, not a question. Ten minutes around that dinner table is all one would need to learn that the Caruso family doesn’t exactly do things by the book.
She continues with her assessment. “The term would be mafia, right? Gio filled me in a little when you went to get the car. He said that the whole family was there, but he doesn’t mean blood family, right? ”
I chuckle, but there’s no humor in it. “They spill blood for us, so I suppose you could call them that. My dad’s brother was the one with the redhead on his arm.” I raise my eyebrows. “I assume that’s why my aunt wasn’t present.”
Anger flashes across Jasmine’s face, and she mutters words that sound a lot like cheating bastard.
“He’s my dad’s consigliere.”
Jasmine’s nose scrunches up, and I reach over to smooth it out with my thumb. I allow it to travel south and run over those decadent lips before I continue. “It means he’s my dad’s advisor.”
Her head bobs slowly as she processes the information. “Because your dad is the leader?”
I nod. “He’s called the don—the boss of the organization, which we call a family.”
“So if something were to happen to your dad, then your uncle would be the next don?”
“No,” I shake my head. “Gio is second-in-command. He’ll take over the reins when Papa’s out of the picture.”
Jasmine leans back, seemingly trying to process it all. “And all the other men and women there tonight?”
I mimic her position, not allowing for much space between us. “Capos and soldiers. The men, anyway. The soldiers do most of the dirty work. There were only a couple of them there tonight, but I’m sure you’d have no trouble pointing them out.”
“The biggest ones?” she asks, and I nod. “So is Luca a soldier? He’s the biggest and scariest man I think I’ve ever seen.”
I smile at her assessment of my brother. “In a way. He’s what we call our enforcer. His services are a little more direct. A bit more personal.”
“I heard Gio say the word ‘capo’ earlier tonight, too. What exactly do they do?” I love how invested my little bull is in the life my family lives.
“They supervise the soldiers. Make sure orders from my papa are carried out, then report back to him.”
She takes a deep breath before her next question. “And what kind of orders would your father make?”
I move my hand to her knee, relishing the fact she didn’t push it away. I give her a gentle squeeze before I answer. “Whatever must be done.”
“So are there underground gambling rings at Angelo and Demone? Is that what your family deals with?”
My teeth grab my lip as I pull them into a smirk. “You know what’s underground: Demone, mio toro.”
Jasmine rolls her eyes. “What exactly does your family deal with? Oh, God.” Her face pales. “Is it human trafficking? I absolutely cannot work for your family if you’re involved in that. In fact, maybe you should go.”
She tries to stand, but I widen my hand on her knee and push her back down. “Calm down, Jasmine. Papa may be a piece of shit human and father, but he would never participate in that.”
Sucking down air, Jasmine regulates her breathing. I give her the time she needs to gain her wits, but she’s still so curious. “Drugs?”
I shake my head.
“Weapons?”
I nod with a sigh.
Her eyes widen, and the expression on her face concerns me. “I need you to tell me you can handle this, Jasmine. If you don’t think you’re up for the job, I’m not certain I can keep you safe.”
A tiny laugh bubbles out of her. “So what? If I don’t agree to be in the mafia’s pocket, they’ll have me sleeping with the fishes?”
She jests, but my face remains unamused.
“Shit,” she says in a hushed tone as her face takes on a different expression. It’s concern. Fear. “How dangerous is your family?”
I cup her cheek. “Very.”
“How dangerous are you?” she whispers.
“Very.”
She swallows, and another shrill laugh has me worried she may be going into shock. “Mafia men are supposed to be scary, and I’m sorry, but the last thing I feel when I’m around you is scared.”
My eyebrows lift. “Oh?”
The cutest huff of breath escapes Jasmine’s nose as a small smile forms. “Gio could probably scare me. Hell, I think Luca could scare anyone. But you…” She shakes her head and lets the sentence end with those two words.
My thumb brushes against the smooth skin of her cheek. “But with me?”
Jasmine bites her bottom lip, and I move my thumb to release it. When her eyes meet mine, I ask, “How do you feel when you’re around me?”
Hazel eyes stare at me as a moment passes. Then two. Finally, she rolls them. “Annoyed.”
My lips tilt up. “Maybe, mio toro, but I don’t think that’s all you feel.”
“Well then, by all means, tell me how I feel.” She attempts to move away from me, but I wrap my hand around the back of her head as I shift my body closer to hers. If she really wanted, she could move, but she sits still, breathing deeply and staring at me with those golden flecks.
I lick my lips, and the motion gains her attention.
“I think you do feel scared when you’re around me.
You may not fear for your life, but you fear for your heart.
You see, mio toro, I think you know the two of us could be incredible together.
I think you know that you could find yourself falling for me.
And I think that’s what scares you more than any member of the mafia ever could. ”
Jasmine’s eyes are wide, pupils blown out to the point I can barely see the beauty of her irises. She takes another deep breath in and exhales slowly. Then abruptly pushes away and stands.
I give her time to pace the room, but eventually find myself standing and walking toward her. When she catches me in her peripheral vision, she turns and jabs a finger in my face.
“You want to know what I really think?”
I brace myself, ready for her to admit she thinks of me exactly the way my father does. I expect her to kick me out and demand, once again, I leave her alone and stop pursuing something that can never happen.
Jasmine steps closer to me, grabbing a fistful of my shirt. I shudder as her knuckles brush my exposed chest, completely aware this may be the very last time I’ll ever feel her skin against mine.
“I think,” she says before tugging me toward her, “you should kiss me.”