Chapter 44: Chapter 44

JACE ‘JR’ ASHER/ TRIGGER

‘AND ON HIS RIGHT, WE HAVE MICHAEL MARKOVICH’

Marius, the occasional driver of Nicolas Amato pointed blandly at the punk seated at the lanai, sharing a cigar with the boss.

The Armani suit clad guy turned twenty-four last year getting his trust fund after his father’s death and while he was new in the game, Michael Markovich was pretty well known.

A business man on the outside and a shady arms dealer on the inside. AND LIKE Nicolas Amato, the Feds had nothing on him but rumors and the regular witnesses that disappeared before they could take a stand in court.

“On the left is Callum Pallis”

Also known as ‘the Italian don’ and his story was the same as all the bastards seated there plotting some dangerous shit all for power and more money.

Born into a family who ate crime for breakfast.

Born into the mafia and ran the family business.

Same shit as Michael Markovich.

“They show up whenever?” I asked playing dumb.

The whole reason Marius was telling me all this was to familiarize myself with the guests for the party tonight. To understand that any of those bastards could tell me to kneel and I had no choice but to do it.

I took a chug of my beer immediately feeling it choke me when I noticed the brunette in blue walking over to her father’s table.

Beautiful, her hair up in a ponytail, her high cheekbones accentuated by the sun’s light, she smiled at her father’s guests.

Michael stood up from his seat, smiling lewdly like he was about to win the lottery.

Lucia, for fuck’s sake smiled back at him clueless that the guy leaning for a kiss wanted more than a kiss on the cheek.

I knew a hungry man when I saw one and Markovich wanted her, lusted over her, his filthy eyes roaming over her body like it was his piece of meat to bite.

His hand landed on her waist; Lucia smiled warmly not really pulling away but turning her gaze to Callum Pallis.

Callum Pallis, thank the lucky fucker, gave Lucia a slight nod, not really into the whole ‘lemme kiss your cheeks thing’.

Five seconds. Ten seconds. Thirty seconds.

I snapped.

If Lucia wasn’t going to pull Michael’s hand away from her waist, then as her bodyguard, it was my bloody job to do it. I gave Marius, the half empty bottle of beer, walking past the damn poolside to the chummy Markovich.

Lucia was the first to notice me, her eyes lingered on me for a second before they turned away.

Damn her.

She had been at this for a week now. Treating me the way a princess like her would with a lowlife.

It was a bad idea to take her to the mall and it was an even bad idea to have her watch me while I kissed Cass.

I want to say I regret it but at that moment I didn’t, I did what I had to do to convince my sister there was never an us and that I was a shitty little kid who didn’t want her to be happy.

Lucia had been in one of the boutiques waiting for me. She’d seen us. She’d gotten upset and like most women when they were upset, they shut us out, kicked us to the curb till we came crawling back.

Would I crawl back to her though? If anything, her keeping distance was the right call.

No wild fantasies, no replaying the events that happened in that stupid little haunted house, fuck…her warm scent of apricots and some expensive shit had clouded my mind and I was ready to bunch her skirt up and find out just how wet she was for me.

My eyes burnt holes at where the Armani suit had his hand placed on Lucia’s waist.

He seemed to notice, he moved his hand but not before turning to me with a forced chuckle,

“This is the bodyguard? You have to tell me where you find these types of guys, Nick”

Nick?

They were on a first name basis now meaning their friendship ran deep.

The kind of deep where Nicolas Amato wouldn’t shoot him for using a nickname on him.

“What does he do exactly?” he turned to Lucia placing a hand on her chin, my blood fucking boiled and Lucia?

She did nothing but force a smile.

She didn’t say shit but anyone with a keen eye could see she was uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.

“What do you tell him to do, princess? Do your dirty work?” he chuckled evilly eyeing me, “fetch you a cup of tea? Or maybe something nefarious like-“

“That’s enough”, Nicolas Amato barked, placing his cigar on his ashtray before he gave me a look.

‘Get my daughter out of here’

I followed the orders, yanking Michael’s hand from Lucia, resisting the urge to wring his wrist and break some bones.

My grip on Lucia, I pulled her away, furiously walking with her from the men’s line of sight into the bloody house.

“Let go”, her fingers touched my hand.

“No”, I barked.

We sauntered past the foyer, past the gossiping maids, up the stairs, to her bedroom door which I kicked open with my foot.

Only after we were inside and I had the door locked did I let go of her wrist.

Her pitch-dark irises glared at me; I was trying to get a grip of things without lashing out.

If she wanted to continue the silent treatment for eternity, well fuck it, fine but she was not going to behave like a sacrificial lamb in front of wolves.

All complacent and too willing.

The Lucia I knew, the one who got a thrill of something as insignificant as cotton candy wasn’t the Lucia that was standing in front of me.

No, this one was different.

Like a trained dog, taught how to behave, taught not to say anything when men touched her because she was expected to agree to everything.

Like some caged bird.

I thought the carnival would change her. That it would at least bring out that woman who was care free and down earth because I saw through her and she was so much than she led people to believe.

“You had no right to bring me here when I didn’t want to in the first place”

“And what did you want in the first place? To play checkers with your father’s friends while they undressed every inch of clothing from your body”

She paced across the room, shaking her head slightly.

“You are absurd, I have known Michael and Cal since we were kids, they would never…do what you are insinuating”

Michael and Cal?

“Why because they are honorable men who think of you as their sister?” I was reeling mad and I couldn’t stop.

Just how fucking gullible was she? We were talking about the two most dangerous criminals in the States. Childhood friends? Well fuck that bullshit, they were criminals.

“Don’t be crude, not every man wants to bed a woman whenever they see her”

The fact that she said bed and not fuck proved just how innocent she was.

“Your pal Michael wants just that and you know what I saw when he looked at you? I saw a man starving for a woman like you, pretty, innocent, confined, she would do just about anything to make her father happy. Including being touched, fucked-“

She crossed the space between us and slapped me.

It surprised me, maybe shut me up for a while but it didn’t do a damn thing in hurting me.

“You don’t know anything about me, you are just a servant who I can easily get rid of in seconds”

I took a step forward; the brave little princess didn’t move an inch as she held her ground against me.

“Then do it, man up and do it, Lucia”

She wasn’t going to do it and even if she did, her father was the fucking boss not her.

“Otherwise, if you don’t do it, I’ll hover around you like it’s my sacred duty and no man will lay a hand on you on my watch”

“I’m engaged”

“I don’t see no ring”

“You are with someone”, she accused, her voice rising.

She’d seen us.

Of course, she had.

“Does it matter?”

She took a step backwards, crossing her arms across her chest.

“You should leave. I want you to leave, out of my room and out of this mansion”

“Why? Because I kissed someone else? Do you want a kiss from me princess? Is that it?”

Angry, eyes blazing, her hand pointed at the door,

“Leave!”

I left.

Opened her damn door and left making some calls along the way.

I was leaving her for a while but that didn’t mean I would leave her in the shark infesting party happening tonight.

Not by a long fucking shot.

“Buddy, Miami hasn’t been the same without you. I miss you”

“Give Maverick the fucking phone”

“Shit’s that bad?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Where’s Maverick?”

The line got cut before Maverick came on.

“Michael Markovich, Callum Pallis, they were here and by the looks of it, they are friends… Lucia Amato says they were childhood friends and all that shit so they are close, family close. There’s a party tonight, the guest list is somewhat confidential, how fast can you get me the names on the list? I have a feeling things are about to go down”

“Well nice to hear your voice too, Trigger. I’ll get down to it. Should I run this by the chief too?”

I thought hard for a while knowing whether or not I told the chief about this, he’d find out for himself anyway.

And the last thing I needed was to be pulled out of this mission because I was hung up on a certain prudish brunette.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

FEW MINUTES BEFORE THE PARTY

My cell rung. I loosened the tie on my neck walking out of the house to the garden outside.

“It’s been five fucking hours, Maverick”

“It’s a conclave”

“What?”

“The party is a goddamn conclave but think of it as some sort of rigged conclave. A private meeting of the top big bad in the States to elect the head”

That didn’t make sense.

“Nicolas Amato—”

“That’s the thing he doesn’t know it’s a conclave, he’s in the dark about it because-“

“They are going to overthrow him”, I finished.

I knew what a conclave was. A private meeting like the sort the church did when they were electing a priest but if Amato didn’t know then it meant he was going to be kicked out—permanently, as in death.

“Who is going to replace him?”

“Michael Markovich, he met every member discreetly. Every damn member on the guest list”

“Fuck”

Bloody fucker.

“You know what this means right? Nicolas Amato is dying tonight, you have to leave, the job’s done”

“Bullshit the job is done, what happens with the daughter?”

“You can’t save her; we both know that. The father dies, she inherits everything, the new alpha takes her as his wife”

“Not on my watch”, I gritted between my teeth.

“Lucia Amato was not the mission, Jace. You can’t take them all because it’s fucking suicide. Come home, we’ll regroup”

“I’m not leaving without her”

The line went dead before someone hissed through the phone,

“Get out of there, Asher. It’s a damn order”

“You know I hate orders, Chief”

“Asher! Asher!-” I cut the call.

LUCIA AMATO

“You look so pretty, amore”, one of my old maids cooed putting the finishing touch around my neck.

A blue sapphire definitely heavy necklace around my neck.

I glanced at the mirror not really sure what to say to that.

The rosy tint on my cheeks made me glow, the red lipstick on my lips could seduce a man from a mile away and this dress—was enough to tell me what the night would entail.

A night of acting pretty and trying to make conversation with everyone at the party. For Papa.

He loved me, I know he did but at the same time he wanted me to be the belle of the ball, to be every man’s desire and to remind every man in there they could have had me but Kade Hawkins beat them to it.

My thoughts wandered off to Kade would he be here? I mean he hadn’t called since our last date.

I hoped he was here.

That he would be around to protect me from the kind of men that—

Men like Michael?

He was a friend, a good friend who wouldn’t hurt me and Jace was what?

One of those men after my body, after pleasure and nothing else. He was my bodyguard for God’s sake but why did I feel so bad remembering the woman in his arms.

She had been a ginger, a pretty ginger who knew what she wanted and went for it and I?

I couldn’t even compare to her and maybe that’s the reason why I had sent Jace away.

It was better he was away.

He didn’t like me.

He had a girlfriend.

He didn’t find me attractive and I shouldn’t have been expecting anything different because I was engaged.

“Thanks, Soledad”, I said dismissing her.

She gave me one hesitant look before she left and I wanted to sob right then and then.

This was my life. A pathetic shallow life of playing dress up, entertaining my father’s guests with a forced smile, pretending-

The hinges of my bedroom door squeaked and I raised my eyes to the mirror knowing full well Soledad was back with some ‘chamomile tea’ to calm my nerves.

She liked to do that a whole lot and I adored her for it.

Except, Soledad’s black and white maids’ uniform didn’t come to sight when I looked at the reflection from the door.

I stood up, pushing my vanity chair away before I turned around.

“Michael, what are you—what are you doing here?”

His back faced the wall as his eyes grazed every inch of my black, V-necked dress with an impeccable slit running up my left thigh.

He grinned, I felt like he was undressing me but I pushed the thought away.

Michael was the same boy I used to play with when I was nine.

“Came to check on you. How are you doing?”

He moved further into the room.

“As well as any daughter of Amato would, fine”, I said blandly, he smiled taking another step forward.

“You are lucky, not everyone can be like me and you. Take your bodyguard for example”

My bodyguard left but I didn’t need to give Michael that unnecessary detail.

“Is it bad for me to wish that I was him? Living his life that is, being normal”

“Yeah? Well normal is overrated anyway”, he chuckled, I chuckled along with him.

“Says the man who’s been free his entire life. You have friends, you could do anything you want and nobody could stop you”

“The perks of having a dead father”

His father died a few years back, I hadn’t been to the funeral but word got to me, he’d died. An accident too.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant—”

“Do you ever wish your dad was dead, Lucia? That he would just disappear and someone else would get to take care of you? Give you freedom, everything your little heart desires”

“What? I mean my life is rough but my dad is all I got”

He moved another step forward coming so close to me, the space between us thinned.

But he was Michael. Michael wouldn’t hurt me, Michael wouldn’t—he raised his hand tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear and intentionally touching my cheek I had to take a step back.

“I could be all you have and I’ll treat you like the princess you are”

“Michael, I’m engaged. I don’t think of you in that-“

He came closer, my efforts of running away were stopped by his hand gripping my wrist, hard.

Panic roared from inside, my vision abysmal I could hardly see very well with the fear that was clouding my senses.

“You’ll love me. I’ll show you what being a woman feels like”

“Michael, please, please don’t do this”

He didn’t budge but instead he pulled me harder to him, my body falling to his and it felt like all the energy had been knocked out of me.

His hand squeezed my ass, trying to find his way up my slit and I cried.

I cried pathetically trying to wiggle from his grip, trying to push him off but it excited him. It made him cackle harder as his fingers dragged across the bare skin on my thigh.

“You are mine, Lucia. You’ve always been mine and it’s time I collect my pound of flesh”

“Michael-Help! Anyone, please hel-“ his hand covered my mouth.

“No one’s coming to your rescue, you know why? Because your father is dead and I’m allowed to do whatever the fuck I want”

I stopped fighting when he mentioned my father.

Dead? No, he was the boss, they wouldn’t-

“Poison and we all watched him die like the pathetic scoundrel he was. Don’t believe me? Oh princess, the truth hurts but you are free”

His fingers grazed my undies and I was so sure that it was game over for me before the sounds of shots rung behind my door.

Michael dropped his guard; I kicked him in the balls running in heels to the door.

“You bitch!” he groaned, I fumbled with the door knob nervously tears blurring my vision.

Please open. Please.

The door opened, a six feet man stood in the door way, gun in hand, blood splotched on different parts of his face.

“You okay?”

“Jace”, I exhaled running to his arms.

Behind me, Michael stood—barely straight. He pushed his blonde hair back, anger overriding his face.

“Bring her to me. Bring her to me fucking now or I’ll-“

Jace didn’t let him finish his threats before he fired his gun, shooting him two times in the chest.

Michael was dead.

“We have to leave”, Jace charged, I looked at the men on the floor behind him.

It looked like a bloody massacre.

“My father, we have to get him”

“Lucia”

“No. my father he-he might be out there, we can’t leave without him”

“We have to-“

“I want to see my father!” I screamed.

Jace hand cradled my cheek wiping my tears before he said,

“Your father is dead, Lucia”