Bianca I was lying on my stomach on the bed, humming to Billie Elish’s ‘Lovely’ as I did a Sudoku puzzle. I was at my wit’s end and only doing puzzles kept me engaged.Life, I sighed, was dead boring. Here I was, waiting to attend college, meet people my age and get a degree.I stared up at the ceiling, brooding.What would happen at the end of the year, the thought popped up in my head and I felt a sense of impending glom descend over me.*The Masters, O’Grady and St Just would move on, get another woman to pleasure themselves…I would be back to my old life, a lot richer, but…And then, I sighed, my eyes filling. Strike that.Not my old life. Never my old life.I would be treated like a wh*re.I bit my lip.I would need to leave the town, get a job somewhere else, maybe, get an apartment for myself…*Suddenly, the little phone on the bed beside me pealed and I almost fell off the bed in shock.It was St Just.“Get dressed, something that’s formal,” he rasped and I shot up in be
BiancaI was driven to a building in another part of town. St Just accompanied me. We spoke very little on the drive. St Just seemed to be preoccupied and kept texting and receiving phone calls. When we turned up at one of the streets in the city which housed all the financial institutions, I stepped out in a daze, unsure about where I was heading. Tall buildings crowded either side of the street, bearing some of the names of the financial giants in the state. I bit my lip nervously as I realized that I was being trusted with something a lot more complex than my Dad’s little old bakery!St Just frowned and said in a curt voice,“Come on in, Bianca.” Now that we had reached, St Just sounded impatient, quite unlike my kind lover. I turned around, more than a little nervous.*He strode to the doors and I trotted after him valiantly, trying to keep in step but his larger strides made me positively run and I was breathless when we reached the elevators.I had a blurred image of the rece
The little office Joe Simmons led me to was a tiny enclosure, in one corner of the large office space. It was separated from the other people in the room because it was a tiny cubicle with solid walls.I looked about curiously at the other people working in the large room, which had computers on desks, monitors and enormous screens on walls and wires trailing everywhere. A few faces watched me curiously and I smiled back hesitantly. A bespectacled, young man , with a mop of ginger hair, grinned back. He was closer in age to me, I figured, maybe in his early twenties. Another couple of women, also around the same age, nodded at me. The rest of the people in the room were mostly older and they flicked glances at me disinterestedly before getting back to their work. I noticed a couple of the women watching St Just as he strode out of the room, without glancing my way.*I sighed as I looked around the tiny space I had been provided. A whole lot of files were on the floor, on a table by
Bianca hurried behind the big bouncer who led her to a car that was parked on the sidewalk, away from eh building. It was totally inconspicuous amongst other models which were similar to it and she hesitated a second. The tinted glasses hid the person who was inside the vehicle from her eyes but she felt a warmth spread through her.It was Liam O’Grady, she knew it instinctively. And when the big dark man called Davis stepped to the door and opened it for her, she slid onto the seat and turned her flushed face to the man she loved, her lovely open face revealing her heart’s secret..*His question took her totally by surprise.“Who’s he?’ barked O’Grady and she shrank back. He looked thunderous.“Who’s who?” she said in a small voice The door had shut noiselessly behind her, the glass partition separating the front seat from those at the back was raised and she knew that no one could hear them now.Or see them any longer.She bit her lip, eyes widening in alarm.*The knowledge that
St Just knew that O’Grady had bungled the moment Bianca Cruz walked into the tiny apartment with O’Grady behind her. A couple of the men were following them too, keeping a wary distance from the rabid-looking mob Boss, who looked drunk.O’Grady had kept drinking steadily and Bianca had sat still and unmoving in her corner of the car all the way, biting her lip, holding back her tears with an effort. They had not shared a word after the way they had made violent love.*St Just sighed.The f*ck was wrong with O’Grady? It had been Liam O’Grady’s idea to put a distance between them and the young girl; she did not need any further damage to her reputation, he had argued. St Just had been a little apprehensive; how would Bianca take the decision?And when he saw her face, the swollen mouth, eyes that slid away from him, her lovely mouth turned down a the corners unhappily, he wanted to hit his brother across his face.The Irishman had clearly made a mess.*Bianca walked in and stood to th
I looked around myself when St Just stepped out to make a call.It was a small, cosy apartment and the person who had probably decorated it had had good taste, I reflected , studying the pale walls. Or had it been done to accommodate the latest woman in the life of my Masters? I’d never know and I shrugged in determination. No way was I going to weep and sob.O’Grady had made fierce love to me in the car and after a long day at the office, which was something I had done after a long time, I was tired and hungry. To my astonishment, my clothes and all my possessions had already been brought here and arranged neatly in the little wardrobe in the small bedroom. Sighing I pulled out a comfortable pair of harem pants in pink and a large T shirt to change into before heading to take a shower. I sighed as I soaped myself. I had been able to smell the fragrance of O’Grady on my body , could see the mark on my breast where he had sunk his teeth into me and I squeezed my eyes shut.The muscl
Bianca There was another surprise for me the next morning.St Just had spent the night with me and when I came awake, it was to the aroma of bacon and eggs sizzling on the pan.I peered into the kitchen, wearing my towel as I rushed over after a quick shower. And I was startled to see St Just at the stove, preparing breakfast like he did it every day. I was fresh from the shower and went up to him, winding my arms around his waist and kissing his back.The fresh smell of his body made me thrill. St Just was only clad in a Pir of track pants and I dimly wondered if he had sent is man to fetch some clothes for himself.He grinned, throwing me a smouldering look over his shoulder and said softly,“Morning, sugar.”I giggled.“ I didn’t know you could cook,” I said, kissing him as he swept me around.He smiled and kissed me gently.‘Maggie was a good mother but she also made sure that O’Grady and I learnt basic survival skills. Like cooking basic meals.” I looked into his golden eyes cu
Dean Nelson watched from his tinted windows as Bianca Gomez drove away breezily. He had found out where she was staying and he intended to get into the apartment and familiarise himself with it better.Something like a welcome gift when she returned from wherever she had zoomed off to, with that lumbering giant in her wake…He had turned up a little late and had not seen St Just get into the vehicle and leave.*Bianca breezed into the parking area for the people working in the building a short while later. A couple of people noticed her car and commented on it. She made sure to say that she had left it at a friend's the previous day. Bianca Cruz was nothing if not resourceful. She had no intention of getting caught in the crossfire if someone were to discover how she was related to the Masters.But even as she sat down to work, she sighed as she thought, suddenly, of O’Grady, his bulk and his fierceness and she blushed as she recalled how he had made her feel that day in the car.She
Hila Zaidi was heading back home when she noticed a large black car, ambivalent in nature, tailing her. She frowned. She had dropped off her companion, her contact, at the crossroads and was making her way back, weaving among the near deserted streets. The idea of taking a circuitous route back to the Delano mansion was her way of checking for a tail, and now, her senses zoomed in to the fact that she had observed the black sedan tailing her for a while. She frowned and patted her gun. Her collection of knives was also with her. Hila was about to leave the city and enter the patch of woods that signalled the beginning of her approach to the Delano property. If she was ambushed here, she would be all alone.Setting her phone, she spoke as she drove.“Piers,” She said, her voice as bored sounding as ever,” I am being followed, my love.”Her husband’s voice came over the line immediately and her heart rate quickened. She would never stop loving this man, she thought tenderly, keeping a
Bianca stretched like a small cat and O’ Grady, lying beside her, thought in amusement that she would just need to purr; it would complete the picture. Rolling over, onto her side, she caught his look and frowned at him.Wagging a finger at him threateningly, she cried,“You’ve got a snarky look on your face, Mr O’Grady.”He gave a strangulated shout as he watched her flop on her side, uncaring of the bay in her belly.“For the sake of Sweet Jaysus and all the Saints,” he bellowed and she looked at him in astonishment.“You’ve gotta be careful lassie, not roll around like a whale in the Arctic.”O’Grady regretted his words the moment they left his mouth and he groaned inwardly.Sure enough, she glared at him as the meaning sank in.“So now, I’m a whale?” she snapped, her mouth pouting as he reached out to her, contrite but with a soft sob, she flounced off, her eyes filled with tears. Slapping his forehead in regret, the Irishman groaned and chased after her, grabbing her by the wais
St. Just was being shifted to a private room, the most luxurious, on O’Grady’s demands that afternoon.He came awake to see Bianca and Liam O’Grady by his bedside, peering at him, anxiety on their faces. Bianca gave a sob and pressed her fist to her mouth as St. Just’s tawny eyes fluttered open and he grinned weakly.“Am I in Heaven?” he growled, his voice hoarse from disuse and as he looked at his half-brother, he added, pretending to groan.“Nah, can’t be. This f*cker would not be there!”O'Grady stepped to him and held his hand in a fierce grip as he growled, an arm around Bianca, who was weeping silently.“As pleasant as ever, eh Saint?”And then he grinned, his handsome face splitting in an expression of joy.St. Just smiled and shut his eyes, drifting back to sleep. This was what Heaven was, he thought with a small smile.*Bianca had been sent off to university, as she was chafing at the bit and wanted to resume her studies. She was also torn between staying at St Just’s bedsi
Bianca’s examination came back with no untoward discoveries. She was fine, the doctor assured them, save for a sprained wrist and a few scratches and cuts to her hands. But apart from the abrasions, she was good to go, as the cheerful doctor declared. Besides, most importantly, the baby was fine. O’Grady sighed in relief and looked at his pet. She was yawning widely and he felt a strange sense of protectiveness towards her. Bianca had been planning to go down to meet her sisters and stepmother, Heather, the next day; she had told them about her pregnancy and Heather had at first been a little perplexed and not so happy.But later, mainly due to the influence of her daughters who thought that Bianca was the coolest person on earth, she had come round. Besides, there was also, as Bianca declared archly, the way Bet and Anna tended to regard O’Grady. In their teenage gaze, he was like a superhero who might just sprout wings and fly out the window, Bianca said drily. The adulation was h
Proserpina looked across at the doorway, sighing. She was in the enormous nursery at her mansion, beside Piers’ two sons, one on her lap, cuddling her, his thumb in his mouth, the other, Luc, already asleep. Her own sons, Gabrielle and Alexander, were giggling as they made funny sounds, mimicking the characters in the book she had been reading to them.Tara’s babies were also asleep, as was Claude’s little girl. Ria’s little one was also sleeping peacefully.Camille said with a huge grin, “Full house, tonight,” before she headed downstairs to bed. Proserpina had been worried when Hila had come to her to ask her to keep her sons here. “Where they will be safe,” she had said.That had been after Piers had gently informed his mother that Hila was leaving to scout for the person who was behind the deaths of so many of the Mafia Don’ associates. Placing his hands on his mother’s shoulders, Piers had looked at her tenderly and said,“We’ll all be safe, Mumma. And don’t fret.”The air seeme
Jana Rudenko looked around herself. She had landed in the United States under the guise of a woman who was part of a group tour, complete with falsified documents and a fake passport. She even had a fake husband along for company, a man who had once been a killer but now served her as her bodyguard.The fictional Mrs Liga Edgars, for that, was the identity she had taken for herself, also had a story to back her up. She had been a dour-faced widow who had been coerced to go on the trip by her children, with her newlywed second husband. But Jana had stepped in and stolen the real Mrs Edgar’s identity after having gotten rid of the real lady in question. Mrs Liga Edgar had been of Belgian ancestry, as her passport said, Now the false Mrs Edgar looked around as she accompanied the other eager tourists who were heading to the terminal.She hung back and her fictional husband, the good Mr. Edgars, slowed down too.“Stay with me,” she commanded in a low voice and he nodded. They joined t
Bianca was beside the window overlooking St Just’s bed, her eyes intently fixed on his as his lids fluttered. She looked around to her other lover, Liam O’Grady who stood behind her, hands in his pocket, his jacket open as he studied his brother’s pale face.They were on the other side of the thick glass pane.“He’s…getting better, isn’t he O’Grady?” she asked tremulously and he smiled tiredly. Now that his brother was in hospital, O’Grady spent most of his time shuttling between the casinos, the loan offices on High Street and the hospital. He looked forward to seeing Bianca at the end of the day, to fold his arms around her and be enveloped in her embrace, her lips on his.But this evening, the doctor had looked a little tense when he came to the hospital.“He’s contracted an infection,” the doctor had said grimly and went on,” We need to shift him.”And at Bianca’s alarmed look, he added kindly,“To the ICU, young lady.”Bianca had slumped down on the seat, close to tears and O’Gra
Many years agoFather Pavel Rudenko looked at his sister who was weeping wretchedly. The brothers had gone to meet their newly widowed sister. As a man of the cloth, the Monk had accompanied Dmitri Rudenko. “Take my son, take this monster, my brother,” she had begged with hands clasped before her, as she wept,“I cannot handle him anymore…”Her husband had been an abusive man; the boy was following in his footsteps, a cold-hearted brute who was terrorising his mother and sister.The Monk had stood silently and looked at his nephew, the son of his only sister, a half-sister, but still, his blood. Dmitri Rudenko had walked to him, gripping his chin firmly and he studied the teenager.“Duska?” he had queried and the boy had looked at the sinister-looking man, slim as a reed, with his menacing eyes.“Yes, uncle,” he had said, a feeling of exhilaration arising in him.That was how he had been left in the care of Dmitri Rudenko, the man who was regarded as a dangerous warlord, a gun-runne
Danielle, thought Proserpina as she sat in the large limo gliding over the streets silently, covering the distance as soon as possible. The woman who had seen her from the time she was the young, naïve, innocent mistress of Lucien Delano; the one who had become the bulwark of her life at a time when Proserpina was torn between leaving the Mafia Don for good…Proserpina had been with her Mafia Don when the call from Louis had come. The Don’s demeanour had altered in a flash.He had pulled her into his arms and growled,‘I have to leave, Woman. Danielle…” Breaking off, he had been scowling as he turned to make a call to Schwartz on the intercom, for James Schwartz had a set of rooms, a suite of his own, in the Delano mansion.But Proserpina’s small hand on his arm arrested him.In a firm voice, she said,“I’m coming too.” He swung around to slam her, to insist she stay home. But the determined look on his little Woman’s face made him stop. His Proserpina had grown, and how!She had be