As if all the warmth of the sun had been ripped away, the room plunged into the arctic. At least it felt that way. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms as I fought not to grab onto Massi's shirt. If someone needed to kill Rafe, I would do it. Spare this man-this family-the horror of killing one of their own. I could hold that weight. Put it where I put all the other deaths. Deep inside where it didn't bother me. Remorse wasn't something I felt, at least not in terms of killing. It was simply an action. Like buying some coffee or helping an elderly person across the street. But it would break Massi. Any of them. No. If Rafe needed killing, I would be the one to steal the life from his eyes. Turo grabbed handfuls of Rafe's shirt, jerked him up to his toes. "Did you not learn your lesson this morning? Are you aching for more attention and you think this is the appropriate way to get it?"Rafe spat in his oldest brother's face. "Fuck off, Turo. You don't know shit.""Then
Don't hurt her. Don't hurt her. Don't hurt her. It was a chant in my head. I was so fucking scared. And angry. And relieved. And disgusted. And...everything else. But at Rafe, not Eden. But right now, with everything riding me hard, my one thought was not to squeeze her too hard. Not to hold her too tightly. I wanted to crawl inside her skin, wrap myself around her spirit. Warm myself in the fires of her soul. Watching her approach Rafe had been one of the worst moments of my life. I'd known something was wrong with him. Something off about his behavior in the last month or two. But I never expected him to let it lash out at anyone. That Eden had stepped in and given him his punishment to save me that pain...I was speechless. Her arms lifted as she curled me into the sheltering embrace of her body. She murmured nonsense words against my neck. Rubbed circles over my back. "By whom?" Momma asked after Rafe stopped cursing Eden. I tuned back into the room around me. I ne
I almost felt bad for Rafe. Almost. But the fact that he'd been hedging his bets and Amara's life was the prize... I shook my head. Even that small mercy was swept from my heart. He was nothing but an overgrown child in the body of a man. Petulant and privileged, he walked through this life as if it owed him something. Not that he had to earn it. Not that he had to train or work for it. But that it would be given to him out of some skewed sense of familial beneficence and entitlement. I shook my head as he struggled to his feet. Crossed my arms as he lurched from side to side with blood loss and a wounded thigh. When the color drained from his face, leaving him a ghost in his own skin, I rocked back on my heels.We all waited in heavy silence as he made his way out of the room. When the doors finally shut behind him, I heard Momma tell Nico to send a couple guards after him. Nico nodded. "With pleasure." He turned and jogged towards the door. He stuck his head out. His voice
My brother swaggered in as if he hadn't just been at the mercy of the small woman in my arms. The confidence that leaked through every pore made me grind my teeth together. How had I not seen this? This arrogance? The cocksurity that oozed from him like the stink of a skunk? I heard Momma's sucked in breath, and knew she was seeing Rafe as I was. We, all of us, had been too busy with our own lives to see the shitshow that Rafe had made of his. Well, those poor choices in the past were coming back to bite us all in the asses now. Getting Eden's attention, I signed to her, "Tell Momma I want family here witness. Rafe not shield like past." I watched her take in the signs. Her poor, exhausted mind worked to rearrange them into English.Eden's eyes widened as she watched me. I saw her bite her lip and nod. But she walked over to my mother despite her trepidation. Eden bent down, whispered in Momma's ear. Momma's gaze shot to me. She nodded. Looking across the room, she held up a
As the ambient light of the room began to darken, some of the kitchen staff started to bring in tables and chairs. They set them up against the far side of the room. Once the tables were in place, they started bringing out plates and bowls and servers and platters and everything else that looked more suited to a large buffet style restaurant. "Eat," Dante, the head house manager, said. With a quick smile and bow of his head to Momma and Papa, he and his staff slipped to the sides of the room. Momma stood up again. Clapped her hands. "Everyone, it is time to eat. Tech crew, you call out what you want, we will serve you." So saying, she walked over to Nik. Bent down so she could hear the younger woman. Momma smiled as she nodded and straightened. "I'll get it for you, figlia." She pressed a kiss to Nik's hair and moved down the line of tech team members. When she had a couple orders, she moved to the line. Handed plates to a couple of the security team. Told them what to put
After what seemed like the longest day in the history of forever, we finally got to spread out to our various cottages and go to sleep. Massi and I tucked Amara in for the night, back in her Nonna and Nonno's rooms. We fell into our bed. After the revelations of the afternoon and evening, I was almost blackout tired. I slid straight into sleep. And straight into my nightmares. Knowing I was dreaming didn't make it any easier. Didn't relieve any of the terror. If anything, it just seemed to prolong it. Racing along the roofline to the next section of houses, I smiled. The wind caught at my hair, whipping it out behind me in a fluttering curtain that tingled along my scalp. Excitement and adrenaline pumped through my veins. One last hit and I was done. Out from under Hugo and his thugs. A life of my own. A life without death or killing. As I reached the far end of the apartment complex, I heard the sharp thppt of a silenced weapon seconds before I felt the burning slice of th
Between the twelve of us, we piled into two SUVs and started up the coast. The moon was full and bright. A killing moon, if there ever was one. It was so bright, we wouldn't even need to use the NVGs we'd brought. We would just need to set up and get in place. I rested my head on the seat back. Closed my eyes. Just like I did for prep on any target takedown, I ran through everything one last time in my head. Every step, every action. Every possible reaction. When there were no surprises, the mission ran smoother. Not that I could account for every imaginable possibility, I did try to mitigate the most obvious and the somewhat possible. You couldn't be in my line of work and not learn a thing or two about contingencies. Every good death dealer had a system. This was mine. The low chatter of the men around me was a comforting background noise. While I'd learned to travel alone and do solitary work, I had to admit that having my brothers-both blood and bond-around me was nice. Mo
I was jarred from sleep by a hard hand on my shoulder. Before I was fully awake, I had the person smashed into the table where my head had been laying. A knife to the throat and one hand up between the shoulders. "Sweet Pete, Eden, it's just me," Nico said. His mouth was smooshed into the desktop, his words a little garbled. Once I blinked myself awake fully, I noted that the men were all back in the room and the faint pink light that seemed to flood it. With a sheepish grin, I pulled my knife back, let him go. "Sorry. You don't want to wake me up by touching me. Ever." I slid my knife back into its sheath. Nico seemed confused on which part of his body to soothe first, his face, wrist, or shoulder. He nodded. "Obviously. Although I wish someone would have told me that sooner." He glared at Massi. Massi just smiled, pointed to his throat, shook his head. His hair was damp and he was wearing different clothes than what he left in. My man must have gotten a little messy durin
I crept along the rooftop. The target was staying in the long term suites across the road. It was our first night, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders the farther we got from New Trenadie. The next moment, I crashed to the roof's floor. "Damn it." She snickered. "Still a sucky spy, Raphael." She slid her body over mine.I sucked in a breath. Nodded. Hell, I practically begged her for it. But without words. When she got that tone, my words were not necessary. She smiled. "I'm not going to beat you to death. Nor am I going to stuff you into a padded room." She bent down, flicked her tongue over my lips. "But I will tie you up, spank you, flog you, fuck you, and then make you do it all over again. My dick went to iron between her legs. Her laugh was husky. "I'm keeping you, Raphael. Do you understand me?"My heart settled. Skipped a beat. "Yes, Mistress."The end.
My phone dinged with a new incoming text message. Considering my phone had been going off since the wee hours of the morning with Willow and Ryker announcing the baby was finally coming, I was tempted to just shut it off. But it could be something important. And since Angelo and I were at home with the other babies, it fell to us to make sure we kept everything running as it should. I grabbed the phone. Unlocked the screen. A video message popped up. Raphael and his girl, Nia. Their heads mushed together to get into frame. "Momma, I have to leave. But I wanted to tell you I love you. And thank you for everything. I will let you know when I get back." Nia smiled. "I'll keep him safe, Momma. I swear it.""Bye, Momma," they said together before they ended the call.I smiled even as tears filled my eyes. Angelo looked up at me from his spot on the bed. He was restrained, a ball gag in his mouth. I held the crop up high. "Our last baby is finally happy, Angelo." I s
Two weeks later I glared at the woman on the table. "I still don't know why I have to be here. I barely know you."Willow snorted. "Because you're scarier than anyone else in my family. And I don't want those doctors trying to get all bitchyyyyyyyy." Another contraction hit her. She clamped down on my hand hard enough that I thought I was going to need surgery to remove the bones from each other. And this little firecracker had more strength inside her than her grip would show. Raphael had told me some of her story. She'd told me the rest of it. A ritual the Amatucci women apparently indulged in was something called Girls' Night. Really it was a bunch of drinking, talking about sex, and watching movies while we ate enough of Willow's confectionaries to give ourselves diabetes. Willow blew out a breath. "Ryker can't handle seeing me in this kind of pain, so he has to stay out in the lobby with the rest of them. You're second chair." She panted. Demanded some ice chips.
Three days laterWalking into my parents house when they didn't know I was alive was a risky thing. A multitude of crappy things could happen. Not the least of which was Momma killing me for real this time. Or Papa crying. Or either of them fainting."Go on," Nia said as she shoved me forward gently. "You're already here. Just go into the kitchen. Nik said she told them to wait for her in the kitchen."I nodded, felt my palms go clammy as my breath backed up in my lungs. This could go terribly wrong. So fucking horribly wrong. Man up, Si, that no longer too small voice said inside me. Since I'd been actively listening to it more, he wasn't so easy to shut up. Even when I wanted to. Thankfully, the nasty bitch who lived inside me was getting fainter. Although he could still throw a temper tantrum to beat a two year old. "I'm right here. And I'll be right here the whole time. They've waited long enough, Raphael." She nudged me again. Even as bile rushed up the back o
We all stood in the kitchen, guzzling water by the gallon. I hadn't been this dehydrated since the last time I got in trouble at Petter Manor. But at least this time it was due to happy tears and reunification. Raphael sat and watched it all. Just absorbed it. But he never got so far away I couldn't touch him. That I even needed to touch him still blew my mind. But I wasn't going to question it. He helped steady me when it felt like everything inside me and around me was bending and flexing too fast for me to catch up. "What are your plans for tomorrow?" Liam asked as he finished his third glass of water. "Tomorrow is the gala. I'm going to string Anders up-the guy who had you kidnapped again. I'm going to tell everyone the Petters have been blackmailing and abusing and paying off that the Petters are dead and gone. That they're all on watch." I studied Liam and Lilly. It blew my mind that they had gone into the government side of this dirty world. That they willingly put t
Nia came over to me while I was helping drag some bodies away. "Hey Raphael, can you come with me, please?"Foster grunted at me as we got the body up on the catering cart. "Go. I've got this." I nodded, turned back to Nia. "Sure, Nia." She took my hand and we walked from the room. Her hand was trembling in mine. It was only the slightest degree, but it might as well have registered on the seismic scale. "You good?" I asked her softly as we walked down a set of stairs. She said nothing, made no movements except to keep walking. I pulled her to a stop. Made her look at me. "Are you good?" I asked again. Her eyes were wide, as if she were trying to stave off the tears. "Amelie and Anton..." she blew out a breath. "They're t-""The only two people you love in this world." I smiled sadly. "I know, Nia."Her eyelids fluttered shut as a tear escaped down her cheek. Her breath was shaky as she exhaled. "I got them away from here. Put them in with a good woman with a hu
Day before the gala "Charlie team in position," the man's voice came through the little earbud I wore in my right ear. I kept a tight hold on my fear. My relief. My heart. All of the planning, all of the tears, all of the arguments. It all came down to this. "Delta team in position," Raphael said through my ear. "Foxtrot team in position," another voice said. I still wasn't quite sure who was who by their voice, but I'd done an okayish job of remembering names and faces. The fact that I had a team full of women with me made me like the Amatuccis even more. They didn't discriminate. If someone had the skill and the drive to join the security teams, they were given a position. "Estrogen team in position," I said. A series of clicks came through the earbud. I'd made a single joke about Echo team being full of vaginas. They called us the Estro team now. Since we were collectively badass, I didn't really care what they called us as long as it wasn't disrespectful. "A
Her babies? She had kids? I shook my head. Knew there had to be a different story, but I needed to get her back with me to learn it. I set her down on the chair. Pushed her head down between her knees. "Breathe, Nia." I made my voice hard. As hard as I dared when all I wanted to do was cuddle her up and carry her away. Nowhere was my fierce and strong Dominant. Right now, she was a broken, hurting woman. I would hold her together until she could find herself again. Ivan came rushing into the room, his gun drawn. He lifted it to the ceiling when he saw what was going on. One of his brows rose in question.I gave him a brief rundown of what I knew. Which was damn little. I shrugged when I was out of information to share. Mas came hopping in behind Ivan. He didn't have a weapon, but he did have concern etched on his face. "Who the hell are you?" a voice said from behind me. I whirled around, putting Nia behind my body as I faced the threat that shouldn't be there. A
After rushing through the shower and the delicious meal that Raphael put together for breakfast, I walked into the space Ivan and Klara had set up for me. Everything was as I left it, but that didn't mean a whole lot. Especially in a place I didn't control one hundred percent. Brushing the weird vibe away, I walked to the computer. Booted everything up. Once it was up and running, I went through my process of accessing my cloud accounts. Jasper had set some up for me that weren't the typical commercial kind. Luckily, I'd memorized the process, or I'd be up a creek with zero paddle at the moment. A ReadMe file was highlighted when I got all the way into my account. I right clicked, read through the metadata how Jasper showed me. Recognizing his signature, I opened the file. Ms. Flower~I've attached all of the information I could find re Cucumber Butt and Pretty Mean. You'll find them in the associated files.I snickered at Jasper's sense of humor. That kid was a genius and