Athena I could swear that the air crackled with electricity the minute he stepped out, The fire blazing in his eyes was enough to make the air warmer. Okay perhaps that was a lot of bull but I held my breath as he walked towards us. I glanced at Marcus who shuffled farther away from me with a clenched jaw. Well, that was a very interesting reaction, now wasn’t it? Luciano stopped right before him, breathing heavily. “For some reason Marcus, Whenever my assistant goes missing, she’s always found with you.” Marcus looked hell as hell guilty. What on earth was he guilty about? It wasn’t like he was found with his tongue stuck in my throat. Besides, we hated each other’s guts. Luciano was simply being a jackass. “I’m sorry Boss. I just came all of five minutes ago and found her here.” At that minute, I truly detested Marcus. Really? He might as well have thrown me in front of a fucking train. The arrogant man turned his glare on me and I had no other choice but to glare back. “Ha
AthenaI walked into Moretti Industries the next day with an ear-splitting grin on my face. I most likely looked like I was high on Molly but I could not and would not give a shit. I was getting to Luciano, that fact alone made my day- and it was not even nine yet!Making sure to add an extra sway to my hips, I ignored the dirty looks I got from my coworkers and made a beeline for the elevator. My dress was sure to call attention. A white body con dress that I had gone shopping for last night. It had a high neckline, different from the V necks I always wore. But that was not the interesting part. The interesting part was the round hole directly above my breasts, revealing the mounds pressed up together in a rather sensual fashion. The rest of me was wrapped snugly in the white dress ending above my knees. I liked how amazing I looked of course, but I was even more certain that it would get the job done. Frustrate the shit out of Luciano. The elevator lurched to a halt and I sashayed
Luciano"The ad targets the millennials. Older folks who have witnessed the great recession and can relate to the stock market-"There were so many things wrong with that sentence. I mused as I listened to the head of my marketing team, William. Another board meeting for the day. Being a CEO was an endless chore. Meetings, lunch, more meetings, more events to attend, and even more meetings as well. Routine killed excitement and I relished excitement. I looked past William at my assistant who stood on the other end of the board room, taking notes of the meetings. Of course, she didn't have to take notes, I had a fucking secretary for that but after I had chastised her about it, Raven had done so diligently ever since. And kept her distance as well. I peered harder at her, making sure to keep a passive look on my face. She was dressed quite well today. I suppose I should be relieved, but somehow, seeing her looking all drab and fucking faraway made work seem bleak. I had found her g
Athena Luciano's eyes zeroed in on my top, a glare blatant on his face. I gave an unapologetic shrug. "It was all I could find last minute," I grumbled. Today was supposed to be my "No Luciano in my Face Day,". I had been knee-deep into files from the Bureau, racking my head on the several murders that the mafia had been responsible for in the past few weeks. It was crazy. They had killed and maimed about ten people in all. And the mastermind of it all was the man in front of me. The sinfully hot man stood shirtless before his door, his chest contracting with each breath he took, glaring at me for being indecent while there was not a stitch of clothing on his fucking chest. The damn irony. "When do we leave?" I asked when it seemed like we would spend the whole fucking day standing by his door glaring at each other. If he had nothing better to do, well I did. I had. Someone had to expose him as the devil he was and afterward, I could put a knife in him and be done with it.
It was funny how a desert with a mere strip for a road, grew to become the Sin City. The sub was high up in the sky, glistening over the lighted-up city. It was too damn rowdy for me. People constantly came and went and it soon became a blur as I watched through the car window. Behind me, in the backseat sat Luciano. Yeah, it was weird. He always made me sit in the back with him. Heck when the driver had come to pick us up at the airport, I had opened the back door only to get a glare and an order to sit in the front. He was avoiding me. I chuckled in realization, leaning my head against the window. My eyes caught my reflection in the side mirror and I allowed myself to grin. Never thought I'd see the day, the great Luciano would avoid women. The car turned around a corner to a large resort where Mr. Caldwell had asked us to meet. The minute it swerved, my eyes narrowed and I sat upright, watching the side mirror intently. Someone was following us. No, let me rephrase that. Some
I nearly lost my shit.I had seen Luciano kiss countless women. I had seen him grip them and shove them against a wall, table, counter top or even a bed during my quest to kill him. And whatever tremors that I felt- if I felt any, were nothing compared to the ones that currently racked my body. Good lord, the man could kiss.He was demanding. In nature and this very kiss. His mouth prodded and plundered against mine hungrily, seeking and finding the seam of my lips. A silky hot tongue stroked against it, seeking entrance and It was there I drew the line. I had succeeded in breaking his resolve, that was enough for now. There was no need to take this any further. With a sigh, I pulled away- well I tried to, the brute barely allowed me to step back an inch before growling like some bear who had lost his honey. His hands around my waist tightened and he pulled me back against him. I felt it. Every hardness crushing against mine, sending thrills, tingling my nerve endings. He placed a p
He was right, the police couldn't do shit for me. I could see the pride in his eyes as he sneered at me, stalking ever closer until he was a mere breath away. A mere tantalizing breath away. "I own the police, Raven," He whispered, blowing air over my eyelids and they closed involuntarily. "That's…quite presumptuous Mr. Moretti," I mumbled, taking a step back. That seemed to make him even angrier because his nose flared and before I could blink twice, his arms were wrapped around my waist and my eyes narrowed fiercely when he held onto me rather tightly. "I own you!" He spat much to my irritation. I arched a brow in mockery. "What? Have you gone mad?" I scoffed, fighting the hold on me. I'd had enough of his tomfoolery.Luciano seemed to have a rethink of his actions. His eyes were wild with anger and as if he was disgusted, he pushed away from me and walked back to his desk. I stood rooted to the spot watching him settle down and resume working. Bastard! I thought with gritte
LucianoFollia! This was madness! I grunted as I pushed the weights up as far as I could, a strain building up in the muscles of my arms. My eyes were closed and I tried regulating my breathing. Breathe in, breathe out, get Raven the hell out of my head. That had been my damned mantra for the past one fucking week. And man I was too damn close to throw all caution to the fucking wind and take her exactly how she wanted. Hard, fast, and rough against my desk. "Fuck!" I cursed, throwing down the weights as an image of her bent over my desk, her delicious pert ass up in the air, ready for taking drifted into my head. Since when was I a damn sucker for women? I sure as hell wasn't. And while Raven was…beautiful enough. A voice in my head snorted at the thought. Beautiful enough?! She was damnation on heels, ready to choke the life out of me and it seemed I would fucking enjoy it. Ever since that kiss in Vegas, I had been out of my fucking mind. Perhaps it started way before then.
LucianoThe police man standing guard at the gate didn't even bother to check my face, I took it that the warden had done his job and informed them I was on my way, I drove quietly into the compound, packing in front of the administrative building and walking in slowly."Good Evening Signori Luciano" The officer standing at the table greeted as soon as he saw me, tipping his hat. His English was broken and heavily accented, but I could understand him enough."Good evening," I reached into my coat, fishing out my cigarette and lighting it. "How is it going?"He smiled appreciatively, apparently pleased I took any interest in his day to day activities. "It haz been quiet Signore." He smiled, revealing a row of tobacco stained brown teeth.I nodded, "Good, I am here for inmate 474.""Oh," he opened up the computer in front of him, "Would you be going out with him?" He asked, peeking at me from over the desktop, "Do you need an escort?"The look on his face told me he thought I was going
AthenaWe were on a plane back to Sicily the next morning. No need for disguises, we took of from a private airfield in New Jersey.As soon as we touched down, ten hours later, I saw a black limo by the tarmac. Luciano smiled as he saw it, "Our welcoming party is here."I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean welcoming party?""Don't get your hopes up," he said, "It's just Giuseppe."The old man was standing by the car, smiling widely as we walked towards him. He first greeted Luciano, pulling him into a giant hug, like he was his father, patting his back, pride in his eyes.He then turned to me, "Welcome back to Sicily, Raven," he said, extending his hand. "How was your flight? Was it good? Are you too tired?""I am good." I said as I shook his hand, feeling a surge of pride at the way he addressed me. It was clear that Luciano had already told him about me, and that I was already considered a member of the mafia."Thank you, Giuseppe," I said. "It's good to be back."Giuseppe smiled,
AthenaI was confused, totally. And for the second time that night, I had no idea how to react, "Luca? What? How?"Luciano hobbled over to the table at a dark corner in the room, pulling out a knuckle ring and putting it on his left hand. "I figured he would need a little bit more time." He said casually, like the man he was trying to beat up wasn't an assassin sent by his worst enemy and had damn near succeeded too.I turned to look at him, understanding dawning on me, why he wasn't panicked at all, why he was so calm. There was only one reasonable explanation. "You knew this was going to happen." I said quietly.He stopped his rummaging, turning to look at me, "Raven-""Did you?"He let out a deep breath, "Yeah, well, kinda. I only sus-""You did!" I said, my voice getting louder. The man had shot from my back, he had to be facing Luciano, and given how close the two buildings were, it was impossible Luciano hadn't seen him walk in and set up his little nest. "That's why you aren't
Athena"Raven!"Somewhere, far away, someone was calling my name."Raven!!!"The room blurred into a burst of moving colors around me, a ringing in my ear as in the distance, I could only barely hear the sounds around the room, the people screaming, glasses shattering, tables and chairs toppling."RAVEN! GET DOWN!"A second loud bang, hitting the table and shattering it jerked me out of my trance, sending splinters of wood flying across my face, narrowly missing it.I threw myself to the ground immediately, taking cover and toppling the table to provide extra cover for me and Luciano.The shooter was obviously targeting us, for some reason I was not entirely sure of, and he had shit from behind me, hitting Luciano.I crawled over him, not caring about the broken glass tearing at my clothes or the floor, wet with wine and soggy pasta. He lay they, clutching his bleeding shoulder and grimacing."Luciano! Are you okay?"He nodded, "Yeah, I am fine," but as soon as I reached out to touch
AthenaThe meeting went without much of a hitch. I sat at one end, quietly watching the proceedings as they argued over everything. It was mind of amusing, seeing these grown, powerful men squabble like children.Curses flew across the table like missiles, mothers were cursed, fathers were cursed, wives were cursed, calling it a mad house would be a massive understatement. Luciano for the most part, looked like he was tired of their shit, as at some point he just leaned back on his chair and let them threaten all they wanted without trying to interfere or even mediate."Everything in Queens and the North of Brooklyn is mine, don't be a fool." Antonio spat, crossing his arms like a child who had just been refused candy and was planning to throw the biggest fit anyone had ever seen."Damn right it is," Francesco countered, slamming his fat, heavily ringed fingers on the table, "All of the best markets for our good stuff all go to you yeah? And what is there for the rest of us yeah? What
LucianoI didn't want to admit it to her, mostly because making her even more nervous than she was already was, wasn't exactly in my best interest, like throwing a gasoline soaked rag into an inferno.But I was a but nervous too.The Italian Mafia, wasn't very used to having a woman in it's ranks, no matter the level. There was this, almost patriarchal approach to treating our women. Usually seen, not heard, taking care of the kids at home while the husband did the dirty business and fucked his pretty mistresses. Nobody thought of it too much, it was just the way things were done.But not with Raven, never with Raven.I almost laughed out loud, thinking about her being a nice, quiet housewife who just kept my clothes clean and my belly full while I went after young girls half her age. It was so ridiculous, it didn't even come close to making sense to me, which of course meant the idea was going nowhere.The only other option was of course to try to convince them that she was worth it,
AthenaI sat up from the bed, still a bit groggy, but quite certain I heard him properly."My new associates?" I asked, surely he wasn't serious right?I followed him into the living room of the suite, dimly lit room, decorated with ornate furniture and dimly lit candles. Luciano sat on a velvet armchair, while I stared at him, unsure if he was serious or not. nervously paces the room.Luciano leaned back, observing me, "Raven, my dear," he started, "I don't see any reason why we don't go check it out today, okay? It's time for you to understand who we are and what we do."I appreciate your interest in making me feel at home," I couldn't help but lace my voice with some sarcasm, it was getting ridiculous, "But getting involved with your Mafia is not something I was comfortable with, I only just agreed with it, cam you let me digest it at the very least before plunging me head deep and showing me off like a trophy."He looked up at me, raising an eyebrow, "Do you think that is what I a
LucianoFunnily enough, I had never thought about that question until I heard it from her mouth. You'd think a mafia boss would be a little bit more suspicious of an undercover FBI agent who was sent to specifically bring him down and who had up till very recently, bad a specific agenda against him and was determined to destroy him by any means necessary.But I didn't. I consider myself a logical man, and logically I should be moving as far away from this wam as I possibly could, if not immediately killing her. But whenever I was around Raven Gonzalez, all logic flew out the window, and I wanted nothing more than to have her around me, to keep her by my side, to keep her happy so she would never leave me, matter how illogical that sounded."Oh, Luciano." She said quietly, tears brimming in her eyes. "You don't mean that, do you?""Every single word of it." I said calmly. It was true, there was no point hiding from it anymore."That's not enough Luciano, and you know it.""Raven, I jus
AthenaYou had to give it to Luciano, he had the entire "shock value" thing down well enough.To say I felt like I had been hit by a bus moving a thousand miles per hour would have been a massive understatement. I had spent all day thinking about escaping the world he offered, the world I had been forced to grow in, the world I had forcibly participated in for all my life, that had nearly killed me multiple times and had scarred me so much it was probably best not to even think about it.I had confided in him, hoping he would help me find a solution to my problem, to have something akin to normalcy in my life, even if it was for a little while.And instead, he had completely blindsided me with the offer to accept it all as my new reality.Like I said, he really knew what got a woman going."What?" I managed to drop, my only intelligible word yet.His lips twitched as he fought to not smile, "You look pretty surprised Raven.""I wonder fucking why Luciano," I spat, frustration rising in