CHAPTER ONE

The crowd was buzzing with excitement, everyone was on the dance floor and the music was blasting across the club.

            Chiara scanned the crowd from the VIP area of the club. She never could understand what made people drink and lose their thinking capacity. She had always thought it stupid and reckless. She believed that drugs and alcohol just inhibits the brain. 

           Even though she criticized them in her mind, she was grateful for them. Her family business survived because of fools like that, people who loved to dull their senses with drugs and alcohol.

            Her anger was burning as she saw Diego walk in with two blondes. She checked her wristwatch and scoffed. 'The idiot was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago' she thought.

            Diego went to the bar to order drinks and she saw him trade envelopes with the bartender. She started walking towards him and was about to reach him when a man stopped her.

             "Hey there, sexy." The man said. She could barely hear him over the loud music. She wondered why people found it fun to listen to ear blasting music.

          Chiara looked at him and withdrew her hand. He had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, he was about six feet tall and built like an athlete. He looked like a college kid having a fun night.

              "Fuck off!" She said and turned to walk away but the guy grabbed her arm and drew her close.

              "Oh come on. Let's dance, it will be fun." The guy spoke into her ear, pressing his chest against her back.

                "One more word from you and you will loose your…" She stopped her threat midsentence as the guy was pulled away from her in a sudden move. She turned around to see a strange man hit the guy that was harassing her. Some people turned to look at them, then continued dancing.

         She stood in place as the man approached her. She was magnetized by his alluring hazel eyes. They had a weird glint to them, she just couldn't explain it.

                 "Hello ma'am. Are you okay?" His voice was smooth and soft like silk. He had a faint accent which she couldn't place.

                 "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She noticed Diego moving to the back door and she followed him, completely ignoring the man who helped her.

                  She followed Diego out of the club and into the alleyway beside the club. He was on his phone, trying to call someone. She walked towards him and grabbed the phone, he was calling Alberto, his accomplice. She ended the call and kept the phone in her pocket.

                "Why are you running, Diego?" She asked with a sardonic smile.

               "I'm not running. I just… hmmm, I .. I came out to call someone." He stuttered. 

               "You know, only bad boys run away." She drawled in a sweet voice. She saw him shake and shift his feet in a nervous manner.

                 "Let's just keep this to ourselves. There's no reason for the boss to know." He said in a firm voice, trying to appear tough.

                She caught him pulling his gun out and she smirked. She put her hand around his neck and squeezed it. In a quick motion, she grabbed the hand reaching for the gun and applied force to it till the wrist broke. He tried to scream but only a pained gasp came out.

           "What should I not tell the boss?" She loosened her hold on his neck.

          "It was only a little, I swear. I was in debt and I needed small money to bail myself out." He said in a low voice, his eyes were filled with fear. He squirmed in her hold, trying to escape.

           "Wow!" She tightened her hold on his neck and chuckled. "Five kilos is not little. Stealing is an insult to the family, you just called the boss an idiot and you know what I feel about insults to my family." 

              "Please, don't kill me. I promise, I will return every dime I stole. Please." He pleaded with a croaking voice. Tears were falling down his face as he spoke.

            "I really don't have the energy or interest to keep you alive. Like you said, it was small money, your blood will repay it." She released his neck and he started running. She pulled out her gun from her hip holster and attached a silencer to it. She shot his leg and and he fell down. She walked towards him with slow steps and bent down in front of him. 

             "Please, I'll do anything. Anything you want." He pleaded with her.

             "There is nothing you can do for me, but I'll do you a favor. I'll make it quick." She stood up and shot him point blank, between his eyes.

            She heard a clang beside the alley and she went to check it. She saw the dust bin on the floor and a silhouette running. She hid her gun and ran after the person. She caught him just before he could enter the club. He turned his head and she froze. 

            It was the man who had helped her earlier. The light from the flickering bulb highlighted his face and she noticed how handsome he was. His pointed nose was straight and perfect, his cheekbones and his jawline were chiseled and his luscious cherry lips were beautiful. She wondered how his lips would feel against hers.

                 "What do you want?" His voice brought her out of her thoughts.

                  "Such a waste." She pouted as she stroke his brown curls. 

                 He jerked back and moved away from her. She punched him in the gut and he bowed over. She hit him on the back and dragged him. He hit her leg and she dropped him. He rolled over and stood up. They both began fighting, Chiara was throwing punches at him and he stayed on defense. She threw a jab at his throat and pushed him against the wall. 

                      She pulled out her gun and held it against his neck.

                     "Move slowly and don't attempt to run." She guided him to the alleyway where she killed Diego.

                    "You don't want to kill me. You'll put your business at risk of many investigations." He said while looking at Diego's corpse.

                 "And why is that?" She removed the gun from his neck and stood in front of him with her gun pointed at him. 

                 "I'm a FBI agent. The whole agency will be looking for me."

               She laughed and shot the wall two inches beside his head.

                "I can make you disappear and erase your existence. I can stage your murder, kill you and blame someone else for it. Caro, if I want you dead, no one can stop me." (Darling) She caressed his face with the gun. He tried to grab the gun but failed. She switched off the safety and pointed it at him. 

            She knew that she ought to pull the trigger but she could not. She did not know what it was, she just didn't want to kill him.

         "You are in luck, I just might find a use for you." She held the gun against his back and directed him to her car. When he got in, she hit his head with the gun and he lost consciousness.

                   "Marcos, send some guys to clean up the garbage. I will send the address to you, I want it done soon and efficiently." She spoke through her phone. 

                 Marcos was her capo and her childhood best friend. They grew up in the mafia together and they knew everything about each other. Her dad was the Don and his dad was the consigliere. 

                    "Okay, I've received the address. They will be there soon." He replied her.

                   "Supervise the disposal, I have some business to attend to." 

                    "Okay, call me when you're done."

                  She ended the call and looked at the man through her window. His large body was laid in an awkward position on the backseat of the car. She smiled and got into the car.

                  As she drove, she wondered what she would do with him. She could not set him free and she did not want to kill him. He wasn't the first handsome man she had seen, but there was something about him that drew her to him. 

*****

              Xavier groaned as he woke up with a throbbing pain in his head. He looked around and realized he was in some kind of basement. He observed the place, there was a single bulb providing faint light in the room. There was a mattress and a plastic chair, the walls had dried blood on them and the place reeked.

             He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He really should have just listened to his supervisor. His supervisor had told him to drop the case, but he was too stubborn to just give up. He believed he could find the evidence and missing pieces to pull the case through.

             At least I wasn't wrong, he thought to himself. He did find the evidence against Diego, just before Diego was murdered. His stubbornness was both a gift and a curse. If he had just listened instead of following Diego, he would be safe in his house right now. But then, he wouldn't have gotten the evidence and witnessed Diego's murder, which he was sure had to be connected to something bigger.

             'Maybe I can make this situation work, if she doesn't kill me first. I could draw information from her and put the pieces together.'

*****

           Chiara threw the remote against the wall in anger. She was pissed with herself and confused. She did not know what was wrong with her. Never had she done anything so stupid. The family came first, always had. She really needed to figure out what to do, she couldn't keep him simply because of an attraction she didn't understand.

              That was the most confusing thing, she had never been attracted to a man before. In all her twenty four years of life, not once had she felt a sexual attraction to a man. At some point, she had thought she was gay, but it turned out she was not attracted to ladies either. 

         It was the worst way to find out her hormones did work. She ought to kill him, he was a loose end that needed to be tied. She took her phone and pulled up the app connected to the cameras in the basement. She watched him search the concrete floor with his hands. She knew he was looking for a weapon and she scoffed. She was not stupid to leave any harmful thing there with him.

           After she had knocked him out, she took him to her house in Beverly, MA. It was a villa she got four years ago after she moved out of her dad's house. She had dumped him in the basement and locked it. She had no maid or servants in the house as she preferred her privacy and the five bodyguards assigned to her always stayed outside except under extreme conditions or if she requested it. She made use of a cleaning agency, they sent two maids to clean the house three days every week and the maids will do so under the supervision of two bodyguards.

                She had dismissed her bodyguards early so she could get his body into the house. She didn't want her dad to find out about him and her bodyguards would have reported to her dad if they found out. Her dad was the boss after all.

            She calmed down after taking a shower and she went to the kitchen. She was rummaging through the refrigerator when she heard her front door creak. She pulled out the gun strapped beneath the countertop in her kitchen and she walked stealthily towards the door with the gun pointing forward. She cut through the living room and saw a man with his back facing her in the hallway. She sighed in relief and relaxed her arm.

             "Hey Jackass! What happened to knocking?" 

             Marcos turned around and smiled, he walked pass her and headed straight for her bar in the dining room. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and downed it in a go.

             "That bad?" She asked him, referring to his day.

              "I had to get information from a dude." He poured himself another glass and drank it.

               "Ooh! Have they caught Alberto?" She smiled at him and went to the kitchen. She knew how much he hated torturing people. Marcos was one of the few people she knew who had a conscience. He would act all tough, but she knew he preferred to just kill his targets quickly.

                 "Not yet, the guy is sneaky." 

              Marcos took the bottle and was drinking directly from it. 

             "Are you trying to cook?" He asked with a fake frightened expression.

             "Calm down, I'm not ready to die. I'm just looking for leftovers." She took out the pizza in the fridge and put it in the microwave. She couldn't cook to save her life. The one time she ever cooked, she and Marcos ended up in the hospital with food poisoning. She had not tried cooking ever since then. That was three years ago.

              "You know that whiskey is worth four thousand dollars." She glared at him and shook her head. He was not affected by her glare, unlike everyone else. He always took her wine whenever he visited her and they squabbled about it.

              "No wonder it tastes so good. Thanks." He replied and continued drinking it.

               "I didn't buy it for you."

               "Well, you certainly did not buy it for yourself. I'm just helping you out here." He teased her about the fact that she didn't drink alcohol.

                "Yeah, it's for guests."

                "Well then, it's serving it's purpose." Marcos smirked and started pressing his phone.

               "You don't count as a guest in this house. One day, I'm gonna start making you pay for the drinks." She pulled out the pizza and served it in two plates. Marcos took a piece from hers and she slapped his hand.

            "So what's the deal with this Xavier McKinney?" Marcos asked as he took another gulp of the whiskey.

              "How do you know about that?" She had sent Xavier's details to Logan for a background check. Logan was an associate of the family, he was a highly skilled hacker and was good at acquiring hidden information. She had told him to keep it between them because it was a personal affair.

              "Logan told me. Is it a new assignment?"

               She groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. Of course Logan told him, I'm going to have a nice talk with Logan about the meaning of confidential, she mused.

              "No, it's personal." She said in a flat voice and resumed her eating.

*****

  

            Marcos looked up at her face in shock. She had a blank expression on her face, which meant she was serious. They had always shared everything with each other, so he was surprised by her answer.

           "Did you get in any trouble?" He pressed on.

            "No." 

              That only made him more curious. Logan told him the guy was a FBI agent and that had him worried. He was concerned about Chiara, she could have gotten herself in trouble but didn't want to admit it. He promised himself to get to the bottom of the matter.

              "Where are your bodyguards?" He changed the topic because he did not want to stress her.

               "I gave them the night off." She replied tersely.

              He knew she was hiding something from him and he was determined to find out.

               "Alright then. Can we watch a movie now?" He walked to the living room and switched on the television. He saw the broken pieces of the remote on the ground and he smiled as he noticed she was staring at it too. 

               "I guess the television offended you. I'm grateful you didn't break the television at the very least."

                She avoided his eyes and sat down. He was concerned about her behavior, it was not the first time she broke an appliance or furniture out of anger, but her avoiding his eyes was weird.

              "It seems we are going manual." He sat down beside her after choosing a movie. He watched her intensely while she watched the television.

         

 *****