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Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 18
ASHTONShe was drunk.I could see that as I was crossing the floor to the bar they were sitting at, which was Jess’s old bar. Molly’s hand went up in the air and slammed down on the counter. She was doing a Thor impression. “Barkeep!”That’s when her friends saw me, and both converged on her.It was like watching chickens squawking, but instead of running away, they stuck like glue to her.“Miss Easter.”She lifted her head up, her eyes glazed, and she stared at me for a moment. She was weaving on her seat, and I began to move in, wanting to steady her, but she grabbed onto the counter herself. Then she gave me a once-over, all the way down to my dick and back up.Fuck’s sake.I was already hard, at just that look.This woman. A serious pain in my ass, in more ways than one. Good pain. Bad pain. Annoying pain. Sexual pain. All of it, and growing, the more interactions I was having with her.I narrowed my eyes. “Molly.”“You.” Her head tipped back, and she smiled.I stifled a groan.He
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 19
ASHTON“Goddammit, Walden.”Jess was seething when I got upstairs. That was her greeting as I came through the door.Trace was at the bar, pouring himself a drink, and he slid one across the counter for me. I picked it up, taking a sip before focusing on the love of his life.“Trace explained to you that Molly Easter is my business. He told you the situation. I was told you agreed to step back because of it. What is your issue?”“My issue?” Her hands went to her hips, and her eyes narrowed, and she looked like she was daydreaming about pulling her weapon on me. “My issue is that you look like you’re fucking her. Are you?”“You were at my place. You saw that we get along.” I was lying then, and I was lying now, or . . . somewhat. “Why are you pissed about this now?”“Because despite what you wanted me to think at your place, I knew you hadn’t fucked her. She just got out of the hospital.”“She’s my business.”“A cruel business.” Her hands went in the air, and she twisted around, her ba
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 20
MOLLYMy cousin texted just as I was letting myself into my apartment.Glen: All good. Had a good night. You need me tomorrow?I paused in the open door, putting my purse on the floor.Me: No. I’ll be good tomorrow. Thank you so much.Glen: Rest. Hope you feel better.I stepped all the way in, letting the door swing shut behind me, and I was reaching up to lock it when my brain clicked on. I’d stepped into the space my purse had been. Meaning, it wasn’t there anymore. Sheer panic exploded in me at the same time—a body was in my space. I was upended, hanging over someone’s shoulder in the next second, and that’s when the scream left me.The guy grunted as he shut the door the rest of the way and hit the locks on. “It’s me.”I froze. Me?! As in, I tried to twist around to see him. “Ashton?”He’d already been inside my apartment. How? What?He walked a few more feet back into the living room before he tossed me on the couch. He followed me down, almost landing on top of me, but as I was
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 21
ASHTONMolly fainted in the car, which turned into sleeping. I let her be.The plan had been to take her to my place and stash her there. No one, or very few, actually knew where I lived. I could name them on one hand, but when she passed out, I decided to go a different route. I was bringing her to a compound very, very few knew about. She’d be safe.We met with two of my men.While she was in the back, all bundled up, I went over the plan with Elijah.Elijah’s phone buzzed. “Body’s been handled, and I checked with our men. There were no 911 calls from her neighbors. Police were not notified.”Even better. “I want her place cleaned out within the hour.”He was typing on his phone. “On it.”“Relocate her stuff to storage.”“What about the bowling alley?”“Notify her cousin. Tell him we’ll double his pay if he keeps his mouth shut.”“Got it.” He continued typing, but his gaze met mine over his phone. “You sure about this?”No. “This has to be done.”“And Trace and Jess?”Jess was alrea
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 22
mollyI sank back in my chair.“He’s also a CI for the police.”A CI. Confidential informant, and a hit man. “He diversified his street résumé.”The corner of Ashton’s mouth twitched. “We got into his phone, and he received a call four hours earlier from Detective Worthing.”Every muscle in my body snapped to attention. “What?”“I sent my men to pick up the detective so we can have a talk about this man.”Alarm sirens were blaring through my whole body, but also a whole different type of alarm was sounding. “He’s a cop.”“Yes.”“You’re picking up a cop to talk?”“Yes.”I was remembering when they were at Easter Lanes—“Wait. Easter Lanes? Is someone still covering me there?”“We’re paying your cousin to run Easter Lanes while you’re with me.”“He can handle covering for a shift, but not any longer than that. He’ll mess everything up.”But wait again, Detective Worthing. “Worthing called you that day, and you said that he did. I saw the look he gave you and how his partner reacted.” I w
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 23
ASHTONAvery was still in the office when I returned, finishing buttoning up a new shirt. He glanced to the bathroom, where Molly remained in the shower. I lifted my chin to Avery. “You have news?”His eyes were carefully masked. “They got him. They’ll be arriving in thirty minutes and want to know where to put him?”I heard the water turn off behind me. “Warehouse one—put him in the back office and keep the cell jammer on.”“You think he’d call for help?”I shook my head. “I no longer think I know anything.”Molly was coming from behind me. I’d become so tuned in to her every motion, movement, emotion, that I could almost guess what she was thinking. That was until now. She had a glossed-over expression on her face, and she was shivering.Avery indicated the two trays behind him. “I brought the espresso shots and your omelets. Your maté as well.” He frowned at seeing Molly step behind me. “Would you like a change of clothes? Blanket?”“Uh, yeah. Sure.” She said it so distracted. “Tha
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 24
ASHTON“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Detective Worthing growled as soon as I walked into the room.I took note of him before responding. There were some bruises on his face. His jacket was torn in a couple places. Scuff marks on his jeans. His eyes were wild, and he was scowling. He was also zip-tied to a chair in four different places.He had zero chance of escape.“I see my men were thorough.”He growled again, shaking the chair as he jerked around. “I’m going to kill you, Walden. The second I’m free—”I walked to a table set up in the corner. We had all my toys here, but as I scanned them, a zing of disappointment went through me. I wasn’t looking forward to torturing him. Molly was right, what she’d said earlier. I was the one who liked to get my hands dirty. Torturing was my thing, but . . . it wasn’t today.Why wasn’t it today?I stepped to the side and swung my head his way.It was then that Worthing realized his predicament, and who I was. He stilled, the wildness in his gaze
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 25
He almost had me believing him. Almost.“Who told you about the rumors?”He went still again. “Why?” More wariness.“Who told you?” I was firmer.He didn’t reply, his mouth thinning.I was losing my patience with him, and I didn’t want that. The game would stop being fun. Because of that, I went over and pressed a button. “Bring me his phone.”“What?”I waited.“What are you doing? You can’t get into my phone.”The door opened, and Elijah handed me first his phone, and then my programming equipment.“What are you doing?! What is that?” Worthing was starting to struggle, trying to get free. The chair scraped against the floor.I ignored him, giving Elijah a nod that he could go back out. I spoke as I plugged my equipment into the phone. “Do you know my first business that I ever started?”I enjoyed asking people that question.“What does that have to do with anything? Stop fucking with my phone! That’s my phone—”Beep, beep, beeeeeep!I smiled, showing him his own screen as my program
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Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 11
“He has a point. You got shot four times.”“Six times, actually.” I touched the spots on my body like a prayer. “Drive-by shooting. It was apparently meant for him, but I stepped out of the house at the wrong time, and boom. They decided to settle for his daughter instead.”“That’s not supposed to happen,” Mona said, frowning. “We’re not supposed to be fair game.”“It’s not a game to them though, to guys like that. Those assholes don’t care if we’re innocent or not. They’ll hurt us if it gets them what they want.”“I’m sorry that happened to you.”I waved it away and stared out over the yard. I didn’t remember much from the aftermath, but I remembered it happening vividly: the black truck that pulled up, the guns that appeared in the windows, the way I screamed, the pain as it flared, the weird, almost calm knowledge that I was going to die. Then black, then waking up in the hospital, in pain, very, very angry, and all the rehabilitation, the surgery, the bullshit. It took months to g
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 10
Amber After that very strange, but surprisingly good night out at the bar, I did my best to hide from him for the next couple days. When we were sitting at the bar, our legs touching slightly, I felt it: that tingle down my spine, that buzz on my lips. We ate, he asked about me, made me laugh, and toward the end of the night, our fingers touched as we reached for the check, and I stared into his eyes, and I knew in that moment that if he’d kissed me, right then and there at the bar, I would’ve kissed him back. We walked back together, said goodnight, and I’ve been hiding from him ever since. I should hate him. I don’t understand what the heck would attract me to a guy like that. He robbed a man in front of me for fun. I hated that sort of thing, hated men that bragged about crime and thought it was exciting, hated that sort of macho arrogant crap most of all, and yet somehow, he was different. He didn’t seem to take himself too seriously, and he made jokes all the time, and of cou
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 9
I walked along the bar toward a large man up near the door. He was on the way to the restrooms, so I had a good excuse to pass him. I exaggerated my sway, just a little bit, making myself look drunker than I was. The guy had a goatee, a double chin, and a tiny sprout of hair at the top of his head. I noticed the Rolex first, then the way he leaned toward a much younger, much prettier girl and grinned at her with a creepy hunger in his eyes, and I’d watched him down three drinks since I’d started my first. He was rich, he was trying to impress a girl, and he was drunk, which made him ideal.It wasn’t a complicated maneuver. Amber stared at me, wild and ready to get up and chase me down, so I hurried a little bit. I turned the corner toward the restrooms and bumped into the guy, grunting as I did it loudly. My hand slipped into the pocket of the jacket he had hung on his chair— found nothing.“Shit, sorry,” I grunted, and slipped my hand into his pants pocket. It was tricky, but they we
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 8
“To our night out,” I said.She smiled, met my toast, and sipped her drink. “This place isn’t so bad.”“You got a lot of spots like this back home?”She shook her head. “I didn’t come to fancy places like this. I’m more of a dive bar girl myself.”“Funny, I’m the same way. South Philly is filled with little holes in the wall, bars that have been there for generations. Some real cheap, trashy places, but you can get good and drunk and see the boys from the neighborhood there, so it’s not so bad.”“Philly’s a weird place. It seems so small, you know?”“It’s old. Not built in an ideal spot. Didn’t sprawl out like the newer cities. Chicago’s kind of that way too.”“I guess that’s true. I like it though. It’s got character.”“That’s what I think. Philly’s got everything you could want, and it’s cheaper than most other cities, plus it’s a lot smaller, so you can get around way easier.”“If you’re trying to get me to move here permanently, I think I’m sold.”I laughed. “I’m not sure you’d wa
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 7
Ren At first, the job wasn’t so bad. I hung around that big house, watched TV when I felt like it, bothered Amber when I got bored, and kept out of Mona’s way as much as I could. Things were quiet for a while, but after a few days it started to get real old, real quick. Amber wasn’t happy. That got pretty obvious by the fiftieth time she told me to go fuck off. Not that I minded if she told me to go to hell, to be totally honest—I sort of liked that she pushed back against me. The girl had spirit, she was a goddamn handful, but I could tell something hung over her. I kept thinking about those fresh-looking scars on her body, so like the bullet wound scars I’d seen on countless other guys, and had a couple myself, but that made no sense. I couldn’t imagine what a girl like her would be doing with bullet scars. One night, Mona decided to head into the city. Amber watched her go like a sad puppy, and I knew she wanted to go with her, if only to escape the house for a little while. I l
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 6
I climbed out of the water, intensely away of his eyes on my body. He was a good-looking guy, muscular but trim, with light eyes and dark hair slicked back. His pouty lips would’ve made a younger version of myself swoon, but I was over all that, over and done with it. I felt self-conscious, though, and realized that some of my scars were visible— the two on my leg, and the one on my shoulder. I quickly walked to my towel and grabbed it, wrapping it around myself, but too late. I caught him looking with a thoughtful frown. “We should set up some ground rules, if we’re going to do this for real.” He looked at me and shrugged. “All right. You played along with me, so I’ll play along with you. Give and take, the bedrock of any healthy relationship.” I doubted he’d ever been in a healthy relationship, but I didn’t say that out loud. “When I’m swimming, you can’t sit there and watch me.” “Fair enough.” “And you can’t follow me around all the time.” “That’d make me a shitty bodyg
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 5
Amber Vincent hustled me out to his house in Mt. Airy the next day, accompanied by my hired goon babysitter. I ignored him. It wasn’t easy though. He was a big guy, broad shoulders, stubble on his face and chin, but he held himself with this strange grace that I couldn’t totally understand. He commanded a room, and I kept sneaking glances in his direction, and caught him looking back at me, seemingly unashamed at being caught. I didn’t know what his deal was, but it annoyed the hell out of me, and drove me wild at the same time. The Mt. Airy house was Vincent’s wife’s place, a nice, pretty girl named Mona. She met us out front in black pants and a white button-down shirt. She was a few years older than me, with dark hair cut short, and dark brown eyes. She smiled, hugged me, glanced at Ren, then held me by the shoulders. “You must be Amber. Vince told me all about you.” “Yeah?” I asked, smiling a little, trying to ignore the way Ren loomed behind me. “I hope it’s all good thin
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 4
“If you’re asking me to fight your war, I’m not interested.” He shook his head and held up his hands. “Something simpler, actually. There’s a girl that came to live with me, daughter of a capo in the Chicago family. She went through something recently, they’re having their own problems out there, and she was sent here to get away from the heat. Unfortunately, things are getting hot around here now, too.” I thought of the girl I’d seen with the long dark hair and the intense expression. She must’ve been twenty, maybe a little older. It must’ve been the same girl he was talking about. “Not sure what she would have to do with me.” “I need you to be her bodyguard.” I let that sink in for a second then burst out laughing. He stared at me, eyes hard and cold, and I knew this wasn’t a joke—but it had to be. I wasn’t a bodyguard. I was a thief, and the occasional thug. I had a reputation for myself, sure enough, but nobody entrusted a life in my hands—much less the life of a young, bea
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 3
When Vince came calling, I had to answer. The Leone family was the largest mafia in Philadelphia, and I was still an independent guy, working all my jobs alone. I was happiest that way, and didn’t want to get tangled up by the Leones, but their money was good and the job was simple: track down a couple goons and beat the ever-loving shit out of them. I brought Floyd along and offered to split the pay sixty-forty. He thought it was an even split, but shit, that’s on him for not asking. “Either way. I hope they got the message.” Vincent smiled and clapped me on the shoulder, the one with the knife wound, and I grimaced. He had the good manners to look a little embarrassed before turning to Floyd. “Thanks for the assistance. I’m sure Ren will have your money soon.” “When I get paid, he gets paid,” I said, nodding. “Very good.” Vincent squeezed my shoulder. “I actually have another job for you, if you’d be willing to talk?” I hesitated. I really didn’t want to get too involved. The Le
