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chapter 22
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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
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 26
MOLLYIf Ashton Walden actually thought I was going to go and take a nap, he was—well, I was being positive here. The exception was my father. I would always allow myself to be negative with him, but back to what I was currently doing.He was doing Mafia stuff. I was snooping.Ashton or one of his guys must’ve scooped up my purse after the explosion because I found it next to my bed. I’d been elated, grabbing for my phone, only to find no reception.So carrying my purse, my phone in hand, I was tiptoeing around the place.At one point, I was in the east wing. Yes. They literally had a north tower, south tower, west, east, and it looked like there was a whole middle section where the kitchen was set at. The place looked more like a spaceship than a house. Ashton did say it was a compound, so kudos to whoever paid for all of this. It was a bit overkill in my opinion, but then again, I’m not the head of a Mafia empire. And anyways, I was in the east wing when I heard voices, and looking
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 27
A cold shiver went to my toes.“Ashton.”He lowered his head, his eyes still on me, and his voice came out low and soft. “Do you have any idea what you just did? That I brought you somewhere no one knew about for your safety? That you didn’t think the person who tried to kill you might also be watching your ‘besties’ on the off chance you might contact one of them? That you might tell them where you were? If their phones were tapped, if you were on long enough for a location trace?”Right. Crap. I did all of that. I was aware that I had a problem. I hadn’t thought about that stuff. “I’m new to this Mafia stuff. I’m sorry, but next time give me some lessons.”His nostrils flared. “Lessons?”His tone was sending a whole new set of chills down my spine.I wrung my hands together. “I said what I said. I’m sor—”“Do not.” He leaned in, his head moving so he was a breath away, and he placed a hand behind me against the wall. “It’s not my life that’s going to be snuffed out if they find you.
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 28
ASHTONI ripped myself away from Molly, my whole body trembling because holy fuck, the need to tear down her leggings, throw her up against the wall, and sink my dick deep inside of her was tearing through me at a breakneck speed.She tore something down inside of me. Something I needed, the last bit of restraint with her.She didn’t just tear it down. She took a battering ram to it, and I was shaken, taking her in. Only her in. I was ignoring the emotions clawing through me.Only Molly. I could only feel Molly.I was also going to murder Remmi West because I knew who’d just stormed her way in.“What are you doing here?” I had to get ahold of myself, but I half growled at Trace’s sister.She was coming in, hoop earrings. Leather jacket. Her dark hair swept up, piled high, and she was wearing her usual black pants. Trace’s sister liked to dress the Mafia-princess stereotype, but today there was no faux fur jacket.Remmi ignored me, her neck craning so she could see Molly. “Who’s that?”
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement Chapter 29
The desperation to be inside of her was primal, rushing through me.My hand skimmed down her leg from her hip, catching the back of her thigh, and I lifted it, stepping fully into her.She gasped again, a soft breathy sound coming from her. “This”—she trailed her finger down my chest to my stomach and lingered there, toying with the top button of my pants—“is one thing I keep getting distracted by, and I’m just going to reiterate again that I don’t care about the other bullshit going on.”I lifted her leg higher and moved in.She gasped again, her head falling back against the door, her chin rising, and her tongue wet her bottom lip.God.My dick just shot up at that sight, and feeling me, her eyes opened fully, seeing me.Her hand splayed out over my chest, pushing back but using that momentum to lift both her legs up.I growled, moving with her. My hands slipped under her ass as she wound her legs behind me, her ankles crossing.Jesus.I rubbed against her, slowly.Looking down, I w
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 30
MOLLYI was such a moron.Throwing myself at him. Doing the whole hand-to-his-chest thing. Being seductive. And it failed! Crash and burn. He rejected me, but man oh man. I felt him. He wanted me. He was into it, but agh. I was so humiliated.Was it me?What was I thinking? Of course it was me.Me. Who else would it have been? Something was wrong with me. I wasn’t pretty enough, or tall enough, or I don’t know. It was just me. Who was I kidding? The universe did not like me, but dammit. No. I refused to go down this path. I’d done too much, endured too much, etched out a damn good life despite my parental seeds. Screw him.I mean, that’s what I’d been trying to do but aghhhh!His loss. Right. Totally his loss. He’d be regretting it, except, and this was hard for me to admit, I didn’t think he was regretting it at all. He was quiet when he got in the vehicle, and despite performing some first aid on his hand, he hadn’t done anything on the whole drive back to the city. Total silence. W
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“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
