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chapter 37
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Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 38
MOLLY“Is that supposed to say closed?” Jess asked from her car.The sign said CLOSED. Easter Lanes was closed.I growled. “I’m going to take a fork and stab my cousin. I’ll keep stabbing him, little cuts, over and over again, until he’s bleeding out and he can’t move. The slowest and longest death possible.”I was fully aware I was saying this in the presence of an ex-law enforcement worker, and that she was giving me a look as if, “Do you know who you’re saying that to?”I didn’t care. Sunday was always a decent day for work, and he had closed my place! Also, I felt the switch starting to turn. It wasn’t just my dad who could flip it. It was family in general.I turned to Jess. “I guarantee you that my cousin is still in bed, hungover from wherever he went last night, and if I find out that he closed early last night, I will blow a gasket.”She stared at me and blinked once. “What’s his address?”God, I loved my friends.I gave it to her, and she programmed it in and took off. “Do y
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 39
ASHTONWe were leaving the downtown warehouse, which at one point had had three guests, but we made the decision to separate the Worthings. Avery would take them to the compound and put them into the warehouse their detective cousin had vacated earlier. Their interrogation would be a much longer process.“Marco is still at Katya?”I was checking my phone, then cursing when I saw all the missed calls and texts.“What?”I called Eze, my main guy I’d left on Molly. “What’s going on?”“Molly and Jess left the house earlier today.”“What?” I put him on speaker. “You’ve got me and Trace.”“I followed. Your orders were to stay back if Montell was in the house with her. Well, they went to Easter Lanes—”“Where are they now?”“The police station.”Trace jackknifed forward. “What?”They kept talking, but I went scrolling through the rest of my phone. My sources from all departments were alerting me. I clicked on the last one.34: Homicide had them, but OC is pulling rank. I can’t get any more i
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 40
MOLLYI was taking stock of my life. It felt appropriate to do that while I was in the slammer.Except I wasn’t. I didn’t think.We were in a building with cement walls, uncomfortable benches, and metal chairs. No windows. I didn’t think we were at a police station, but there were police here. Across from me at a metal table in the front lounge area was my new pen pal. Ritalicious was fabulous. Her pink nails, eyelashes, and feathers were on point. I now had a new obsession with feathers, faux feathers though. Not real feathers. But also, she gave me the name of a gay bar that she promised had the best shows.I was basking in the future excitement of attending Gary’s Hairy Heels and waiting for Jess to stop fighting with whatever cop came through the door. It’d not been easy when the first cops showed up at Glen’s apartment. Once they knew who Jess was, their attitude went south.It was like that with each one who approached us, and now we were somewhere I didn’t know where, and I was
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 41
ASHTONI took her to the private floor that Trace and I usually used when we were at Katya. There was a small patio-like extension to the side, a bench that sat far back in the shadows. I knew Trace used to sit and watch Jess when she worked. She didn’t know, but it was private, and we could still be a part of the atmosphere below.That’s where I took Molly tonight.Trace and Jess went to their place, and when he or I were here, we were the only ones allowed on this floor. Elijah was at the door. A few guys were on the other side, my personal guards. Anthony came in, Katya’s main manager, and had a debrief with me quick, but now he was gone.I was sipping my bourbon, and she was dancing on the end of the patio, overlooking the floor, lost in the music.She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.It sounded so fucking cheesy, and it wasn’t something I usually would think, but with Molly Easter, I found myself unable to think anything else.God. What was I doing with her?Even I did
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 42
MOLLYThe night was a dream, which was the point. I wanted a night away from guns and people dying and missing family. And so far from my normal life that it was laughable. This wasn’t my normal. I wasn’t the girl who got this type of life. Work. Grind. I fought to keep what I had, and even that was almost conned out of me. That’s the girl I was. My dad made it very clear what kind of girl I was growing up, what I deserved, but Ashton. He was something else.He wouldn’t last. I knew this was all temporary. I didn’t get the happily ever after. That had never been in my stars. I’d known from the beginning what to expect.That’s how I knew I would enjoy every minute I got with him while this lasted.I was going with it, and if that meant seriously hot sex, sign me up.I was there for it. I was going to savor every second of it, because we both knew that one day, we’d find Kelly’s killer. My dad would come back, and all this would be over.Just the thought was making my heart palpitate in
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement Chapter 43
MOLLYMy phone started blowing up a block away.Ashton calling.I hit decline but texted:I’m sorry. I overreacted. I’m with some of your staff, and I’ll tell you where we stop.My phone buzzed.Ashton: Where are you?Ashton: The security monitors are showing me that you WALKED OUT ON YOUR OWN? Where are you going?Ashton: Have them turn back.Ashton calling.I declined.Amy frowned back at me. “Everything okay?”“Yeah, I . . .”Ashton: Answer the goddamn phone or I will fire that worker you left with. I’m assuming she has no idea what she did, helping you.Ashton: ANSWER YOUR PHONEAshton calling.I declined.Ashton: She’s fired. Want to keep pushing me?Ashton: I won’t stop with her. I will find out who that driver is. I’ll find where he works, and I’ll get him fired too. Keep pushing me. I have no qualms about blowing up lives for your safety. Pialto and Sophie are next. Give me enough motivation. I could get them evicted by the end of the night.Me: Stop! I’ll ask them to bring me
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 44
ASHTONWe pulled up to Detective Worthing’s place, and I called first.“Yeah?”“You have her?” I asked, looking toward his building. Getting a call from Jake Worthing after threatening him, then asking him for a favor, wasn’t what I had expected for the night, but when he told me the events of the evening, I was thankful he’d stepped in. Again. Even though, there was a part of me where I wondered, really wondered, if I was good for Molly. This war would pass. She wouldn’t be in danger at that time. She’d be normal, could be normal. Live a normal life, but not if she was attached to me.I brought this to her. Guns. Wars. Mafia. That was me. That was this life, so while she ran from me, while I was worried to the point that I wanted to strangle someone, there was a deeper part of me that had to ask the question: Would she be better with someone like Jake Worthing?Or someone else. Someone normal.I thought about it and felt like I gutted myself.I was so far in, too far in. And that was
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 45
MOLLYI had no idea why we were here, but I was also not going to push my luck with Ashton.I’d done something stupid, let my emotions run me off, and he was quiet, but the fury was simmering under his surface. It was there. I could feel it, but I also couldn’t lie and say I didn’t want to make sure Amy and Nick were okay.When we got there, Elijah went inside to check the place first. He came back, and Ashton had me go first. He didn’t touch me, like he had when we went into Katya or when we left our floor. I missed his touch. Even a simple graze of his finger would’ve reassured me a little.Nothing. He kept a firm distance behind me as I walked in.Amy and Nick were there, and Amy gasped when she saw me. “Oh my—” She stopped, paling, and her mouth dropped when Ashton stepped in after me.The whole diner went quiet, more than a few mouths dropping to the ground.A guy stood up from their table, starting to approach before stopping and moving back a foot. His hands folded in front of
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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
