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chapter 44
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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
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 46
MOLLYWe went to Ashton’s Manhattan apartment. I was dead on my feet when we finally walked inside.“Do you want a drink?”Ashton had thawed toward me, significantly. Which I was grateful for, but which also alarmed me because man, when he was pissed, he was like ice. Like the Antarctic ice that doesn’t get thawed.I shook my head, leaving my purse, impressed with myself that I had kept ahold of it through everything tonight. “No.”He tossed his keys on the counter, putting his phone and wallet down. Then went to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a drink. “You sure you don’t want one?”“Do I need one for this?”His gaze locked on me. His eyes trailed down my body, and I looked away. I didn’t want to get heated. I didn’t want to want him. I just wanted to go to bed, alone, and wake up and regroup because my head was spinning. No matter what, the fact I reacted so quick and so intensely was scary.I didn’t like how much he could affect me.“You were jealous?”Here we go.“No. Yes. I
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 47
ASHTONBoth our phones lit up almost at the same time.I jumped up first, curled around Molly. It took her a little more time since we’d fallen asleep two hours ago. I cursed, two hours of sleep, but grabbed my phone and hers.Unknown number so I answered. “Who is this?”“Is that my phone?” Molly was yawning, rubbing at her eyes before she sat up.A harsh laugh came from the other end. “I didn’t believe it, but now I do. You’re screwing my little girl?”“Easter.”Molly woke up with a snap after that. She sat up and took the phone from my hand. “Dad?!”My phone had quieted but started again, so I answered it. “What’s wrong?” It was Trace.“We’ve been hit, again.”Fuck. Though, not surprising. I moved to the closet, grabbing clothes and beginning to pull them on. “Where? Who?”“Two warehouses, separate locations. They bombed the warehouse that we leaked was where we were holding Molly. The other place was where we had his sniper. He got his man back.”“Our men?”“They got out. We didn’t
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 48
MOLLYThe safe house was an entire building that was hidden in plain sight.We drove into a parking lot, went down, and somehow we were going through a tunnel and parked in a basement. There were a bunch of men in the room as we got out. Ashton took my hand, walking with me to an elevator, and up we went. We got off on the sixth floor, the elevator opening to an apartment that spanned the entire floor.“Make yourself comfortable.” Ashton pressed a kiss to my forehead, staying back with Elijah and a few other guards. I wandered around. For safe houses, this one was luxurious, but I wasn’t surprised anymore. Everything Ashton did was thought out. He had the reputation for being more impulsive, and Trace was the analyst, long thinker, but Ashton was underrated. Severely.It wasn’t until later that day, after I headed right back to bed and slept, that I realized we were next to Octavia.I’d woken later in the afternoon, heard the music, and went to see what was going on. There were floor-
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 49
MOLLYI tried fifty different pizza places in New York. Course, they didn’t know I tried them because we ordered delivery to a place that wasn’t even remotely near here, and there was a whole elaborate system for security guards who picked up the food and transferred it. But I tried them, and I was now an expert.I was considering creating an app just about New York pizza places. Though, there probably already was one, and so . . . maybe I’d look into that.I asked about Jess and Trace, but Ashton said they were in a separate place.“We want to keep you separate, just to be safe. Less exposure.”That was three weeks ago, and we were still going.Ashton left at all hours of the day. Sometimes he’d crawl into bed for a few hours, then leave for three days. It was insane, but they were in a war. The news was reporting a huge uptick of criminal shootings, all places with mob ties.I wondered if those were either Ashton’s or Trace’s places because I didn’t know much about the Worthing fami
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 50
ASHTON“She was right?” Trace joined me in the back of the kitchen where I was standing, a drink in hand but mostly watching Molly interact with Jess. They were on the other side of the kitchen, doing meal prep for dinner.I nodded, indicating for us to head somewhere private.He followed, stepping out onto the back three-season porch.“Car was registered to the grandmother of a guy in Crispin Worthing’s employment.”“Crispin?”“Who we still have locked down at the compound. Avery connected when I told him the latest. He’s making headway with both of the Worthings, but the biggest information they’ve given up is that Nicolai has a backer. One big major backer, bigger than anyone.”“That’s not good.” Trace asked, “Mauricio reached out himself about the shooting tonight?”“He did. I told him what happened, sent him the registration, and he was fine. The numbers collaborated with their security cameras.”“Is he going to let Molly watch the security tapes?”“They’re being compiled into ph
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 51
MOLLY“I’m going.” I was following Ashton around the room the next morning.“You’re not.”Over dinner last night, a very, very late dinner, I learned that Jess was going with her mother to the hospital. Right then and there, I knew I had to go. I couldn’t explain why. There was no rational logic for me to go, but I had to go. I just knew it. My gut was sparking something bad, and I didn’t think it was the lettuce I forgot to wash.I was the fixer in this group. It was my job to go, and he needed to understand this.I was pleading my case this morning by just repeating that I was going because he’d stopped listening about the group dynamics and roles.My plan of attack was to wear him down, and it was working.He picked up a tie, putting it around his neck. “You’re not. You have to look at the security photos from Octavia, remember?”“I have to go. The photos can wait.”He finished looping the tie through the hole, then tightened it. “That look okay?”It didn’t. I stepped in, righting
Mafia's Cruel Arrangement chapter 52
MOLLYMatt was outside my bedroom door, and I’d blasted my fan, telling him not to bother me for a few hours. I was going to take a much-needed nap.All my craziness. All the times I reacted to situations and ended up making things worse. Most of those times, I hadn’t made a conscious decision. I’d only felt the switch happening, and then bam, I was reacting and doing stupid things to put my loved ones in danger.This was different. I was choosing to do something stupid, but I was doing it to save someone I loved.So, I snuck out using the secret exit.Ashton shouldn’t have told me about it because it was going to be my personal front door. Also, it was just plain awesome because there was a tunnel that went under a whole other building. It came out to a side street, but because no one thought I knew about it, and I doubted Ashton thought I’d use it, I totally used it.The same gray sedan that we’d used to pick up my dad was waiting for me behind a dumpster. I ran over. “Go, go, go.”
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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
