Thirty-two:Daniela Berni The first time I slept with Niccolo, someone tried to kill us. Now I was back together with him, and someone was trying to kill us again. It seemed that no matter what I could do I was never going to stay safe. The best thing I could do was to train how to do it myself as much as possible. We had twenty-four hours to turn me into someone lethal enough that could take out Alessandro. And Niccolo was being a big, giant baby about it. “Explain to me why there’s a weapons room in a New York Loft,” I said, “what is this? Is it The Mortal Instruments?” Niccolo frowned. “I don’t know what that is.”His cousin Dom, who was also in the room, smiled. “Well, you never know when you might need a grenade to throw at someone.” I raised an eyebrow. “You have grenade’s in here?” Niccolo coughed. “He was joking.” He glared at Dom. “There’s nothing that dangerous in here.” “Really?” I said, “So what about
Thirty-threeNiccolo Capaldi I hated this. I hated teaching soft, sweet, Daniela who always cared about everyone and everything how to fight. Because that meant there were going to be situations where I couldn’t protect her. Where she might have to defend herself. That was the truth of our world. Darkness was around every corner. It didn’t matter where you went. But teaching her how to fight was better than what happened the last time that we were together. In Rome, when we’d finally had sex, and the men from a rival gang shot at the car with her in it. What should have been a happy night for the two of us turned into the most miserable night of my life. Rick sped through the streets of Rome as fast he could to get back to the hotel. When he opened the door for me, I helped get Daniela out of the car then carried her over my shoulder up to the suite. “What are you doing?” Daniela demanded. “Niccolo, put me down!” I didn’t an
Thirty-fourDaniela Berni I felt like I was going to throw up. I was going to meet my father to try and get Luca back. And Audrina, if she hadn’t turned out to be a complete and total traitor. Except everything pointed to that. I’d been told to dress nice in my father’s text. I had no idea what that meant. So, I was wearing a dress loaned to me by Dom’s sister. We were meeting Alessandro at his family home, in upstate New York. The drive there took seemingly forever. There was an old mansion done in the Greek Revival style of the 1800s. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Niccolo asked me. A pained expression crossed my face. “I don’t have a choice in the matter, Nic. This is how we’re going to save them.” “Okay. But just so you know, the house we’re at right now isn’t a Ramono house.” I looked from the house back to him. “It’s not?” He shook his head. “It’s a Barretta home.” I frowned. “Isn’t that we
Thirty-fiveNiccolo Capaldi Kevlar vests were a god send, I decided, the moment that Audrina hit me with a bullet. I had a “friend” in the police station that had managed to get me some. I crumpled from the pain of the bullet Daniela’s sister shot at me. But mostly for dramatic effect more than anything. Once Daniela was inside, I waited a few moments and got up. “Fuck, that hurt.” Even though I wouldn’t bleed, it was mostly the force of impact that got me. Now, I just had to figure out how to get inside the house without being noticed. Old houses like these typically had basements. Usually with a back entrance to them. If there was shady shit going on inside, that was where I would find my brother. As long as he wasn’t unconscious. I made my way to the back of the house. I saw two guards standing in the back on the patio. Both of them were smoking. I had taken a couple of the syringes that I used to knock out Daniela with. I walked up to where the
Thirty-sixDaniela Berni I had a headache when I woke up. I recognized the feeling. My vision was blurred in and out of focus. I saw someone sitting in the corner. I blinked a few times and Niccolo came into my view. Without thinking, I got up from bed and lunged into his arms, hugging him tightly. “Easy, easy!” he laughed a little. A sound I wasn’t sure I had ever really heard. “You were just held hostage by your power-hungry sister. Take it slow.” “How’d you get me out? I don’t even remember what happened. I tried escaping, and I knocked Gabriel Ramono out but then someone caught me. I thought for sure that I was dead. That we all were.”Niccolo smiled. “He was a friend. He actually helped us escape.”“Luca’s okay then?” I asked.He nodded.“Good. What about Audrina?”Niccolo’s face fell. “Audrina’s made her choices. As have I.”I scrunched my face together. “What’s that mean?”“I handed everything over to Luca.”I stared at him. “Really? Are you okay with that? You were supposed
OneAudrina Bianchi “You screwed up.” There was a gun pointed at my head. If I hadn’t had it happen to me so many times, I would have been scared. The thing about having a family that’s part of the organization, the Cosa nostra, the mob is that I was used to this sort of treatment. When I was sixteen and came home late from my first party, my mom did the same exact thing. Except she wasn’t really my mother. Marie Bianchi was my guardian. My real mom, Luciana Barretta, decided to give me up because she didn’t want me. Her half-sister, my aunt, took me in instead. She claimed she did it because she couldn’t have children. But I know the truth. She did it so that she would have leverage with the Barretta family. The same way that she’d been used. I didn’t believe for one second that she had ever wanted children. When I was a kid, I had a lady at a mall give me her card. She told me I was pretty enough to be a model. Marie was there with me. “Oh good,” she said after the woman left,
TwoLuca Capaldi It was strange, stepping into my father’s office. Giuseppe Capaldi had been an intimidating figure that ran half of Boston. In polite society, people said my family was in “real estate”. In the criminal world, people knew what that was code for. Cosa nostra. The mob. Giuseppe had been our family’s consigliere. The don. The motherfucking Godfather. People kissed his rings, and did his bidding. But Giuseppe was dead. He’d been shot by the last person I ever expected to shoot him. My wife. I’d been married to Audrina Bianchi since we were teenagers. No one else knew except for us. And Audrina had gone out of her way to make sure that was the case. It had happened in Vegas, a last ditch attempt to keep her from being forced into a marriage with Russian Bratva. As long as Andre Antonov thought she was mine, Audrina was safe. But no one else in our world knew the truth. And I’d gone to great lengths to keep it that way. Because I was pretty sure if Daniela Berni, m
Three Audrina Bianchi Capaldi Industries was a huge, towering building in the Boston financial district. I only knew where it was because I googled it. The headquarters for PREPPY, my designer label, was in New York, not Boston. Boston was where I went to escape the drama that was my mothers family. It was why I’d chosen to go to high school there because the Barretta’s didn’t have a strong hold in the city. There, I could breathe a little. As I made my way through the building, being led to Luca’s office by the pretty, auburn haired assistant I was already breathing easier. The girl slipped into Luca’s office, and I could hear the confusion in her voice as she introduced me as “Mrs.Capaldi.” It was strange having that said outloud. The only time that I’d ever heard it had been Luca, right after we’d had sex on our “honeymoon”. I had to learn to embrace the role though. If this was going to work, I needed Luca Capaldi to be my little play thing. I heard Luca’s deep voice tell h
Nine Lauren Gallo Present I was able to stay. I anticipated him firing me. I anticipated him following me. I did not anticipate wanting him again. How could anyone go through what I went through with him and still want him? I couldn’t explain it. When I arrive at work the next day, I am humming. I also have his coffee ready for him that I pick up at our old favorite spot. I am there before him. I sit on his desk, and I place the coffee cup on it while I sip mine and smile. After a few minutes, the door opens, revealing him. “Coffee, boss?” He looks from the cup on the desk to me. I can feel his eyes travel up and down my body. I flush. I know I’m flushed. I can feel it from head to toe and I absolutely hate it and love it at the same time. I feel like a teenage girl all over again. His eyes settle on mine. “You greet all of your bosses like that?” I shrug. “Only the ones I like.” He raises an eyebrow. “Did you like my cousin?” I snort, and take a sip of my coffee before I get
EIGHT Domitus Capaldi PresentWhen I had Lauren, I felt like I had the answer to all of my problems. A sweet, little, submissive that did everything I wanted without question. After the accident when she left, at first, I didn’t want anyone. Then, I could no longer deny my urges. So, to keep them in check, I opened Labyrinth. My sex club. Patrons pay for rooms and inside them they can do whatever they want. Each one is paid to each of their specific tastes. And soundproof. All membership costs is a secret. And the absorbent yearly fee, of course. Manhattan real estate doesn’t come cheap, after all, and I have to keep the lights on somehow. I employ both men and women at the club. All kinds. You never know what someone might be into. And, of course, patrons are able to bring their own guests if they want to. What I should really do is throw Lauren over my shoulder, take her here, and have my way with her. But I can’t do that. I’m her boss and, in her mind, she barely knows me. Not
SEVEN Lauren Gallo Past I try not to think too hard about it when I find out from a text from my coach that Mitch was killed in a robbery. I have other things to worry about. Monday morning, my mom and I move my stuff into my dorm at the fancy private school that she’ll be working at and I’ll be going to. “Wow!” she says. “This place is huge.” I nod in agreement. Cagney Academy is on the Upper East Side. By being a student here, I’ll have access to their private ice rink, and Stephanie will be able to devote her time to training just me. Meaning I will have a better shot at the Olympics. As an added bonus, Ellie goes here too, and I’ll have Carla, Domitus’s cousin. The real problem is that I’ll have to deal with Domitus. And the rest of the Capaldi brothers. From stalking Domitus on social, I’ve learned that there are three other Capaldi brothers. Felix, Anthony, and Benedict. Benedict is a short, wirey, brunette kid that’s obsessed with the hockey team that plays at the stadiu
SIX Domitus Capaldi Past The next time I see Lauren Gallo, it’s a week after our little date. The family business and school keeps me away from the rink. But my father is meeting with the stadium manager to talk about getting new sponsors for our sports equipment. He’s also supposed to meet with Mrs. Gallo, Lauren’s Mom, and talk with her about securing her a teaching position at the school that I go to. Cagney Academy, a private school on the Upper East Side. As a teacher, Mrs. Gallo would get free admission for her family and since Lauren is her family, she would be able to go. Meaning I could see her all of the time whenever I want. At the moment, my father is talking with Laurens mom. She has sandy blonde hair, and brown eyes, and seems warry of my father. Smart woman. Most people are charmed by his wealth and good looks. I wonder if she’s dealt with his type before. Lauren says she doesn’t know who her father is, so maybe Mrs. Gallo’s husband was a made man. Or maybe she ju
FIVE Lauren Gallo Present My first thought when I see my ex-boyfriend is that he got taller. And hotter. And I’m fucked. I won’t be able to handle this. I managed to escape Domitus Capaldi once, by faking amnesia and moving half way across the country. But then my high school stalker came back and I was back home, in the city, working for the first man I had run away from. The second one, Michael Russo, had popped up in Los Angeles a few months ago. And I had no idea where he was. But I knew it would only be a matter of time before he popped back up again. He always found me. At least if I was in Domitus’s grasp, I had one monster to scare off another. I thought my cover was blown when Felix saw me. Felix had been my sounding board when I dated Domitus. In fact, I had had a little crush on him for a while but Felix and me had never done anything because we knew that Domitus would kill him if we did. Carla, to her credit, had done her research and knew about my ‘memory lo
FOUR Domitus Capaldi Present “Hey, you’re late.” This comes from my younger brother Felix, which is a surprise to me. Felix normally doesn’t care about anything. He’s twenty-three, a year younger than me, and barely shows up to work half of the time. The title he has is mostly for looks anyway. Felix is almost as tall as me, with black hair that’s slicked back with too much gel, and as many tattoos as I have. In reality, Felix runs most of the family clubs. And by run, I mean, frequents them on a regular basis and pretends to be doing work. “Why do you care?” I ask. “I’m never late. The only reason I was late this morning was because of the traffic.” “Um, well…” “Well, what?” “Well, your new secretary has been hired.” “Good. Shelia’s on bed rest now and it’s been hell using temps. Who did HR hire?” Felix made a face. I sigh. “Just tell me, Felix. I don’t want to play games. If it’s someone I hate, I can just fire them. Remember, I am the head of the New York branch o
THREE Lauren Gallo Past His hand was in between my legs. He touched my pussy. I hadn’t even been kissed yet, but Domitus Capaldi had touched my pussy. I was wearing tights, but I could still feel it, and the wetness in between my legs that came when he touched me there. I had no idea why he had become fixated on me but I didn’t think that he was going to give up on this anytime soon, judging from the hungry look on his face as he watched me while we ate. He has already talked about fucking me. He says that he wants to do it on the table of the restaurant, but that he’ll take me on a bed instead. He is a rich kid who has probably never heard the word no in his life. Meaning he won’t take no from me. Worse, his father owns the place where I practice my skating. The rink that has been the one constant in my life. And the Capaldi family is known for, along with owning half of New York City, shady business deals that involve clubs, drugs, and gambling amongst other things. I’ve neve
TWO Domitus Capaldi Past The first time I saw Lauren Gallo, she was wearing a blue velvet skating outfit, trimmed with fur. With each spin and jump, her little skirt went up, revealing her perfect, pale legs. I imagined my head in between those thighs, devouring her pussy, and making her scream my name and my cock goes hard at the thought. Dad had invested in the old ice-skating rink since my brother’s loved hockey, and he thought he could turn a profit from it. Me, I had never really been interested in sports. I worked out in the gym, and boxed for self-defense, but that was it. I was the heir to the New York branch of Capaldi Industries. My father wanted me to take over for him when he died. I didn’t have time to do anything outside of work for my father. I did everything my father asked of me. Never asking anything for myself. But when I saw Lauren Gallo, I wanted her. She had brown hair, and brown eyes, and a round face with full lips. She was tiny, and her breasts were
ONE Lauren Gallo Past There is someone watching me as I practice. The ice rink is my safe space. As I practice my routine for the millionth time, I can’t focus on anything but the eyes on me. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. As my routine comes to an end, I straighten up and look for the person watching me. There’s a teenage boy leaning up against the wall of the skating rink. He’s tall, with broad shoulders, jet black hair, and reminds me of a dark prince out of a fantasy novel with high cheek bones and full lips. His hands are tattooed and the long, black, jacket that he wears I imagine hides full sleeves on either arm. An older man comes and talks to him. He looks like him, but with slightly grey hair, in his mid-forties. The older man’s gaze goes from me to the boy and he smirks. The boy rolls his eyes but the dark, heated gaze that he has remains on me. It makes heat go through my legs in a way that I have never felt before. Competitive skating doesn’t leave