Mafia Scars (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 2) Read online

  “No way. Just checking on you because I figured you might have for curiosity’s sake.”

  “Not even for that, man.”

  “I think you should come join me. My bike’s going to be ready in twenty minutes. I just did the paperwork.”

  “I think I’ll hang out here for a while. Let’s meet in about two hours if nothing goes wrong.”

  “God, you’re so negative.”

  “Keeps me on my toes.”

  “Whatever, I’ll see you in two hours.” He hung up.

  I put my phone back in my pocket and rested my hands on the cool surface of the metal rail that ran along the balcony.

  It was beginning to look like today would be another fruitless day.

  I hated not knowing what was happening. I hated living on the edge of uncertainty.

  At least though… I got to see Amelia. I wasn’t staying away anymore. Last night was amazing, as was the night before, and the one before that too.

  She was the kind of woman who made me want to think of the future.

  She made me think of the future.

  I saw me doing different things. Not dead somewhere in the dirt when I finally got what was coming to me.

  But… there was a big but.

  I didn’t know if she really wanted to be with me. I’d never force her.

  When you went against your nature, it was bad.

  I hated being a cop, and I knew there were parts of the way I carried myself that didn’t fit into my world either.

  The way I hated killing. The way I tried to keep things as legit as possible. I told the boys it was because I didn’t want the feds snooping around us, but really, I wanted to try to keep us clean.

  I wanted to be clean.

  Maurice knew me. He’d suggested the other week that we could clean up completely. Raphael had definitely made a good sweep of everything, but there was too much tangled up in the business that was above me.

  Presidents and notable people of that caliber always did business with us. Our connections were worldwide and national. We were able to do any- and everything, and because real estate was an area where vast amounts of money came pouring in, it was easy to move money without it being seen and record it against the business.

  Even non-monetary items came our way. Heads of state wanting to move illegal artifacts, or the sale of such things, all came to us because we could do it.

  The business was the kind that did the impossible because of all the connections we had.

  It was fascinating to me. I craved the leadership role, owning it all and having all that power.

  Then I met her, and meeting her scrambled my brain.

  Right now, the only thing I was certain of was that I wanted her. That’s it.

  And to have her, I couldn’t want the business either. I just hadn’t gotten my head around it yet.

  The phone buzzed in my pocket, and I answered it thinking it was Claudius.

  “What’s up?” Maybe he forgot something.

  A cold laugh sounded on the other end of the phone. The sound. That sound, I knew it. Quickly, I moved the phone from my ear and looked at the number.

  It showed up as unrecognized.

  “Who is this?” I asked when I brought the phone back to my ear.

  “Hello, old friend. I hear you’ve been looking for me,” Victor taunted.

  My blood turned to ice, my pulse raced, and my throat went dry.

  “I have. You’re a difficult man to find. Why don’t you come out and join me? Would be great to catch up.” I tried to keep the angst out of my voice.

  “That would be great, but I’m nowhere near where you are. Left the warehouse yesterday.”

  “Oh right, well, that’s not a problem. How about you tell me where you are? I’ll come to you.” I was pissing with him. Of course, he would never say where he was.

  “How about you drink yak piss? Game’s over. Just letting you know. I’m not allowing you people to take my bounty back to Chicago. Boss wants her now. It’s funny how by attempting to move her you accelerated things.” He laughed while I cracked my knuckles. “Although I think I would have taken her by about Saturday. I still haven’t quite figured out what unharmed means.”

  “You fucking piece of shit, don’t you dare touch her.”

  “Luc, Luc, you know me more than most. So, you know that kind of talk isn’t going to work. Now, tell me what you think unharmed means. The Oxford Dictionary says that means undamaged, unbroken or in good condition. Now, I’ve been trying to figure out all the loopholes around that. Something can be undamaged, unbroken or in good condition and still be functional. We’d still class that as unharmed. Like my lawnmower has a slight scratch on it, I would say that was undamaged, unbroken or in good condition.”

  “Fucking shut up about that!”

  My heart was racing, blood pounding now in my ears as I moved, taking the steps three at a time to get down to my bike.

  “At least I’m asking your opinion. Damn. Oh, look, I can see her, walking past the lingerie shop. Got a pair of nice tits on her. Maybe I’ll cut those off along with her face and make an ornament out of them. Nah. I’ll keep the tits until worms get them. My last pair just expired.”

  I hung up. Bile rose in my throat, but I had to ignore it.

  I called Maurice, but the phone went to voicemail. So, I quickly fired him a message. Claudius too.

  I knew where Victor was.

  Fuck. Why didn’t we leave on Wednesday?

  I should have dragged Amelia kicking and screaming if I’d had to.

  Now she was so far away from me.

  At the mall, getting what she deemed last-minute supplies.

  Amelia

  I understood full well how people killed others over nothing in particular.

  Over the last few days, I’d gone over all the ways I could get rid of Maurice, and the only answer I came up with was to kill him.

  Oh my God. I’d turned into a mobster. Like father, like daughter.

  That thought made me sick, but I’d take it over having Maurice cling to me like a rash.

  The only time he gave me a break was when Gigi was around. She of course had to take a liking to him.

  The most annoying guy I’d ever met in my life. And he was always eating and talking about shit.

  I didn’t care that the leaves of a burrito chili were different in South America than they were in his kitchen back in Chicago. I didn’t care about his fish, and most certainly didn’t care to hear about how he got rid of a rash on his balls he thought was syphilis but was really a reaction to his new detergent. Apparently, his skin favored non-bio detergents.

  Jesus Christ, he was driving me crazy.

  Luc, I’m sorry I accidently killed your best friend. My gun slipped.

  I’d practiced saying something like that.

  Or.

  Luc, I’m sooo sorry I accidentally killed your best friend. I don’t know how, but my gun slipped and shot him. There wasn’t anything I could do to save him.

  Any of those would have to work if it came to it.

  God, now he was telling me about his grandmother’s parrot. Again.

  Is he just doing this to annoy me?

  I needed to go to the drugstore to pick up my birth control prescription. I normally had a long-acting injection, but that was about to wear out, and because of this rush to leave, my doctor couldn’t fit me in for an appointment.

  Since I couldn’t stop having sex with Luc, and I doubted I would any time soon, the pill was the next best option. Except that I had to go pick that up and some personal stuff with Maurice on my ass.

  I wanted to go to the mall to get some last-minute things, my pills, but also as one last trip to clear my mind and have time to myself.

  Maurice being here ruined it.

  “Hey, why don’t we stop for some ice cream?” he bubbled, acting like he was talking to a child.

  I couldn’t blame him because this felt like he was my babysitter.
/>   “No. I do not want any ice cream. I’m just going to pick up my pills and go home to finish packing.”

  “Pills? Are you sick?” His eyes filled with concern.

  “Birth control,” I snapped.

  “Oh, for you and Luc. Do you two just have sex all the time? It’s difficult to sleep with you guys constantly at it.”

  Oh, Jesus Lord, had he heard us?

  “Where did you sleep last night?”

  “Your guest room.” He smirked. “I’ll tell you, it’s like I was in the room with you.”

  This was a nightmare. The guest room was right next to my room. He would have heard everything. I’d worried that night about Gigi, but her room was down the hall.

  “You are such an ass. Why were you listening?”

  “I wasn’t.” He shook his head. “I was in the room next to yours. I can’t control the sounds that enter the room. But you guys can. It was like walking onto the set of porn.”

  I landed a fist in his chest, which connected with solid muscle.

  “Hey. Hold on.” He took my arm and tugged me toward him. I was going to pull away, but the sudden worried look on his face stopped me. He pulled me right into his chest and brought his face close to my ear. “We’re being followed.”

  “What?” My breath stilled. “What can you see?”

  “Same guy who was following you weeks ago,” he muttered. “Come close, so I can get my phone.”

  I pressed myself against him, and he acted like he was holding me while he got his phone.

  “Shit. Luc messaged. We’re in trouble. Sorry, doll, we have to move.”

  He grabbed my hand forgetting about being covert and rushed through the crowds with me.

  Before we got to the escalators that would take us to the second floor, two men in suits stepped out from the corner of Bath and Body Works. They screamed trouble.

  I didn’t have to ask if they were here for me.

  Maurice didn’t let them stop him. Like a giant pit bull, he rammed into the them, knocking them over, and pulled me along. People around us scattered. And more men appeared.

  I’d never imagined it happening this way. I’d never imagined this at all.

  We ran top speed to the other side of the floor to take the stairs.

  “Come on, doll. We have to get to the car.”

  “Maurice,” I hissed, seeing four guys waiting for us at the foot of the stairs. The tallest one opened his jacket to show off his gun.

  “Come on, girl, listen to me.” He grabbed my shoulders. “Our guys should be here any second. Your goal is to head to Chicago. Chicago. Just get out of here. Don’t stay and be a hero, just run. You hear me? Don’t allow them to take you.”

  I nodded. He released my hand and launched me over the side of the stairs.

  The notion surprised the men because they thought we were cornered.

  I made a run for it, sparing a glance back to Maurice to see him fighting a few of the guys.

  Please don’t die.

  I hoped he would be okay. I hoped I would be okay.

  Shit, a man with dark curly hair just got up from one of the benches. He was looking at me and smiling.

  I stopped in my tracks, almost falling over. Something in the confident way this man carried himself told me he was important.

  “Run, Amelia, run!” Maurice cried. I heard gunshots, and every cell in my body came alive.

  Screams sounded everywhere from the shoppers in the mall scrambling to safety.

  Run. I had to run.

  Someone grabbed me from behind. A really tall, bulky guy.

  I elbowed him trying to free myself, but he was too strong. Way too strong. This guy wasn’t like my standard bad guys. The simpletons I was used to. These guys were muscle, the real deal. I wouldn’t stand a chance.

  The guy who held on to me was tall and wide. He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me. I screamed out from the pain.

  “Hey, they said unharmed. I think squeezing her till she pops might kill her,” said the guy who’d gotten up from the bench. “I think I’ll keep the face too and use something else for my ornament.”

  He nodded.

  “Let go of me,” I cried.

  “No, he can’t. We’re under direct orders to bring you in, now.”

  “Who are you?”

  “The name is Victor Pertrinkov, and I think I’d like your fingers too. To eat. Those would go great with asparagus. Just the tips and a dash of oregano.”

  Chapter 9

  Amelia

  The last time I felt this helpless and terrified was when I was last in Chicago.

  Victor walked up to us and touched my fingers, licking his lips in true Hannibal Lector style.

  I didn’t know people like him actually existed. Cannibals, or whatever they were.

  This man was a psychopath who’s most likely obsessed over the pop culture film Silence of the Lambs.

  I’m sorry, Luc. We should have gone when you first suggested to leave.

  Why did I think I had to stay for any length of time to wrap up?

  I’d gone to the station yesterday to speak to Roose. He knew I knew he was working for my father. Our meeting was weird but less awkward.

  He put me on vacation leave. Personal time. He said it would be less to explain if internal affairs questioned it, especially with Max on leave and Luc under investigation.

  I saw Jefferson and Holloway, but no Sinclaire. That wasn’t really surprising. I knew he wasn’t out.

  From the look of this man before me, I got the feeling that I might not see any of those guys again.

  “Sick bastard. Let me go,” I cried.

  “I don’t think—”

  A loud bang sounded behind me, then the roar of a motorcycle.

  Luc, he had a motorcycle. Please let that be him.

  Another shot sounded, and the grip on me released. Blood splashed on my cheek, and the big guy holding me collapsed in a heap.

  Victor growled and reached for me, but I jumped back.

  I turned to see the motorcycle tearing toward us. On it was a man who looked just like Luc except that he had shoulder-length black hair that flowed behind him like the angel of vengeance. He aimed at the chandelier above us and fired. It came down in an instant, smashing and putting a gap between Victor and me.

  That didn’t stop Victor though.

  The bike pulled up beside me, and the man pulled a shotgun from his back.

  “I will blow your fucking head off. Make sure you’re dead this time,” he balked at Victor.

  “Wow, I can’t believe I got the pleasure of speaking to both Morientz brothers in the same day.”

  This was Luc’s brother.

  “And you lived.” He growled. “Hop on, princess,” he said to me.

  I moved with lightning speed powering my legs and jumped on the back of the bike.

  He didn’t waste time. We were out of there before I could pull in a good breath.

  Riding through the mall, as if that was normal. Then out onto the street.

  Heading for Chicago…

  Luc

  “They would have headed to Chicago,” Maurice said. His face was still smeared with a bit of blood.

  I could have breathed fire.

  Literally, I could have breathed an inferno of flames killing everyone here.

  Of course, I got to the mall far too late. The rest of my boys were there already, and then the cops came.

  We retreated to our hideaway, an old powerplant we’d been meeting in since I lost my apartment.

  Dennis, the last guy in my crew, was just pulling in now.

  I threw a fist into the wall.

  Claudius hadn’t answered the phone.

  What if they got taken?

  “You’re sure. You saw Claudius put Amelia on his bike?”

  “Yes. Then Victor went after them. That’s as much as I saw.”

  “Boss, look.” Dennis ran over to me with a phone. “It could be Claudius’.”

/>   I rang his number again and could have rejoiced when the phone in Dennis’ hand started to vibrate.

  “So, he dropped it. Luc, if I know Claudius, he’s got her.” Maurice nodded. “There’s no way he would have allowed either himself or her to get caught.” He’d been trying to calm me down since we got here.

  He could be right. Knowing Claudius, that was indeed true, but what if it wasn’t?

  “We need to get to Chicago,” Maurice pointed out. Dennis nodded.

  “What if they’re still here?”

  What if Victor had Amelia? He’d destroy her trying to figure out what unharmed meant.

  I couldn’t let that happen to her.

  “Luc, we need to get to Chicago and hope that’s where Claudius and Amelia are. I know Claudius will contact you as soon as he can. Your girl’s in good hands.”

  I prayed she was.

  We got an earlier flight to Chicago. The travel seemed to take an eternity. Watching the minutes added salt to my already exposed wounds.

  There’d been nothing from Claudius the whole time.

  It was night by the time we arrived.

  To save my sanity, I distracted myself by doing the one thing I’d been eager to do for weeks.

  Speaking to Raphael.

  It was nearly ten o’clock. The butler let me in telling me Raphael was in bed. Fuck that. Bed or not, he was waking up, and I was going to get some answers. Hopefully, I’d hear from Claudius soon.

  Raphael was sitting up in his bed reading what looked like the Bible. He set it down when he saw me and looked around me with anticipation.

  “She’s not here.” I declared. “Claudius has her. They’re on their way.” That was also me trying to tell myself that.

  His face contorted into a frown, and he glared at me.

  “What happened?”

  I shook my head. “You… bastard.”

  I’d never spoken to him like that before. Maybe that’s why he’d picked me over Claudius. Then again, maybe even that was some kind of a farce. He’d looked at both of us that day and picked me. Maybe he thought of the two of us Amelia would like me more. I hated that he was right.

  “Why’s my daughter with Claudius?”