Red

C H A P T E R T H I R T Y O N E

Our life was a hot mess.

My brothers floated around the safe house like lost ghouls. My fathers absence really rattled them up and nobody knew how to combat that.

Antonio called daily meetings where he asked our men for ideas instead of instructing them with a secure, set-in-stone plan.

It would seem I misjudged his ability to lead but in his defence he got thrown into the deep end.

Ace was holding my father hostage, we didn’t know where. Nikolai planned to double cross us once we helped him kill Ace and Ace had taken a personal dislike towards the Valentino’s. Probably because of me.

It was chaos.

“You’re going to lose men to the other factions.” I observed after another one of his failed meetings. “You’re barely keeping this family together.”

“Shut it Willa, I wasn’t ready for this so soon. I don’t need you on my case.”

He was crumbling under pressure and I was bitterly disappointed in him.

“Antonio, you’re the heir. Every moment of your life has been spent leading up to this. You’re just letting your lack of confidence fuel your ruling.” He rubbed his temples and looked down at the Taurus PT111 resting on the table.

“What can I do Willa? We’ve launched several attacks on the warehouse, he is not keeping our father there and our men are dropping like flies. For all we know, Ace has already killed him.”

“The answer lies with the package, he’s willing to protect that thing with his life, his soul and his dignity. We take the package and we hold it over him until we get our father back.”

“What is in the package?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where is he keeping the package?”

“I don’t know.”

“How are we going to get it?”

“I don’t know.”

He sighed out my name.

“I want father back before the ball, I don’t care about the package, I can’t go in there and talk business with every faction. We just need our leader back.”

___

I got in my car and just drove with no plan and no clue where I was headed. I needed to clear my head, think rationally and the countless mafia men invading the safe house was getting on my nerves.

I couldn’t count how many times I had been propositioned for sex. I didn’t want to fuck any of them, not when they couldn’t compare to Ace.

The last time with him really was the last time, I hadn’t seen or spoken to Ace in a week.

I missed that lifestyle, his club. I missed the girls and I even missed some of his men. I missed how thrilling and fun it felt each night and it felt weird to not be wearing high heels constantly.

I pulled into a service station and used the rear view mirror to reapply a scarlet lipstick.

My attention was drawn to the black town car parked opposite. A man was inside reading a news paper with last weeks headlines.

I blotted my lips together and stepped out of the car jingling my keychain as I walked into the services.

“Hey, one black coffee, no sugar and a biscotti please.” I asked the waitress at Starbucks.

As she rung up my order my eyes floated around the services. To my complete expectation newspaper man was now browsing through the cake counter.

Except his eyes didn’t move along the labels. They remained still so either he couldn’t read or he was deliberately trying to look busy whilst he listened to my conversation with the barrister.

“Here you go love.” She handed me a piping hot to-go cup with a smile.

“Thanks.” I looked up from my coffee cup, there were two men sat at a table. They looked completely out of place in business suits. This was a service station, filled with grubby truck drivers and people in travel clothes. Business men didn’t brunch here.

I shook my head and blew the steam away from my coffee, setting it down on a little ledge next to the pay-phones. I dropped a couple of cents into the meter and dialled 1234.

A guy next to me picked up the receiver, dialled some numbers but didn’t bother to drop in any coins.

“At the third stroke, the time sponsored by Accurst will be five fifty five PM.”

“Hey, it’s me.” I told the speaking clock.

“Yeah. I’m at a service station. I don’t have long, give me updates.” I fiddled with the chain. The mobster next to me had his back to me. He still held the phone to his ear but he didn’t speak.

“Right, good. So we’ve got the package?” He turned to face me, reacting to my question. I tried my hardest to refrain from bursting out laughing. Idiot.

“Amazing and Ace doesn’t know yet?”

The man tensed up and gripped the phone tighter, looking for his other buddies around the station. Ace had four or five men following my every move.

“Okay.”

And where are we keeping the package?”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be in touch.” I placed the receiver back on the phone and walked away.

The guy waited until I had got to my car before approaching me, sticking his gun into my back and threatening me to get into his car.

He had a pathetic grasp on me, my disabled goldfish could easily get out of his hold and he had a ruptured fin.

“Oh no,” I teased. “Please don’t hurt me, I’ll do anything.” He shoved me in the back of his car and tied a loose rope around my arms with tweed. It wasn’t comfortable but I could’ve snapped it with ease. Then, he started to drive.

Frankly, I was offended Ace only put his lower level men on me. Surely I was worth more than that.

He put his sweaty hand on my arm and dragged me out of the car into the back alley. The bouncer stepped aside to allow us access into Aces club.

He seemed so proud of himself, like he was going to get rewarded for his epic capturing skills. I almost felt sorry for him.

Aces men rushed around me, rechecking their guns and stressing over the logistics of their plans. It was like this whenever Ace had arranged a meeting with his higher ups.

He was sat at his usual booth, drinking his usual drink and requesting certain girls serve him. He was the calm before the storm.

I got dragged across the club, the girls taking an interest in the situation but not really reacting to it.

We stopped, right in-front of Aces table and he paused the mojito by his lips while his eyes trailed the whole length of my body. He placed his glass down on the table and shook his head.

“You fucking idiot.” He spoke to his man.

“Boss, she has the package.” Ace stood up and moved closer to us.

“She doesn’t have any package, she just played you so you could bring her here. Untie her.”

“I’m disappointed Ace, I thought I would at least create five seconds of drama and panic.” He pulled out his gun and shot his lower level mobster between the eyebrows. Everyone gasped and reacted.

“There’s your five seconds.” He replied, nonchalantly. “Someone clean this mess up!” He yelled and then grabbed my arm. “You come with me.”

He dragged me to the office and slammed the door behind us. His hands reached up and ripped off his tie, throwing it across the room aggressively.

I swallowed, maybe last time wasn’t the last time.

I ran my hands up his dress-shirt, feeling the luxurious cotton beneath my palm. His body stiffened, uncomfortable I think and then pushed me away.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting to be fucked?”

“No Red, Jesus. We drew the line under that, the last time was the last time. We’re not fucking anymore, we’re rivals. This is business.”

I scoffed and walked around the table to sit in his chair. He seemed furious about this, his eyes glittered in a vexatious way so I swayed lightly, moving the chair from left to right.

He closed his eyes and his nostrils flared, like he was focusing all of his strength on his breathing, reining in his anger.

When he opened them he was carnal, he wanted to attack me. To whip me and withhold me and punish me but he was holding back because if he acted on his urges I would’ve won.

“Why did you have my men bring you here?” He demanded with a sharp tone set on slicing right through me.

Because, I missed you.

We had an undeniable attraction, Ace and I.

Whenever we were apart my head was clear, I wanted to kill him. Whenever we were together my head was clear, I wanted to fuck him.

Did I have feelings for him? No.

I didn’t have feelings for anyone.

But I enjoyed teasing him, I loved fucking him. He was sexy and skilled. Our attraction was only physical.

Could I put a bullet in his brain right now?

Sure.

Maybe.

Possibly.

No, I could.

Right?