Authors: Jen Cousineau
Aléssandro
“I found the same
discrepancies that you did, Dad,” I tell him as I close the last of Tricks’ books, tossing my pen on the desk. “I went through Luca’s books, as well. They’re off,” I tell him.
His head shoots up, scowl taking over his face. “How much?”
“About 250K.” I sigh as I rub my temples to try to relieve the headache that’s starting to form.
“Who besides Walt works at both places?” he hisses.
“No one,” I tell him firmly.
He nods sharply once. “I’ll meet with Jack about it. You,” he points at me with narrowed eyes, “
you finish the other business,” he orders.
“Yes,
sir,” I comply as I head down to the garage. I get into the black Escalade we have in the garage for purposes like this.
A few days ago
, I had some of the soldiers pick Cameryn up and hold him in one of our warehouses in the middle of nowhere.
I
haven’t spoken with him yet. But my soldiers had strict instructions to slowly torture him, get him to talk, but they were not allowed to end him. That’s for me. I
need
this.
I had one of the soldier’s text Joey from Cameryn’s phone that he had a personal matter come up that required his attention immediately, but that he would be
back to work as soon as he could. She mentioned it to me in passing, and it took everything I had to not allow my anxiety and tension to show on the matter.
I know Cameryn was important to her, but since he put his hands on
my woman against her will, leaving evidence behind, he deserves everything he has coming to him. I know if Jo finds out, she’s going to be pissed. She may even be hurt, but this is something that I have to do. For me. For my family. For the family. Jo was able to kill one of the men who attacked her and her sister. This is my chance to settle the score for Frank. I asked my Dad if I could be the one to close this business. It took me months to finally have him and Uncle Jack agree with me, but finally, finally, the time has come.
I pull
onto the gravel and park next to the warehouse. Walking through the rusty metal door, I can hear Cameryn crying like a little bitch.
“Capo,” one of the newer soldiers greets me as he stands guard just inside the door. I nod my head and continue through to the center of the space.
A light shines down, bright and hot on Cameryn, who’s bound to a chair with barb wire. His eyes are covered with duct tape, and the blood that he’s lost thus far stains his skin, clothes, and the floor around him.
I walk up to Al, a soldier who’s been a member of the family for a few years now and hold my palm out. He places a throwaway .22 in my hand. Normally, Dad ‘the Boss
,’ Uncle Jack ‘the Under Boss,’ nor I would participate in events like these. This is the job of a soldier. But, when you take out someone toward the top of the chain, someone who never should’ve died, you bet your ass at least one of us will do the job instead.
I turn the safety of the .22 off, and then walk to the center of the room until I’m in kicking distance to Cameryn.
“Long time no see, old friend,” I sneer. At the sound of my voice, Cameryn’s head whips up, showcasing the beautiful handiwork of my men.
Sweat pours down his face and neck. His nose is obviously broken, along with a few of his limbs, and his shoulder looks to be out of place. Blood is dried to his nose and mouth, and looking at the work done per my request, I see they successfully removed all of his fingers. His skin is ashen and p
ale.
“Do you remember me, Cameryn?” I ask, my voice coming out deep and rough.
“Who’s there?” he cries.
Cries!
“Are you not a man, Cameryn? Do you not consider yourself to be one?” I ask as I reach forward and run the barrel of the gun down his face. When the cool metal touches his skin, he jumps and begins to cry harder. “
I would ask if you knew why you were here, but I know for a fact that my men have been asking you questions about one very important matter, and you’ve yet to comply,” I inform him as I follow it with a ‘tsk, tsk,’ sound.
When I remove the blindfold
, his eyes grow wide, and then he begins to beg me.
“
Aléssandro, please. Please, y-you have t-to help me,” he cries.
“Why the tears
, my friend? Do you think you are undeserving of this treatment?” I ask, my voice calm, friendly.
“There’s b-been s-some mistake! I-I didn’t do anything!” he pleads.
“Well, I think you’ll be happy to know that being,” I pause and smile at him vindictively, “the
thug
that I am, I did my homework. Do you remember your high school girlfriend, what was her name? Oh, right. Briana,” I breathe into his face, “we had a little chat, and she confessed.
Everything
.”
His eyes grow wide and tears begin to drain down his face. “P-please! I-I didn’t mean for that t-to happen. I-I was young!
A-And dumb!” he yells. “I-I would t-take it all back… if I-I could,” he drops his chin to his chest and sobs.
“Do you want to know a secret,
Cam
,” I smile and I perch my hands on my knees, bending over until our eyes are level. “Normally, one of my men would’ve just put a bullet through your head,” I smile wide, “but,” I hold a finger in the air, “you killed a Capo.
And
you touched
my
woman. A woman who clearly did not want you. You left bruises on her arms. We don’t take lightly to the disrespect of a woman, especially a woman of the Cosa Nostra,” I say bitterly.
“I-I didn’t mean…” he begins to sob to the point that I can’t understand a word falling from his mouth. He wants to cry? I’ll give him something to cry about. I stand, aim, and pull the trigger. A scream rips from his chest as the .22 round flies through his right knee cap.
“I also don’t like liars.” I narrow my eyes at him. “You dug your own grave my friend.”
“P-please, what about J-Joey?” he screeches. “T-think about her.”
“I have. This is also for her,” I growl as I place the barrel against his forehead. He cries, screaming at me not to do it. My eyes connect with his, a wicked smile forming on my face, and then I pull the trigger.
Without thinking twice about what I
had just done, I turn to Al and hold my hand out for the fabric to clean the gun. I wipe the gun down and then place the gun on the old metal desk as I put the fabric in my pocket.
I’ll be the one to dispose of that
.
“Everything else taken care of?” I ask him.
“Yes, Capo,” he nods firmly.
“Good. Burn him. Clean this up,” I order as I turn
and walk out.
Joey
“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Addison tells me as she sits down at the chair across from me. “What’d you order?” she asks as she sniffs the cup.
“Skinny Carmel Macchiato and a cheese Danish,” I smile at her.
“Good
.” She nods. “Thank you.”
“No prob. Okay
—I’m on a
serious
time crunch, and I think I’m going to lose my mind,” I begin to freak.
“Take a breath. You’re going to be fine,” she says softly. “Now, tell me what’s going on?”
“Okay,” I nod and take a breath. “Remember me telling you that I got a text from Cam about a week ago?” Addison nods, taking a sip of her coffee. “Okay, so he said he was coming back as soon as he took care of a personal matter.”
“So what’s the problem? He’s been gone too long for your liking or something? I thought things were sketchy between the two of you at best,
anyway?” she frowns.
“Yeah, I know they are. Things between us
suck, but I can’t do this without him. We have too many clients between the two of us!” I whine. “I’m either going to have to find someone to fill his spot
or
change the personal sessions to classes at the studio only, and then offer only a few clients personal sessions. They’re going to be so pissed!” I ramble to her breathlessly as I slump down in my chair. I can feel my bottom lip jut out in a pout, my finger tracing the mouth piece of my to-go cup.
“Wait,” she shakes her head
, “what am I missing here?”
“Oh, yeah,” I nod with tears in my eyes. “I received papers at the studio today. Cam’s signed his portion over to me.
Gifted
. Wants nothing in return, and he’s not planning to return. I tried to call his phone and it’s disconnected,” I tell her as my first tear falls.
“Okay, but maybe this is a good thing!”
She smiles. I can’t help but roll my eyes at her.
“
How
is this a good thing?” I ask.
“Well, Cam and
Alé don’t get along. Cam’s in love with you and has been for a while. Talk about awkward!” She fake shutters. “But, Jo, this was probably really hard for him to see someone else be the one who opened you up and saved you from yourself,” she shoots me a sympathetic look.
I sigh heavily. “Yeah,” I mutter. “Maybe…
maybe you’re right,” I shake my head. “That doesn’t make me feel any better, though. I feel like things were left on such a shitty note,” I tell her feeling defeated. “Maybe I should’ve tried to fix things?” I question.
“Jo, Cam left
bruises
on you! Why in God’s name would you want to be friends with someone like that? I mean, I know being business partners and all of us being friends for so long, but he crossed the line! I’m with Alé on this one, hon. Sorry.” She shakes her head angrily at me.
“You’re right,” I nod. “I know you’re right.”
“What does Alé say about all of this? I mean, surely Mr. Wonderful will have some idea to help you in all of this,” she teases.
“I
just
found out,” I roll my eyes at her. “Besides, this is my business. He and his family are such good business men that I can’t go to him with this. I don’t want him to think that I’ve failed. I mean, I gave up music, and then, when shit gets hard, I’m going to give this up now, too?” I rant.
“Are you? Going to give it up?” she asks shocked.
“Ugh! I don’t know,” I grumble.
“This is what you do. You tell Cam’s clients that until his position is filled, you are offering a few classes during the week at the studio. Change the direction a bit. See how it goes
.” She shrugs. “It’ll work out, Jo, I promise,” she reassures me as she reaches and gives my hand a squeeze.
“Thanks,” I give her a quick smile. My phone starts to
sing
Benny and the Jets
and sending a vibration through the table top. Opening the message, I see it’s from Alé.
Alé:
Hey babe! I know you’re workin. Call me when you can.
“
Alé?” Addison smiles.
“Yeah
.” I smile. “How’d you know?”
“The look on your face
.” She laughs. “Listen, I have to get going. But your birthday is tomorrow, and I’m still waiting to hear what you want to do for it.” She gives me a pointed look.
“
Ugh. Do we have to?” I whine.
“Yes, we have to,” she mocks me. “Come on
, Jo, we go through this every year. Figure out what you want to do, and I’m there. Keep me posted, okay?” she orders as she kisses my cheek, grabs her coffee, and dashes out the door.
I grab my coffee and phone and follow suite. It’s a beautiful fall morning, so I decided to walk to the coffee shop. Now I wish
I had driven. I feel drained.
I pull
Alé’s number up and hit the call button. The call rings once before his deep, sexy voice fills my ear.
“Kitten
.” I can hear the smirk in his voice.
“
Alé,” I mock his tone. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just
finished with a meeting. You in between clients?” he asks.
“Uh, yeah
.” I nod even though he can’t see me.
“You okay, Jo?” concern
flanking his voice.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “Just stressed. Tired,” I tell him. “So…
what was so urgent I had to call you,” I tease.
“Well, your birthday is tomorrow. And…
well, I know your take on music. Especially Monsoon and a particular contest,” he says hesitantly. “It’s tradition every year that my family goes. We
own
Monsoon, and we missed the first year due to extenuating circumstances, but haven’t missed it since. If you’re a hundred percent against accompanying me to it, I’ll figure a way out of it…” He sounds overly stressed. And worried. I know Alé works hard. I also know that he takes great pride in his work.
“
Alé, how about you go, and we can meet up after or on Sunday,” I offer.
“Are you crazy woman?” he growls.
“Did you just growl at me?” I laugh.
“Are you going to avoid the main topic right now?” he chides.
“Alé, I… I just don’t know if I can,” I say quietly.
“Jo, what is it that you’re afraid of if you do go?”
His deep voice curls around me like a security blanket. I close my eyes and revel in the feeling momentarily.
“Nothing,” I say defensively.
“It’s just… bad memories, Alé. It’s… hard.” I sigh.
“You know I won’t leave you alone there
, right? I’ll be right there next to you the
entire
time,” he promises.
I can tell that this is something that he really wants. Maybe it’s more important to him
than I originally thought?
“Fine
.” I sigh, giving in. “
But
, if I want to leave, we leave. Deal?”
“Deal
, babe,” I can hear the smile in his voice over his victory.