Read Omerta (The DeLuca Family #1) Online
Authors: K. A. Ware
“You are pathetic, and I am going to show you how much I can make you hurt.” I grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him on the floor, with some effort I was able to get him onto his back. He was out of it, he could feel the pain but he couldn’t fight against it.
I stood over him and grabbed for the limes first, slowly squeezing the juice onto his cuts. He cried out in pain but that didn’t dissuade me. By the time I was done, not a single cut was left unsaturated with citrus juice. I smiled as I reached for the salt, pouring it all over his chest and rubbing it in with my foot. That woke him up, he was thrashing and bucking so hard that he almost knocked me over. I needed to end this soon, I had been in here too long already.
Grabbing my phone from my bag, I pulled up the camera app and hit record; really the scene made for an especially lovely picture, it was almost artistic. The word OMERTÁ was carved in his skin, dozens of slash marks covered his torso and arms, even his face. The lime wedges strewn about around him added a nice pop of color, which complimented the red salt stained blood nicely.
“Bo-ris,” I singsonged his name, “Why don’t you tell your Papa and brother what you’re feeling right now?”
When he didn’t move I grabbed my dagger and stabbed him in the stomach, not one of the shallow slices I was using before, this was deep. As soon as my blade sunk into his flesh he let out a blood curdling scream for the camera, and I laughed. It was maniacal, it was wild and dangerous. I was starting to lose myself in this room. I knew that I needed to get out, but I wanted to stay and play.
His screams slowly dissolved into groans. I kept the camera aimed at him as I leaned forward and sliced his throat from ear to ear. It took more effort than I had imagined but my knife was sharp and I had rage fueling me so I managed to get a clean cut. I let the recording roll for another minute as Boris gurgled and sputtered, finally succumbing as his blood pooled beneath him.
I turned off the recording with my left hand and tossed the phone on the couch as I stood. It took a while to roll Boris far enough onto his side to remove the handcuffs. The fucker was heavy. Moving to the sink at the wet bar I washed the blood from my knife, hands and arms watching it swirl down the drain. As the water began to run clear, the haze of bloodlust started to dissipate and reality started to seep in. I quickly splashed water on my face and neck to wash away the rest of the blood, and grabbed some napkins to dry off. I threw them into the sink and rushed over to get the glass from Boris’ drink, and the container from the limes and salt. I brought them back to the sink, and quickly washed the glass and wiped my prints from everything else.
I made another trip into the living room collecting my wig, purse and phone. Taking a lighter from my purse, I lit the paper napkins I used in the sink and watched them burn. My heart was racing. I needed to get out of here but I needed to be smart about it, make sure I covered my tracks in case someone found Boris before his brother or father. My prints weren’t in any database, but I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.
Slipping everything into my purse, I made my way to the mirror at the entry of the suite, replacing my wig I gave myself a onceover. My black dress camouflaged any blood spatter and my skin had been rubbed clean. I appeared to be a normal club girl as long as no one looked too close. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door with my arm, careful not to get my prints on the handle and slipped out into the hallway.
I moved quickly to the elevators using my knuckle to press the call button, conscious not to fidget or make any unnatural or nervous movements in case someone approached. Taking the elevator would run the risk of more people seeing me but if someone witnessed me taking the stairs down thirty two floors it would be far more suspicious.
The doors opened and thankfully there was no one in the elevator. Pressing the button for the underground garage I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as the doors started to close. It was short lived though, because at the last second a hand flew into the space between the doors causing them to open again, and my gaze followed the hand right up to the ice blue eyes of Ivan Kashnikov.
“Where the fuck is she?” I yelled into the phone. I knew it was no use, no one knew where she was. She told me she was going into the city this afternoon for a meeting but that had been a lie. When it past eight that evening with no word from her I called her assistant at the main office and she had told me there was no meeting that afternoon. In fact, Mia had told her she had some personal business to take care of and would be unreachable for the day.
“Sir, we’re trying to find her but her cell was left at the estate and her car is parked at the office in Seattle, which is as far as we’ve been able to track her. There has been no activity on any of her cards and she hasn’t used her name for any sort of travel. I’m sorry, Sir, but it looks like she was pretty thorough. I don’t think we are going to find her until she wants to be found.” Enzo’s voice came through the phone sounding calm.
“Call me if you find anything,” I snapped into the phone and disconnected before he could respond.
I started pacing in front of my desk, “What the fuck is she doing?” I asked to no one in particular. Angelo was on the computer trying to search for any sign of Mia.
“The good thing is that we’re pretty sure she did this willingly. It doesn’t seem like she was taken by force since she lied about where she was going and purposely left her cards and phone,” Angelo said from his post behind the computer.
“That doesn’t mean whatever she had planned didn’t backfire. You and I both have a pretty good fucking idea of what she was, is, trying to do. FUCK!”
“We don’t know that for sure. We don’t have anything to go on right now and assuming the worst isn’t going to help us find her any faster. At this point, the best solution is to wait until morning. If she isn’t back by then, we go after the Kashnikovs.”
“But if they have her now she could be dead by morning!” I shouted as I continued my pacing, running my hands through my hair. This is why I don’t make personal attachments. I was going fucking insane. It was midnight and she had only been gone for eight hours.
Jesus,
I couldn’t even imagine what I would do if she was hurt.
“If we go in half-cocked without a plan and they
do
have her, they might panic and kill her. And if they
don’t
have her, we just showed our hand. There are too many unknowns right now Carlo. Besides, Mia is intelligent and well trained. I don’t like this situation any more than you do but if she did do what we think, she would have been smart about it. Obviously from the way she took off and covered her tracks she had thought this through. Have some faith in her, we’ll get her back,” Angelo said with more confidence than I felt.
“I swear if she has so much as one hair out of place when we get her back, I won’t rest until I see every last one of those fuckers burn.”
My heart was pounding so hard in my chest I was sure he could hear it as he entered the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. He gave me a sidelong onceover and a head nod, I smiled weakly in return.
He didn’t know.
I was tempted to try and take him out now, two birds with one stone, but I immediately dismissed the idea as foolish. I needed time to prepare and plan, and I definitely wanted to take my time with this one. I was certain it was his call to kill Gina and I wanted to make sure his end was slow and painful, even more so than his brother’s.
As the car descended I noticed Ivan glance at me again, lingering on the half obstructed view of my face.
Fuck! Did he recognize me? How is that even possible, am I acting suspicious?
“How much?” he asked with is twisted smirk.
What the fuck?
It took me a second to realize that he thought I was a prostitute. I covered my face with my hands and stifled a laugh, “Oh god, I am like never wearing this dress again, I don’t—I mean I’m not like a hooker.”
What the fuck was that?
My nerves were getting the best of me, the first thing I could think of was to play up the part of ditzy party girl. I just hoped he couldn’t see through the act. I could feel my hands starting to tremble.
Shit!
I quickly rubbed my nose and sniffed loudly a few times. Maybe if he thought I was high it would help make sense of why I was acting like such a fucking spaz.
Ivan immediately took the bait. Raising an eyebrow and smirking, he reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a card, handing it to me. “Well if you want to make some money let me know, we are always looking for new girls,” he said.
I looked at the card in my hands.
Ivan Kashnikov, Owner
The Red Dragon
251 NW Broadway St, Portland, OR 97209
“Are you, like a pimp?” I asked keeping up the valley girl act.
He smirked at me, “It’s a gentlemen’s club, we are always looking for new dancers, and you look like you can move.”
My skin was crawling but I played along, we only had three more floors before the lobby. “Maybe I will,” I said with a slightly defiant tone. “Is the money good?”
“Come and find out, we’re holding auditions for new dancers next Friday at seven at that address,” he smirked again as the doors opened, he winked at me and strode into the deserted lobby.
My stomach rolled as the doors closed again and I began my final descent into the parking garage. I pulled out my phone and opened the Facebook app. Mouse had set us each up with a dummy profile that couldn’t be linked back to either of us. I posted a stupid cat meme and tagged him in it with the caption:
LOL!!!
Each exclamation point signifying an hour of security footage he needed to erase. Since it was a high end hotel they didn’t use a closed circuit surveillance system, a fact that Mouse had discovered the week before. Instead they used an internet based system that was easy enough for an experienced hacker like Mouse to infiltrate. He had been messing around for the last two days on the system, dropping feeds and making it seem like there was an issue with the software or platform connection. Eventually I’m sure someone would piece together the timeline but initially it would look like another glitch.
The doors to the elevator opened and I made my way out of the underground parking garage and onto the street with a cruel smile stretched across my face.
I had stopped pacing an hour ago when Enzo called to inform me that Mia had picked up her car. I told him not to approach her, just follow her and make sure she got home.
Now I was sitting behind my desk, head in hands going over and over in my head what the hell I was going to do when she got home. I was unbelievably relieved that she was okay but I was also furious at the shit she just pulled. I swear to God as soon as she walked through that door I was never letting her out of my sight again, even if I had to lock her up.
The door to my office opened and I jumped up. Mia walked into the room, shoulders back and head held high. She removed her wig and threw it on the side table along with her purse and keys. Kicking off her heels, she turned to the men in the room.
“Everybody out,” When they didn’t move, she added, “NOW!”
At that, Angelo and Sal quickly left the room, Angelo giving me a weary look.
“WHERE THE FUCK—“ I started, but she cut me off.
“You know where I was. Look, I know I owe you an explanation, and you’ll get it but just give me a minute to wash all this shit off okay?” She said as she walked towards the en suite.
I followed behind her, no way was I letting her get out of this that easy. I watched as she immediately started to strip when she entered the bathroom. First her tight black dress followed by her bra, panties and thigh holster and push dagger. Once she was completely naked she headed over to the shower. Turning the handle, she let the water run over her hand and adjusted the temperature, slipping into the stall and sliding the door closed as if it were any other day.
My blood was boiling. I wanted answers and I wanted them now. If she was going to insist on taking a shower fine, but she damn well better be prepared to multitask. I quickly discarded my clothes and silently followed her. She let out a surprised gasp as I snaked my arms around her waist and tugged her out of the stream of water and to me.
Her body was slick, pressed up against mine, her back to my front and I could feel goosebumps erupt over her skin underneath my hands. My dick stirred to life against her ass. Despite how infuriated I was at her for making me worry, I still wanted her.
I was sure our relationship was fucking with her head, it was fucking with mine too. I didn’t know how to navigate it, how to incorporate the way I felt for her into my already existing life. Her connection to me was what had gotten her best friend killed. Gina’s death had been a realization of my worst fear; that somehow someone would see my relationship with Mia as my one weakness, the one way to get me to bend to the will of another. The one way to break me.
“Tell me what you did,” I said in a hoarse whisper. The relief I felt with her in my arms again didn’t erase the anxiety of not knowing where she had been for the past fourteen hours.
“I killed him,” she said softly and covered my arms with her own.
“Who?” I had a pretty good idea but I needed to hear the words from her mouth.
“Boris Kashnikov.”
I didn’t like that she was giving me only small pieces of information, like I had to ask the right questions to unlock the answers. I was used to getting what I wanted when I wanted it, but Mia wasn’t one of my men.
“How?”
“I slit his throat.”
I spun her around and looked into her eyes. They weren’t void of emotion like her tone had implied, instead they were alight with lethal calm I had learned to expect from her when she released her inner savage. I sagged with relief once I realized she wasn’t in shock or reverting back to the catatonic state she had been in after we found Gina. Lowering my head to the crook of her neck, I inhaled her scent and traced the curve of her neck with my lips until my cheek rested against hers and my lips hovered over her ear.
“I am so relieved you’re okay,” I whispered as my hands ghosted up her sides. “And we will be talking about this, in
detail
.” I pulled back to look into her eyes so she knew there was absolutely no room for argument on the subject. When she nodded her acquiescence I continued, running my hands back down her sides and around to cup her ass. “But right now I just need to feel you,” I said as I hoisted her up by the backs of her thighs forcing her to wrap her arms and legs around me. She gasped as I lifted her and shifted us so that her back was against the tiled wall. She looked down at me and a second later her mouth came crashing down on mine.
It reminded me of the first time we had been together, hurried and desperate. I gripped her waist and tilted my hips back to get the angle I needed and pushed forward with such force the back of Mia’s head smacked against the tile. If the moan that she let out when I was finally fully inside her was any indication, she either didn’t notice or didn’t care. I pounded into her harder than I ever had, and with a tight grip on her hips I pulled her down to meet me thrust for thrust. She was biting and sucking at my neck, her nails sinking deep into my shoulders and her heels pushing hard against my ass.
I circled her neck with one of my hands, the other still on her hip guiding her to me, and squeezed. Not hard enough to cut off her air supply but enough for her to feel it, feel me. She let out another long moan and I felt her clench and grow even wetter for me. I lowered my head to take one of her nipples into my mouth. As soon as I got one tight bud into my mouth, I sucked hard and tightened my grip on her neck. She went off like a rocket, her orgasm tearing through her, back arched and pussy clamped down on my dick so hard I thought I might pass out.
I thrust into her harder and faster. Letting go of her throat I slid my free hand between our bodies and swirled my thumb against her clit, chasing my own release and coaxing another out of her. I felt the tingle at the base of my spine and before I knew it, I was spilling into her with a deafening roar. She fell over the edge with me, screaming my name.