BOW DOWN: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Barone Crime Family) (42 page)

I
drove
Cassidy back to her apartment, checked to make sure nobody was waiting for her, and then left. As far as I could tell, I was the only one following her, and none of Ernesto’s guys were lurking around the building.

As much as I wanted to stay, I had to get back. I had to talk to Ernesto and see what he was thinking before I made any other moves. Maybe I could have brought the girl with me, but that was like pulling her into the hornet’s nest.

She was safest in her apartment. I told her that if anyone other than me came to the door, she should call the cops. That wouldn’t help in the long run, but it would keep her alive for a little bit. Long enough for me to try to help, at least.

I pulled into the parking structure and headed back inside. My mind was buzzing with a thousand different scenarios, but one thing kept coming back to me.

I wanted that girl. As soon as I had touched her body, I was reminded all over again. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about her that way. I couldn’t see her as just another civilian, an enemy of the mafia. I couldn’t think of her as a target.

Sure, she’d lied to me, but fuck, I lied all the time. I didn’t give a damn that her real name was Cassidy or that she thought she was going to use me for a story. She knew as well as I did that she wasn’t going to get shit out of me, that she was really just doing it because she couldn’t help herself.

I saw the way she had looked at me: afraid, but wanting it anyway. She looked at me like she wanted to strip my pants off and suck my cock and then run away screaming.

And that got me fucking hard. I couldn’t explain why. I didn’t want her to be afraid of me, but I also found that fucking fear exciting. I wanted to kiss her softly on the lips while slapping her ass rough. I wanted to make her beg and laugh and come.

But I couldn’t do any of that if Ernesto fucking tortured and killed her.

Once inside, I walked through the halls until I got to the office. I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Vince looked up from his desk. “She okay?”

“She’s fine.”

“Good. Ernesto is on his way down right now.”

“What?”

“He called a minute ago. Wanted a meeting. I assume about you.”

“Fuck.”

“Relax.”

“I’m relaxed. But I’m afraid I’ll hurt that piece of shit.”

“Have a little fucking control.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

I sat down at my desk, but just then there was a knock at the door. Vince glanced at me and I got up, opening the door.

Ernesto stood there, a sour expression on his face. “Rafa.”

“Ernesto. Come on in.”

He stepped into the room. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“What can we do for you, Ernesto?” Vince asked.

Ernesto walked over to him and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. “Wanted to talk about this Spiders shit.”

“I figured.” Vince leaned back. “You know I don’t have much to do with it. They’re not my fucking problem.”

“They’re all of our problem,” Ernesto said. “Plus, your boy is involved.”

“Only because you got me involved,” I said, annoyed.

“Doesn’t matter. I want this journalist girl. What do you think about her, Rafa?”

“She’s not a problem,” I said. “And she doesn’t know anything.”

“Oh look, a fucking expert.” Ernesto made a face. “Listen, Vince, I want the girl. I’m only here out of courtesy to you and Rafa.”

“We don’t think you need to take her,” Vince said slowly.

“I don’t give a fuck. She’s the only link we have to the Spiders, and I want those fucking bastards.”

“She’s just a girl,” I said. “Some stupid girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Ernesto looked at me. “She’s a journalist looking into our fucking business. That alone used to be enough to get her killed.”

“I chose not to kill her, because I know what’s fucking best,” I practically growled at him.

“Rafa is a good judge,” Vince said quickly, trying to defuse my anger.

“Maybe he is, but I still want this girl.”

“I’m not letting you,” Vince said simply.

Ernesto looked surprised. Hell, I was fucking surprised. Ernesto slowly stood up.

“You can’t stop me,” he said.

“I can,” Vince said simply. “Stay away from the girl.”

“You stupid boy,” he said. “You stupid fucking boy. Arturo is going to have your ass.”

“Arturo can do whatever he wants. For now, you back the fuck off, or else.”

Ernesto glared and then looked at me. “You fucking pussy. You should have just killed the girl.” He turned and left the room.

I stood up and looked at Vince. “Thanks. Now I have to go kill that fucking cocksucker.”

“Sit back down,” Vince said. “I didn’t do shit. He can do whatever he wants. He’s just afraid of starting an actual civil war.”

“And you’re not?”

“No, because that was an empty fucking threat.”

“So what? We just let him have her?”

“We see what Arturo says. For now, keep an eye on her.”

“Fine.” I headed toward the door and then paused. “Thanks for backing me up.”

Vince sighed, shaking his head. “I know what you’re going through.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“Something like it. Now get the fuck out of here.”

I nodded, opened the door, and left the room.

Ernesto was a piece of shit, but he had power in the mob. He had men, a good number of soldiers, maybe as many as Vince did. If it came to a fight, it might not go in our favor.

But I would love a fight. That was what I was good at. I could cut throats like any man. Hell, I could do it better. I wanted a chance at blood.

Instead, I’d watch over the girl, make sure she stayed intact while the fucking council of bosses made their damn choice. Vince would argue my case, and then that would be that.

I headed out to my car, intent on a long day of sitting around, bored as fuck. I wasn’t going to let Cassidy know that I was stalking her. I didn’t need to spook the girl any more than I already had.

Although I wished I could get up into her apartment, slowly strip her panties down her smooth skin, and run my tongue along her delicious little pussy until she forgot about all of this and came like lightning in my mouth.

R
afa took
me up to my apartment, checked to make sure that it was empty, and then left. As soon as the door shut and I was alone, I felt like I was going to break down and cry.

Instead, I curled up on the couch and took some deep breaths, getting myself together. I couldn’t have a breakdown every time Rafa came around. There was too much at stake for me to lose it, and I knew I needed to keep my cool no matter what right now.

I tried my best to go through my normal routine. I changed into comfortable clothes, I made some lunch, I watched some TV, and then I tried to do some work. I was writing a story about a local man who had started a charity that collected shoes for the homeless. It was pretty boring, but it would pay well enough, so I was committed to doing it.

My day drifted along like that. I kept catching myself daydreaming about Rafa, imagining his body against mine, his arms wrapped around me as he pressed me down against the couch. I wanted to feel what he could do to me, the way he could make my body feel, but I also hoped I’d never see him again.

Dinner came and went. I cooked, ate, and got back to work. I was throwing myself into this boring article simply to try to distract myself from being so damn afraid.

The fact that Rafa had felt the need to drive me home and check my apartment meant that someone was after me. He wasn’t trying to hide that fact, but still, it felt almost unreal. I’d never been wanted by anyone before, and I’d never been in any danger. Now some mobster was protecting me from the rest of the mob, and I had no idea why.

I didn’t get what Rafa was getting out of this. If I really was some threat to his organization, I didn’t understand why he was helping me. He was betraying his own people. Or maybe not. Maybe there really was a division inside the mafia over the issue of human trafficking.

Or maybe he just knew that I had nothing to do with it and knew absolutely nothing. Maybe underneath those tattoos, that dangerous grin, those muscles, maybe under all that deadly strength, there was a man who genuinely cared.

It didn’t matter, though. I needed to concentrate on my work. I doubled down and got a good chunk of the research over with.

Which was how I found myself staring at the computer screen at one in the morning, tired and bored.

Nothing had happened all day. It was quiet, very quiet, and I hadn’t heard anything from Rafa. Nobody was watching me, or at least that was how it felt.

I couldn’t help myself. It was nagging at me, digging into the corners of my brain. I did a quick Google search, trying to find something about Rafa himself, though there wasn’t anything online. That didn’t surprise me.

I did a few more searches and clicked through some websites. I was looking for any information on the mafia’s involvement with human trafficking that I could find, especially anything that suggested there was a split within the organization. I wanted to find the truth, and I just couldn’t help myself.

I knew it was stupid. I knew I shouldn’t have been messing around with that stuff. But alone in my apartment, typing on my laptop, I felt safe.

I shouldn’t have felt safe.

One thing led to another, and I found myself doing a quick search for the Spiders again. I got nothing, as before, but I couldn’t help myself. I started searching more, going deeper.

That was when my computer stopped working.

Or that was probably not right. It was still on, but the screen suddenly went black. I stared at it, surprised and not sure what was happening. I tried to power it off, but nothing happened.

“Shit,” I said, annoyed. I figured I had gotten a virus.

But then text started to appear.

“Why are you still looking for us?”

I stared at those words and felt a knife of panic stab through me.

I tried typing back. “Who are you?”

A few seconds later, another message. “We’ve been watching you. We know what’s going on.”

I could barely breathe. This was exactly what Rafa had warned me about, and now it was happening. I didn’t know who was messaging me, but I had to assume it was the mafia.

They knew I had broken the rules. They knew I was looking for the Spiders still, despite the fact that Rafa had told me to lie low.

I nearly got up and ran away.

Instead, I typed another message. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“We are the Spiders. We want you to stop looking for us.”

I took a sharp breath. It wasn’t the mafia after all.

It was the freaking Spiders, the people I so desperately wanted to talk to.

“Why are you watching me?”

“Because the mafia wants you dead, and we don’t like when the mafia hurts women.”

“That’s what Dasha said.”

“Dasha was a good fighter. We are angry about what happened to her.”

I couldn’t believe what I was doing.

This was probably the worst possible idea imaginable. I should throw the laptop out the window and pretend like I had never gotten these messages. I should set it on fire and play dumb.

But I couldn’t. Dasha had died for the Spiders. Maybe she gave me up, and I was a little upset about that, but still. She died for the cause she believed in. I was too afraid to even take a single risk for that same cause.

I wasn’t Dasha, and I wasn’t some freedom fighter. I was just a regular girl who had gotten way in over her head. I wasn’t anything special, and I was so afraid that I would be lost forever if I keep pushing my luck.

But they had contacted me. They came to me. I couldn’t turn this opportunity down. So many journalists would kill for this chance.

“I’m angry too,” I typed. “I hate what they’re doing in this city.”

“We’re sorry she put you in danger. We don’t know what she was thinking. But you are in danger, Cassidy.”

“I know. What do I do?”

“We can protect you. We can help. Come to us.”

“Come to you?

“Yes. We can protect you.”

“I don’t know who you are.”

“We are the Spiders. We are women like Dasha.”

“I don’t trust you. Dasha got me into this mess.”

“We don’t blame you for not trusting us, but you are being watched. We can help you.”

I bit my lip, confused. I didn’t know what to do in this situation.

On the one hand, yes, the Spiders seemed like they were fighting on the good side. They were freeing women and fighting against the mafia.

But Dasha did give me up. Dasha was the one who put me in this position to begin with. Maybe I agreed with what they wanted, but I definitely wasn’t happy with what they had done to me.

Now they wanted to protect me, but how could I know if this was for real? The only person to actually do anything for me so far was Rafa. The Spiders may have been on the right side, but Rafa was actually coming to me and trying to protect me. The Spiders were only sending me some random, creepy message through my laptop.

I couldn’t trust them. I knew that deep down, as much as I wanted to trust them. I couldn’t believe in anyone right now, except for maybe Rafa, but even he was questionable.

“I can’t,” I said.

“We must go. They’re watching you, Cassidy. If you change your mind, tie a red bandana to the fence at the corner of South Wales and Arch streets. Goodbye.”

And then my computer returned to normal like nothing had happened.

I quickly closed my tabs and slammed the lid shut, my heart pounding.

I could leave them a message now if I needed to. I wasn’t going to do anything about it right away, but it was a slight relief knowing that I had the real option.

They had kept saying I was being watched, over and over again. Of everything, that scared me the most.

Because I didn’t know what they meant. Was the mafia watching, or were they?

And which one was worse?

That message only made things more complicated. They hadn’t fixed a single thing by sending me those messages. Now I was more stressed and confused than I had been before, and I didn’t even think that was possible.

Not only did the mafia want to kill me, but now I was actively being watched by the Spiders as well. They could easily take over my computer, so who knew what else they could do.

They were dangerous. I was sure of that.

My life was at stake here, and I had nowhere to turn. Rafa’s wicked grin came back to me, and I wished all over again that he hadn’t left me alone.