Breathless & Bloodstained (The Chicago War #4) (2 page)

“I should have
stopped him sooner. Joel is an ass, I know. I didn’t think he’d go off like
that on you, especially not with someone here.”

Abriella shrugged.
“I guess you don’t know my brother all that well, huh?”

“Apparently not.”

“What was the
second thing?”

Tommas wet his
lips with his tongue, drawing Abriella’s gaze in again. A question passed
through her thoughts so quickly, she almost missed it.

What did he kiss
like?

Tommas’ next words
did not help to take away that errant idea. “I called him to let him know you
were in my club. I shouldn’t have done that. You were having a good time, it
seemed like innocent fun, but I thought your brother should know you were out.
That was my mistake. It won’t happen again. You’re free to come and go from my
club as long as you can get in, Ella.”

Damn
.

“Thanks.”

“One more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not,
Ella.”

She frowned. “Not
what?”

“A whore,” Tommas
murmured.

Heat pinked her
cheeks again. She didn’t want to rehash all of that. It was bad enough that
Tommas had heard what Joel said about Abriella’s mother.

Sara Trentini
wasn’t an angel. Abriella knew her mother’s darkest secret, but only because
she’d accidentally stumbled upon some paperwork regarding Sara and Joel’s
father.  Biologically, Joel belonged to Terrance, although their father Peter
had claimed him as his son. Skeletons like those wouldn’t stay hidden in the
closet forever.

Abriella didn’t
judge her mother.

She couldn’t.

Sara was her
mother.

“I just … it
doesn’t matter,” Abriella said lamely. 

Tommas rubbed at
his right temple. “No, it isn’t. You’re eighteen, and you can consent to
whatever you want to do when it comes to a man. What you were doing tonight
wasn’t any different than what Joel does with whoever he picks up on any given
night.”

Abriella cringed.
“I don’t want to hear that.”

“Well, it’s true.
Double standards are reserved for hypocrites and assholes only.”

Unable to stop
herself, Abriella laughed.

Tommas flashed her
with a sexy smile. “That is a much better sight and sound.”

“Huh?”

“Your smile. Your
laugh. Not that the fight you showed wasn’t good, because it was. A strong
fight makes for a good woman, but I like your smile and laugh more.”

Abriella’s throat
went dry. “Oh.”

“Don’t let anyone
take that from you, either.”

“I won’t.”

“Good. You’re not
a whore, Ella. Don’t ever let a man call you that, or label you with that title
unless you want him to.”

Her mind blanked.

Tommas’ sharp
stare caught Abriella’s as he asked, “Do you get what I’m saying?”

“No,” she
confessed.

“You’re not a
whore, sweetheart, but you can be anything you want to be for the man you want
to be with. It’s that simple. What you do in private with a man is nobody’s
business but yours and his. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

Abriella’s bottom
lip caught under her teeth as she took in his words. “You don’t think so?”

“No.”

Oh
.

“Outfit daughters
shouldn’t act like who—”

“What did I say
about that word, huh?” Tommas asked, taking a step forward.

Abriella tipped
her chin down, but grinned all the same. “Sorry.”

She didn’t realize
how close Tommas had come to stand in front of her until his fingers were
sliding under her chin and tilting her head up. She decided right then and
there that she liked the feeling of this man’s hands on her skin.

That was so bad.
Wrong, even. 

But she liked it.

“Do what makes you
happy, Ella. Let the assholes like your brother keep their judgment.”

“Easier said than
done. You know where I come from, Tommas.”

“Tommy. I prefer
Tommy.”

“Tommy,” she
echoed.

“Let them keep
it,” he repeated. “Just get smarter about your ways, girl. That’s all.”

She didn’t know
how to respond to that.

“Are you
encouraging me to break the rules?”

Tommas chuckled.
The sound of his amusement rocked through Abriella. “If you want to call it
that, then sure. The thing is, I have a feeling this wasn’t your first time
doing something you shouldn’t and it probably won’t be your last. Just get
smarter about it; that’s all. You want to have some fun. Have it. You want to
go out. Go. Don’t be stupid about it, though.”

“Are you always
this … strange?” Abriella asked.

“No, sometimes I’m
even worse. Moody. A prick. Quiet. Depends on the day.”

Abriella wondered
if she could find out more about Tommas.

“Huh.”

“I do have a
question for you, but you don’t have to answer.”

“Maybe I will, but
you won’t know unless you ask.”

“A smartass. I
like that, too.”

Abriella smiled.
“You’re not the first to call me that.”

“I’m not
surprised.” Tommas tipped his head to the side a bit and asked, “The man you
were dancing with … would you have taken him to your dorm or wherever tonight?”

“No,” Abriella
said instantly.

“Why not?”

“Because he was
good for a little fun, but not much else. Two dimensional men are boring.”

Tommas cocked a
brow. “What would it take, Ella?”

Was he asking?

Because almost
everything she learned about Tommas tonight was a great start. She wasn’t an
angel. She hadn’t been one of those for years. She wasn’t going to act like one
now.

“The right kind of
guy.”

Tommas laughed.
“And who is that?”

“The one who can
give me what I want.”

His gaze caught
hers, holding strong. “Care to let me in on the secret?”

“I just want to be
free, Tommy.”

CHAPTER ONE

W
hat good was
family if they didn’t storm in your home without knocking while barely saying a
word to you as they went directly to where the food was?

“Cousin,” Tommas
greeted.

Damian strolled
past Tommas’ spot at the small kitchen table. His cousin hit up the fridge, his
broad shoulders blocking Tommas’ view of Damian as he dug to find food.

“You need to go
shopping, Tommy.”

“I’m aware, D.”

“There’s fuck all
in here.”

Well, there was,
but Damian didn’t like healthy food. He preferred junk food, and then he worked
it all off with his crazy morning regime. Tommas had lived more than enough
years with his cousin to know what the man liked.

“Eat an apple for
once,” Tommas said. “It’s better for you. An apple a day and all that crap.”

Damian popped up
from the fridge, closing the door and biting into a red apple at the same time.
“Not my first choice.”

Tommas cringed.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“You sound like my
wife.”

“She has better
manners than you do.”

Damian chuckled,
swallowing his bite of apple. “She is my better half for a reason, I guess.”

“Truth.”

Tommas shut the
laptop he’d been working on and pushed it away. Damian joined his cousin at the
kitchen table, twisting the chair around so he could rest his arms over the
back as he regarded Tommas.

“I went to your
house first,” Damian said.

“I haven’t been
there a lot lately.”

His apartment was
easier and safer. Joel Trentini wasn’t aware of Tommas’ second, much smaller
place in the heart of the Trentini territory. Tommas had only picked up the
apartment a couple of years back, because he wanted a safe place for Abriella
to come to if she needed.

Looking around the
two bedroom, one bath apartment was a bad idea for Tommas. There wasn’t a
single part of the apartment that was unmarked by Abriella in some way. Her
little touches were all over it from the colorful artwork on the walls, to the
black appliances in the kitchen. Tommas knew the things she liked and had
picked accordingly to decorate. Abriella had added a lot over the years like
the silver throw pillows on the sectional and the white chaise by the bay
window.

“There you go
again,” Damian said. “Off into another world.”

Tommas slammed
back down to reality in a blink. “Hmm, what?”

“You’re dazed,
Tommy. You’re out of it.”

“I—”

“Don’t deny it.”

Tommas sighed.
“All right, so I’m out of it. I’ve got a lot on my mind. What did you want
coming here, anyway?”

Damian passed a
look at the blankets on the couch. They were messy, like someone had been
sleeping in them and hadn’t bothered to fold them up. “Still sleeping on the
couch, huh?”

It was easier than
the bedroom.

She was all over
that, too.

“What do you want,
D?”

“To talk,” Damian
said.

“About what?”

“Whatever you’re
planning. I’d like to know this time around instead of getting surprised by
whatever in the hell you’re going to do like the last time.”

Tommas ignored the
heat of his cousin’s tone. Trusting that Riley would do what he needed to do
and kill Joel, Tommas had inadvertently put Theo DeLuca in the crossfire. The
man nearly lost his life more than once, but shit happens sometimes, and people
became casualties. Once Tommas had known about Theo’s involvement with Evelina
Conti, he’d changed plans and tried to correct what was already in motion
because of Riley. Tommas was hoping Theo would see it the same way and move on.

Unfortunately, the
war was far from being over.

“I apologized for
Theo.”

“Not to him,”
Damian replied.

“All right, that’s
true enough.”

“When are you
going to do that?”

Tommas shrugged.
“Soon. What more do you want, man?”

“A guarantee it
won’t happen again.”

“I don’t know if I
can do that.”

Damian’s shoulders
stiffened. “Don’t go stupid over someone you don’t even have, Tommy.”

“It has nothing to
do with not having someone, Damian. It’s getting what is mine. That’s all.”

“Is it?”

“Yes,” Tommas
murmured.

“I think you
should make your way over to Theo’s hospital room before he gets out,” Damian
said. “Make face, and give the man the respect he’s owed for the shit he’s had
to go through the last few months.”

Tommas nodded. “I
will. I told you soon, okay?”

“He’s getting out
today, Tommas.”

Oh. Well, then …

“And I think he
might want to step out of this,” Damian added quieter.

That caught
Tommas’ attention. “The war?”

“Yeah. He’s never
had much to do with it except to be used by people for their own gain. Theo is
at a different place right now. This mess is the last thing on his mind. So
yeah, he wants out.”

Theo DeLuca was
smart as hell for doing it, too. Tommas didn’t blame the man.

“Does that mean he
isn’t taking any sides?” Tommas asked. 

“I don’t know,
Tommy. You’ll have to ask when you make your way over there.”

Tommas scowled.
“Mmm.”

“Someone else to
consider is Adriano Conti,” Damian said. “What about him? Where does he stand
in the mess right now between you and Joel? It would be good to know where he
is in all of this.”

Adriano Conti was
a young Capo that Tommas had learned to respect over the last few months. For a
long time, Tommas simply took Adriano’s age and compliance to Riley as a
weakness. Tommas was ten shades of wrong on both fronts. Adriano had more than
proved he was capable of handling his own business without his father at his
side. With Riley dead, Adriano hadn’t even skipped a beat with his crew or
life.

The kid was moving
forward.

That was the
important thing.

Tommas shrugged.
“His wife’s sister is stuck firmly on Joel’s side of things, man. Think about
it.”

Damian scowled as
he took another bite of his apple. Tommas waited his cousin out while Damian
chewed and swallowed. The men sat in silence until Damian put his apple aside.

“Adriano won’t do
anything that risks Alessa, her family, or her happiness.”

“Exactly,” Tommas
said quietly.

“But that doesn’t
mean he’ll jump into Joel’s side of things, either.”

“Probably not.
There’s a lot of love lost there.”

Damian leaned
forward, letting his arms hang down over the back of the chair. “You’re on your
own against Joel Trentini.”

Tommas chuckled
dryly. “Not entirely. I’ve got you, D.”

“True,” Damian
agreed, flashing a wicked smile. “But I still don’t have the first clue what
you’re doing or where you’re going, cousin. Joel, like he usually does, has
made a lot of threats and sent out a bunch of warnings, but he’s yet to put any
of those words into actions. That makes me nervous. We don’t know what he’s
doing or when he’s planning on doing it. You need to make a choice where you’re
going, Tommy, before Joel decides something for you.”

“Up.”

“Up?”

Tommas passed the
decorative glass bowl on the table a look. A handful of silver bangles had been
tossed haphazardly in the bowl months ago by Abriella when she woke up early
one morning to cook breakfast. She hadn’t wanted to get her jewelry messy while
she cooked. Tommas had driven her back to her apartment so she could make it to
church with her sister.

No one suspected a
thing.

No one ever had.

To get mornings
like those back, the very best mornings he could ever remember, Tommas only had
one option. He needed to take the empty boss’s seat. He would have to clear
Abriella’s house of Outfit men, so that she was free to make her own choices.

Guilt still chewed
at Tommas.

“A lot of people
have died,” Tommas told his cousin.

“I know.”

“They shouldn’t
keep dying, D. They didn’t cause this feud. The people have done nothing but be
born or married to certain families.”

“I never knew you
to be the kind of man who worried about other people,” Damian noted.

“I’m not.”

“But Abriella is,
right?”

“She is,” Tommas
said under his breath. “And I know she wouldn’t want this to keep going. I can
give it up, D. I can say fuck the seat, leave it alone, and let Joel take it.”

Damian didn’t give
a thing away as he said, “And her, too, yeah?”

Yes
.

“I could do it,”
Tommas said, meeting his cousin’s gaze. “I could let her go if I thought she
would be happy, or that she would find someone who could make her happy. I
wouldn’t mind. I could do it, D.”

“Are you sure
about that?”

“I know I could.”

Because Abriella’s
happiness was all Tommas had ever cared about at the end of it all.

“But,” Tommas
added, “I know Joel. And he won’t let her be happy. All the blood in that
family is so sour that it stinks. They’re poisoned against one another. Joel
doesn’t care about his sisters or his parents, he never has. He won’t do a damn
thing for her. If I let it all go thinking that he might give her the chance to
be happy, I’ll be sorely disappointed in the end.”

“You’re choosing
to go up, then?” Damian asked.

“Up,” Tommas
echoed. 

Damian blew out a
quiet breath. “Then that’s where we’ll get you, man.”

Tommas wondered if
being up as high as he needed to go would be a lonely place. It certainly would
be if he was alone once he made it there. What if he took the seat as the
Outfit’s next boss, and Abriella still pushed him away?

As if Damian could
read his mind, he said, “It’s a risk, Tommas.”

“Nothing worth
having comes easy, right?”

“Right,” his
cousin said. “Besides, the Outfit needs a change. A good change, Tommy. You
could be that. Don’t make this about only your selfishness, make it bigger than
all that nonsense. We haven’t been a
famiglia
for a long time. Do what
needs to be done, man. Get us back to that place. You’re capable.”

Damian was right.

“Doing what needs
to be done could be messy as hell.”

Hadn’t enough
blood spilled?

“So let’s play
dirty.” Damian laughed. “We can do that.”

Tommas caught
sight of the bangles again.

“I saw Abriella
yesterday,” Tommas admitted. “She was having dinner with her mother.”

“Oh?”

“She didn’t see
me.”

Damian chewed on
his inner cheek. “What about it?”

“Love and business
never mixes well, but I don’t know how to make it about anything else right
now. That’s dangerous, D.”

“Dangerous men are
the best ones.”

The problem with
that was Tommas wasn’t the only dangerous one. Joel was lethal, too. Erratic at
times, demanding like a spoiled child, and unpredictable in his moves at best.
That didn’t make for a good situation when Tommas needed to carefully plan
ahead to take the seat and the Outfit from Joel without spilling more blood
than what was necessary.

“You could play it
like Riley did,” Damian suggested. “Best Joel in the areas he’s most weak and
cut him off at the knees when he thinks you’re down and out. You’ve got to give
Riley the credit where it’s due, even if he did get killed in the end. He
played one hell of a good game.”

“I’m not Riley,”
Tommas replied.

Damian chuckled.
“No, you’re right. You’re far too bloody for that.”