Coercion (The Cassano Series Book 3) (2 page)

Victoria

I gasp when Theo mentions the FBI.

“What the hell do they have to do with this?”

“Recently, they discovered what we were doing. I won’t get into all that, but we traded immunity in exchange for helping them.

“Naturally, we must stop what we’re doing illegally once they say, but they want to stop terrorism as badly as we do. They also want to nail an operation bigger than our own.”

My eyes widen. I’m shocked at the moment.

“What could be bigger than this?”

“They want to take down a drug lord, John Ferrera, who they believe is tied to a mastermind drug lord in Mexico named Victor Larios.”

I briefly cover my mouth. “I’ve heard of John Ferrera.”

“Yes, well, we think a dealer under him is a member of our Royal lounge.”

“Uh, OK.” I believe he’s speaking of Noah Sanders, but I don’t say in case I’m wrong.

“Don’t you see where I’m going with this, Victoria?”

“Not exactly.”

Theo leans over farther on his desk and stares me down.

“What we’re doing illegally is going to end, and Adrian would give it up in a heartbeat before then if he could. He’d do that for you. He told me so before he left. For the first time in over a decade, someone is more important than avenging his father’s death.”

“He seriously told you that?”

“Yes. He’s healing, and you get the credit. He wants you more than anything else in this world.”

Theo sits back and swivels his chair lightly from side to side. He’s giving me time to process all that he has shared with me. I’m overwhelmed. “But he withheld so much from me, including the fact he knew Reggie.”

“Telling you about his relationship with Reggie would’ve only led to more questioning. Your job is to investigate. He was protecting you, and so was Reg.

“Everything they did was to keep you safe. It was so you wouldn’t lose your job, too. The last thing you need is to get dragged into the mess we’re in with the FBI. Adrian would never put you in that position voluntarily.”

“Wow, this meeting didn’t go the way I expected.” I lean back in my chair and cast my gaze downward. “He wasn’t betraying me for his own gain or safety.”

“You’ve become his world. You’ve brought him back from the darkness. He’s even speaking to his twin and mother again.”

“Twin,” I say, jerking my head up.

“Agatha is Adrian’s twin, and he’s barely spoken to her in years. You get credit for fixing that, too. He needs you, Victoria. Don’t let him walk away. Don’t leave him. He’s a decent human being, looking out for the greater good of our country.”

“Damn, I wouldn’t even listen to him. Where is he?”

“He’s at his home in Arizona. He won’t return my calls, so I don’t know when he’ll return.”

“You have to get me there, Theo. Please … help me get to Adrian.”

Zev

“Blanca, come to my office,” I order through the phone. It’s like ordering an entrée of pussy through room service. It’s too easy, and I don’t get why most days.

She’s Adrian and Theo’s executive assistant. Simon swears she’s been in love with Adrian for some time, but I haven’t asked her. I don’t care to know. He doesn’t want her, and I only want to fuck her, so it’s irrelevant. I think, anyway.

No, my oldest brother had to go and fall in love with a cop. He’s an idiot for falling in love in the first place, but a fucking cop … what was he thinking? Oh, right, he wasn’t. He was letting his heart and dick do all the decision making.

My brain chooses where to stick my cock, and my heart has yellow caution tape around it with a sign that reads “Condemned.”

The last time I started to let it feel, another father figure was ripped from me. Sonny. Victoria and Sadie’s father. Go figure. He was becoming like another dad to me, and my brothers and I couldn’t even go to the funeral because of our shady dealings here.

Another death. That’s when I changed the sign around my fucking heart from “Out of order” to “Condemned.” It wasn’t hurting another mother fucking time.

There’s a faint tap on my door before Blanca steps in. She’s still timid after all the times I’ve bent her over my desk. What’s her fix from this? And why am I wondering about it now?

With a smile and tilted blue eyes, she leans against the closed door. I stalk toward her, admiring her lavender outfit for the day. She’s always dressed remarkably in a suit jacket and skirt.

I also know I’m going to find thigh highs underneath that skirt and a thong I can move over with ease. My hand grips her waist before my nose dips to right below her ear.

Dragging it down her neck, I hear her whimper. I grope her tit as I plant kisses across her collarbone, right above her white blouse.

It at least gives her the impression I can be sweet. She knows I won’t kiss her mouth, so she doesn’t try anymore. Her blonde waves are down today, so my free hand slides into her hair. “Over my desk, Blanca. It’s where I want you today.”

“Yes, Sir.”

My breath hovers in front of hers as I slowly shake my head.

“Always the submissive one.”

“Only with you, Sir.”

“Interesting.”

Turning her, I walk her to my desk while holding her hair and waist. I lay her over it and hike up her skirt. Her smooth, perky ass is at attention, and when I slide my fingers into her panties, I feel how wet she is.

Still clenching her hair with my hand, I use the other to undo my belt and dress pants. I whip out my dick and am forced to let her go for a minute to put on a condom I’ve had in my pants pocket. Yanking over her panties, I slide right into her.

This is becoming a little too easy and is not as thrilling as it was months ago. I begin to fuck her–hard. Her voluptuous tits shove against the desk.

It’s six in the evening. Blanca will be leaving soon, whereas I’m only starting my day.

Why am I thinking about that?

I’m supposed to be enjoying this fuck. It’s because a question is gnawing at me. “Tell me what you get out of this?”

“What?” she asks breathlessly. I shut up and slam into her until I’m shooting my load.

Once my orgasm subsides, I slip out of her, take off the condom and toss it into the wastebasket next to my desk. Gripping her hair again, I stroke her clit until she’s moaning and stiffening up as her release claims her.

Holding her hair tighter, I press her cheek harder to the desk. I won’t hurt her, but I want to get to the bottom of something, so I can go back to enjoying our sweaty, dirty sex.

I lean close to her ear. “Tell me why you let me fuck you whenever I want.”

“I enjoy it, Sir.”

“Why do I think there’s another reason?”

“I don’t know, Sir.”

“Hmm … it doesn’t have anything to do with Adrian does it?”

Without a beat, a tear streams out of the corner of her eye.

“That’s what I fucking thought. Tell me what you’re thinking right now.”

“I think I love him. You remind me of him and all I wish he’d do to me.”

I picture lifting her head and slamming it down on my desk, but I don’t want to hurt her. I only want to hurt
something
. I’m using her, too. Can I really be pissed?

“You had to go and fucking ruin this,” I spew.

She squirms until she can pull free from me. I back up, allowing her to spin around. Straightening her skirt, she angles her chin up at me as tears stream down her cheeks.

“Fuck you, Xavier. You use me every day, and don’t even try to say you don’t. You won’t even kiss me on the mouth. I’m just a meaningless fuck. At least it means something to me.”

“Oh, it means you want to fuck my unavailable brother. Hell, he isn’t even in the damn state. He doesn’t want you, Blanca. He loves Victoria, and he’s never going to see you as anything other than an employee who would wipe his ass if given the opportunity. Never, sweetheart.”

“You’re an asshole, and I hope you enjoy being alone the rest of your life, you coldhearted dick!” Blanca is sobbing as she storms out of my office. I do kind of feel like a dick and an asshole.

Victoria

Reggie opens the door on the second knock. His eyes widen before he steps aside so I can enter.

“I’m surprised you’re here.”

“I had a meeting with Theo Cassano earlier, and he told me everything. I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“OK.”

“I’m still pissed you kept everything from me, but I understand why. At first I felt like Adrian had a better excuse. He loved me and was worried he would lose me. Then I recalled how you feel about me, too. You also had a better understanding of what I had to lose with my career.”

I turn away from him. “I know you were only trying to protect me and what I believed to be true about my father.”

From behind, Reggie’s hands grip my shoulders.

“I do still care, Vic.” His breath teases my ear. We’re in too intimate of a position, so I turn to face him. “I was trying not to involve you, but then you got yourself in the middle of it.

“Once you became involved with Adrian, I had no clue how to handle the situation. I only wanted to protect you from the pain I knew you would feel if you found us out.”

My eyes flit from the ground to his.

“I forgive you.”

“That’s a relief, Victoria.”

I bite on the corner of my lip, fearful of how he will take the next news.

“I’m forgiving Adrian, too, and I’m going to help him.”

Reggie takes a step backward. “What?”

“You heard me. I’m going to help him get out of the mess he’s in.”

“You can’t. It’s too dangerous. On top of that, Bishop will eventually know you’re with Adrian. If the FBI busts Noah Sanders and Ferrera before the cops, Bishop is going to think you withheld information from him on purpose to protect the Cassano brothers.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“No matter how you play this, Vic, you will lose your job or Adrian. You won’t be allowed to keep both.”

I lower my head. “I know that.”

“Does Adrian?”

“I haven’t spoken to him, but he doesn’t need to piece that together yet. He’s worth losing my career over. I just have to keep it for now, so I can help him.”

Reg skirts a hand over his raven colored curls.

“I can’t believe you will give it all up for him. What is it about Adrian Cassano that has you willing to throw all you’ve worked for away?”

I tilt my eyes back up. “He’s the one, Reggie. The only one I could ever love. If I have to choose between my career and Adrian, I choose love.”

Adrian

It’s now been five days since I’ve laid eyes on her. I miss the shit out of her, but the time away from Victoria made me realize it’s for the best. It’s the only way to keep her out of danger.

I should’ve never spoken to her on a personal level. She was intriguing, and I allowed myself to be pulled in, losing sight of the danger I was putting her in.

She could lose her job. Or worse yet, she will be caught in the middle of our ordeal with Noah Sanders and the FBI and get hurt.

Now, she will likely do whatever she has to not to play poker in the Royal lounge. She won’t want to risk seeing me. This will keep her safe.

I’m working at my desk in the late evening. OK, I’m distracted by Victoria, but I’m trying to focus on work when Boone knocks at my open door.

“Come in.”

“Ready to talk yet?”

“I guess. Have a seat.”

“What’s her name?” he asks as he sits in the chair across from my desk.

I sigh. “That obvious, huh?”

“Yes, and I admit I’m surprised there is a someone.”

“Her name is Victoria. I love her but it’s complicated because of this job.”

“I get that completely, but you seem miserable, man.”

“I am, so let’s discuss something else, like work.”

“Uh, Larios’s ambush against Don Esquival’s cartel is coming up very soon.”

“I want in on it.”

“You are in on it. You’re funding it.”

“I mean I want
in
. I want to go with our team.”

Holding up his hands, Boone stares at me with a stunned expression.

“Look, I don’t know if you are trying for suicide here, but you haven’t trained in years. And anyway, unlike what I thought, no one but Hammond and Dominic can go. The cartel barely trusts them, so they can’t bring anyone else in.”

“Then I want to go to Mexico to meet with our team.”

“We can’t risk the cartel seeing your face. What if they spot you later? You’re occasionally on the news or in the papers in Las Vegas. We can’t take a chance. I can get our guys here instead.”

“I’ll disguise myself the best I can. I want to go, and I get to make that decision.”

“I thought I was head of our team, so I should be making that call. You need to think on this one, buddy.”

Boone stands, obviously pissed at me. “You could get our guys killed. It’s not only about you.”