Forbidden Temptations (Tempted Series Book 2) (22 page)

“You son of a bitch! You gave me your fucking word!” He growled, cupping my neck with his hand, his fingers digging into my flesh in his attempt to choke me. He reached behind him and I saw a flash of something shiny before the sharp blade tickled my throat. I didn’t want to do it but he left me no choice I lifted my knee and connected with his groin. His face fell, and I took advantage, flipping the knife onto him. I threw him back against the truck mimicking the way he had held the blade to my neck.

“How the fuck am I responsible if I’ve been with you this whole time? Think about what the fuck you’re doing Jack! Now I’m sorry about your brother, I am real fucking sorry but you need to get a grip!”

Jack was a badass motherfucker they didn’t come tougher than him, so when tears fell from his eyes my heart bled for the guy.

“I didn’t do it,” I said looking him in the eye.

“Someone did,” he said through gritted teeth. He viciously poked my chest with his index finger. “Someone on Victor’s end did this,” his eyes narrowed. “So help me God when I find out who it is.”

I stared at him dropping the blade from his neck as I took a step back wondering if he was right. Had Victor known all along that the Fed was Jack’s brother? If he did, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind, just as there wasn’t a doubt in Jack’s that the Pastore family took care of their problem by killing Danny Parrish.

Jack took a step toward me. “You swear you didn’t know anything about this!”

I lifted my eyes to his. “I didn’t know a goddamn thing.”

“Find out who the fuck is responsible Bianci. Get me a fucking name, proof, whatever, but if you fail to deliver I’m holding you responsible.” He glared at me through his bloodshot eyes.

Grief was a fucked up thing, it turned good people into bad and bad people into terrorists. Jack Parrish wouldn’t let this one slide he wasn’t going to stop until his own hand tortured his brother’s assassin. He’d make whoever did this pay, or he’d do as he promised hours ago and he’d fucking rip apart anyone who ever meant anything to anyone involved in the Pastore crime family.

Adrianna’s face flashed before my eyes and that was all the drive I needed. I turned around and grabbed the back of Jack’s cut, spinning him to face me.

“I’m going to find out who killed your brother, Jack,” I vowed.

He stared at me vengefully not saying a word. I didn’t know if he believed that I’d find out who killed Danny, but by the look in his eyes, he didn’t care either way. He was going to avenge his brother’s murder and there wasn’t a man powerful enough to stop him. The case the Feds were building on Victor may have gone up in smoke that night but the Pastore family had much bigger problems now. We were all fucked.

I blinked away the sweat that dripped into my eye as I mercilessly pounded the leather on the heavy bag seeking the clarity I always found when my mind was racing. After the fire Jack lost his mind,
like
the way Vic lost his when Val died. Both men consumed by the guilt that came from not being able to protect their brothers. It didn
’t matter that Val wasn’t Vic’s blood brother or that Jack hadn’t been real close with Danny, they both felt the loss all the same. I was torn between my position in Vic’s organization and my promise to Jack that I would find out who killed his brother.

After I brought Jack back to his compound that night of the fire, I met up with Victor and told him the Fed would no longer be a problem. I met him at the building he had just leased and planned to turn into New York’s hottest nightclub. He was with Jimmy and a few associates’ playing cards, their laughter echoed off the bare walls and my presence was ignored until I cleared my throat. Victor and I stepped off the side much to Jimmy’s dismay. I was vague with Victor telling him the Fed’s house went up in flames. Leaving out the fact that he was Jack’s brother or that Jack believed Victor was responsible for the fire to begin with. Victor didn’t like that I hadn’t seen Danny’s body with my own eyes. He pressed on, how I could be sure that Danny was dead along with the investigation. I assured him he was in fact dead and that I saw a family member I.D. his body.

For lack of better words, I was playing with fire by allowing Victor to think Jack and the MC were responsible for the house fire. If Victor was the one behind it then he knew that I was staring him in the eye lying through my teeth.

I gave the bag one last jab watching as it swung from the chain before taking a step back and taking a deep breath. I cracked my neck from side to side and pulled off one glove with my teeth before pulling the other off with my freed hand. I walked into the locker room, unwrapped my hands before throwing my shit into my gym bag, and grabbed my sweatshirt. I pulled it over my head, pushing my arms through the sleeves and slid the hood over my head, tugging the drawstrings tightly. I slung my bag over my shoulder and slipped my phone from the pocket of my sweatshirt noticing the alert of a text message. I swiped my finger across the screen and viewed the message from Jack.

Forensic report is back. Call me

I bit the inside of my cheek, as I stared at the phone not sure, why I didn’t want to know the results. A part of me wanted the results to prove Victor was responsible so I felt less guilty that I wasn’t being honest with him. The other part of me wanted to know he had a hand in it and that he wasn’t just out to hurt me but anyone who stood in his way.

I headed out of the locker room, breezing passed the people who looked at me as if I was some boxing phenomenon. I went straight out the front door of the gym, the blast of cold air felt good against my sweaty body. There was a man dressed as Santa Claus ringing a bell looking for donations to the Salvation Army reminding me it was Christmas Eve. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a hundred dollar bill, and dropped it into the red bucket.

“Pretty generous of you,” I heard the familiar voice say behind the white beard. I squinted as I peered at him until he pulled down the beard and showed his identity.

“Oh, you’re fucking kidding me right?” I said, as I watched Jack reposition his disguise.

“Clever right?” He said, as he glanced around shaking his bell.

“What’s this all about?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets.

“Did you get my text message?”

“Yeah, I was going to head over to the compound to talk things through with you.”

“See Santa saved you a trip? Good ‘Ole Saint Nick,” he said as a passerby dropped loose change into his bucket. “God Bless You.”

I raised an eyebrow thinking this would almost be comical if it wasn’t such a desperate attempt to keep Victor in the dark about our alliance.

“Report declares the fire accidental, states the cause of the fire was a faulty attic fan.”

I blew out a sigh of relief. “So Victor wasn’t responsible.”

“Fuck that, Bianci. You aren’t that much of an ignorant son of a bitch are you? My brother’s house goes up like a fucking firecracker, the same day you’re sent to watch me make him go away. No, I’m not buying it and I thought better of you than to believe this bullshit too.”

“So you’re saying the forensic report is wrong?” I asked accusingly as I crossed my arms against my chest.

“I’m saying it easily could’ve been tampered with Anthony,” he replied, glancing across the street suspiciously before fixing his gaze back on me. “Do you have any reason to believe you’re being followed?”

“By who?” I said, straightening my posture but not turning.

“There’s a black car parked across the street and whoever is inside is particularly interested in the two of us.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Probably cops.”

“Or maybe it’s Victor,” He said.

“Jack…”

“Look Bianci, I know you don’t want to hear it but it’s too coincidental to ignore. If Victor didn’t kill my brother, someone in his organization did. That man was worried sick the Feds would seize his assets. That’s why he dropped all that money into the night club he’s opening right before this shit went down.”

“I can’t see Victor bringing anymore heat on himself,” I said, not buying what Jack was trying to sell me.

“Maybe I’m wrong but did you ever have a gut feeling that nagged and nagged at you? I can’t shake this feeling I have that my brother was just another chess piece to Vic.” He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. “Give me something, anything, the one thing you want more than anything in this world.”

“What?” I asked trying to figure where he was going with this.

He snapped his fingers as the light bulb went off in his head. “The daughter.”

I didn’t like where this was going and for the first time I turned around and stared aimlessly across the street, noticing the black car out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and stared directly into the driver’s tinted window, a moment later the car purred to life and peeled out of the spot.

“Hear me out, brother. You yourself thought it was odd that Victor was leaving the job to me and not to one of his men. Something doesn’t add up, and you know I’m right. I don’t give a fuck what that report says, my gut tells me Victor wasn’
t just going to sit back and let me handle the situation. If he didn
’t do it someone within his organization did.”

I turned around and looked him in the eye.

“I don’t know what you expect from me Jack.”

“I expect you to do the right thing and I swear I will make it beneficial for the both of us. Man, all you have to do is name your price. Put yourself in my shoes Bianci, if it was your sister in that house would you sit back when everything inside you screamed foul play?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” I sighed heavily. “You asked me what I want,” I continued lifting my eyes to meet his. “I want out.”

“What?” He looked at me blankly.

“I want out of the organization. I want to live a normal life, to provide security and…”

“You want to make a life for yourself so that the girl and her kid can be safe with you.” He said speaking my truest desire.

“Yeah,” I said, gruffly. “So if I agree to do this, we do it my way. I’m not looking to get clipped before I get the fuck out so discretion is key.”

“Fair enough.”

“If Victor or someone within his organization had anything to do with Danny’s death I will find out. I’ll dig around until I get the proof we need but until we get it you continue to do business with him and I will be the loyal soldier he thinks I am.”

“And when we nail the fucker?”

“Then you do what you gotta do but not before I use the proof we find to secure my way out of this shit life.”

“Blackmail.”

“Call it what you want,” I said, “Do we have a deal?”

“You bet your ass. That motherfucker will pay for what he did to my brother.”

“Play nice Jack,” I responded warningly. “If you think he made your brother disappear don’t doubt he’ll fucking bury you and I alive, so we keep cool. You keep your dealings with him steady, provide protection for him when asked, do your end and I will mine.”

“You got yourself a deal. Vic will be Satan’s Knights number one priority.”

“Good,” I grabbed my keys from my back pocket and tipped my chin up towards him. “Do yourself a favor and lose the Santa disguise.”
     

Jack wiggled his eyebrows and ran his hand over his big fat fake belly. “Ho Ho Ho”

“I want my hundred dollars back you con artist.”

“Anyone ever call you the Grinch, Bianci?”

“Bah Humbug,” I snapped with a laugh before turning around and heading to my car.

“Merry Christmas!” He called out causing me to stop in my tracks and look over my shoulder at him.

“You too, man. Try and keep your spirits up,” I replied, knowing that even though Jack probably hadn’t spent a holiday with his brother in years, he’d still feel the loss on the first holiday without him.

My phone rang inside of my back pocket and as I pulled open my passenger door, throwing my gym bag inside, I accepted the call without looking at the caller ID.

“Bianci.”

“Oh my God, you answered on the first try.”
It was funny how the sound of my sister
’s voice melted the ice inside of me. I hadn’t spoken to her much since I had been home, figuring she was busy getting her nursing degree and all. Every once in a while she’d drop me a call or send a text.

“Hey Lau,” I greeted as I climbed into my truck.

“Where are you? You know what, I don’t even care because I’m calling you to tell you that you have like a half hour to get to Mom’s or else we’re bringing Christmas to you.”

I chuckled slightly. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, come on Ant, you weren’t thinking about skipping out on Christmas were you?”

Telling her that was my exact plan was most likely a bad idea so instead I sighed and lied through my teeth. I was getting good at it. Too good.

“No, Lau I was just going to stop off at the bakery before I came. Anything you want in particular?”

“Hmm…get cupcakes.”

“Cupcakes?”

“Yes, vanilla frosted or if they have those character ones.”

“Character ones?”