I grunted but lingered. If we left now, I couldn’t be sure that Jarvis was dead. I wanted to get in there and find out, make sure the fucker was truly dead, but that wasn’t going to happen with so many fucking witnesses around.
I heard the crack-crack-crack of gunfire. It was a brief burst, but unmistakable.
“Fuck,” I growled. “Go get Aldrik. Now.”
He nodded and jogged around the building as a window fell inward and flames spouted out. I took a couple steps back and realized the screams had stopped.
The only sound was the strange purr of the fire consuming the building.
Enrico and Aldrik returned around the building a second later and we were off. I caught a few looks from neighbors, but fuck them, they couldn’t identify me—and there was no proof that we had anything to do with it. I considered texting Cora to let her know that we were okay, but decided against it.
She didn’t need to know either.
We got back to my car. Enrico sat up front, Aldrik in the back.
“Some fucking idiot tried to get out,” Aldrik said, breathing hard, eyes wide with excitement. “But I put him down, boss.”
“Good job.” I didn’t start the car. “Do you know who it was?”
“Didn’t recognize him.” Aldrik shrugged. “Looked like a homeless guy. Definitely wasn’t Jarvis.”
I grunted, a little disappointed. “I need you two to promise me something.”
Enrico gave me a look. “What?”
“Silence. You’ll tell nobody about this.”
Aldrik grunted. “Already forgot why we were out here.”
I looked at Enrico and he nodded once. “Sure, boss, but I’m assuming Christmas is coming early this year.”
“There will be a nice bonus in your stocking.” I smiled as I started my engine. “Don’t you worry about it.”
We drove away without speaking. I knew Enrico would be smart enough to ask for money and I couldn’t blame him—that was how our relationship functioned, after all. They stuck around and worked for me because the job wasn’t too difficult, and sometimes it was even fun, and I paid better than almost anyone else in the city. That was the kind of loyalty I could count on. I knew how much to pay to keep them happy, no guessing, no confusion.
I dropped them off at a safehouse and they went inside, already talking about hitting up an afterhours club. I drove slowly back to my place and parked out front, staring up at the door, and thinking about Cora inside. She would’ve hated me for what I just did—even if I did it for her sake as much as for my own.
Jarvis would burn in that building, and he wouldn’t bother us again. I had to keep telling myself that. He was gone, and she was safe, and that was all that mattered.
I got out and walked up the stoop, my conscience clear, a smile on my lips.
16
Cora
I couldn’t sleep. I heard him leave and lay in bed wondering what he was doing—or who he was killing. I stared at the ceiling and tried to picture a world where it was Reid lying on the sidewalk, his body riddled with holes, his blood all over my hands, in my hair, his eyes glassy and blank, but the thought made me want to throw up.
He was gone for two hours, and when the front door opened, I got out of bed. I didn’t care that I only wore a pair of boy short panties and a tank top. I drifted to my bedroom door as I heard him coming up the stairs and opened it, peering out at his dark shadow stepping into the hallway.
The smell of smoke and gasoline drifted off his body in waves. “What happened?”
He came closer. His eyes shone and I wanted to reach out and touch his cheek. “Do you really want to know?”
I shook my head. He pulled me against him and kissed me, his tongue against mine, his hands on my body, and I let it go, I let it all go.
All my anger, my pent-up rage and frustration, the memory of Alex’s dead body, the memory of the mafioso surviving that attack when it should have been them—the memory of my father, my cousins, all the men around me, I let it all go.
Instead, I clung to Reid. I kissed him, let his hands move on my body, and let him push me into my room. He stripped off my tank top, his hands on my breasts, my firm, pink nipples, and I unbuttoned his shirt. I kissed his chest, his smooth skin, and breathed in his smell—musky and smoky and strange. I gasped as his hand gripped my ass then slipped down my panties and teased my soaked clit.
“You have no clue how far I’d go for you,” he whispered as he slid a finger deep inside then back out, rolling along my clit, his lips against mine. “You have no idea how much I want you.”
I moaned, bit his lip. “I want it too. I’m just… I want it.”
He growled and pushed me back against the bed. He kissed my neck, my chest, licked my nipples and bit them before peeling my panties off. I could see the hard outline of his cock through his jeans and I took off his belt slowly, kissing his ripped stomach. His pants dropped to the floor and I peeled his boxer briefs off, taking his thick cock in one hand, stroking him, staring at his length, my body vibrating.
I took him into my mouth, not thinking, losing myself in the moment. He growled and purred with pleasure as his hand grabbed my hair. I sucked him slow and deep, moaning, tasting him, before he pulled me back and kissed me. He pushed me back onto the bed and dropped between my legs, spreading them wide, one hand on my breast and the other pushing my knees apart. He licked me top to bottom and I felt fireworks spark down my spine as pleasure exploded along my skin.
I needed this, god, I needed it, and I needed it with him, my husband, my man, the first mafioso that didn’t look at me like I was something in his way, or some kind of object to shove aside. He was the first that made me feel like a person, like I was wanted, and it was glorious, beautiful, right. His tongue lapped along my slit and I rolled my hips, moaning, gasping, groaning his name.
He stood and pushed me further onto the bed, spreading my legs wide as he pinned me down. His weight was intense, his arms and hands so strong, and I felt him push against my spot—then slide deep inside.
I gasped, back arched, as he kissed my neck and fucked me.
“Just like I wanted,” he whispered, “wet and warm and slick. Goddamn, Cora, goddamn, my little wife. You feel like heaven.”
I moaned as he took me, sliding his thick cock in and out, stroking deep inside of me. I kissed him, bit his lip, let him take my body and give me the pleasure I needed. I didn’t care if his hair smelled like burned wood, I didn’t care where he’d been or what he’d been doing—none of it mattered anymore.
I turned him and pushed him down onto the bed, straddling him, feeling him deep inside me. His hands palmed my breasts as I rode him faster, grinding myself down, moaning, sweating. He pulled me closer and fucked me as I rolled my hips, and we moved like that together, slick and gorgeous, his lips against mine, his taste in my mouth.
Pleasure overwhelming, it was too right, too good. I moaned, went faster, harder. He took me deep and licked my nipples. He was night, I was light, and I needed him to make me whole.
He pulled me off, turned me around. I looked over my shoulder as he grabbed my hips and slid deep inside. I threw back my head and let him fuck me, wild and free, and I knew I couldn’t take much more. He leaned over me, pulled my hair, whispered in my ear. “My gorgeous wife, you feel perfect. You dirty girl, you feel like heaven.” He fucked me from behind, fucked me deep and hard, and his fingers stroked my clit until I felt it build, build, build, so high and tight that I knew the fall would shake me deep to my core.