EPILOGUE

TORI

DEALING WITH THE ENEMY

A s much as I desired my husband, I was in no condition to have sex at the moment, but that didn’t stop him from pleasing me. A smile hung on my lips while I sat on the bench in the shower watching Ritchie carefully clean my body from head-to-toe. After rinsing the soap off my cinnamon skin, he widened my thighs.

As he traced swirling patterns near the apex of my thighs, the heat and anticipation built within me. I watched as he dipped his head down, and his warm, skilled tongue circled my clit with precision, sending shivers down my spine.

“Ritchie,” I cried out as his lips and tongue explored me with a passion that left me breathless, tasting me like I was the sweetest fruit he’d ever known.

My fingers gripped the wooden shower bench for support as my body arched in response to the electric sensation that spread throughout me. My head tilted back, releasing a moan filled with pleasure.

A sly smile curved my lips as I snapped back to the present, my gaze locking on Tyra.

She sat up straight, chest heaving, in a mahogany wooden chair, stripped down to a purple bra and matching panties that complemented her long, intricately braided hair. The color was vibrant, but it couldn’t distract from her current predicament. Zip ties secured her ankles to the front legs of the chair, her bare feet planted on a large plastic sheet spread across the floor.

Drops of blood escaped the bandaged wound on her leg, the crimson stream carving a stark contrast against her brown skin. Her wrist was zip-tied tightly to one arm of the chair, while her bandaged hand—damaged and useless—rested limply in her lap.

Her brown eyes still held deep anger and resentment. She wasn’t the untouchable bitch anymore. Not here. Not now.

“My husband knows exactly how to ease my mind,” I began, my voice calm yet brimming with unspoken power. “He was supposed to be in Jersey, performing his bodyguard duties for the Esposito mafia boss, but he flew back to Chicago on his private jet... just to make sure I was okay.”

Tyra’s scowl flickered into surprise as strong arms wrapped around my waist from behind.

“Of course, I came back,” Ritchie murmured, his voice low and soothing. He pressed a tender kiss to the top of my head, his lips melting against my blonde strands. “I had to make sure you were ok,” he whispered into my hair.

Tyra’s twisted laugh filled the room, her defiance flickering like a dying flame. “Ah, I see it now,” she said, her tone mocking. “You have a thing for broken black dolls...” Her eyes left his and fell on me. “...from the hood.”

She chuckled. “I get it now. The rich white savior comes to the South Side of Chicago and takes control of four women involved in the drug trade.”

Her eyes scanned the room.

I glanced to my left and saw Catch standing behind Bianca. To her left were Rémy and Romeo, hovering over Asia. My eyes moved to my right; Ezra stood behind Simone.

“Actually, Simone was the first to fall into the clutches of her sexy Italian man. And to think I held you down during the time Ezra’s enemies hunted him. You girls don’t even know Simone.”

She glared at Simone. “Do they?”

“We all have secrets, Tyra,” Simone bit out.

“Not like yours,” Tyra muttered.

“Ezra, have you found Dominguez yet?”

Silence.

“No, you haven’t. He’s protected by the Irish mafia. You’ll never catch him. And once I’m really dead this time, he’ll go after your little doll and kill her once and for all,” she chuckled.

Irish mafia. What was she talking about?

“Dominguez wanted to have a threesome with me and you, Simone. It hurt a little that he wanted you more. But you know me; I’ve always been about the money. I love it when men pay me - it gives me power. Even in death, I’ll still have power.”

“We’re not worried, Tyra,” Ezra stated in a calm voice. “When I finally find him, I’ll slice his skin off his body,” he gritted out.

I had no idea who Dominguez was. And who was my best friend Simone, really?

“Confused, Tori? Didn’t know your best friend was leading a double life? How does it feel to not really know who she is?”

“Shut the fuck up, Tyra,” Simone yelled.

“No, they need to know that you can’t be trusted. Honestly, girls, every one of us has secrets. Escaping the trauma of the hood was impossible, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right. But the difference between these three women and you, they ride for me. We ride for each other. Betraying each other is something we’d never fucking do,” I bit out.

“That’s right,” Simone, Asia, and Bianca stated, one after the other.

I stepped out of my husband’s embrace and walked over to a table where me and the girls’ gear awaited us.

“If your goal was to pull us apart, you failed,” I chuckled as I climbed into my gear.

“Over the years when Simone told me she would be staying with her aunt, I covered for her with Daryl. I promised him she would never rat us out.”

“And I haven’t and never will. Ezra’s family is part of the mafia – the Costa Crime family,” Tyra looked around, expecting some kind of reaction.

I was taken aback because I knew Ezra worked for Nick Pitucco, the boss of Ritchie and Catch’s family. But if his family was in the mafia, why wasn’t he working for them?

“So you see, there’s no fucking way I’d snitch or betray the girls for shit. Technically, Ezra and I have been apart for five years.”

I looked at her as she put on her gear. “What do you mean by ‘technically’?”

“Ezra and I have a complicated past that I’ll explain later,” Simone said while glancing at Bianca and Asia as they suited up.

“Tyra is right. We’ve all kept secrets, but none of them have anything to do with our operation on the South Side,” Bianca chimed in.

“Tyra, what did you expect to happen when you exposed Simone? That the other girls would turn against her?” Ritchie questioned.

“Well, if that was your plan, it didn’t work. Nick Pitucco is the mafia boss of our family. I know for a fact he knows everything about Ezra. There’s no way he’d hire him as his bodyguard if he didn’t.”

“My enemy was after me when I met Simone. I asked Nick to help me out. In return, I’d become his bodyguard. He told me that wasn’t necessary. That was the deal I made to keep Simone safe.”

Ritchie widened his arms. “You see. This is why I put my wife’s life in his hands. I fucking trust him,” he said with a thick New Jersey accent.

Catch stepped towards Tyra. “The thing about the mafia we torture in ways that make you rethink all the bad decisions you made, like betraying your friends who were supposed to be your family.”

She lurched at Catch. Her wrist jerked against the zip tie. “They were never my family. They never let me into their little circle.”

“That’s your own fault for being jealous of your so-called best friend.” Catch clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “She didn’t deserve, Man-Man,” Tyra roared.

I plunged a knife into her already injured arm.

“Ahh,” she cried out in pain.

Bianca followed suit and stabbed her thigh, while Asia did the same on her other thigh. Simone took a scalpel and ran it down Tyra’s cheek.

“You want my best friends since childhood to kill me?” Simone yelled.

“You’re a fucking bitch,” Tyra gritted through her teeth. “Simone,” Ezra warned, his love for her evident in his protective stance.

Did he really think we would ever hurt Simone? It broke my heart and warmed it at the same time. He loved her so fiercely that he wouldn’t let anyone harm her. But at the same time, Tyra had manipulated him into thinking we would. She was a master manipulator.

I turned to my bodyguard. “Simone has been my best friend since grade school. I know her heart; she would never set us up. And ultimately, that’s what matters in our world – loyalty. We would never harm our best friend.”

Ritchie clutched Ezra’s shoulder. “We’re family. We ride for each other.”

I ran over to Ritchie, unable to resist the urge to taste his lips. We lost ourselves in each other’s kiss. As we pulled apart, he gestured behind me.

“Mrs. Toscana, take care of her so we can eat dinner.”

“Consider it done, Mr. Toscana,” I replied.

Catch kissed Bianca. “Make this bitch sing,” he ordered.

“Yes, daddy,” Bianca purred.

“Daddy?” I teased, raising an eyebrow.

“Sounds like naughty things are going down later,” Asia cackled.

“Nerd girl, make him holler,” Simone ordered.

Bianca winked at Simone over her shoulder. “You know I will.”

Rémy then Romeo feasted on Asia’s lips.

“I’ll definitely be hanging from the chandelier in our bedroom later tonight,” she promised with a playful smirk.

I cupped my hands around my mouth for effect. “Yes, make them scream your name!”

My painkillers were working overtime. I was feeling high as a kite, which was exactly what I needed to get through torturing this bitch. Who I thought I killed once before. Now I had to do it again. This woman was once my best friend.

She betrayed you, Tori. She was jealous and wanted your life.

Simone, Bianca, and Asia often refused to accept the gifts I offered them because they didn’t want to feel like they were taking advantage of me. But I knew what they deserved, and their hearts were pure gold.

The men left the room and headed upstairs to the game room where they could relax with top-shelf liquor and play pool. Our men deserved to blow off some steam. I’d imagine it wasn’t easy being mafia bodyguards.

I couldn’t contain my glee as I asked Tyra, “So where were we?”

“Oh yeah, you shot me in my left breast.” I grabbed a hammer off the nearby table and brought it down on her knee.

“You bitch!” she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I... fucking... hate... you,” Tyra sobbed. “Clearly, you tried to turn my friends against me.”

I pointed the hammer at her. “When I was on top. I made sure we all were.”

“You did,” she admitted. “Then you squandered it...away...to be... with... that... white dude,” she grunted.

“I was blackmailed into a life with Daryl. He wanted his happiness, but I could never have mine because of his fear that I would ruin his happy home with my cousin Reece. When I saw Ritchie, I finally thought about my own happiness. I didn’t want to keep playing around with random men every Saturday night and then returning to my life with Daryl.”

I nodded. “So yeah, I went for what I desired. But the demons in my head made me feel unworthy of happiness.”

My eyes narrowed. “But you came back from the dead and almost killed the man who loves me unconditionally. The playhouse was flattened and now your aunts house is too.” A devilish smirk lifted the corners of my lips as I brought the hammer down on her other knee.

Her cries filled the space. Her shoulders shook from the pain.

“You didn’t have to stay our friend, Tyra. You could have walked away. But greed and jealousy consumed you,” I stated coldly.

I stepped back, the hammer shook in my grip. “I will struggle to conceive because of the bullet I took during the war.”

My best friends gasped around me.

Tyra’s lips curved into a smile. “Good.”

My hand curled around the knife in my other hand. “Yeah, well, my husband already scheduled a surgery that will repair the damage. Because he wants to get started on building a family with me.”

Warmth swept through my body. I was a lucky woman. One who had pushed her way into the mafia bodyguard’s life. He loved me with all his heart.

“We’ll continue to ride for each other,” Asia stated as she plunged a knife into Tyra’s breasts.

“Real friends love on each other through thick and thin.” Bianca shot me a smile before dragging her knife along the length of Tyra’s thigh.

“You always have to be the center of attention, Tyra. I guess this time in your second death is no different.”

Simone moved her saw back and forth, cutting through flesh and bone on Tyra’s arm just below the shoulder.

“You were all just pawns in my game,” Tyra screamed.

Yup, she was one twisted bitch.

“We tried to see the good in you, Tyra. It was just never enough to overshadow your black heart. Burn in hell,” I roared.

Together, we raised our knives high and drove them into Tyra’s body over and over again.

When it was finally done, we dropped our weapons on the table and embraced each other in front of Tyra’s lifeless form. Blood covered our faces and clothes, but we didn’t care. It was finished. The bitch was dead.

After dismembering her body, we fed it through the meat grinder, disposing of her once and for all.