CHAPTER NINE
TORI
THE INEVITABLE
“ G irl, considering all you’ve been through, you look amazing.” Simone sprinkled imaginary fairy dust on me like we used to do when we were kids.
Poking my tongue out, I twirled within our little circle.
“I’m in a lot of pain. But it’s that good kind of pain. I needed Ritchie. We were two broken people who needed each other. I still can’t believe he fought like the true mafia man he is to get me back.”
Bianca poured orange juice into four glass tumblers. “Sounds like he was the right man to get the job done.”
I licked my lips. “He sure was. When he gets back, we’re going to fuck up Rosco together. Then later I’ll have him clean me up from head to toe.”
“I haven’t known you to be so nasty.” Bianca raised her hand and our palms met midair.
“I’ve never been happy before, either. He’s the first man whose made me feel wanted and loved. Think about it. I was abused by my mother’s boyfriend. I became my best friend’s girlfriend. Only to be used so he could secretly have a relationship with my cousin. And let’s not forget he fed me to the wolves.”
I sucked down the orange juice. My eyelids slammed shut at the memory of Rosco’s fist pounding on my face again and again.
My eyes popped open. “How could Daryl serve me up like that? After all, we’d been through. That bullshit he pulled at the school reminded me of Tyra’s backstabbing ass.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Simone stated as she held her glass outstretched toward Bianca.
She poured champagne into her glass.
“Do you think she’s dead, T?” Simone asked.
“Fuck, I don’t know. I can’t believe they never found her body. If she is still alive, we need to be ready for her,” I replied.
The girls nodded.
“Ritchie went to meet Kagan. I’m not sure if he found Daryl.” I shook my head. “You know what? Let’s forget about him just for a little while. We need to celebrate being together again.” I raised my glass.
Asia’s lower lip trembled. “I’m so happy you and Simone are back with us. The four of us make our group a strong unit.”
I pressed my good arm into hers. “We are going to make Rosco and Daryl pay. I love you, girl,” I affirmed.
“Love you too, T.”
The girls and I said I love you to each other, then sucked down our mimosas.
“Let’s bake.” I pumped my hand in the air.
“Bianca, how are you and Catch?” I asked.
A huge smile curled her lips. “Good. I can’t believe how far we’ve come in the short time we’ve been together. And the sex...” Bianca pulled her lower lip into her mouth.
“I never knew it could be like that. It’s so amazing.” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “His dick is pierced,” Bianca whispered.
My eyes widened. “Who knew Catch was so dark? I love it.”
“That’s awesome,” Simone gushed.
“Yes, I bet your orgasm is intensified with the special piercing,” Asia smiled wide.
“What about you, Asia? You have two men.” I grinned.
“It’s fucking wonderful. They both give me all the attention I desire. And our connection is next level. I never thought we’d be together. Just thought we’d have a little fun. But they have no plans of letting me go.”
“Asia, I’m so happy for you.” I beamed.
I lined up the ingredients for the brownies on the counter. “What about you Simone?”
“Ezra and I have a lot to work through. Our past is so painful. It keeps rearing its ugly head.” She shook her head.
I gripped her arm. “Does he love you?” I asked.
“Yes, more than anything in this world.”
“Do you love him?” I asked.
“Too much.” Sadness covered her pretty features.
“I believe you two will work it out,” I whispered.
Simone grinned. “Yeah, we will.”
“We should make two batches of brownies,” I said.
“Fudge brownies and salted caramel.” Bianca wiggled her eyebrows.
The girls went crazy.
I absolutely adored my friends. They’d been my lifeline for years. Now I had a new lifeline. Ritchie.
A LONG, HEAVY BLACK leather apron covered my frame as I stood at a stainless-steel table across from Rosco. My gaze fell on the brown wooden chair sitting in the center of the room on top of a plastic sheet. It looked like Rosco was upgrading from the floor to the chair.
Ritchie ditched the suit and was wearing a matching apron.
The putrid stench of urine permeated the air in the small space. I wondered if this was where we’d torture whoever wronged us in the future.
Ritchie leaned in, his jaw set and face taut as he pulled out a slender key, turning it slowly to unlock the handcuffs that bound Rosco's wrists.
Ritchie’s back muscles strained against his wife beater with each move.
Seizing his chance, Rosco lunged forward, pushing against Ritchie's broad chest with all of his might. But Ritchie's sturdy frame didn't move an inch.
With one well-placed punch to Rosco's jaw, he sent him flying backwards onto the cold concrete floor.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Ritchie chuckled.
“Get the fuck up.” His gloved hand fisted Rosco’s dingy white t-shirt. He slammed his hulking frame into the chair.
Rosco's face was covered in bumps and bruises. He was barely recognizable. There was dried crusty blood under his nose and around his swollen lips. His dark facial hair had grown wild and tangled. His dreadlocks hung loosely, like a mane framing his face and shoulders. His eyes were lit with a fiery rage. Was he holding a grudge? It certainly seemed that way.
“Do you think we’ve wronged you by holding you as our prisoner?” I asked.
His sinister dark eyes rose, meeting mine, while Ritchie zip tied Rosco’s wrists behind his back.
“Of course, I do. My people need me. The millions I make in drug money provide for hundreds of families in my town.”
I smirked. “Do your precious townspeople know you’re a woman beater and a rapist?”
A huge smile curled his lips. “What I do in my free time is none of their concern. I love watching a woman squirm underneath me. Or the way her eyes look like they’re about to pop out of their sockets when I squeeze her throat.”
I picked up one of the many knives off the tray and stalked toward him.
“No, baby,” Ritchie said, stepping into my path.
“Remember, I’m teaching you the art of torture. There are levels to this.” His big, gloved hand captured my jaw.
“Just a minute,” he urged.
“Ok,” I sighed.
My tongue slicked across my lower lip, and I felt my pussy clench. Fuck, I wanted this man to whisk me off to our room and fuck me long and hard.
Ritchie crushed my lips. “Shit, I need to focus,” he muttered against my mouth.
He inched over to the table. “Let’s get started. First thing you need to know is what each knife is used for. Each will give you a different result.”
“You’re teaching your bitch how to torture,” Rosco laughed.
Ritchie’s nostrils flared as he picked up a knife. He whirled around and sliced Rosco’s arm in a downward motion.
Rosco yelped.
“See, that knife will deliver minimal damage. But he’ll feel that stinging sensation the entire time we torture him.” Ritchie flashed a cocky grin as he walked toward me.
“Your turn. Slash his other arm,” he ordered.
I did as I was told. The second my knife sliced through his skin, I felt like I’d taken back some of my power.
“That was for hitting me in the face,” I growled.
Using my less dominant arm, I sliced the blade through the air with force. “Why would you tell me you wanted me one minute, then beat up my best friend and me? We did nothing to deserve that,” I shouted.
Chest heaving, I looked into my best friend's intense stare.
She stepped closer, picking up a knife from the table. “It's true; you attacked us like cowards.” A smirk formed at the corners of her mouth.
“Now we’re getting our licks back.”
I burst into laughter. “Shall we, Simone?”
“We shall, Tori.”
Simone swung her blade in an X motion until his bloody flesh was exposed.
His cries went unnoticed. All I could think about was the way his heavy fist felt on my face. How Simone and I were tossed on the floor of the truck like trash and had to remain in that position for hours.
Strong hands gripped my wrist. “Baby, are you with me?”
Did I black out? Maybe I did. I guess my mind was filled with rage.
“Yes.” I backed my body into Ritchie’s. My big, strong man. I never felt so protected in all my life.
“Ladies, have a seat,” Ritchie ordered.
Simone and I strolled over to the plastic covered chairs near the door. I smirked at Bianca, Asia, Catch, Rémy, Romeo, and Ezra.
Ezra’s jaw twitched as his eyes remained on Rosco. I knew he was ready for his pound of flesh.
“We brought water,” Bianca said, as she and Asia inched closer.
I removed my gloves, smiling at my girls. “Thank you.”
My fingers wrapped around the cold sweaty plastic bottle, and I chugged the refreshing water. The cool liquid slid down my throat with ease. I had no idea torturing someone could make you thirsty.
Bianca stepped deeper into the room, placing a water bottle in Ritchie’s hand.
He downed the bottle of water in two gulps. We were probably thirsty because we were still healing.
Catch brought in two more chairs for my girls. I smiled at his kind gesture. He quickly learned the girls and I would always be a tight-knit family. It felt good knowing these men were now a part of our family, too.
“It’s apparent you enjoy drama,” Ritchie said, clutching a hammer and a chisel.
“Tori, make sure you pay attention. This part here. Is just about pure torture.”
“Ritchie’s specialty,” Catch chuckled. He stood near the surgical table, so he’d have the best view of what was about to unfold.
“I’m watching,” I stated.
“You contacted that slime bucket, Daryl. Why?”
Rosco stared at Ritchie through his lashes. Pain and anger were all over his face.
“Because you knew they were at odds. What a hell of a diversion to get them in the same place and watch shit go left. But you see, I don’t think you knew just how far Daryl was willing to go to protect his secret. He was so worried Tori would tell the world he was gay. But she never uttered a word.”
The look on Rosco’s face was priceless. His jaw slacked and his eyes widened.
“What?” Rosco asked.
“Yeah, Tori and Daryl were never a real couple. He was fucking her cousin Reece.”
Rosco stared out into space. Was he recollecting all the times they’d been in the same room and hadn’t noticed their deep connection?
“I had no idea,” Rosco muttered.
“No one did. Back to my story. That asshole used an innocent child to keep Tori’s mouth shut. It seems he didn’t trust his so called best friend and woman. Tori and her friends live by a code. They protect each other. She wouldn’t have told anyone about his secret. But once she was with me, he knew he couldn’t hide his secret much longer. He tried to kill me so he could get Tori to fall back in line.” Ritchie widened his arms.
“But we’re the mafia. Even if he would’ve killed me, my cousin and friends wouldn’t have rested until that piece of shit was dead.”
A cruel smirk played across Ritchie’s face. “My cousin Nick is the boss of the Pitucco Crime family.”
Rosco’s eyes clenched shut. “I didn’t know,” he mumbled.
“Clearly you know who my cousin is and how cutthroat he can be,” Ritchie stated.
Rosco didn’t say a word.
“Catch wasn’t going to throw our cousin’s name around to make you see reason. Mentioning we were the mafia should’ve been enough. We’re a powerful unit,” Ritchie snarled.
He pointed the chisel at me. “That’s my fucking woman. I am a mafioso. No one. And I mean no one crosses us. I don’t have to be a boss to have power. I was born into this life. I am a fucking Pitucco,” Ritchie roared.
“The Pituccos, Romanos, Bertozzis, Magarellis, and Espositos have no mercy for men who fuck with what belongs to them,” Ritchie growled. His deep voice bounced off the walls.
“The five families...shit,” Rosco muttered.
He had no idea the shit he stepped in. Maybe he thought Ritchie was a low-level mafia member.
“You shouldn’t have taken my woman...”
Ritchie leaned over, meeting his gaze. “...laid your sick fucking hands on her. She didn’t want me to look at her. Because you busted up her beautiful face. She couldn’t see out of one eye,” Ritchie shouted.
He placed the chisel against Rosco’s shin.
Rosco squirmed, moving his leg. “Come on, man,” Rosco pleaded.
Never heard Rosco beg before.
Ritchie stood. “No, you don’t get to run from the brutal beating you have coming.”
He pulled two zip ties from his pocket and tied Rosco's ankles to the chair legs.
"I can only imagine how you looked when your fist kept hitting Tori," he said, pressing the chisel against Rosco's shin and striking it with a hammer.
Rosco winced in pain.
“Yeah, become one with the pain, motherfucker. My woman was forced to endure the pain too,” Ritchie spat.
“You will never hurt another woman,” Ritchie croaked as he fell back onto the plastic sheet.
With each clank of the hammer, I remembered Rosco pulverizing my face with his fist. I curled my hand around Simone’s.
Blood soaked into Rosco's jeans. And the leg was bent at an odd angle.
Ritchie knelt down and worked on chiseling Rosco's other leg, and then wildly thrashed the hammer over his shins from every angle. When he finished, Rosco could no longer move his feet.
“Ah,” Rosco howled in agony.
“She’s my woman. My fucking woman. I will burn this whole city down to get my point across. No one fucks with what’s mine,” Ritchie roared.
“Ezra,” Ritchie called out.
“It’s your turn.”
Ezra wasted no time taking the hammer from Ritchie’s grip. He slammed it repeatedly against Rosco’s thighs.
Rémy and Romeo approached as Ritchie stood to his feet.
“Bet you could use a drink,” Romeo said, shoving a glass of whiskey in his hand.
Ritchie smiled. “I sure fucking can.” He held his glass high.
The three of them clinked their glasses together, tilted back their heads, and downed the fiery whiskey in unison. The sound of Rosco's screams echoed through the room, but were completely ignored. A sly grin pulled at Ritchie's lips as his gaze settled on me. “Come here,” he commanded.
I made my way towards him.
He peeled off one of his blood-soaked gloves, and the warmth of his hand against my skin filled me with a sudden tranquility. “We have one more piece of business to take care of before we head home," he said softly.
My stomach churned at the thought of him leaving so soon; I'd been dreading this day ever since I lied to myself that I only needed him to get me off. I wanted everything with this man.
He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against mine. We stayed like that for what felt like eternal bliss until he finally spoke again. “Tori, soon Daryl will be no more,” Ritchie growled.