CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

BELLA

I’m not entirely sure what I expected, but when I arrive at his compound, I am surprised by the number of armed men standing around. It looks like the goddamn swat team is here. Yet, I know it’s not the police, it’s the mafia. Chances are fairly good that this is a suicide mission, but I won’t back down. This is for Nico. My intention was to sneak onto the property, but a quick scan tells me that is not an option.

Walking up to the black gate that surrounds the property, I see it’s open, but simply walking through is impossible, due to the man with a machine gun standing in front of it. I go up to him, and place my hand over my heart and gaze up into his eyes.

“My, you’re tall,” I say sweetly.

I bat my eyelashes at him slowly, and his lips lift into a smirk.

“How can I help you, sweetheart?”

Tilting my head slightly, I say, “I’m here to see Mr. Bonetti. He paid for the night.”

“Another day, another whore. That man has a problem. Go on in.”

Stroking my fingers down his chest, I smile, “Can you make sure the men with guns don’t hurt me? You seem like the protective type. And guns scare me.”

Pressing a button on his earpiece, he says, “Lower your weapons. Bonetti’s whore is coming through.”

Again, I give him my sweetest smile, which of course, is completely fake.

“We prefer sex worker. People don’t say whore anymore, because it’s offensive. The more you know,” I say in a sing-song voice, as I skip through the gate .

Fucking asshole. I would’ve liked to kill him first, but I know better. He’s heavily armed, and my key to getting in without being riddled with bullets. Maybe another day. I smile to myself as I pass more guards. There are six men on either side, and one nods to me.

“Go on in, Miss. He’s waiting for you.”

I paste a fake grin on my face and say thank you, but suddenly I’m nervous. Did they tell him I’m here? If he isn’t actually expecting a girl to be here, I could be in trouble. And if one shows up after me, things might actually be worse. Fuck.

Calm your nerves, Bella. You’ve got this.

But then I wonder, what if I don’t?

Shaking that thought out of my head, I approach the door. This was my decision, and some things are worth dying for. Some people are, and Nico is one of those people.

I open the door and walk into the mansion. There’s a large entryway, with a crystal chandelier on the ceiling, and a bearskin rug in front of the fireplace to the left, with two large chairs that are empty. My heart is racing as I walk forward. This place is huge, and I have no idea where I’ll find him, but I will. There’s a set of stairs in the distance, but I decide to clear the lower level first, and then I’ll go up there if I haven’t located him.

To my left is an empty kitchen, with expensive looking, stainless steel appliances, and an island that makes me remember Nico’s, and causes my chest to squeeze. I miss him already. I spot the gun sitting on the island, and quietly enter to retrieve it. It never hurts to have extra weapons, assuming it’s loaded.

Making my way to the other end, I stop in the dining room, dead in my tracks, when I see an older gentleman sitting at the large oval dark wood table.

“You found me,” he says with a stoic expression. “Are you a thief?”

I shake my head no.

His gaze travels the length of my body .

“Well, you don’t look like a whore, but I’ll be happy to make you one.”

He’s a good looking man, that reminds me a lot of Nico. Frank has a lot of the same characteristics in his face; his nose, and lips, look similar, and even his eyes, but they are like the death eyes I’ve seen on Nico. Not the kind ones. His hair is silver, but was probably dark at some point, before aging took hold of him.

“You need to pay for what you did to Nico. And I’m here to collect your debt.”

He smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes, it’s probably not even possible.

“I assume you mean Reaper? You do know he’s a violent man, right? What’s a pretty girl like you doing getting herself tangled up with him?”

Picking up his crystal glass that looks like it has scotch in it, he takes a sip and sets it back on the table calmly.

“His violence is all because of what you did to him.”

He shrugs like what he did is no big deal, and it infuriates me, but I need to keep myself calm like he is, or I’ll get myself killed. Think like Nico would.

“Thank you. I like to think I had something to do with the lethal man he has become, as opposed to the pussy he was as a boy.”

Raising an eyebrow, I say, “You raped him, you sick son of a bitch.”

He shakes his head in denial, which only angers me further.

“My dick never touched that boy.”

Is he for real? Does he actually believe, because he raped him with something else, that he didn’t violate him?

“Doesn’t matter. He was a child. How dare you?”

He takes another gulp of his drink, and pours more from a fancy decanter.

“I assume you aren’t from a mafia family?”

“No,” I answer, but I don’t think that matters .

He chuckles softly.

“I didn’t think so because if you were, you’d know what a mistake it is coming into a mafia man’s house, planning to what? Hurt me? Let me give you a tiny lesson of the criminal world. We raise our boys to be lethal. Violent. They must be to survive in this environment. Nico was always different from the others. Maybe he had too much of his mother’s DNA, I don’t know, but he was soft. Always so deep in his feelings over something. My brother asked me to toughen him up, and I did. Look at him now. The boy kills people for sport. Perhaps you don’t agree with my methods, but they worked. I think that is something we’d both agree on. Although, I do wonder what kind of man would send a woman to do a man’s work. Maybe he’s still the pussy he was as a child.”

“He didn’t send me. Nico is stronger than you’ll ever be.”

His small smile turns into a wicked grin.

“Reaper doesn’t know you’re here, does he? Which means, I have you all to myself.”

Rising from his seat, he goes to the curio cabinet on the other side of the room, and pulls out a drawer and retrieves something I can’t see.

Holding the gun up and aiming it at his head, I prepare to shoot, and he chuckles.

“I can see your reflection in the glass, whore. Go ahead and fire it. It’s empty.”

I pull the trigger anyway, and it clicks, but it’s empty. He wasn’t lying to me.

Turning to me, he holds a lead pipe.

“This is what I used on your Nico. And now I’ll use it on you.”