CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

brAXTON

I head downstairs after a shower and kissing Gianna for about ten minutes in the doorway.

I'm completely fucked.

I know good sex and how it feels to want more from a woman, but this is different. Because it's not just her body I want. The all-consuming need to own her is impossible for me to ignore.

I've never felt that before.

Not with anyone.

Then she asks me how I'd feel if another man touched her. Jesus Christ. Without hesitation, I answered that I'd kill them. Even knowing I have no right and that I could be gone in a few days from her life.

Forever.

It's the only forever we will have.

So yes, another man is going to touch her, and I want to march back upstairs, throw her over my shoulder, and drive away from this evil world.

If Gianna knew the truth, she wouldn't want me. That and Amy are the only things stopping me.

Perhaps it's because she's forbidden fruit.

Now?

Now I want her.

I was supposed to use Gianna Baldassare, that's all. I wasn't prepared to feel like this about her and crave her body like oxygen. Nor have to walk around her father's house with a semi erection as I set up a fake human trafficking gig.

Yet here I am.

What a goddamn mess.

Amy, you better be alive!

When I reach the landing, two guards lead me through the house and out to the backyard where Salvatore and Frank are finishing up lunch.

"Have you eaten?" the don asks.

"Yes," I reply.

Your daughter.

Salvatore and I acknowledge one another with a nod.

"Sit." Frank points to a chair. "Tell me where we are at. Did you get hold of your contacts?"

"Yes. The time zones made it a little harder. But I may have a buyer." I say, accepting the glass of water put in front of me by one of the Baldassare employees.

"Good," Frank says.

"Who?" Salvatore asks.

We all know I'm not telling him that. Except, as Mack kindly pointed out, a gun is put to my head.

We're not there yet.

Not even close—I hope—so I ignore him.

"You need to know this is my biggest client. Quality of the product is imperative. We are new partners," I say instead of answering.

I let that hang as I sip my water and slowly place it back on the table.

Confidence is power.

I was always good at poker.

Hopefully now it will keep me alive and save Amy's life.

"The risk is two-way," Frank says, looking irritated, but the truth is if I was too eager, he'd be suspicious.

This is all a game.

All business is.

Politics. Trade. Commerce.

Especially if it's criminal.

"So," I lift my shoulder casually. "I need to inspect the stock before I go back to him with a guarantee it's up to his quality expectations."

I wait.

Frank and Salvatore watch me as Dante joins us. He sits beside the don as Salvatore lights a cigarette.

"You will want a reassurance I'm trustworthy." I nod. "Understandably. Your reputation is known to me, but I am an unknown. I work under the radar."

"I don't trust you," Dante says, relaxing his arm along the back of the chair.

He looks wound up this afternoon. Dangerous.

Unstable.

"I am willing to share with you a couple of names. People I have worked with in the US." I tell them as if this is a huge step for me. "Men you will know."

Frank's right brow lifts an inch.

I pull out a card and slide it over the table. Everyone stares at it for about ten fucking hours, and I almost roll my eyes.

But, you know, I want to stay alive.

Frank nods to Salvatore, and he reaches for it. Reads it. Then lifts his hand and suddenly one of the soldiers walks over, takes it, and disappears.

Alrighty then.

"Those men were affiliates of the Mancini family," Salvatore says. "Convenient."

I laugh. "Not anymore."

Dante's lips quirk, and it almost looks like he's going to laugh.

Interesting.

"I meant—"

"I know what you meant. I'm not responsible for their deaths. These are the people I've worked with. I'm not going to bullshit you. I need this deal to take place. Check them out and if you don't want to proceed, we won't." I wave out my hand, showing frustration. "But I'm running out of time. Either I need to board a plane and sort this shit show out or inspect your stock and make a deal."

Frank lowers his brows, unhappy with my demands, but I don't expect him to be otherwise.

"Can you guarantee five billion?" Dante asks, rubbing his chin.

"I will only know that when I see the cargo. If it's what my buyers are looking for, then yes." I nod.

The gangster glances at his father and a silent conversation takes place. Then it takes thirty more minutes of awkward small talk and silence for the soldier to return and a decision to be made.

The guy whispers in Salvatore's ear, then the second nods at the don and the table is quiet once more.

Come on already.

My body is buzzing with anxiety. If the informants Agent Scott gave us haven't had time to be contacted, then I'm a dead man.

We all thought this was going to take longer, so there is a good chance they haven't.

Fuck.

If those names deny knowing who I am, then I can kiss the rest of my life goodbye.

I'm ashamed to admit the thoughts running through my mind. Amy needs me. But she had choices in life. She didn't need to supply drugs to her mom.

She could have reached out to me or my parents.

Or my brothers.

She could have chosen a million different things, but she didn't. Amy chose to become a supplier for her mother.

I get that she lost her dad and was likely hanging on to her mother, but this was not the way.

If she's still alive, we are having a huge fucking talk.

If I get to live past this meeting.

I think about my parents who have no idea what I'm doing. My brothers would be furious with me. It could take days before anyone figured it out that I've failed and my body nowhere to be found.

The Dark Kings would eventually figure it out after not hearing from me.

Gianna would hear the shot and find me face down on the table bleeding all over her family table.

Would she care?

How does she truly feel about me? I've been trying not to ask that question, but as I come face-to-face with my mortality in this very real moment, I can't help it.

Nor acknowledge how I feel about her.

If she wasn't Frank's daughter, I would date her. I would more than date her. I'd be telling her she's mine and no one else's.

When I said I'd kill for her, it freaked me the hell out because I'm pretty sure I would. Yes, I've killed. I'm a goddamn Marine. But I've killed in the name of my country. I've killed to protect US citizens and keep this world safe.

Not for a woman and her honor.

Fuck her honor. I would kill to stop any asshole in this crime world thinking they could touch her.

Gianna's body is mine.

Her soul belongs to me.

Whether her heart is mine is...not relevant.

Because apparently, and irrationally, I've decided she belongs to me. I'll work the rest out if I live past the next ten minutes.

Frank Baldassare stares at me.

Sweat beads on my forehead and my body overheats from the stress.

Fuck.

"We have a deal. Take him to the warehouse," the don finally says. "Tomorrow night."

Jesus.

I force myself not to sigh in relief.

I'm still alive.

I might find Amy.

I can't believe I've got this far, even with Decker, Nathan, Mack, Connor, and the FBI behind the scenes.

"That little girl loves you, Brax. Don't grow up too fast and break her heart."

Well, here the fuck I am, risking my entire life.

"Yes, boss." Salvatore glances at Dante, who nods, slides his chair back and disappears.

But not before casting a dark look my way.

I want to know what he's thinking, and I'm pretty sure it's because he's Gianna's brother. Otherwise, what would I care what a gangster thinks?

She will hate me, despise me even, when she learns that I used her. That I deceived her.

She'll think everything was a lie.

But it isn't.

Not all of it.

The stakes are way too high for me to risk saying anything, so the best I can do is make sure she's not caught up in this. With the feds involved, I'm assuming they'll be locked up by the end of it.

Then I will return to my life and forget Gianna Baldassare.

"Gentlemen." I say, standing. "I will see you tomorrow night."

I need space to breathe.

And be Braxton Ashford until then.