From Past To Present (Vicci Crime Family Series Book 2) Page 3

  “Oh God,” Victoria yelled as I pushed past her hymen. I stopped and let her body adjust to me fully. “Don’t. Don’t stop. I’ll overthink this, and right now, I don’t want to think. I just want to enjoy the pain of knowing you’re inside me.”

  I began to move slowly, rolling my hips as I pushed in, ensuring she felt me against the little bundle of nerves just above her opening. I ran my tongue along the outer edge of her ear.

  “Baby, you feel amazing. You’re so tight you’re squeezing my dick so good. I could explode at any minute.”

  “Yes, yes,” she pleaded.

  “No, sweetness, not until you feel the same enjoyment I am. I’m going to make you come first.”

  I knew she needed the extra stimulation to push her over the edge; she wasn’t going to get there on her own the first time. So, I lifted us off the sofa and then sat back down, positioning her legs on either side of me. With my hands, I grasped her hips and raised and lowered her over my manhood. She whimpered with every downward motion. I knew her clit rubbing against me was just the sensation she needed to send her to the promised land.

  She was so tight, I felt it, the moment when her walls squeezed me like a vice. I didn’t need the commentary to know her orgasm was ripping through her, but it turned me on no less to hear it.

  “Oh my fucking God! Yes, yes!” Her chest rose and fell quickly. “Oh my God, oh my God, don’t stop. Yes, yes, YES!”

  Her last yes did me in, and my release roared through me and into the condom. “I love you, Victoria.” The words just came out, and the moment I said them, it felt as if a cold bucket of ice water hit me.

  6

  Gabriel

  I love you, Victoria. That snapped me back to reality. I held her tightly against me as I quickly assessed how this happened. Tonight wasn’t supposed to go down this way. Having sex was going to make a mess out of everything now. I hadn’t been thinking at all when her hand reached between us. I hadn’t meant to take her virginity. It was the furthest thing from my mind when I walked through the door. But I couldn’t help myself; I was selfish. I wanted to know what it would feel like to be inside her. I wanted to be the one she gave her innocence to. I needed her first to be with someone she loved, who loved her back equally, and that wasn’t going to change when I left here. I’d always love her. I just couldn’t have her.

  I gently lifted her off my cock and set her down beside me on the sofa. I stood, grabbed my jeans, walked to the bathroom, tied the condom off, and wrapped it in toilet paper before stuffing it into my pocket. I looked at myself in the mirror, disgusted by the face that looked back at me. You took her virginity, and now you are going to walk away. You’re a bastard, and you’re going to rot in hell for this. Turning on the water, I splashed some on my face and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I ignored the glancing in the mirror and reached for the hand towel to dry my face. Now it was time to do the unthinkable.

  Victoria was dressed and sitting on the sofa when I returned. She was nibbling on the side of her finger but quickly stopped when she saw me staring at her. She lowered her head and then spoke.

  “I guess we should have talked before that happened. I just… I just wanted to get that out of the way.” She lifted her head until our eyes met. “I guess I thought if you saw and felt how much you mean to me, it would make it easier for you to tell me what’s been bothering you.”

  Oh yeah. That’s going to make it so much easier. Not. “Look, Victoria,” I said as I sat down beside her. “It’s never going to be easy for me to tell you what the problem is. There are things in my life you’re not ever going to be able to understand, and that’s the reason I haven’t talk to you.”

  Her eyes fell to her lap once again, and she nodded as if she understood. “You know, Gabriel, if you don’t tell me, you won’t know for sure if I’ll understand. You’re just assuming I won’t.”

  I reached over, placing two fingers under her chin and raising it so she could see me speak to her. “I know you love me, and I think you know that I love you too. But sometimes, love isn’t enough. Sometimes, there are hurdles love just isn’t strong enough to get over. Does that make sense?”

  Her head shook. “No, it doesn’t. If you love someone, there is nothing that the two of them can’t get over, or through, or even around. There is always a way.”

  “And that right there just confirms how naïve you are. Sometimes, there are just things out of your control. Sometimes, everything fits together just right, but not at the right time. And sometimes, we’ll never understand why things have to be the way they are; they just do.”

  “Just try, Gabriel, try telling me what’s wrong and let me help.”

  “You want to help. Find a solution to this, then.” My anger at Victoria’s pushing and with myself for letting us get into this situation continued to build resulting in me snapping at her. “Solve this, then. I can’t be with you anymore. I can’t talk to you, can’t see you. All of this”—I gestured between us— “is over as of midnight tomorrow. It is, just is, and there isn’t anything you or I can do about it.”

  Victoria jerked away from me, her eyes wide and her lips parted. She sat that way for a few seconds and then looked into the distance. I hung my head in my hands and rested my elbows on my knees. “I’m sorry. It’s the way it has to be, and I agreed to it.”

  “How can you agree to something so unthinkable? Who asked this of you?”

  I felt the sofa move and watched as Victoria went to the kitchen. She returned, holding a bottle of water. “Are you going to answer me or just sit there with your head in your hands?”

  “My family, that’s who asked this of me.”

  “What! What have I ever done to them to make them dislike me?”

  “It’s not something you’ve done. It just is. You’ll never understand because your life is so different than mine. I just follow orders, Victoria. I don’t question them. It’s how I’ve been raised, and it’s how it has to be.”

  “That’s it? You’re just going to walk out of here tonight, and I’m never going to hear from you again?” I now heard the anger I’d been expecting in her voice.

  “Yes. I’m so sorry. It wasn’t my choice. I do love you, and I saw a future with you.”

  “It is your choice, Gabriel. Having something taken from you is not having an option, but agreeing to terms given to you means you’re the one deciding. You’re basically saying Go fuck yourself, Victoria and then walking out the door.”

  “It’s not like that. I told you, you’d never understand.” I stood, finished getting dressed, and then walked to the door. “My heart will always be yours. I’ll never give it to another for as long as I live. I’m sorry, so, so sorry.”

  As I twisted the door handle, Victoria’s water bottle slammed against the wall beside my head. Water flew through the cracks in the bottle and coated my face.

  “Go, Gabriel, don’t look back and don’t expect me to come after you. You chose this, so you only have yourself to blame.”

  Her voice cracked as she yelled at me. I could hear her fighting the tears, and I knew no matter how hard she tried to make me believe she didn’t care, she did. She’d given me something so precious tonight that she’d never get back. I had a piece of her heart, and she had all of mine.

  I held the manilla folder labeled Anthony Chiri, Jr. I’d wasted the majority of the evening reflecting on the one I let get away. Instead of coming up with a plan to save her life, I needed to figure out how to end this.

  7

  Angelo

  Bethany lay beside me, her naked body curled into mine. Her soft locks splayed gently across my chest. My mind was everywhere but on the present. Never had I ever not been able to perform in bed. I prided myself on being able to satisfy my wife daily. But tonight, I kept hearing the question Gabriel asked me several days ago. What would you do if you were given an order to end Bethany’s life? For some reason, I couldn’t get it out of my head no matter how hard I tried. Maybe it was beca
use the days were dwindling, and before I knew it, I was going to force him to do the unthinkable.

  My hand ran up and down my wife’s back as the tips of her fingers grazed my side. “What’s wrong, Angelo? Please tell me. I know it’s something serious to affect you this way.”

  “Oh, Tesoro, you don’t know how embarrassed I am about tonight. It’s hard on a man’s ego when he cannot satisfy his wife.”

  “Ang, you satisfy me in every way possible. It’s not always about sex. However, you are pretty fabulous when it comes to that. But everyone is allowed an off day. But something tells me this is more than just that.”

  I contemplated whether to tell Bethany the complete story or shorten it to just the pertinent pieces. She knew my life history, and by all means, she was not blind to what would be required of me now that I was the Boss of the family. But should I remind her that I was responsible for giving the orders that would end lives? I’d never shared with her all the illegal things the family did. She knew the businesses we were in did illegal stuff, but not exactly what that stuff was.

  “I want to tell you something, but before I do it, I need you to understand what loyalty to the family means to me.”

  “I understand, Angelo. You don’t need to explain.”

  “You don’t, Tesoro, you think you do, but you do not. So, please lie there quietly as I explain.”

  Bethany lifted her head off my chest, shaking it back and forth slightly as she grinned up at me. “Go ahead. I’ll be as quiet as a church mouse.”

  I touched her nose with my finger and then proceeded. “When Gabriel and I took the oath to the family, we didn’t just say I promise loyalty. It’s not that simple. There is a ritual that takes place.” I lifted my palm so she could see it and ran my finger across the center of it.

  “I’ve never noticed that scar before,” she spoke.

  “Church mouse, remember,” I reminded her, and she giggled briefly. “Back then, Lillian’s father was the Boss, and mine was his second in command. Back then, neither of them got their hands dirty. They made requests, and everyone followed them. Nowadays, everyone’s hands are dirty.”

  I moved a lock of hair behind my wife’s ear and placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “When Mr. Vicci asked us to promise our loyalty, we gladly accepted. He took out a knife, ran the blade across our palms. He then instructed us to close our fists and let the blood drip onto a picture of St. George, the soldier. Next, the picture was lit on fire, and we were asked to repeat the following. Today I am born again. If I betray my brothers, I will die, and my soul will burn in hell for all eternity. That was it; we took the oath and embraced the code of silence. We were now part of a secret society that is feared by many. That is how the Vicci family has survived for over a hundred years. No one knows anything as far as anyone is concerned.”

  “I get it, babe. So why does this oath thing have you all out of sorts?”

  “I’m out of sorts because I’ve asked Gabriel to do something for the family. Something I’m not sure that I would be able to honor if somebody asked it of me. His life will end by my hand if he doesn’t do it, and his soul will burn in hell for eternity.”

  Bethany immediately sprung up and sat cross-legged beside me, her perfect tits on display. “What! You can’t kill Gabriel. He saved your life, and he’s your closest friend.”

  “And now you see, Tesoro, the predicament I’m in that is messing with my head.”

  “Okay, so tell me what you asked him to do, and I’ll help you find a solution. There is always a solution to every problem. Even for your cloak-and-dagger family rule,” Bethany said as she smiled at me, hoping to force me to relax.

  I pulled her down to me and tucked her back into my side. This way, I’d have a tight hold on her should she decide to freak out. “When we were teenagers, Mr. Vicci ordered Gabriel to sever the relationship he had with a girl. It wasn’t just any girl; Gabriel loved this girl more than anything. There was no explanation why, only the demand to do it. Until earlier this week, neither he nor I knew why. But a piece of information recently provided to me leads me to believe I now know the reason.”

  “That’s pretty shitty of Lilian’s father. So, what is this new information that you think you know, and did you tell Gabriel?”

  “Yes, I shared it with Gabriel. She is the bastard daughter of a rival family. I suppose Mr. Vicci knew that back then; it would explain the request. There would have been no way a long-term relationship would have been honored between families.”

  “So, what does that have to do with the here and now?”

  “That rival family is the family that hurt Jefferson and kidnapped and beat Giovanna. Not long ago, before we moved here to New York, my father asked me to do something that involved tracking down Lillian’s cousin and excommunicating him. I offered up a one-time peace offering on my fathers’ behalf and then advised them if they were caught doing it again, I’d end the life of each of the firstborn children to the three Capos of that family.”

  Bethany lifted her head and looked at me. Her eyes were sad. “You’d kill someone’s innocent children?”

  The understanding of family business was never easy for someone outside of the family. I was right to fear Bethany would never understand or embrace how the family operated. Things were not black and white to someone not born into our lifestyle. The rules of right and wrong got muddied by one’s conscience. When you haven’t lived with an inability to say no, it’s always the first thing that comes to mind when you don’t like the outcome. I wasn’t sure how to make her understand, but I continued and tried.

  “It is a code of honor. If I say it and don’t follow through, the family appears weak. That will lead to more bloodshed and death, and trust me, two of these children are not innocent. I won’t go into detail, but I’ll suffice to say that bad things happen to young boys and girls when they are around.”

  My beautiful wife smiled at me and said, “Okay, you can kill them. I approve. But you said two of them. What about the third?”

  “Ah, the third is the problem. The third has no idea who her father is, let alone that he is a Capo for the Mancini family.”

  “Oh, my God. The third is the girl Gabriel fell in love with all those years ago. The one he ended his relationship with, isn’t she?”

  “Yes, my beautifully smart wife. The third is the love of Gabriel’s life. Either way, this woman is dead. If Gabriel doesn’t kill her, the other two men will. They’ll seek retribution against her for the loss of their sons. Now you see my predicament.”

  “Please tell me you didn’t order Gabriel to kill someone he loved?”

  My wife was less than pleased with me as I told her that I had indeed ordered Gabriel to take Victoria’s life. I also advised her of his response and how he questioned whether I would be able to take her life if ordered.

  “Would you have done it? Could you have done it, Angelo?”

  “No, Tesoro, I could never have done anything to hurt you.”

  I felt her body relax once I confessed to never being able to hurt her. I hadn’t realized that she had stiffened in my arms until that moment. It gutted me that Bethany thought even for a moment that I could or would have hurt her. She was my gift from God, and I’d sell my soul to the devil before I’d ever let anything happen to her.

  My wife placed her hand on my cheek, forcing me to look at her. When our eyes met, I saw the compassion in them. “My sweet Angelo, there has to be something you can do for Gabriel. Can’t you make a deal with that Mancini person?”

  A chuckle fell from my lips. “That’s why we are in the predicament we are in now.”

  Both of us lay in bed, silent. Bethany’s fingertips brushed against my temple as she stroked my hair. The feeling was soothing but still did not have the power to ease or wipe away my troubles. At one point, though, I must have fallen asleep because I woke to the shaking of my body at the hands of my wife. And a cold spot next to me where she had been laying.

  “I’ve got
it. I’ve got a solution,” Bethany cried out.

  It was sweet that she thought she could solve my problems. But I knew it was impossible. She could never understand the family’s intricate workings, but her excitement was infectious, and I was willing to hear her out.

  “We kidnap her and hide her until the coast is clear.”

  I sat up in bed and shook my head. We kidnap her and hide her until the coast is clear. That was the solution to our problem? I wasn’t sure who we were, but I knew for damn sure that Bethany would have no part in whatever ‘we’ came up with.

  “We, Tesoro? Who is we? Do you have a mouse in your pocket? Is that who we are?”

  The sting from Bethany’s palm against my chest told me she didn’t find my comment as humorous as I did.

  “No, asshole, we aren’t my mouse and me. We is you.”

  I laughed inwardly. The thought that my wife felt that was the solution amused me. “So, I’m going to kidnap Victoria. And when do you propose the coast is clear?”

  “Yes,” she said matter-of-factly. “The coast will be clear after you talk to that Mancini man and get him to agree not to let anyone in his group hurt Victoria.”

  Once again, her innocence entertained me. “Oh, my little naïve girl, it is a family, not a group, and that is not how things work. I can’t just walk up and ask for mercy and back away from my promise. One life has come to an end, and two more within days.”

  Bethany continued to explain that she’d done research online about how mob bosses had names. History had shown Dons held names like the Teflon Don, the Yuppie Don, and the Dapper Don, so why couldn’t I be known as the Compassionate Don? Only my wife could believe that there could be a compassionate mob boss. It just went to show that she had no concept of how ruthless a family had to be.

  I placed my finger against her lips. “Baby, baby, shush. I appreciate your insight, but I’ll figure this out on my own, and if worse comes to worst, I’ll use your idea and kidnap the girl.”