Chapter Fifteen

Cora woke the next morning to the sensation of having a boulder strapped across her chest. The restriction of oxygen flow had her eyelids prying open to a thick curtain of sunlight from the windows she’d forgotten to close and a bulging man arm draped across her boobs. The latter was attached to a slumbering and deliciously naked man half slumped on top of her, one leg wedged firmly between hers and a scruffy face nestled into her neck.

He seemed to enjoy sleeping like that, she noted. He liked winding himself around her, crushing her, pinning her to him as if she might disappear in the night.

Secretly, she kind of liked it, too. Liked the confinement, the feeling of being absolutely surrounded and embraced. How could a girl not relish in the feeling of having a gorgeous man cocoon her like the idea of letting her go was inconceivable? Granted, she would have liked it a little better if he wasn’t suffocating her.

Blowing out what little air she’d managed to suck in, Cora turned her head into the featherlight wisps tickling her jaw. The silky strands were attached to the man breathing peacefully into her neck, and held the salty tang of ocean and metal. It was such a unique scent, one that could never be found in any bottle, one that was so him, so impeccably him—

Wild.

Dangerous.

Vast.

Mysterious.

Hard.

Impenetrable.

God, even in sleep, he smelled amazing, and felt even better. Every taut inch of him fitted like a perfect, velvet glove alongside hers. Not to mention that beautiful, hard cock wedged against her hip.

Fuck, she loved that cock.

She was obsessed with it.

Addicted to it.

It had become her heroine, seducing her to take that one last hit.

Only, it was never just that one.

She was perversely fine with that.

Absently, she skimmed her fingers through the thick mane, marveling at how downy the texture was for a man who faced sea mist and sun every day with some off the shelf bottle of shampoo.

Mane.

It made her think of lions.

The image made her giggle.

So fitting and yet there was no way to properly define James Crow.

He was a unique breed of animal.

An animal that held all the power over her.

She drew in a breath and closed her eyes.

Cora didn’t consider herself weak. She didn’t think herself helpless or vulnerable. She was raised by a father who ran an empire and a mother who was probably stronger than he was. She had an honorary aunt who killed people for money. She had a family who came from a very long line of dealers, smugglers, and murderers.

Criminals.

It was in her DNA.

She knew how to draw outside the lines.

She knew how to evade the police.

She knew how to step up and take her father’s place.

But she chose not to, because it wasn’t her.

She wasn’t capable of hurting another person, and she didn’t want to be.

Maybe that was her weakness.

Maybe that was her Achilles’s heel.

Maybe that was why she was incapable of killing James like she should.

Throughout her evening with him, over dinner, during the drive home, all she could think about was telling him she wasn’t going to be his slave anymore. That their terms needed to be renegotiated. Being his mistress was a whole other ball game to being his wife, and not just any wife.

He wanted a crime boss wife.

That was something else.

That took trust and loyalty.

That took love and dedication.

He couldn’t simply snap his fingers and will it to happen, will her to become obedient and devoted. That level of partnership needed a two-way street.

She’d meant to tell him that, meant to lay it all out on the table, but then he’d been sitting there, telling her about his parents, his life, and he’d looked so shattered, so broken ... something in her had wavered.

Her resolve had crumbled.

All she could think about was comforting him, because there was nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a strong man in pieces.

Taking him on the sofa, however, had been a surprise. She couldn’t even remember who reached for whose clothes first, but she somehow found herself needing to distract him, to exorcise the demons from his eyes the only way she knew how.

It had worked.

For a time, in those few minutes of bliss as their bodies came together and aligned, there was only fire in those silver pools, only hunger for her and what she could give him. And that had been enough.

Maybe that made her weak and stupid, a pathetic excuse for a strong woman, but she knew it wouldn’t stop her from doing it again.

Cora squinted at the alarm clock. It was a little after six in the morning, which barely gave her any time at all to get ready if she wanted to meet Elise for breakfast.

Lifting her head, she peered down at the man confining her to the mattress. There was no way to untangle herself without waking him. But she pried his arm out from its anchor around her waist, and was wiggling out from beneath his leg when the arm returned with a possessive vengeance.

It dragged her back across the mattress and the man reinforcing his hold.

“Where do you think you’re going?” His gruff, groggy grumble coursed down her spine.

“It’s almost seven,” she whispered. “Mom’s waiting for me.”

His response was the sharp nip of his teeth sinking into her neck. Not hard enough to break skin, but she would mark. Possibly bruise.

A branding reminder of who she belonged to.

Cora moaned.

The wounded spot throbbed, a delicious mixture of passion and punishment that rushed straight to her core with the intensity of liquid fire.

“James.”

One large palm cupped her breast as his mouth continued to trail languidly along the seam joining her neck to her shoulder. The thumb skimmed her nipple, distorting all thoughts but the ones he was painting in her mind with just his touch.

“Get ready.”

His command was followed by the smart clap of his palm against the soft flesh of her ass, a sound smack that stole the very air from her lungs. It vibrated through her, agitating already tender skin. The area tingled. It spread up her tailbone and scattered across her spine in a shower of electric ripples.

“Go, or I’m going to fuck you,” he threatened in a silky purr that did nothing to reinstate lucidity.

If anything, it had her hips driving back against the hard ridge of his erection nestled against her crack. It had her panting and sinking her nails into his hip, holding him in place while she rutted against him like a kitten seeking heat.

“Get a condom.” He bit the shell of her ear. “Now.”

Cora scrambled for the nightstand and the dusty box hidden at the back of its drawer. She tore a packet free from the rest and turned to him.

James sheathed himself in rubber before reaching for her. His hands closed around her hips from behind and she was dragged back against his chest. Her legs were forced apart. One was tossed back over both of his, opening her to the cock nudging against her opening.

She pulled him to her. She guided the fat cap past the tight ring and let him sink further and further inside her until there wasn’t an inch left. The absolute bliss of being filled sent her head reeling and her vision blurring.

“You’re going to be late, Cora,” he told her with each shallow thrust. “All because you couldn’t leave without getting a stiff cock in your tight pussy first.”

Her moan was infiltrated by the penetration of two fingers breaking past her lips, her teeth to press against her tongue.

Instinct had her sucking without being told. She wrapped the digits with her tongue and worked it as if it were his dick, partially wishing it was.

“There’s my good girl.” The pumping of his wrist mirrors the bucking of his hips to the point where she couldn’t tell the difference. “Get them nice and wet.”

But he withdrew, leaving her lips sore and tender as he trailed slick fingers down her body to where they were joined. He teased her clit, using her saliva to lubricate the hardened little muscle.

The sensation was surreal. Every flick, every pressurized rub of his fingers pushed her that much closer to the place she desperately needed to be.

“Come for me, sweetheart,” he beckoned, hot breath whispering in her ear.

She did.

She came with a choked gasp of his name. Her entire body bowed into his skillful hand. It blazed along with the rest of the world.

James groaned into the curve of her jaw. His arms tightened around her, keeping her still, keeping her pinned as he gave three sharp jabs and released. She could feel him twitching and expelling into the rubber. The heat of it burned her channel.

“Every morning,” she breathed into the pillow. “We should do that every morning.”

His low chuckle vibrated against her shoulder where his lips were lazily trailing kisses along her skin.

“Go shower.”

She peeked at the clock again and cursed.

Legs like jelly, Cora tumbled off the bed and made an unsteady path to the washroom. She washed quickly and dressed even quicker. She ran a hurried brush through her hair, but skipped blow drying, or straightening. Using the time instead to do her makeup.

James wasn’t in the bedroom when she returned. The bed was neatly made, their discarded clothes tossed into the hamper in the corner, but the man himself was nowhere to be seen.

She found him in the kitchen, next to the brewing coffee machine ... and Nicholas. The presence of the other man momentarily faltered her strides before she remembered why he was there.

“Hey!” she said, stepping deep into the cramped bit of space dominated by a rickety table with two chairs, and two massive men.

Nicholas inclined his head in his usual muteness.

“I just need my coat and purse,” she told him.

James glanced sideways at his friend. It must have been the signal for something, because Nicholas left the room without a word.

James pushed away from the counter and ambled his way over to her. He extended his hand, long fingers open and inviting. Cora set hers into his without hesitation.

She was drawn to him, a fish lured by the seductive allure of a fishermen’s hook. He didn’t stop until their clothes had tangled and his front was perfectly aligned with hers. The impact had her chin tipping back, had her heart thumping between them. Her lips automatically parted for his, obediently waiting to taste him.

He flicked a gaze to it, seemingly amused.

“I have something for you.”

His gaze shifted upward to capture hers. His free hand disappeared into his pocket. She watched as it was removed, dragging with it a long glimmer of something delicate and silver. It sparkled as it hit the light. It dangled between them, the most stunning charm bracelet she had ever seen.

Cora gasped. “James!”

She reached to touch the neat interlocking series of hearts forming a delicate chain. The cluster of tiny diamonds hugging the curves twinkled like tiny sparks of fire, drawing the eyes to the only charm hanging off the end, a tiny anchor shaped in a J.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, mesmerized by its sheer beauty. “It’s gorgeous.”

“It’s yours,” he said. “But I want something in return.”

Cora looked past the gift to the man watching her, eyes dark and hungry.

“What?”

He barely waited when striking. She found herself forced against the wall with his mouth a demanding lock over hers. His tongue tasted of cool mint when it invaded, pushing past her willing lips to sweep against hers. The flavor had her taste buds tingling and her fingers reach up to close in his hair. She gripped him to her as he kissed her with a raw vengeance of a man possessed. Every brutal coax was more punishing than romantic.

But she accepted it.

Needed it.

She opened to him.

Relinquished all for him.

She was so lost that she didn’t react right away when his free hand snapped open her jeans, when it slipped inside until his fingers were forcing apart her lips.

“James...?”

His name faded into a welcoming sigh with the first invasion of his fingers. Two sank inside her already wet heat to the knuckles.

Cora responded by widening her stance and rolling her hips into his palm. Her eyes closed and her head dropped back against the wall with a dull thud.

“I need your come,” he murmured into her ear. “I need it on my fingers. Come for me, Cora.”

It took the assault of his thumb grinding into her clit, but she came with a choked little whimper and a rush of heat that he pumped all over his fingers.

Soaking them.

Coating them.

He caught her against him when the removal of his hand had her sagging on her feet. He held her pinned between the unyielding front of his body and the wall.

“Look at me.”

She forced her eyes open, forced them to find his face and stick.

Fingers wet with her release were brought to her mouth, a mouth that automatically opened. But he had no interest in that. The tips were used to paint her lips, coat them glossy with her own juices. Once he was satisfied he’d done a proper job, he slipped them into her mouth to suck clean. Each blunt digit rested heavy against her tongue and tasted of her own salty tinge.

“You can have the bracelet,” he told her in that dark, husky murmur of his. His fingers slipped out of her mouth. “But only if you return with your lips tasting exactly like they do at this moment. I want to lick them clean when I see you.”

Cora sucked in a breath. “All day? What ... what if I drink, or—”

“You have fingers.” He caught her wrist and brought the hand to his mouth. He nipped on a finger lightly, watching her over the knuckles the whole time. “Reapply, but no coming.”

“Jesus...” She stared at him, horrified, and turned on to the point of pure delirium. “You’re so fucking twisted.”

“Am I?” His eyes glittered menacingly. “Then why are you getting wet?”

She was wet, or at least, wetter. She was almost certain it would start leaking through her jeans.

“You’re turning me into a pervert,” she decided, painfully conscious of the moisture drying on her lips.

One slender eyebrow lifted. “Complaints?”

Cora expelled a ragged chuckle. “Not even one.”

That only served to amuse him. His lips bowed in an almost Cheshire cat smile.

“You better go,” he told her. “You’re already late.”

The bracelet was securely fastened around her right wrist. The button and fly of her jeans were closed securely, and he tugged the hem of her sweater neatly around her hips.

“Be good,” he warned her. “I’ll see you when you return.”

She was forcibly turned and nudged from the room.

She found Nicholas by her front door, head bent over his phone, expression excruciatingly blank. She wondered how he did that. She couldn’t keep a straight face if her life depended on it.

But he lifted his chin when she approached.

“Sorry,” she said, quickening her pace.

He said nothing, not even when he tugged open the door in indication.

Cora paused only briefly to grab her purse and coat off the peg, and glance back.

James was already in the doorway between the sitting area and kitchen, one shoulder resting on the frame. His hands lost in the bowels of his pockets. He seemed so out of place amongst her things, so vibrant and lethal.

She waved, not trusting herself with words.

“Tine-o în condiții de siguranță,” he said in Romanian to her companion.

But his gaze never left hers. Their merciless indulging of her sanity pitched through her with an intensity that hit every pleasure point in her body. Her swollen core panged in response.

“What did he say?” she asked Nicholas as they descended the stairs.

The man said nothing the whole way down. He continued in his silence right up to the car. He opened her door and waited until she was properly in her seat.

“Keep her safe.”

He closed her in before she could press with questions. Not that she could think of any over the hard crack of her heart. Her mouth was painfully dry by the time he took possession of the wheel.

“Thank you,” she blurted when there was enough space between her and James that she could finally breathe

Brown eyes caught hers in the rearview mirror. “For what?”

“Being here,” she summarized. “I know you probably have a million things to do that don’t include babysitting.”

“This is where the Captain wants me.”

Cora let it drop. Nicholas had already proven he was a man of a few words and even less humor. The only thing left to do was sit back and wait to see her mom again.

“Oh!” Cora dug into her purse for her phone. “I don’t know where we’re going.”

She should have realized her phone would be dead. It hadn’t seen a charger in over a week. But she pulled it out, stabbed at the power button a few times and then pitched it back in with an aggravated growl.

“I’m sorry, Nicholas. I should have—”

Without a word, he held his phone out to her.

The surprise of that took her a moment to process, but she took it with a murmured thanks and called her mom.

Kevin picked up as she knew he would. His voice was gruff with authority and held a steely undertone everyone found intimidating, but Cora had known him too long to take his phone voice seriously. He only ever used it when the number calling Elise was unfamiliar.

“Hey Kevin, it’s me. My phone’s dead. Is my mom there?”

“Cora?” Elise’s uncertain voice replaced Kevin’s. “Is everything all right?”

The concern in her mother’s voice made Cora wish she’d thought to be clearer when making arrangements the night before. She’d been so surprised by James agreeing to see Elise again that she hadn’t wanted to stick around and let him change his mind. Plus, her mind had been a numb abyss of joy and pain at seeing her parents again and being in her own city that she could hardly remember her own name, never mind making an actual plan.

“Everything is perfect. I was just wondering where we were meeting.”

A long strain of silence followed where Cora had to check to make sure the call hadn’t been dropped. Low chatter continued on the other end when she listened hard enough, but there was no sound from her mother.

“Mom?”

Finally, Elise cleared her throat. “Duke’s, darling.”

The moment it was said, Cora closed her eyes in a grimace. The fingers on her free hand lifted to pinch the bridge of her nose as it all came together in the most painful way.

Of course Duke’s, Cora thought bitterly. It was Elise’s favorite place for breakfast. The only place Elise was willing to eat that early in the morning. It was no wonder Elise sounded so bewildered.

“Right, sorry, I just ... I forgot.”

The confession was somehow worse. They’d been going to Duke’s since Cora was old enough to sit through a full meal.

“But everything’s fine,” she rushed on before her mother could ask. “We’re on our way.”

“Okay, darling.”

Cora hung up quickly and returned the phone to Nicholas. She slumped back against the seat and shook her head slowly in disbelief; she’d only been gone a week. How was it possible to forget something so routine? It was ridiculous. Insulting even. But if she were honest with herself, a lot had changed in those few days.

She no longer even felt like herself.

James was to blame.

He had disrupted the whole, natural order of her life.

He’d thrown a wrench into her entire existence.

He’d fucked her, literally and figuratively.

She was addicted.

Infatuated.

Mesmerized.

So fucked.

So royally fucked.

But she wanted it.

Wanted him.

Wanted him with a severity that hurt.

Christ.

That made her as bad as him.

For allowing him to tempt and toy with her.

For allowing him to finger her and then put it on her lips and not wipe it off.

For even considering reapplying like it was normal made her some kind of nutcase.

What the fuck was he doing to her?

She shifted in her seat, the damp state of her panties becoming a real problem rubbing against the bare lips of her sex. It clung to her, a sticky reminder of his command to come on his fingers.

“Fuck.”

She hadn’t realized she’d spoken out loud until she caught Nicholas’s gaze in the mirror.

The heat in her face was no longer solely the side effects of her brutal arousal.

“It’s nothing. Sorry.”

But there was a knowing glint in the man’s eyes that was beyond mortifying. It filled her with the horrifying realization that he might have heard them. The apartment wasn’t that big. The walls were thin. And she hadn’t thought to be quiet, nor had James cared when he’d torn the ground out from beneath her with every deft plunge of his fingers.

Oh dear God, Cora moaned inwardly, stopping short of burying her hot face into her palms.

The remainder of the drive was done with her being excruciatingly still, careful with her every breath in case it let on how fucking horny she was. It was ruthless and vicious. The kind of thrumming that made her want to turn the car around, find James and screw him into unconsciousness.

But that had no doubt been his plan all along, to get her so worked up she couldn’t think.

Bastard.

Well, she wasn’t going to do it.

She wasn’t going to submit.

She wouldn’t let him win.

Clit throbbing, she buckled in for one long ass day.

Elise was already at their usual table when Cora arrived with Nicholas in tow. The pirate was entirely out of place in the posh and pricy interior of Duke’s. Everything from his leather coat to his long, unruly locks drew eyes the deeper they walked into the exclusive club. Cora would have laughed, if the stares hadn’t grated on her nerves.

The classlessness of some people.

The outright gall.

She’d never been so humiliated.

“Darling.” Elise waved her over.

Cora bypassed the gawkers and whisperers to where her mother and Deidra sat. Both were dressed in gorgeous suits in different cuts and colors. Elise wore a dark plum colored blazer and skirt. Deidra was in a white, silk blouse and white trousers. Both looked stunning, and delighted to see her.

Cora took a deep breath and started forward closing the space between herself and her family.

“Took you long enough,” was Deidra’s method of greeting.

“Sorry.”

Cora eased into the chair Nicholas drew out for her before finding his own seat one table over from the group, despite the hostess’s protest that the table was reserved. The agitated woman wasn’t satisfied until Elise glanced over and gave a subtle shake of her head, which immediately snapped the girl’s mouth shut and had her scurrying away.

“Kevin and Deidra,” Cora noted, attempting to break the tension. “I guess Dad’s being a bit overprotective, huh?”

“I’m waiting for a call,” Deidra answered simply, with a sharp edge. “Kevin’s here to make sure your cowboy over there,” she jerked a chin towards Nicholas, “doesn’t take both of you.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Elise assured Cora. “Only the part about Deidra possibly cutting our breakfast short.”

Deidra snorted.

Cora picked up her menus. “Have you ordered?”

They hadn’t, but it was clear from the glances they exchanged that they had been talking about her. Their concern was written all over their faces, masks of blinding uncertainty.

“Will you two stop?” She forced a laugh. “I’m fine. Better even.”

“How are you fine?” Deidra broke in. “You’ve been brainwashed by a sociopath.”

“James is not a sociopath,” she bit out. “And I’m not brainwashed. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“Which is what, exactly?” Elise asked, albeit not as viciously. “Come on, darling. You must understand why we’re concerned. We love you so much and we don’t want you to get hurt.”

“James won’t hurt me.” The conviction in her own voice astounded even her. She had no tangible evidence to back that up, except that he’d had plenty of opportunities to do so and never had. But she honestly believed he wouldn’t. “It’s complicated to explain. Now, can we please just have a nice, normal breakfast and enjoy our day?”

Elise and Deidra exchanged glances.

Elise relented first. Her nude lips bowed into a resigned smile.

“All right, love. What are you hungry for?”

She ordered a mushroom and cheese omelet with steak tips, and a coffee. She missed coffee. August had always brought her juice, water, or milk, as if she were a child, and she’d been too hesitant to ask him for anything else.

She cradled the dark, rich brew the moment it was placed in front of her and inhaled deeply. A moan escaped her, a lusty, guttural sound that would have been pornographic any other time, except she couldn’t bring herself to give a damn.

“God, I missed this,” she breathed in between sips that tasted of dark roast and pussy from her own lips.

“They don’t have coffee on that floating pile of crap?” Deidra ventured.

Cora allowed herself another greedy gulp, ignored the burn of it racing down her chest and into her stomach, and turned to her friend.

“Can we not talk about James, or his ship for five minutes? Look.” She fixed them both with a level glance. “I love you guys. I love that you didn’t give up on me and tried so hard to find me, but I’m back. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

“Or until your pirate decides to haul you off.”

Cora sighed. “You’re not giving him a chance.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Even she knew it. James wasn’t some rebel without a cause her family and friends didn’t approve of. He was a smuggler, a kidnapper, a blackmailer, an asshole, just to name a few. He didn’t deserve a chance, nor was it right of her to ask them to give him one.

“I’m sorry.” She sighed and rubbed the tips of her fingers across her brow. “I shouldn’t ask you guys to do that.”

“You know what we need?” Elise cut in. “A family dinner. Something low key. It might be a good chance to get to know the Captain a bit better.”

“You want to have dinner with that douche?” Deidra blurted. “He kidnapped your daughter.”

“And married her,” Elise reminded her. “We may not like the outcome, but so long as Cora refuses to leave him, he’s family. He’s the man she’s chosen for herself. For better or worse.”

“I don’t like this.” Deidra shook her head. “My assassin senses are tingling.”

Cora looked to her mother, the woman with the flawless porcelain skin and impeccable manners, a woman who could charm the pants off just about anyone, and tried to channel some of that.

“It doesn’t matter how James and I were brought together,” she began, keeping her voice calm and even. “The fact is that I made a choice to marry him and I’m sticking by that choice. No one has to like it, but I’m not going to keep explaining myself.”

Elise immediately gathered up her teacup and used it to smother the grin she was poorly concealing. Her hazel eyes darted to Deidra over the rim, but she kept quiet as the other woman narrowed her gaze on Cora.

“Fine,” she muttered at last when Cora didn’t flinch under her grilling scrutiny. “But this is a level of Jerry Springer I’m not getting paid enough to understand, okay? Just so we’re clear.”

Cora nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. “We’re so clear.”

Deidra gave a brisk bob of her head. “Good.” She snatched up her menu. “I still want to dissolve his body in battery acid.”

Cora chuckled. “Noted.”

Deidra cleared her throat and squinted at the morning’s specials.

Cora didn’t bother pointing out that they’d already placed their orders. She met Elise’s gaze and the two exchanged concealed grins before focusing on their drinks.

Their moment was interrupted by the buzz of Deidra’s phone erupting in a piercing rendition of Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation. A trio of elderly women in the next table looked over with terse glowers that were met with Deidra’s raised eyebrows and cold stare, as if daring them to say one word.

The women got the message and quickly returned to their sugared grapefruits. But Cora could hear their hissed words about rude behavior.

“It’s a fucking phone,” Deidra muttered loudly. “Welcome to the twenty-first fucking century.”

She jammed the device to her ear and shoved back her chair.

“Always such a joy.” Elise giggled as Deidra stalked off to take her call.

“Definitely don’t keep her around for her glowing personality,” Cora replied with her grin pressed into her cup.

Elise set her teacup down with a sigh. Her chin lifted. Her head tilted. She studied Cora, expression unreadable.

“What?”

She shook her head. “You seem different.”

Cora groaned. “Please don’t say that.”

Elise chuckled. “Why not? It’s true. You seem ... older.”

“God, I hope not. I’m already twenty-five. My days of wanting to be older stopped at twenty.”

Elise swatted at her. “Will you stop! I’m being serious. It’s a good thing.”

“Not if it means upgrading my night cream. Okay, okay! Sheesh. Continue.”

“It’s a good thing, because I had no idea if I would get the chance to see you get older.” Her smile melted away. “I didn’t know if I would see you, period. That morning when I went to your apartment after you didn’t answer your phone, I thought maybe you were just sleeping in. But you weren’t there. Your phone, purse, coat were all still hanging on the hook. Your door was open...” she broke off to take an unsteady sip of her tea. Color blazed hot in her cheeks, a sharp contrast to the shine in her eyes. “I’ve never felt like that before. I’ve never been so scared.”

“Mom.” Cora set her hand over the one Elise had curled tight next to her empty plate. “Don’t.”

Elise set the cup down with a shaky clatter. “I’ve been married to your father a very long time, Cora. I’ve been scared. I’ve been angry. I’ve been worried. I’ve felt it all. But that morning ... I thought I was going to die. I thought my entire life had ended, and for the first time, I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do. For that, I will always want to break every bone in your Captain’s body. However,” she folded her hands primly in her lap and regarded Cora with a look of utmost diplomacy, “that doesn’t mean I still won’t. His life is on a very thin cord, I hope he realizes. He’s already taken you from me once. Anything happens to you while in his care ... well, battery acid may be the least of his problems.”

Cora sighed, her own eyes prickling. “I wish I could explain him to you. He’s so ... complicated, so frustrating. Every time I think I have him figured out, he does a three-sixty and I’m left wondering where the hell up is. But I do know he’s fair. He’s honorable.”

Elise nodded slowly. “He seems quite complex. Honestly, he reminds me a little of your father.”

Cora laughed. “He’ll be thrilled to hear that.” She took a sip of her cooling drink. She set it down and watched the ripples across the dark surface with furrowed brows. “How are you so calm about it all?” She peered at her mother. “You’re the only one who hasn’t told me what a bad idea staying with him is.”

Elise’s warm, hazel eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Because I know the daughter I raised. You’re not stupid, Cora. I trust that you have this handled. Plus, it’s like you said, this is your choice.”

Cora had always considered her mother her best friend, possibly even more than Deidra, but she couldn’t have loved her more than she did in that moment.

“Thank you.”

Elise grinned mischievously as she hoisted up her cup. “Besides, I’m not blind.”

Cora chuckled. “What do you mean?”

Elise gave a little shrug of one shoulder. “If you haven’t noticed then I’m not going to paint it out for you.”

The cryptic comment was interrupted by the arrival of their food, and Deidra who threw down a handful of bills for a meal she hadn’t even touched yet, and frowned.

“Duty calls.” She snatched her coat off the back of her seat and shrugged into it. “But I’ll call you when I get back.”

“Where are you going?” Cora asked, having always been fascinated by some of the places Deidra visited, even if it was to kill someone.

“Germany, if my contact is correct.” She rolled her eyes. “Some big wig needs to be removed from office. I won’t be gone a week.”

“Be safe, yeah?”

Deidra snorted. “Don’t go anywhere. I’m not done yelling at you.”

Cora chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”

Deidra waved at Elise before taking her leave.

Elise and Cora got through most of their meal without incident. The conversation remained on mindless things, upcoming charity events, the winter fashion show Elise never missed, the Christmas trip they took every year. Useless, normal things Cora embraced with renewed passion while shoveling down her eggs.

“What did you want to do after this?” Elise glanced up from her neat dicing of her sausages. “I feel like shopping.”

Elise always felt like shopping. Cora suspected her mother had a slight problem, but it was difficult to determine when the majority of the things she bought were given away without ever being worn. She was the reason Cora owned a million pairs of opera gloves, but hated opera.

“What’s Dad doing today?” she asked instead.

Elise paused to consider the question. “I think he mentioned something about a clan meeting. It seemed urgent, but he did tell me to bring you back later this evening for dinner.”

“Dinner sounds nice. Can James come?”

Elise frowned mid chew. “Of course ... oh dear lord.”

She dug her phone from the clutch hanging off the back of her seat. She scanned the screen a long moment, thumb gradually scrolling the screen upward.

“Everything okay?”

Elise nodded. “It’s just your father. He wants me to call him.” She peered over the device at Cora and her half eaten breakfast. “Do you think you’re finished?”

Assuring her she was, Cora quickly gathered her things while Elise did the same. They paid for their meals and started for the door with Kevin and Nicholas hot on their heels like a pair of disembodied shadows.

But they made it as far as the front steps of the club when Elise’s phone sprung to life with an incoming call. The whole caravan came to a stop as she fished the device from her purse and frowned at the screen.

Kevin took a casual step forward, silently asking if she needed him to answer for her.

“It’s all right, Kevin,” she told him kindly. “It’s Gio.” She lifted the phone to her ear. “Hello love, I was just about to call ... what?”

She stepped a few feet away from the group, or at least Nicholas and Cora. Kevin dogged her discreetly, but gave her room while she murmured to her husband. Cora remained where she was, recognizing the look on her mother’s face as the one she wore when it was clan business.

Crime wife business.

It was a unique frown line that appeared around her mother’s eyes. It drew age where her face was usually ageless. It was followed by a hollow kind of sadness that consumed the soft green in her eyes.

Cora hated it, hated the way it pulled her usually open and warm mother inward, sucking her into some dark void radiating from somewhere deep inside her very soul. It was that very reason Cora had always fought tooth and nail to keep away from it all, from her parent’s world.

She couldn’t handle that shit.

“What?”

The color had drained from Elise’s face. Her eyes were enormous and glossy over the hand she’d pressed over her mouth. Even Kevin had begun to grow concerned. He stepped closer, as if prepared to catch her on the off chance she fainted.

Cora moved in as well, apprehension pulling her hand to the other woman’s arm.

“Mom?”

Elise didn’t seem to hear her.

“When?” The single word question trembled with blades of anguish that slashed across her features. “Yes, of course.”

She hung up and tried to stuff her phone back into her handbag. She missed several times before finding the proper pocket.

“Mom?”

A small, pale hand fluttered to her forehead before lowering. “I’m sorry, darling. I’m afraid I have to cancel.”

Cora tightened her grip. “Is it Dad...?”

Elise shook her head. “No, your father is fine.” She paused for a momentary heartbeat to fidget with her purse strap. “It’s Claudia.” Air seemed to lodge in her throat, hitching her words. “Roman retired this morning.”

That single, simple word, such a common, useless word and yet it wielded a sickening power that made Cora’s stomach heave. The gravity of those four words struck her in the abdomen with the rage of a semi, knocking wind and sense straight out of her.

“What happened? Why—?”

“That isn’t something that requires discussion in public. But my presence is required and I promised your father I would visit Claudia and the children.”

Jesus, Cora thought, woozy. An odd sort of vertigo sent her head spinning and her vision blurring. Chills crept into marrow, stiffening joints and sending tremors wrecking through her with a viciousness that made beads of sweat erupt across her upper lip.

“But I don’t understand...” she choked out.

Elise lightly touched the side of her face, the tips of those four fingers singing skin like cubes of ice.

“I know, baby. I don’t either.” She smoothed back a lock of hair and offered Cora a weak smile. “Why don’t you go home and prepare for tonight, hmm?”

There was nothing simple about retirement. Not the way the crime world did it. Cora had only ever been present for one and it had been the nail that sealed her decision not to follow her mother’s footsteps.

In that moment, under the drooping branches of that oak tree, she learned what it really meant to be the wife of a crime boss, the wife of a man who had to do what was necessary. The delusions she’d carted around thinking it was all about fancy parties and pretty dresses had shattered with the single crack of gunfire, the eruption of blood as brain matter exploded like crimson fireworks into the clear, blue sky. She hadn’t even known the guy, yet the sight of his body jerking in that unnatural dance, the snap of his head whipping back on his neck, the look on his face afterwards ... God, there hadn’t even been a face left. Just a mangled lump of bone and torn muscle. And her father standing over him, smoking gun hanging firmly at his side, hadn’t flinched.

He hadn’t said a word.

Not before.

Not after.

That afternoon had haunted her for years. Every bang had sent her skittering nearly out of her skin. It had torn thousands of screams from her that terrified the people around her. It had taken years of therapy and a whole pharmacy to finally dull them enough for her to sleep. She’d spent the years between the ages of ten and sixteen in a drug induced haze riddled by nightmares and a fear of her own life. And he had just been some guy who worked for her dad. He’d been no one to her.

But Roman ... Christ, Roman.

Roman had been part of the six high members. He was a main player in Giovanni’s clan. He’d been around since the beginning, since before Cora’s birth. His wife was friends with her mother. It made no sense why the clan would order his execution.

Unless he’d done something horrible.

Something unforgivable.

Something the clan couldn’t overlook, despite his status.

“Go with her.”

The quiet murmur invaded her spiral, piercing holes in the darkness. Cora gasped as if coming up for air for the first time. She wheezed as she struggled to face the man hovering close to her ear.

Nicholas met her gaze with an unflinching scrutiny that made her think of an animal staring down his prey.

“What?”

“Go with her,” he repeated for her ears only.

He couldn’t possibly have asked her for anything worse. There was no greater torture, no threshold closer to madness than asking her ... no, demanding she face the thing that had nearly destroyed her once.

“No.” The refusal was barely above a whisper, a pleading tatter of her sanity crawling up her throat. “Please...”

But he was an impenetrable force of resolve looming menacingly over her, snatching away the last shred of air. His large hands tucked away the phone he’d been holding into the back pocket of his pants. The light caught the silver handle of the gun tucked against his ribs when the motion parted his coat.

“It wasn’t a request,” he informed her, still barely above a whisper. “Captain wants you to.”

“Then he can go to hell,” she spat out. “I won’t. He can’t make me. Not this.”

Rather than get upset — no doubt another emotion he was incapable of — he retrieved his phone and struck a single button. It went to his ear.

“She won’t,” was all the information he gave the person on the other end.

Cora didn’t need to ask who it was when the device was held out to her. She took it, along with a gulping of air, and moved away from the group.

“Hello?”

“You’re going.” James’s voice resonated with authority.

“No, I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. This is going to be your job soon and you will need to do it without your mother. So, you need to learn.”

“You don’t understand!” She pressed her eyes closed, and immediately regretted it when she was thrown back in time to that warm afternoon. She quickly opened them to a world blurred behind tears. “I can’t see that again. I can’t ... I knew him. He’s not some random person. It’s different.”

“You’re not seeing anything,” he murmured, his voice oddly gentle now, or maybe it was just muffled behind the roar of blood in her ears. “You’re only visiting Claudia. You can do that.”

It occurred to her to ask how he even knew any of this from miles away, but as soon as the question popped into her head, it was ignored.

She didn’t really care how he knew.

“Cora,” her name was a gentle hum of his gruff voice “Be a good girl and tell your mother you’ll join her.”

Bitter anger rode up her throat like bile. It prickled her spine. She wanted to pitch the phone and stalk off. What was he going to do? Stop her? No, but Nicholas would. Even without him there, his watchdog was unfaltering.

“I hate you,” she ground out through clenched teeth.

“I’ll see you when you return.”

The line went dead in her hand. The urge to smash it returned, but Nicholas must have sensed it, because he took it away from her before she could follow through. It was stowed away in his pocket once more. Then he stood there, watching her, waiting.

She turned towards her mother, heart a chunk of rock in her stomach. She swallowed at the paste in her mouth before opening it to make yet another stupid decision.

“Can I come?”

The question took her mother exactly how Cora expected it to. It froze her mid motion. Her hands stilled inches from brushing back a lock of dark hair. Her eyes, big and round found Cora’s with bewilderment.

Cora couldn’t blame her. She’d spent the better part of fifteen years fighting against her legacy. She’d done everything in her power not to get caught up in the darkness of it. Yet, there she stood, asking.

“Are you sure?”

Even her mother’s tone was wary and held the weight of uncertainty.

Cora didn’t tell her she had no choice.

She nodded. “Yeah, for Claudia, and the kids.”

The lie was vile spilling from her lips. She barely ever saw the woman outside of social events three times a year. She didn’t even know the names of the children, or what they looked like.

Elise wasn’t convinced. She searched Cora’s face through narrowed eyes harboring the glimmer of someone witnessing something precious die.

She had no idea how close to the truth she was.

“Cora...”

“Really, I want to,” Cora insisted.

She applauded herself for not choking on her own tongue.

“All right,” Elise murmured at last. “I would like that.”

The group moved through the parking lot in the direction of the car. At some point, without being said, it had been decided that they would take Elise’s town car. Cora wasn’t sure how that happened, but Nicholas opened the back door for her while Kevin did the same for her mother on the other side. Both waited until the women had been seated before shutting the doors and climbing into the front.

Kevin took the wheel.

He pulled from the spot, and Cora tried not to notice that it was clear sky overhead. Albeit, the weather was crisp, tainted by the approach of winter. But it held the resemblance of all those years ago as if it wasn’t enough to simply remind her of that day.

She turned her gaze from the window and peered down at her lap, at the small fingers bunched against her denim clad thighs.

“Am I dressed okay?” she wondered, not entirely sure what the protocol was for dressing to deliver heart shattering news.

She hadn’t been expecting to detour from the original plan of shopping, lunch, and drinks with her mom. She’d dressed that morning with only her own comforts in mind. Now she couldn’t help wondering if they needed to make a stop.

“You look lovely.”

Did one want to look lovely when telling a woman her husband was killed? It somehow felt wrong. It felt disrespectful. At least Elise’s outfit could almost look black in certain lights.

But Cora didn’t break the silence again. Elise seemed to be a million miles away as it was. Her eyes were focused on the horizon with a steely resolve of someone headed to the firing squad. Cora wondered if she was mentally preparing herself to forever change another person’s life, and what exactly that pep talk sounded like. She doubted it got any easier.

Elise had been doing this for thirty years, more than half her life. She’d stood by Giovanni through some of the worst any couple could possibly face with a smile that had amazed everyone. Her job was never to kill anyone, or hide any bodies, but somehow, it always felt heavier, more dangerous to be the one to rule in the background, the silent gun. Her powers didn’t lie in weapons, but mere words, words that could make kings from slaves, or rip gods from the heavens.

Cora had once seen her bring a grown man to his knees in devastation all by uttering a single word Cora hadn’t heard.

But that kind of influence, that breed of power wasn’t inherited.

It was forged.

It was honed.

Her mother was the most dangerous person Cora had ever met, yet it still devastated her to be the one to pull up outside another person’s house with the purpose of destroying them.

“Let me do the talking, okay?”

Cora had no desire at all to do any talking of any kind, but she nodded as they pulled up alongside Claudia Enderizzi’s two story bungalow. Kevin killed the engine behind a silver minivan.

Cora followed Elise across the cobblestone pathway to the three steps, to the door. Elise paused. Her shoulders lifted once before they straightened to align with her stiff spine. Her chin lifted, a bracing gesture Cora recognized.

Eyes so much like her own turned to Cora.

“Ready?”

Her stomach was in knots. It was a vicious writhing of demons battling for dominance. Her entire body ached from the force of her tremors, agitating her queasy gut. But she nodded.

Claudia answered right away as if she’d been standing on the other side. But it became evident by the way her smile slipped that it wasn’t them she’d been expecting.

“Elise. Cora. I wasn’t expecting a visit.”

Elise offered her a small smile. “Hello, Claudia. Can we come in?”

There was nothing in her voice or demeanor to suggest anything was amiss, yet Claudia’s smile vanished before Elise could finish speaking. Horror flickered behind golden eyes that mirrored the tremor in her chin before she tightened her jaw.

She knew.

Just like that.

It broke Cora’s heart. She couldn’t imagine getting that visit. She couldn’t imagine what Claudia was feeling as she stood there, facing one of her oldest friends as her whole world crumbled around her. It was a fear she knew all the wives felt, a visit they all dreaded.

The war wives.

The silent figures in the background, dutifully standing behind their husbands.

Pretty little birds with serrated talons and watchful eyes.

They’d always intimidated her, like vultures anticipating the death of an antelope.

But women like Claudia with husbands in the high seat never expected it to happen to them.

“No,” she whispered firmly, already starting to shut the door. “I’m sorry, Elise, but I’m busy today...”

Elise stepped forward. “Please, Claudia.”

The other woman’s eyes brimmed. “Roman isn’t here...”

“May we come in please?” Elise repeated gently.

Eyes shining, Claudia hesitated, but ultimately moved aside to let them pass.

Elise paused briefly to glance from Nicholas to Kevin. “Can you gentlemen please wait outside for us?”

Cora wasn’t a fan of that idea. There was no telling how Claudia was going to react. She could flip and attack them. Who was to say there wasn’t a gun on the property?

But Elise waited patiently as Kevin dutifully shifted off to one side on the porch, a graceful and fluid motion like he’d done it a million times.

Nicholas remained firmly at Cora’s shoulder, refusing to let her out of his sights.

“It’s okay,” Cora assured him, trusting that her mother knew what she was doing.

“My orders are to keep you safe,” he told her evenly. “I can’t do that from out here.”

Cora lowered her voice. “I’ve known Claudia my whole life. It’s fine. I’ll talk to James,” she cut in when his mouth opened. “If I have to do this, then you need to stay here.”

Brown eyes flashed, but he stayed where he was when Cora slipped into the house after Elise.

The doorway opened to a narrow hall with a set of stairs pushed up against one wall and an opening on the left leading to a sitting area. The place was dim and quiet, and radiated with the chill outside. It smelled of wood polish and the remains of the previous night’s dinner, which made Cora think of pasta and feet. Otherwise, it was a nice place.

Homey.

Comfortable.

Elise turned to Claudia. “Where are the children?”

Claudia took a moment before she could answer. Knuckles popped with every vicious wrench of her fingers.

“School.”

Elise took the woman’s hands in both of hers, ceasing the twisting. But when she spoke, it wasn’t to Claudia.

“Cora, why don’t you make us some tea?”

Relieved for the escape, Cora ducked around the two and found her way into kitchen down the dark, narrow hall. The cramped little kitchen with its glass cabinets and stainless steel appliances seemed too bright considering the circumstances. Blinding strobes of light crashed through the patio doors and spilled across spotless floors as bright as sunlight against fresh snow.

Cora padded around the granite island in search of tea items. She filled the kettle and set it on the stove while she puttered around for mugs and the sugar bowl. The neatly labeled cabinets made the preparations much too simple. The well-organized system had her brewed and ready before she knew it. The set was placed on a silver tray and carried into the next room.

“I don’t understand,” Claudia was saying when Cora returned. “Roman would never ... we were fine. He was making plenty.”

“You know Gio would never make a decision like this without a thorough investigation. There was evidence.”

Claudia shook her head. “No, Roman would never steal money. Not from the clan.”

“I’m very sorry, sweetie,” Elise was saying in soft, soothing tones, while lovingly patting Claudia’s hand. “It’ll be all right, Claudia,”

Claudia continued to sit in her rigid silence, only her fingers bunching and unbunching around the crumpled bit of tissue Elise had forced into her hand over an hour ago. She hadn’t used it. Her careful applied layer of eyeliner, mascara, and eyeshadow remained perfectly in place and there wasn’t a tear in sight.

“Roman loves Gio,” Claudia said for the hundredth time. “He would never do anything to disrespect him, or the clan.”

Elise nodded. “I know, darling.”

“What do I tell the kids?” Her voice hitched on those words.

“You will tell them that that there was an accident, but everything is going to be fine.”

Claudia sniffled “What about the ... the body? We need to have a funeral...”

Elise squeezed Claudia’s fingers. “You know that’s not always possible, but I will ask.”

Neither spoke as Elise pulled out her phone. She texted someone.

Giovanni, Cora assumed.

There was silence while everyone waited for a response. No one even touched the tea. Claudia remained tucked into the corner of the settee, one balled fist mashed against her stomach, watching the phone as if waiting for a death verdict.

The chirp made them jump. All eyes shot to the phone in Elise’s hands and they watched as she pulled up the message. There was a fraught five seconds of nothing, but even her mother couldn’t keep the barely inconspicuous twitch from her face.

“What?” Claudia choked out.

Rather than answer, Elise tucked the phone away, but that simple gesture said everything. Cora could see it in her mother’s eyes — Roman Endrizzi’s body would not be available for burial.

“Oh!”

Claudia’s strangled little gasp had Elise reaching for her hands again, her expression sympathetic, but firm.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” she told the other woman gently. “We’re going to pack a few things and get you and the children to stay with some family for a little while.”

Just like that, Claudia was out of the herd.

She and her children would be set up somewhere far from the city, away from the clan, and left to fend for themselves. All connections would be severed and they would be warned to keep their mouths shut if they wanted to continue existing at all.

Her father never hurt women or children, but a threat was a threat and would need to be eliminated quickly.

It was a cold, heartless existence, one Cora would never have chosen for herself. For all the good her father did, there was still so much darkness that surrounded him, so much death. No one would ever believe that her father was a kind, generous man. The moment they heard his name, people either fell to their knees in fear or ran in the opposite direction. That was the reason Elise had insisted Cora keep her maiden name. A pure blessing in Cora’s mind. Having a crime boss for a father didn’t exactly motivate the other kids to line up to be her friend.

“Cora love.” Elise was watching her when Cora looked up. Her mother’s gaze was gentle and understanding even as she beckoned her over with a subtle motion of her chin. “It’s time for us to leave.”

Cora went, careful to take the long way around the sofa.

She wondered if she needed to say something to Claudia. But Elise grasped her firmly by the elbow and maneuvered her quickly through the maze of halls to the front doors.

“Should we be leaving her alone right now?” Cora asked at least as they descended the front porch.

Elise glanced at the voluminous estate with its ivory columns and French windows, and sighed. “There’s nothing we can do for her now.”

“So, what happened?”

Elise waited until they were back in the car and rolling down the block before she answered, “Your father caught him taking clan money. That’s all I know.”

“Roman?” The disbelief was impossible to conceal. “He’s been part of the clan for ... what? Thirty-five years?”

“Money does things, it changes people.” Elise smoothed a delicate hand over her skirt. “Are you still hungry?”

She wasn’t. Maybe it was half the omelet she’d had earlier, or the stress of what they were leaving behind, but all she wanted was her bed.

“It’s all right.” Elise took Cora’s cold hand into both of her warm, soft ones. “It’s never easy. There are things you can change and things you cannot. Either way, you can’t stop living. Understand?”

Cora nodded. “I just ... how does Dad do it?”

Elise sighed and squeezed Cora’s fingers. “Because it must be done. We all have our roles to play and we must always be strong. For him. He needs us.”

It was the same motivational pep talk she’d been given since she was a kid. But it didn’t change the situation.

“Is Dad okay?”

Elise turned forward, jaw tense. She stared out the window with a firm determination of someone reluctant to talk about it.

But she swallowed once and replied, “No, he’s not.”