CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Samira

UNKNOWN: God, I can’t wait to tie you up and fuck you. I bet those little screams of yours are sexy as fuck.

I rolled my eyes at my newest creepy text and showed Santana. He glowered at the screen then took it from my hand. “What the fuck is his goddamn problem?”

“He’s clearly a sicko.” I twirled my ponytail around my fingers and groaned. I was tired of the back and forth with the unknown number. After realizing that it wasn’t Erin or Brady, I was ready to call Dom out on his shit.

I took the phone back from Santana and he frowned at me. “What are you doing?” He asked.

“I’m calling him out. I’m tired of this shit.” My fingers flew fervently over the keyboard before Santana gripped my wrist in his strong hand.

“Samira, do you know how dangerous that is? Taking out someone like Dom requires serious planning. If you call him out, I’m going to have to kill him immediately because he’s going to do something stupid. Pop isn’t ready for me to do that yet so chill.”

He had a point but I was tired of the games. I was sick of Dom thinking he could intimidate and scare me behind the guise of anonymity. “Then I’ll text Papa and let him know,” I said defiantly. I switched to Papa’s name on my phone and forwarded him the text I’d just gotten then asked if I could call Dom out for being a fucking creep.

Papa: Samira, I love you and I know you’re getting the hang of things in this business so be careful with how you handle things if you’re not ready for the consequences. I’ll let you make that call, Princess. I love you.

Me: I love you too, Papa. Thank you.

“I’m calling him out,” I said, lifting my eyes to Santana’s.

“Sammie,” he growled. I didn’t care. Papa trusted my judgment and I was tired of pretending to be clueless. It was burning me up inside that Dom thought he could talk to me any kind of way.

“What, Santana? Papa said I need to start making my own decisions. I’m tired of these fucking texts.” We had a stare-off in the middle of the kitchen and finally, Santana gave in like he usually did.

“I’m going to have to blow this asshole’s head off to protect you,” he grumbled. I ignored his fussing and started typing a message to Dom.

Me: Since you want me so bad, why don’t you tell me who you are?

UNKNOWN: I like the element of surprise. You’ll know who I am when I’m ready to take you.

Me: Take me? Who says I’m going to let you take me? My father and fiancé wouldn’t like that very much.

UNKNOWN: Fiance? Sam, why do you want to break my heart? I don’t like when you lie so stop it.

Me: I’m not lying.

I sent him a picture of my emerald engagement ring just for kicks. I wanted to twist the sick knife deeper into his chest.

UNKNOWN: Well, now I’m going to have to hurt you a little bit before I fuck you. You know you belong to me. It’s okay though. The taste of blood makes my dick hard.

Me: You know, I don’t think Papa would like the way you’re trying to scare me, Dom.

The jumping three dots started then stopped several times before they stopped for good. He never sent a reply. “Fuck. I knew it was him,” Santana said over my shoulder. “Let’s go drop this package off then I’m going to Pop’s and we’re figuring this shit out now. Dom needs to go ASAP.” Nerves prickled my skin but I followed Santana out to his truck and hopped in the passenger side.

I felt honored knowing he would do anything in his power to make sure that I was safe. The more I gave in to my dark side, the more I realized that I had no problem making sure he was safe too. I’d kill anyone that tried to hurt him or take him away from me.

The thought was strange at first. Then it blossomed in my mind like a dark flower with twisted roots.

Something about the darkest sins drew me in. From falling in love with my stepbrother to wanting to immerse myself in the underground drug operation my father ran. Hell, even killing to protect the ones I loved was enticing. It was new and exciting and for once I was a part of a world where I didn’t need a mask.

“Come on, Princess. Let’s go drop this off and head over to see Pop. He doesn’t need to be in there alone working anyway.” I loved the way Santana loved Papa. He wasn’t a guy who had a lot of soft spots but I was one and Papa was one.

Their relationship made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.

I smiled at Santana when he opened my car door and held his hand out for mine. “You’re such a gentleman,” I smiled.

“I’ll make you rethink that later when I’m fucking you like a savage.” He winked and I thought I would leave behind a river.

The east side was comprised of tons of overcrowded suburban neighborhoods where kids wanted to be hard but were soft as marshmallows. Santana seemed to know exactly where to go to catch up with some of Papa’s men. There were three guys hanging out in front of the gas station talking quietly amongst themselves. Nobody would have ever thought those guys were selling heavy drugs. They all wore jeans and immaculately clean t-shirts with skateboards and bright smiles.

Santana strode up to them with broad shoulders and a swag to his walk that could never be duplicated. When he stopped to look at them, they immediately stood at attention like he was a colonel. I half expected for them to salute him.

Seeing him tower an entire head over the other guys made my thighs tingle and my pussy throb. It was probably insanely inappropriate but fuck it. There was no doubt in my mind that I would screw his brains out when we got back in the car.

“What’s up, Santana? Everything good?” The tallest one of the group asked. He still didn’t come up to Santana’s eye level.

“Everything is great. Pop wanted me to drop something off for you guys. A little token of our appreciation for keeping things running smoothly.” His fingers worked quickly to open the box. Brown paper crinkled beneath his touch as he pulled out smaller individual boxes made of smooth black leather. Papa had such amazing taste. I was sure those watches cost a pretty penny.

Santana was like Santa Claus and every guy that got a watch lit up like a little kid on Christmas. “Shit, tell Pop we appreciate him giving us the chance to prove ourselves. We won’t let him down. There’s nobody else in the whole fucking state we’d rather work for.”

“Glad to hear it, fellas. Keep it up. Give these out to your men and tell them they’re compliments of Pop. Everyone’s on post tonight, right?” I watched Santana’s smooth talking and stern expression and it made me dizzy. He never spoke much around other people but god, when he did it made me so fucking wet.

“Yeah, all of our men are on post,” the tallest one answered. Santana nodded and they slapped hands before we left.

“I could watch you all day,” I told him with a sultry purr weaving its way through my voice. We were back in the truck and I couldn’t stop stroking his forearms and the tattoos painted on them. I studied the thick cords moving beneath his skin and found myself wanting to lick him like a lollipop.

“Oh yeah?” He doled out that smirk of his like he knew it was lethal. It hit me hard and I melted in a puddle beside him as he pulled off.

“Yeah. You’re so fucking sexy, Santana.” I pulled my eyes away from his handsome face to stare at my engagement ring. Love filled me up from the inside like satin ribbons piling high up my throat, choking me with emotion. “I love you so much,” I said, finding my voice. “I don’t know how but the universe has a way of making things work out.” I laced my fingers between his and squeezed. “You’ve always been the one. It’s been you my entire life because nobody else makes sense.” Stars zipped by as we drove closer to Papa’s. I got lost in their bright lights.

“It’s always been us, Sammie, because even when nothing else made sense we always did.” He kissed the back of my hand and warmth raced up my neck and spread across my cheeks, which I knew were stained red.

Santana’s cell phone rang, cutting through all the fuzzy silence in the truck and I pouted when he let my hand go to push the accept call button on the steering wheel.

“What’s up, Dom?” He frowned after reading the number that flashed across the radio’s face. My back went rigid as ice formed in place of my spine.

“Santana, you need to come to the restaurant now. There’s been a coup. It was the guys from the east side. Something bad happened.” I watched Santana’s brows lift then pinch together. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel.

Something about the way he looked struck inexplicable fear in my bones. He said, “I’m on the way,” then ended the call abruptly. My heart went from swimming over Santana to sinking in my stomach because I couldn’t shake the sense of dread washing over me.

“What the fuck does he mean there was a coup, Santana? Why do you look like that?” My questions seemed to push him over the edge because he banged his balled up fist against the steering wheel multiple times. A vein in his neck bulged and pressed against his skin, threatening to pop.

“If there was a coup, that means someone tried to kill Pop…or someone did.” His words trembled and my heart nearly burst through my chest.

“What?” I asked quietly, tipping my head to the side. “Santana, what the fuck has happened? I need a straight answer.”

“I don’t know! I’ll find out when we get there but I know one fucking thing for sure…there was no coup and the guys from the east side would never do anything to hurt Pop.”

The entire space seemed so closed in all of a sudden. There wasn’t enough air to breathe and black dots crowded my vision. “I ended the call like that because if something happened to Pop I didn’t want you to hear it from Dom’s fucking mouth.”

Before he could say anything else, my hands were fumbling for my phone. I called Papa’s number and waited for an answer.

Nothing.

Thick heavy chains weighed me down as I called him again and again without an answer. Terror spread through my body, spiky and hot. Why wasn’t he answering? Where the fuck was he?

“Santana, I feel like I’m gonna throw up,” I told him, my voice dense and wobbly.

“Look at me, Samira,” he pulled up at a red light and turned my face to his. “No matter what we’re walking into, trust me and let me handle it.”

“Santana, if something happened to Papa…I…”

“Just let me handle it, okay?” His words were tight and full of emotion.

Santana was scared.

No matter how our relationship morphed and changed, the one thing that could never be disputed was that Papa was just as much Santana’s father as he was mine. He loved Papa as much as I did and if something bad happened to him it would rip Santana apart.

My teeth chattered together as we pulled up to Papa’s restaurant. “You don’t have to go in,” Santana said.

“I want to,” I told him. “Just tell me, Santana, do you have a bad feeling about what we’re walking into?” I begged for the truth with my eyes and Santana gave me an answer with a single nod.

“The fact that Dom called me isn’t setting well, Sammie. He didn’t sound like someone who’d just gone through a coup or anything else traumatic.” Our words fell to silence and the only thing to be heard was our breathing. “Samira, no matter what, know I love you okay, baby?” He leaned over and pressed the sweetest kiss to my mouth. It was a kiss I didn’t want to let go of. I wanted to suspend that moment in a bottle of forever but I knew we had to break apart. We had to see what the fuck happened inside of the restaurant.

Santana walked ahead of me but he never let my hand go. We were linked together as always. Alvarez and Alvarez.

The backroom smelled sharp and even though there was only a hint of something metallic in the air, it made my stomach roil. A ball of fear and nerves pushed from my stomach to my throat nearly choking me.

“It’s okay, Sammie,” Santana said, giving my hand a squeeze. It wasn’t okay though. The air told me that. Nothing was okay anymore.

The concrete scraping sound of the hidden door opening made my skin crawl all of a sudden. It used to fill me with awe but now I was filled with dread. I wasn’t sure when it happened, but Santana had his gun drawn as he made his way into Papa’s office.

The door was open and a pale wedge of light spilled onto the floor. Everything was fucking wrong. Everything. I felt it sinking into the pit of me.

Santana pushed the door open more and didn’t even bother calling out to him. It was another gut punch and confirmation that the worst thing I could ever possibly lay my eyes on was right in front of me.

My mind took in the image then immediately rejected it.

Papa’s lifeless body lay strewn on the floor of his office with a deep red puddle soaking into the carpet under his chest. A sob clawed its way from my throat right before I threw myself on the floor beside him.

Warm blood soaked into my dress as I knelt by Papa’s side. Pain exploded in my chest like I’d been shot too. It was a pain that left no mark though. It was my heart-shattering.

As if I’d emerged from the water, voices became clear. There was…talking. I heard Santana’s voice. It was an angry growl. I heard another voice too but everything was moving so fast that I couldn’t make anything out. The only thing I knew for certain was that my Papa had been shot dead.

My world was crushed.

***