Ben
The next morning
Yeah, I’m fucking nervous.
I’m fucking nervous because last night, Sera broke into my home and seduced me out of an innocent sleep. I’m nervous because she insisted I fuck her without protection and then tightened her grip on me when I tried to pull out.
She lost her shit at me because I came in her, like I’m the one at fault. Me!
I pace the backyard, sticking along the far-right fence line, watching her as she stands beside her mother in a pretty, yellow dress, engaged in conversation with a fat fuck I don’t like the look of. With a laugh I know is fake, she flicks her long, dark locks over her shoulder and smiles widely, exposing perfect, straight white teeth.
“You look nervous.”
I startle, ceasing to pace, and turn to face one of Marco’s main men. What’d he say his name was again? Roman, I think. He narrows his black eyes at me and drags on his cigarette, the cherry on the end flaring.
“Do I?”
“Yeah. You’re pacing.” He exhales, blowing smoke into my face. “I fucking hate it.”
My eyebrows pull in. “Oh, yeah? Then go smoke somewhere else.”
“Nah, I like it here.”
“Suit yourself.” I walk away from him, moving along the back of the party, my hands stuffed into my slacks.
There’s a lot of people here today, more than I was expecting. According to Marco, this crew is the Giavanni clan, a rival family here in Vegas. At any moment, something could ignite between them. For now, however, things seem cordial. Marco and Ivan Giavanni are inside discussing business about casinos and land while the rest of their people mingle outside.
It feels strange, standing and watching without the heavy weight of a rifle in my hand, but I keep myself busy, fidgeting with a toothpick in my pocket instead. I scan the crowd every few minutes, especially those closest to Sera. Like her father said, she is my only priority here today. Her mother has made my job easy by remaining at her side—until now, that is.
The moment her mother leaves, the fat guy with the graying hair moves closer to Sera, whispering in her ear. Sera’s gaze flicks to me and my jaw tightens.
I’m not jealous, but if he doesn’t watch himself…
“Ooh, you don’t like that, do you?”
I snap away from Roman, who has followed me across the yard. “What the hell is your problem?”
“You’re my problem. I don’t like you.”
I smooth the palms of my hands down my black jacket. “Really? Because I’m getting a different vibe.”
Roman snickers, dropping his cigarette to the ground and stomping it out with his leather shoe. “Your job is to watch Sera. My job is to watch you.”
“Watch me?” I snort. “What for?”
Roman shrugs his broad shoulders. “You know who that is?” he asks, flicking his bald head toward Sera and the man whispering in her ear.
“No clue.”
“That’s Deena. Ivan’s brother and right-hand man. Sad fucker wants to marry the girl.”
“Who? Sera?”
Roman nods. “Been begging for her hand since she was a kid.”
I grimace. Here I am judging myself harshly for sleeping with a legal and consenting twenty-year-old when there are men who’ve looked at her sexually before she even went through puberty. It’s sickening, and the fact Marco allows them into his home makes him no better. I would burn bridges with all my business partners if any of them expressed interest in my daughter. Hell, I wouldn’t just burn bridges. I’d topple skyscrapers and destroy airports.
I knew there was something I didn’t like about this Deena guy. “What a vile piece of shit.”
“Maybe, but he knows he’s in with a chance now.”
I cut my eyes at him. “What do you mean?”
“Marco has tried to keep Sera pure, to give her as a gift to another family to strengthen ties through marriage, but the little slut prefers to run around town with her friends, taking cock from God knows who.”
Rage coils in my stomach, but I manage to keep it in check. I inhale through my nose, filling my lungs with fresh air while counting to ten. I wonder how Marco would feel, hearing one of his trusted men bad mouth his daughter like that? I mean, a slut? Hardly.
It takes all of my strength not to comment. Mostly because there’s only a string of cuss words waiting at the peak of my throat.
“She’s getting old, though. Soon Marco is gonna have no choice but to marry her off to one of these gross bastards just to keep some land.” He kisses his teeth. “It’s a shame really…to see a beautiful body like that be wasted under one like his.”
The thought turns my stomach. When Deena pulls back, Sera smiles politely and attempts to step around him, only he snatches her arm in his pudgy, knuckle-less hand. Panic flares across her beautiful face as her cherry red lips part. She shakes her head, attempting to pull her arm away, and I’m already crossing the yard to them.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Amico,” Roman calls out, but I ignore him.
What the fuck else am I getting paid to do? Marco said keep unsavory characters away from his daughter and this asshole is the most unsavory of them all.
I swallow the distance between Sera and Deena. On my approach, Deena takes a step back, but he doesn’t release her arm.
“Value your fingers, Deena?” I growl at him and he screws up his ugly, toad-like face, spitting on the tiles by my shoes.
“Who the fuck are you?”
I hate when people answer a question with a question. “Let her go and I’ll gladly fill you in.”
He tugs her closer to him, pressing the side of her body against his. “You don’t know who you’re talking to, boy.”
Boy? How long has it been since I heard that one? “I don’t give a shit who I’m talking to.”
“Ben…” Sera’s eyes are pleading, her lips pursed as she shakes her head, silently begging me to stop.
I may not be one of these…these…made men, but they should fear me all the same. With the right weapons, I could take them all out without breaking a Goddamn sweat.
“Ben?” Deena chuckles under his breath. “Well, Ben, you better get the fuck out of here before I—”
I draw my gun and point it right at his gigantic forehead. Adrenaline flurries through me, rushing through my blood with vigor and viscosity. I love it. The heaviness of metal and death in my hand. My finger twitches against the trigger and I want nothing more than to pull it and scatter his brains all over the place.
Surrounding us, the clicks of guns being pointed in my direction—in every direction—signals a stalemate, but we have home court advantage.
“I’ll ask you one more time. Do you value your fingers, Deena?” My finger twitches, begging to pull the trigger. “Because I’ll gladly relieve you of them.”
Deena glances around the yard with his beady, black eyes. He’s looking for Ivan, probably, but what does he think Marco is gonna do when he walks out and sees him touching his precious, little girl? Me shooting his hand off will be the least of his worries.
Or maybe it won’t be. I could have been wrong this whole time. Perhaps protecting his only daughter isn’t as high on his priority list as I first assumed.
Deena flashes me his palm, dramatically releasing Sera’s arm. “Happy?”
“Ecstatic,” I deadpan. He attempts to push past me, but I lower my gun and snatch his soft elbow. “If I catch you within six feet of her again, I won’t be so lenient.”
Deena smiles widely, showcasing his crooked teeth. “You’re a dead man.”
He shrugs me off and I let him go, withdrawing my gun to my waistband. Behind me, Deena shouts for the guns to be put away before he storms into the house, disappearing from sight.
“Do I look like a damsel in distress to you?” Sera snaps, folding her arms across her chest.
I raise my eyebrows. “Wow. A simple thank you would be nice.”
“Thank you? He’s going to kill you.” She walks toward the orange juice fountain and I follow. “I can handle Deena. I’ve spent the last seven years of my life avoiding his awkward proposals. My father would never agree to it.”
“You seem so certain.”
“I am.” Grabbing an empty glass from the stack, she fills it halfway and takes a small sip between her cherry lips before setting it down. “By the way, we need to go to the drug store.”
I frown. “What for?”
“What do you mean what for?” she snaps in a whisper, swallowing a little distance. Her perfume engulfs me and she’s close enough for me to assess her flawless make-up application. Subtle wings, a little highlighter, and long, black lashes that can’t possibly be real. “Last night.”
“Ssh.” Licking my lips, I glance around us. Jesus. “I’m sure it’s fine.”
“And you want to risk it? If my father doesn’t kill me for embarrassing the entire family with an illegitimate child, then you can explain why it has your eyes.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re not pregnant.”
“No, I’m not.” She picks up her glass again, her eyes skittering over my shoulder. “And I’d like to keep it that way. Hi, Daddy.”
I turn around as Marco approaches, his thick, graying eyebrows pulled into a frown that makes me uneasy. “What the hell is going on out here, Ben? You’re pulling guns on people like fucking Deena Giavanni? Have you lost your Goddamn mind?”
“I was doing my job,” I tell him.
“Deena got grabby,” Sera chimes in, cringing. “The usual.”
Marco looks at Sera. “You all right?”
She nods, plastering on a fake, sad little pout. “I am thanks to Ben. I don’t know what I would have done without him here.”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes. She’s overselling it. Like I said, she’d make a terrible actress.
“Fucking Deena,” Marco spits, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his khaki slacks. “That useless pig. Do you know how insulting it is having to entertain this pack of fucking vermin? And at my place of rest, no less?”
At least we’re both on the same level.
“I know Deena seems pushy with the nuptials, but unfortunately, there are offers I will have to consider soon.”
Sera lowers her glass of orange juice, her face contorted as if it’s the grossest thing she’s ever tasted. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“We’ve had this conversation a million times, Seraphina—”
I shift my weight. “You can’t possibly be thinking about marrying her off to one of these…these—”
“—don’t you open your mouth about somethin’ you don’t know,” Marco snaps, and Sera storms off, her yellow summer dress bouncing around her thighs. “There’s no man on this planet worthy of my daughter, but sometimes a father’s gotta do what a father’s gotta do to keep his family prospering. Deena and his brother have made incredible offers for her hand time and time again. I can only refuse for so long and she’s not helping. Have you heard the rumors?”
Clenching my jaw until my teeth hurt, I shake my head.
“The shit they say about my little girl…heartbreaking, truly fucking heartbreaking.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Maybe throwing her into the deep end will help her sort her shit out.”
I don’t disagree. I don’t agree, either. How can I? I open my mouth and I’m dead. I want to, though. I want to defend her, to tell him she’s not as reckless as he thinks she is—and she’s definitely not a whore. I’ve felt the inexperience in her touch. Sera’s a good girl. A little lost, but still a good girl.
“I should go find Sera…”
Slapping a hand on my shoulder, Marco shakes his head. “No. She’ll go to her room and cry for a few hours and then she’ll be fine. In the meantime, I’ll have James go home so she can’t use the car and I’ll put Roman on watch in the hall by her room.”
Roman? That guy is just as twisted as Deena.
“And what would you rather have me do, then?”
“I have to leave for New York in a few hours and I need you to run a few errands for me.”
Sounds fun, except I’m not his fucking errand boy. I clear my throat, careful not to display my displeasure. “All right.”
***
It’s late by the time I come back from running Marco’s errands. None of them were a part of my job description, but they weren’t anything I couldn’t handle. I did have to pistol whip an older gentleman for cash that he owed, but besides that, smooth sailing—with the exception of stopping at Walgreens for a “Plan B” morning after pill, of course. She’s welcome to that. Christ. I don’t even have ovaries and the woman at the counter made me feel terrible about buying one, silently judging me with her beady blue eyes.
I stalk up the stairs of the manor to a tired looking Roman, who drags on a cigarette as he leans his slender body against the front door. “What took you so long?”
I shrug. “It was a long list.”
“You get it done?”
“Yeah.”
He pushes off the door and drops down the stairs. “Good. I can go home.”
I glance over my shoulder as I grab the door handle. “Who’s here?”
“Seraphina and maybe Luca.” He waves me off. “Why don’t you have a Goddamn look?”
I open the door and go inside. I walk around the empty house looking for people, but I come up short. Eventually, I find myself outside of the two, huge double doors to Sera’s room. I knock softly, but there’s no answer. I call her name and she still ignores me.
“I got that thing you wanted…from Walgreens.”
Nothing. Exhaling, I move to the wall opposite her door and I lean against it and wait.
For an hour, I wait and wait and wait, until I can’t take it anymore. I storm forward, grab the handle, and push the heavy door open. Her room is nothing like I expect. It’s modern and sleek. There’s even a fireplace and bookshelf filled with books—thick books.
I pause, scanning over everything, and I realize as I stare across the room and into a dark bathroom that she’s not here.
“Sera?” I shout. “Where are you?”
No answer.
Fuck.
This is not happening.