Xo Novel
17
Alessio
I stare grimly at the road ahead as I drive the winding path to Gonzalez’s safe house. Dominguez is sitting next to me, Sal and one of his men in the backseat. I could have brought more, but I didn’t want to risk word getting back to Gonzalez.
After the assassination attempt, I don’t know who I can trust.
“Remember, no shooting unless I give the word,” I order, pulling the car to a stop on the side of the road just around the corner from our destination, “or unless they shoot first.”
“Got it,” says Sal, tapping the gun in his belt. “Don’t shoot unless you say.”
We approach the house. There’s a locked gate, and I’m pretty sure whoever is guarding the front door will shoot us if we try to climb it.
I tap the gate with my foot, then turn to Dominguez. “You want to do me a favor and open this thing with the car?”
He grins. “I would be happy to.”
***
Ayla
My mother’s scream fills the living room as an SUV smashes straight through the gate protecting our driveway. Through the window, I watch the man standing guard at our door jump up, then immediately get shot down, blood spattering the side of the house.
Upstairs, my father roars. “What the fuck is going on?”
“He’s here,” my mom whimpers, cowering behind the couch. “Anthony , he’s here!”
Armed men appear in our driveway, stepping past the smashed gate. In the lead is Alessio. When my eyes land on the object in his hand, I’m hit by so much fear and regret I want to puke.
***
Alessio
I flick the lighter, igniting the gasoline-soaked cloth I just shoved into the neck of my Molotov cocktail. Dominguez nodsat me. “Get ’em.”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
Hatred coursing through my veins, I heave the burning bottle at the house. It shatters, the fuel catching flame and spreading brilliantly across the side of the building.
“Here you go,” says Sal, handing me another.
I throw the second Molotov. This one shatters against the window, not breaking through like I’d hoped. No matter. I’ll keep throwing until I get what I want.
By the third bottle, the house is in flames.
As Sal hands me bottle number four, the front door opens. Out comes Maria Gonzalez, followed by her husband, Ayla, and two Gonzalez soldiers. I signal to Sal and Dominguez, and they shoot the soldiers dead.
“Down,” I ordered. “On the ground. Dominguez, search them.”
Dominguez pats them all down, disarming the dead henchmen, then taking a pistol from Anthony Gonzalez and a small revolver from Maria.
I pace in front of them as they lie on their stomachs. “It’s a good thing this game is over,” I hiss to Anthony , stopping in front of him. “I was about to become a bad sport.”
“Fuck you,” the mob boss spits.
“No,” I chuckle, “that’s what your daughter is going to do. Ayla, why don’t you stand up and come to me.”
“Leave my daughter alone!” he growls.
I just laugh. “Oh, you mean the daughter you were going to marry off to me? I don’t think so. The marriage is still on, and so is the deal. Only difference is, you retirenow. And your organization falls to me.”
It’s easy to ignore his furious response as I watch Ayla pick herself up from the ground. She doesn’t look at me as she approaches, keeping her eyes downcast.
“Please,” Maria sniffles, kicking her feet. “Please, don’t kill us.”
A smile spreads across my face. “Oh, I won’t kill you. Your daughter made sure of that. It was one of her conditions.”
Next to me, Ayla twitches. I watch her parents as the realization dawns.
***
Ayla
My father stares at me in disbelief from his position on the ground. “You? Ayla? You gave away our safe house? Tohim?”
I glare back at him, filled with contempt. “I did what I had to do to make sure you’ll never control me again. If you gave even the littlest shit what I wanted, maybe this could have been different.”
“You ungrateful bitch,” he sneers, absolutely shaking with rage. “After everything I did for-”
“Careful,”Alessio says dangerously. “That’s my fiance you’re talking about. I would be quiet if I were you.”
“You’ll regret it if you marry him,” seethes my father, “I swear-”
“Ayla and I will be married,” Alessio announces, and my stomach tingles as he puts a possessive arm around me, drawing me close to him. “Tomorrow.”
Behind us, my family’s “vacation” house burns to the ground, the smell of gasoline thick in the air.
***
Three hours earlier
I sit with my back against the wall in the closet of my safe house bedroom, the door closed. I’m holding my cell phone, trying to convince myself to take the plunge.
Am I really about to do this?
It’s already decided, I tell myself. I already got the number from my dad’s phone.
I can sit here, or I can act.
Fingers trembling, I press the green button on my phone to make the call.
It rings four times. Finally, I hear the click of somebody picking up. Several seconds tick by before Alessio speaks.
“Hello,” he says in a rough tone. Almost like he knows it’s me.
“I’ll tell you where my father is hiding,” I blurted out without a preamble. “And support you taking over the Gonzalez family. But you have to follow my conditions.”
A long pause. “That’s very generous of you, Ayla. What are your conditions?”
“You don’t kill my family. Or hurt me, obviously.”
“And what exactly would be the point of knowing where your father is if I’m not allowed to kill him?”
“You can capture him. Make him surrender to you. Win the mob war. He doesn’t have to know you won’t kill him.”
“That’s a high price, Ayla. I just watched my grandfather die. Blood demands blood.”
“Well, that’s the price. You can end this today. Or you can keep doing your little gangster thing and not getting what you want.”
Silence. When Alessio speaks again, his voice is cold. “I accept your price. But I have a price of my own.”
“Yes?”
“The marriage is still on,” he grunts.
“Fuck that.”
“Then no deal.”
My heart starts to beat faster. “You can’t be serious.”
“You said you would support me taking over the Gonzalez family. Youwillsupport me. As my wife. There’s no other way your father’s captains will take orders from an outsider.”
Somehow, I already imagined him insisting on this. And for some fucked up reason, it brings me a thrill almost as much as it brings me dread.
This man wants me. Badly.
My stupid brain flashes to that morning in the hotel room, when I basically begged him to fuck me. He’s seen me naked, needy, desperate, and all he wants is more.
Not just that. He took a special pleasure in dominating me, in being the one in control while I had no choice but to submit. And when I submitted to him, he looked at me with so much need in his eyes that it makes me shiver to think about.
Even right now.
I clench my hips, knowing that I’ve already made up my mind.
It still feels like a deal with the devil.
At least the devil will be more powerful than my father.
“Okay,” I say softly.
I can hear the satisfaction in his voice. “Okay, what?”
“Okay, I’ll marry you.”
“When you become my wife, Ayla, Iownyou. Do you understand that?”
Butterflies dance in my stomach. The thought of beingownedby this man…
The house creaks, and I startle. I freeze, afraid of being overheard.
“Ayla?” Alessio’s expectant voice crackles through the phone.
“I understand.”
“Say it.”
My heart is beating so fast, it’s all I can do to get the words out. “When I become your wife, you own me.”
A sound comes through the speaker that I’m pretty sure is a growl. “Good girl. Send me the address.”
He hangs up the phone.