Mafia Temptation Book 2
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Belle Dowson
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57
Getting Creative
LUCA
Luca was up—dressed and ready for his meeting with the two idiots he was in an alliance with.
Last night was amazing for him, and having Hayley there was the icing on the cake. Right now she was showering, and his thoughts drifted to how incredible she was. If only he had time to join her.
He strode confidently through the house to the kitchen, where Nic was sitting at the counter having some breakfast. He nodded as Luca walked in.
“Morning.” Luca grabbed a mug of hot coffee and sat across from his second. “Where’s Frankie?”
“Checking the car over. He’s going to wait with it so no one can get a tracker on it,” Nic explained.
Luca was lucky to have such loyal guys as his right hands.
“Toby Sanchez says the detective is hundred percent sure he’s going to get a tracker to the safe house today.”
“Well, let’s just hope the other two idiots are as careful as we are.”
The Halfway House, as they’d named the abandoned lingerie factory, was where the final showdown with Adam Marino would be, and they didn’t want him showing up too soon.
“Do you have a plan to put forward?” Nic asked, and Luca nodded solemnly.
Of course he had a plan. He always had a plan.
HAYLEY
Hayley was a wreck as she showered, and her eyes kept going to the toiletry bag with the burner phone inside.
As she changed and got herself ready, she thought about how the detective had backed her into a corner. She had very little choice.
She couldn’t help but be reminded of all the bloodshed, the lives lost, and her mind focused on the images in the detective’s files—all the men, women, and, sadly, children who’d died.
And she could never, and would never, forget the blood behind the bar, the blood of the two innocent bystanders shed by Lorenzo Borroni.
These men killed for their own gain. Loving them was impossible. But, for Hayley, hating Luca was also impossible.
She could hear him and Nic talking downstairs about getting moving, and she knew she had to strike now if she wanted to do what the cop asked her to do.
Grabbing her handbag, she flew out of the room and down the staircase, where Luca and Nic were standing in the hallway in front of the door. It was still dark outside.
“Morning,” she breathed as she reached the bottom.
Luca smiled brightly. “Morning, baby.” He walked toward her and, placing a hand on her waist, kissed her cheek. “You seem in a hurry.”
She pulled away to grab her coat and began to put it on. “I am. I forgot about a meeting with a supplier,” she lied. “I’m already late.”
Luca looked at a camera above him. “Ric can take you.”
This was not what she wanted to hear.
“Boss, we’re passing the Dublin; we can drop her off. I’ll text Tony to get himself there,” Nic explained, pulling out his phone.
She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or sick with dread.
“I suppose.” Luca shrugged.
“If you guys are in a rush, I can—” But she was stopped by a light kiss on the lips.
“You wouldn’t want to piss off your bosses, would you?” Luca winked, taking her hand and leading her out into the cold autumn air.
“True,” Hayley said as Luca opened the door to the SUV. “One of them’s a real bastard when he doesn’t get his way.” She kissed him before she hopped in, and he chuckled.
“Your boss sounds like my sort of guy,” he said as he got in beside her.
She smirked. “I can see similarities.”
As they drove, she felt like the car was getting smaller, like it was hard to breathe. There was no way he was going to take her with them, and she didn’t have long to make a plan. Could she do this?
She was beginning to panic.
Did she remember to grab her phone on the way out? She dug around in her bag looking for it, and Frankie braked hard, swearing in fierce Italian.
With the force of the braking, Hayley dropped her bag and its contents all over the floor, and some items rolled under the driver’s seat.
“Shit!” she hissed, then bent over and tried to pick up her stuff, which wasn’t easy while the car was moving.
“You okay?” Luca asked her, and she nodded with a smile.
“Frankie, can you be more careful?” he snapped, then muttered, “Cazzo inutile.”
“Sorry, Boss. Some people are just born brain-dead!”
“Yeah, you’re one of them,” Nic said, laughing, earning him a scowl and a muttered curse in Italian from Frankie, which only made Nic laugh more.
Hayley thanked Luca and the guys when they pulled up outside the Dublin. She got out, picked up the things she could see on the floor, and threw them carelessly into her oversized handbag.
“See you later, baby,” Luca said, and she forced a smile.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Feeling sick, she closed the door, then watched the car drive away to the top-secret location.
Guilt and self-loathing washed over her. At least one item was still under the seat of that car.
LUCA
The SUV pulled up at the Halfway House, and as requested, there were only four men and two cars waiting there. The two Genovese brothers were speaking to Lorenzo Borroni, while Vitali was a little way off taking a phone call.
“I’ll stay in the car, keep eyes on the place,” Frankie said, and Luca nodded.
Luca and Nic got out of the car and walked side by side over to the other group.
“Another tip-off?” Genovese asked when they reached the group.
“Did you check your cars?” Luca said, ignoring the question, and Genovese nodded.
“We checked everything,” Francesco piped up. “Our clothes, our phones, everything.”
“Good.”
Borroni huffed impatiently. “Let’s get this meeting underway.”
The six of them walked into the abandoned factory, where a table and six chairs had been placed.
“What happens now?” Genovese asked as he lit up a cigarette.
“We have to play the game. Give him exactly what he wants to see.” Luca grinned wickedly. “And I have the perfect idea.”
HAYLEY
Hayley had been a wreck all morning and all afternoon. And when Siobhan had questioned why she was in early, she’d lied and said she was meeting a band that hadn’t shown.
Instead, she’d cleaned, bleaching everything over and over again. She was a rat—a traitor—and even thinking about getting justice for the innocents didn’t make her feel any better.
When evening came and the club started buzzing, the loud music helped to drown out her thoughts. The band was keeping the crowds dancing, and the money was rolling in.
“I take it you managed it,” she heard a familiar voice say as she served a customer.
She turned to face Max. “How do you know? What’s happened?” Had the cops arrested Luca?
“The detective let me know he got a location. I know Frankie searched the car and checked everything they had on them, so how did you manage it?”
“I got creative,” she said dryly as she wiped down the bar top. She was fighting the urge to punch him, but it was too crowded for that. A part of her wished she really had killed him on Halloween.
Max just chuckled. “Did you like my photograph from the other night? I should have been a private investigator.”
She glared at him. “I knew that was you, you bastard.”
“It was a reminder, Hayley, that you’re one of many, nothing special. He’s given you a month, right?”
She bit her cheek as he spoke.
“Well, that’s a month in his home, but not his life. You, Arianna, or any other passing feather girl is just another fuck, another source of instant gratification, another tension reliever.”
She wanted to reach over the bar and strangle him, or plunge her switchblade into him for real this time. But she did neither. She just had to stand and watch the cocky bastard walk away.
As the night continued on, her mind buzzed. And that photograph featured heavily in her thoughts.
It had shown her nothing new. Deep down, she knew she was one of many girls. Feather or no feather. But she was in too deep to do anything about it now. Soon her double life would be over.
***
“Hello, Hayley,” Luca said as he walked into the office, where she was signing off on the time sheets for the staff.
“Hey.”
But when she saw what he was holding up, she froze.
The bangle!
“Frankie found it under his seat, along with this.” He pulled out a tube of lipstick and chuckled. “He swears it isn’t his, even if it is his color.”
Hayley walked toward him, took the two innocent-looking items, and set them on the desk.
“Must have been in your bag when it fell in the car.” Luca cupped the back of her head, then kissed her passionately before trailing kisses along her jaw. “Mi sei mancato,” he murmured into her neck. “I missed you, baby.”
She threw her head back to allow him further access.
She knew it was shameless, letting him use her this way. This man treated her as one of many—yet he also made her feel on top of the world.
He lifted her so she was sitting on the edge of the desk, placing her feet on the two chairs nearby and standing between her open legs.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered in her ear as he kissed her, teased her.
“Luca…” she moaned as he ran his hands up her legs, pulling her skirt up as he reached her thighs, then her hips, his lips never moving from hers.
“Lascia che io ti ami?” He moved his hands to the silk panties she was wearing, his thumb skimming over her covered core.
“Oh,” she breathed, then responded to the question that she didn’t even understand. “Yes.”
“Tesoro mio,” he murmured as he applied more pressure to the damp fabric.
Hayley knew this was all wrong—this morning she’d betrayed him, and yesterday she’d found he’d been with Arianna. But she didn’t care. She craved his darkness; instead of repelling her, it seemed to pull her closer to him.
He shifted the thin material to the side, allowing him access to her core, and she moaned in pleasure as he inserted a finger in her wet entrance while his thumb gently strummed her clit.
She moaned his name as she felt herself getting close.
