BOW DOWN: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Barone Crime Family) (54 page)

T
he decision happened fast
, and there was no real time for us to prepare. Only a few hours after Rafa had spoken with Arturo, we were told that the peace deal was going down.

I got out my laptop as soon as I heard and began to search for the Spiders. I knew it was mostly just a cover, since Louisa was probably listening in. She knew what was happening, and I hoped she knew what she was doing.

I hated keeping this secret from Rafa, but I was doing this for him. If the mob and the Spiders kept fighting, we would never get away from it. There would always be a war, even if Arturo and them no longer cared about me. Rafa would be stuck in it, and he’d always be in danger.

If there was peace, there was one less thing I had to worry about. I didn’t want the father of my child to get killed after all.

That wasn’t fair. I didn’t want Rafa to get killed for selfish reasons. I wanted him, needed him, and I was realizing it more every day. He was kind and strong, the kind of man I knew could take care of me but wouldn’t object when I wanted to take care of myself. The more I peeled back the violent mobster outside, the more I saw him for what he really was.

Kind, handsome, and strong. He knew something was happening that I wasn’t telling him, and yet he didn’t push. He trusted me.

The Spiders took over my computer eventually, but there wasn’t a conversation. This time, it was just a date, a time, and a place.

Rafa frowned at the screen. “Tomorrow night. In the warehouse district.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. Empty and remote.”

“Hard to plan on such short notice.”

“That’s probably why they picked it.”

He grunted. “I’ll tell Arturo.” He stood up.

“Wait,” I said. “There’s one more thing.”

He sighed. “Please don’t tell me that there’s another twist.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “No twist.”

“Okay. What is it?”

“I want to come to the meeting.”

He shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

“I have to come, Rafa.”

“Even if I said that was okay, it’s not up to me.”

I gave him a look. “We both know that you could make it happen.”

“I don’t want to make it happen.” He crossed his arms and stared at me, exasperation clear on his face. “You just keep wanting to dive headfirst into danger, don’t you?”

“It’s not that.”

“It is, though. I can’t protect you if all you want to do is risk your life.”

“You don’t need to protect me. Not with this.”

“That’s what you said about the Spiders before.”

“I wasn’t wrong. You were the one who almost died.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “You don’t get it, do you? I’m not just protecting you. I’m protecting our baby, too.”

“I do get it, but I need to be there.” I stared at him, hoping he’d understand. “Please, Rafa. This is the last thing I’ll ask.”

He watched me for a few seconds before finally relaxing his posture. “Okay,” he said. “Against my better judgment, again, I’ll do what you ask. But this is the last time, Cassidy.”

“Thank you.” I smiled and kissed him on the lips.

“You’re welcome. Now I need to go let Arturo know about this.”

“Good luck.”

He nodded, turned, and left the apartment.

* * *

T
he mob was more
like an army than a loose organization of criminals, especially as it mobilized to go to this meeting.

There were at least a hundred men, each of them well armed and wearing body armor. They were terrifying men, the sort of men you imagined were in the mob. They were the soldiers, the lowest level of the mafia, and the most dangerous. Each man was a killer, and each man was paid well for it.

I didn’t know the plan, but I could clearly see that the mob was moving out in force. The Spiders had never expressly forbade this, so I assumed they would show up in force as well. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I could tell that it wasn’t going to be good.

I stood off to one side in the shade, watching everyone get ready. I kept looking around nervously, trying to find Louisa, but she was nowhere to be seen. I actually hadn’t heard anything about her since I saw her in the stream, and I had to assume she was busy with her own preparations.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

I turned around, startled. Vince smiled at me.

“Oh, yeah. It is.”

“Are you coming?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Good for you. I assume Rafa was pretty pissed about it?”

“He was.”

Vince laughed and stood next to me. We stood there in silence for a minute, watching the preparations.

I liked Vince. He seemed different from the other men, not more reserved, but more serious. He seemed to understand something that nobody else did, or at least he always had that expression. I felt comfortable around him, though I didn’t really know him.

“Rafa likes you a lot,” Vince said finally.

“I feel the same way about him.”

“Good. So you’ll listen when I say this.” He looked at me, his expression hard. “Don’t get yourself killed.”

“I don’t plan on it,” I said, taken aback.

“Good. So when Rafa says run, you’ll fucking run. If he says to scream, you’ll scream. Right?”

I nodded once. “Right.”

“Good.” He looked back over at the men. “Are you really pregnant?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t taken a test yet.”

“Take one as soon as you can. Don’t hold this over his head.”

“I’m not. He chose this. He wanted this.”

“That was before.” He shook his head. “He cares a lot about you, Cassidy, but who knows what that man really wants.”

He nodded at me and then walked away, leaving me stunned and confused.

What had Rafa said to Vince that would make him come to me like that? I couldn’t imagine it. Rafa seemed so excited for me to be pregnant, and now Vince was suggesting otherwise.

I didn’t know what to feel, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. The men were climbing into trucks as the bosses called out orders. Vince was in the midst of them, rounding them up, getting everyone moving.

Someone waving caught my eye. It was Rafa, standing near a big black truck. I waved back and tried to smile, but I was shaken.

I headed over to him. The lights of the truck blinded me for a second.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready.”

“Come on.” He climbed into the driver’s seat.

I got in the passenger’s side. As soon as I was in, we started rolling out. It was eleven, an hour before the meeting was scheduled.

“The plan is simple,” he said. “We’re getting there early and the guys are setting up. We’ll stick here, in the car, until it’s close to time. We’ll meet up with the other bosses and watch what goes down.”

“Fine,” I said.

“You okay?” he asked, glancing at me.

“I’m fine.”

He nodded and concentrated on driving, not pressing me any further. I couldn’t tell if he noticed my apprehension around him, but that didn’t matter. He probably thought I was just nervous about what was going to happen.

I was nervous, of course. I’d never done something like this, and I knew it was going to be dangerous. Hell, everyone kept telling me that I was stupid for wanting to come along.

But this was happening because of me. I couldn’t stay away. I wasn’t that kind of person. Even after everything, I still had to put myself out there and see things through. Rafa seemed to understand that.

Maybe he did, or maybe he didn’t. I thought he understood and wanted me anyway, but maybe Vince was right. Maybe he was only doing this out of some kind of pride or obligation.

I hated that Vince had thrown me for a loop at this final hour. Things were about to come to a head, and I’d learn soon enough if I really was pregnant or not. I hadn’t questioned things until this moment, heading to the most dangerous meeting of my life.

The caravan headed out of the compound and through the city. Nobody stopped us, and we blew through every red light. I assumed the police had been bought off, and if they had been, it was incredibly impressive. It was just another example of how much money and power the Barone family actually had.

We arrived at the spot around eleven twenty. The cars pulled up, and everyone got out. Orders were called out as I stood next to our car. Rafa conferred with a few guys I didn’t recognize, and I just stood around and watched.

They moved with precision. Some headed to the roof of the building, and some went inside. Rafa kept glancing at me, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of nerves or something else.

Minutes slipped past. I kept glancing at my watch, nervousness running through me. Everyone was gone, and soon it was just Rafa and me.

He checked his watch. “Ready?”

I nodded. It was almost showtime “I’m ready.”

We began to walk toward the building where the other bosses had already gathered.

“I need to tell you something,” I blurted out, not sure why.

“What?”

“First, I need to know something. Is this real? Or is it because I might be pregnant?”

He stopped and stared at me. “What are you talking about?”

“You and me. Is it real or not?”

He nodded. “It’s real.”

“Louisa Barone is the leader of the Spiders.”

He looked surprised. “What?”

“That’s what I was holding back from you. I met with her out in the forest, and she told me everything. She’s the leader of the Spiders.”

“That’s . . .” he trailed off. “Oh fuck. We need to go.”

“What?”

“Come on.” He took me by the hand.

“Wait. What’s happening?”

“Arturo plans on killing the Spiders. I need to stop him.”

“Shit.”

“Come on.”

We ran into the building, my heart hammering in my chest.

I didn’t know if I had made the right call, but I did know one thing: Whatever this was between us, it was real. I felt it as much as he did.

It was real.

I
pulled
Cassidy along behind me as we raced into the echoing, open building.

Arturo’s plan was straightforward: wait until the Spiders showed, and then kill them all. He didn’t care if he was betraying them; he just wanted them dead and gone. That was the only thing on his mind.

But Louisa Barone changed things. I had known Cassidy was holding back, and now I understood why. Louisa was beautiful and impressive, and I could see how Cassidy would want to protect her secrets.

But Arturo had to know. He wouldn’t go through with this attack if he knew the real identity of the Spiders.

This was part of what it meant to grow up. I had to trust Cassidy and accept her choices. My role was to protect her no matter what she chose, and to support her if she failed.

That was what I would do. That was all I could do.

This was real, and I knew what it was.

We entered the open warehouse floor. Ahead, the bosses stood in loose groups surrounded by armed men. I knew they were also in the rafters and all along the catwalk, though I couldn’t see them.

We headed straight toward Arturo and his boys. But just as we got there, another soldier ran up to Arturo and them ahead of us.

“Boss, they’re here.”

Everyone got very, very still.

“Where?” Arturo asked.

“They’re coming in from the far entrance.”

“Who?”

“Three people wearing black body armor. The Spiders.”

“Three?”

“Just three, sir.”

“Scout the area. There must be more.”

“Yes, sir.”

Arturo turned back to his men and began to confer nervously. I stopped in my tracks and looked at Cassidy, my eyes wide.

It was too late for us to stop it, and maybe there wasn’t even anything to stop. The Spiders were up to something.

We stared as the three figures began to come closer. People shifted, and the general tone of the place became nervous. Vince came up and stood next to us, silently staring with his arms crossed.

As the figures got closer, I saw that they were dressed in all-black combat outfits with gas masks in the front.

“Standard Spider outfits,” I murmured.

“They look terrifying.”

“I suspect that’s part of the point. They’re functional, too.”

The three figures stopped about twenty yards away from Arturo. They were unarmed as far as I could tell. The one in the middle was the tallest, though none of them were very tall, maybe my height at best.

I was beyond positive that the middle person was Louisa, and the other two were also women. I couldn’t prove it, but I knew.

The person on the right stepped forward.

“We’re here to discuss terms,” she called out.

Definitely a woman’s voice.

“Are you the leader of the Spiders?” Arturo responded.

“I am not. She is.” The woman gestured at the figure in the center.

Arturo addressed her. “Give me a reason not to kill you three.”

“You don’t want to do that,” the woman who spoken responded. The other two women didn’t move. “We may be unarmed, but our people aren’t.”

“There’s nobody else here. Don’t bluff. We have this whole warehouse surrounded.”

“Of course you do,” the woman said. “But so do we.”

Arturo looked angry. “What do you want?”

“We want peace.”

“What are your terms?”

“Only one term. You stop your human trafficking business, and the war ends.”

Arturo laughed loudly, practically shaking. There was some soft murmuring and worried comments as Arturo slowly got himself under control. When he was finished laughing, he stepped toward the three Spiders.

“Listen to me, you delusional bitches. The Barone family doesn’t make deals with murderous sluts.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

There was a shocked silence as the woman in the middle stepped forward. Her voice was muffled by the gas mask.

“Ah, now she speaks,” Arturo said, smiling. “It doesn’t matter, though. I already decided to kill you all.”

“Like Rosita said, you don’t want to do that.”

“I do. I really do. You fucking cunts have been bleeding my people dry, and for what? A bunch of drug-addicted whores from another country. Well, fuck you and fuck that. I won’t bow down to some disgusting sluts like you.”

“That’s a shame.”

I held my breath.

The woman took off her mask.

Louisa Barone smiled at the shocked crowd.

“You wouldn’t want to hurt your own daughter, would you, Daddy?”

Arturo looked like he was about to have a stroke. He was shocked, physically shocked, and he took a couple steps back. His face was purple from surprise or anger, I couldn’t tell, and his hands clenched into fists.

“Is this a fucking joke?” he asked. “Louisa, what the fuck are you doing?”

“Sorry, Arturo.” She smiled at him. “I’ve been running the Spiders this whole time. Surprise.”

He couldn’t speak. He tried to, but it came out a strangled gurgle. He took a deep breath and released his fists.

“Louisa, I know that you have your fantasies, that you have your ideas. But this, this has gone too far. Do you understand what you’ve done here?”

She continued to smile. “No. Tell me.”

“You made me mobilize the whole fucking mob!” he practically screamed. “All for—what? For some joke?”

She just smiled at him.

He continued his rant. “You ungrateful girl. I gave you everything. Everything! And you gave me nothing but attitude, anger, and disgust. You refused to do anything normal, refused to go to college, refused to become a respectable woman. And now look at you, playing dress up and pranking my organization. You can lock yourself in your room and throw a tantrum; I can deal with that. But this, Louisa, this is too far. You’re finished.”

“No, Arturo,” she said softly. “You’re finished. Do you accept my terms?”

“Terms? Stop this fucking joke and come over here.” He looked around. “Stand down,” he called out.

“Do you accept my terms?” she said, louder.

“I don’t accept your fucking terms.” He looked at a man on his right, one of the guard. “Get her,” he said. “All of them. Bring them back.” He turned and began to leave.

The bosses walked with him. The guard walked toward Louisa, frowning.

“Come with me,” he said.

Calmly, Louisa reached behind her and pulled out a black gun. She held it out and fired three shots. The explosions rang out in the empty space, and the guard collapsed onto the ground, bleeding.

“What the fuck?” Arturo screamed. “What are you doing?”

“Do you accept my terms? This is your last chance.”

“You insane bitch! Get her!”

Louisa put her mask back on, and all hell broke loose.

Explosions started all around the perimeter of the room. Thick, heavy clouds of smoke blanketed over the space, instantly surrounding everyone. There were confused shouts, yells, people trying to understand what was happening.

That was when the shooting started.

I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I grabbed Cassidy by the wrist. “Come on,” I yelled. “We have to go.”

“Louisa!” she said.

“Fuck her,” I answered, a plan suddenly jumping into my mind. “Fuck her and fuck the mob. Come on!” I dragged her off. I didn’t care if she wanted to run and try to save the girl; I only cared about keeping her alive through this.

I could barely see her, and she was inches away. Vince was all but gone in the thick smoke. I began to cough as I pulled the smoky air into my lungs. It felt heavy, like I was breathing in lead. I dragged her along as the gunshots rang out all around us. Confusion and pained screams lit up the air, and I moved faster. I could see figures in the smoke all around us, but I didn’t stop to fight. My only priority was getting out while we could still get out.

Soon, we reached a wall. We began to skirt it, heading toward what I hoped was the exit. I held her wrist tightly as we ran, and she kept up the best she could.

Suddenly, from the smoke a person emerged. It was a mafia guy, his gun leveled. I didn’t recognize him, and I didn’t know what I would have done if I had.

But I didn’t hesitate. I slapped the gun down, punched the man in the throat, and then pulled my own weapon. I put two bullets in him before we continued moving. He was dead, and I had betrayed my own people.

This was how it had to be. We couldn’t stay. We couldn’t make this work. I needed her, needed her to live. Pregnant or not, I needed her, and we had to get away.

“That was one of yours!” she yelled.

“I don’t have anyone anymore,” I answered. “Come on. Keep moving.”

We went through the thick smoke, shots and screams ringing out all around us. I stopped suddenly, pulling her down. Ahead, a Spider appeared, aiming toward us. I squeezed off three rounds, and she fell into the smoke. There were more of them coming from all over the place.

“There’s more of them,” I said. “They’re here. But where the fuck did they come from?”

“The basement,” she yelled. “They were in the basement.”

“How do you know?”

“The smoke came from the floor.”

“Fuck. Come on.”

I pulled her on, my heart racing with excitement and adrenaline. I didn’t know where we were going or if we were close, but I kept us moving.

Finally, we reached the exit. The smoke was pouring out into the night, and I stumbled out. We were both coughing as we sucked clean air into our lungs.

People were all over the place. Some were Spiders and some were mafia, and they were fighting, brutally and deadly. I yanked her along, and we were running through it. I stopped to kill a man who got in our way, shooting him clear through the eye. No hesitation or thoughts; I simply killed him and continued moving. Nothing was getting in my way. Nothing was stopping me from saving Cassidy. Blood was drenching the ground as bodies were torn to bits.

Ahead, some of the cars were already pulling out. I shoved her ahead as I turned and got off more shots. I held them off as she ran toward the truck.

Once she was in, I followed. I threw the door open and dove inside. I started the engine and peeled up, steering off into the night. I went the opposite direction of the compound, heading away from the fighting and away from the mafia.

And we were away. The gunshots continued as the fighting escalated, but we were running, flying away along the roads.

We drove for ten minutes, out of the city and into the suburbs, before I finally pulled over.

The full magnitude of my decision hit me in that moment, and for some reason I didn’t care. All that mattered was that Cassidy was safe beside me. She stared at me, horror and fear in her eyes from what she had seen.

I grabbed her face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said.

I let out a breath and gently released her. “Good.”

“Rafa, what are we doing? You killed mafia guys back there.”

“We’re done with them,” I said. “We’re leaving.”

“What?”

I looked at her. “I can’t make you come, but I want you to.”

“Come where?”

“I don’t know, but I have money. A lot of money. I can get us new identities. We can start over.”

“This is insane.”

“We’re not safe here. We’ll never be safe here. The Spiders, the mob, someone will try to hurt us sooner or later. But if we leave right now and never come back, the chaos will shield us. They’ll think we died or something worse. We can start again.”

She stared at me, taken aback, shocked. I couldn’t believe I was willing to leave the mob for her, but it was the truth.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“I love you. I need you. Come with me. This is real.”

She bit her lip. “I love you too.”

I knew it. I felt it. I needed it.

I kissed her, and she kissed me back.

After a time, maybe years, I couldn’t tell, we stopped. I put the car in drive.

I took her hand. I pulled out.

I loved her. It was real. I knew it was real, and I knew I had loved her from the very start, but now we had said it. Somehow, saying it out loud made it all the more real, made it somehow actual.

I would give up anything for her. I would do anything for her. I didn’t care if she was pregnant or not. It really had never mattered, although I wanted it to be true.

She was mine. She made me a better man, and I knew I was doing the right thing.

I could give them a real life.

I was going to give them a real life.

Far away, someplace where nobody could touch us. Just me and Cassidy and our baby, together against the world.

That was all I ever needed.