For Cam (Chicago Syndicate Book 4) (8 page)

Fallon’s lips turn down, informing me she’s about to relay bad news. “Yeah, she was kind of the only girl Adriano ever dated.”

“I thought he never dated before me? He was a fuck ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy.”

“After her, he became a man-whore,” she says apologetically.

“Wait, so she left him heartbroken? He was in love with her?”

“From what I understood from Luca, yes. But she was power-hungry, and Adriano wasn’t even a
Capo
back then. I’m talking about when Adriano was eighteen or nineteen. This all happened over ten years ago.”

“Okay, that does make me feel a little less worried. But he should’ve told me she was an ex. He would flip if I was with an ex.”

“Definitely.”

“And she’s beautiful,” I mumble.

“I know.”

“I hate it.”

“I hate it for you,” she says around a grin. “Don’t worry. Adriano adores you.”

“I’m not worried. I think I’ll go home. Want me to drop you off?”

“No, Luca told me to wait.”

“But it could take a while,” I state.

“I don’t mind waiting.”

“Okay, your choice.”

***

I
n the end, I’m the one left waiting until two a.m. before Adriano arrives at our loft.

As usual, I’m lying in bed, wearing his white dress shirt and black panties, when he spoons me, and just as he promised, he tries to wake me. “Cam.”

“I’m awake.”

Adriano’s arm slips around my waist.

“I know who she is.”

His movement stops.

“You should’ve told me who she was, Adriano.”

To my surprise, he doesn’t contradict me. “You’re right.”

“Do you still have feelings for her?”

“No. Of course not. It’s only business, Cam. She was professional, and so was I. And I only have to work with her for a few weeks, then Tez will handle her. She wants to supervise her girls for a while.” He lays his cheek against mine. “She was my last resort, Cam. We need those girls for the club to meet the demand.”

“Will you be involved with the sex club?”

“No, not after Tez takes it over. I don’t want to be seen by high powered men in that club.”

“Okay. Just be careful around her. She seemed very happy to see you.”

“Well, we only talked business or else I would’ve thrown her out. Are you jealous, Cam? Because that makes me fucking horny.” He palms my breast roughly, sending a jolt of desire to my core, while pressing his sculpted body against mine.

I laugh. “A little, maybe.”

“No need for jealousy.
Ti amo
. You’re the only woman I ever see.” His lips brush against the corner of my mouth.

“
Ti amo
. I know you come home to me every night.”

“Always,” he whispers, holding me tightly.

I choose right then to believe in the strength of our love because he’s not given me any reason to doubt him.

Camilla

––––––––

A
driano keeps his promise and comes home every night. But for two weeks, I barely see him during the day. Fallon’s also seen less and less of Luca, and I find myself drawn to her like a kindred spirit. Only she can truly understand what it’s like to live with a high ranking Mafia man.

However, I fall off cloud nine when our first few blissful months are rudely disturbed and I’m in conflict with Adriano. But it doesn’t start with Serena. No, it starts when I defy orders again, along with Luca, and the extent of Adriano’s discontent is unleashed upon us.

“I need to talk to Santino,” I implore Luca, who’s seated behind Adriano’s desk, when we’re alone in Adriano’s office.

Luca was adamantly against it at first, but I’ve been working on him for half an hour, and I’m starting to persuade him.

“I told him months ago that I would try to help him. Then I promised Adriano that I’d stay out of it, but if Santino
is
an FBI agent, keeping him here is too risky. Adriano has been too busy with the sex and dance clubs to actually recognize the threat. He says he knows about it, but then he doesn’t take action and just waits for Wade. I can be of help.”

Luca rubs a hand over his chin, contemplating my suggestion. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’ll tell Santino that I’ve finally discovered a window of opportunity to help him escape, but I need to know if he has connections who can help us once we’re out there, because we’ll be hunted people.”

He mulls it over, and after a long stretch of silence, he orders, “But you have to do it
now
while Adriano’s away from the club.”

“He told Wade to give me access everywhere in the building, but I can’t get into Santino’s cell. Obviously, Adriano didn’t grant me full clearance like he said he would. Can you get me into his cell?”

“Yes. Let’s go.” He rises to his feet and precedes the way down the stairs.

After we’ve accessed the underground floor, we walk past the sex club and through the maze of corridors I escaped from two years ago as Luca leads me to Santino’s cell.

He places his thumb on the scanner. “I’ll be waiting right outside. You need to get a confession out of Santino while you’re in there with him. And Cam, failure is not an option.”

Luca leans back against wall beside the door so that he’s out of sight as the system beeps and it unlocks.

Santino’s cuffed on the bed, and he looks healthy and clean, but his eyes are vacant. He’s been held for such a long time.

“Camilla...”

“Santino.” I drop down to my knees in front of him, acting frazzled. “What’s wrong with you?’

“Wrong?” he hisses, and I rear back. “I’m going stir crazy in here. What day is it?”

I clutch his shoulders. “Dammit. Pull yourself together.” And lean in close to his face because he knows there are cameras here. “I’m here to help you, but we need to leave
now
.”

His brows shoot up, and he pulls on the cuff, causing it to clang against the bedrail. “Uncuff me.”

Snatching the key Luca gave me from my pocket, I release his restraints.

Santino rubs his wrists forcefully while staring at me. “Now what?”

“The guards are changing shifts, so we can run. But once we’re outside, I don’t know what to do. I-I...” I stand up and scratch my brow.

He narrows his eyes at me and eats up the distance, coming way too close. “Why are you suddenly helping me?”

“Because you helped me, and you don’t deserve to be locked up in here.”

We’re face-to-face, and abruptly, he cradles my head and I’m afraid he’s going to kiss me, but he murmurs, “Just get us outside, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

I press my hands to his chest. “How? It won’t be easy, Santino. I don’t have any funds, and I don’t have any contacts out there. And these guys know where I live.”

He looks pained as he studies me closely. Then he seizes my hand and pulls me forward to the door.

I dig in my heels because I need him to confess to something before he opens the door. “No! Santino, I’m not risking my life without knowing if we even stand a chance.”

“We stand a chance. Come on.”

“How?” I plead.

He glances back at me over his shoulder with his hand on the lever. “Because I have contacts with the FBI.”

He pushes down the handle, and I yank my hand loose as the door is smashed open. Luca darkens the doorway and punches Santino in his nose, causing him to stammer back, but he holds his footing.

“That’s all we needed to know,” Luca expresses.

All of a sudden, Santino jumps forward, hitting Luca in the stomach and hurling him against the wall, and Luca grunts from the blow.

Hurriedly, I take the cuffs from the bed as Luca blocks a punch from Santino and manages to switch positions with him, slamming Santino’s head against the wall with a thunderous growl.

“Cam, cuffs.” Luca’s out of breath.

I click the metal around Santino’s wrist, and Luca grabs a fistful of his shirt, shoving him onto the bed and securing the other end to the bedrail again.

Santino’s spitting fire at us as Luca stands back, brushing a hand through his hair.

“You fucking set me up!” Santino bellows.

I pay him no attention and exit with Luca on my trail.

“I’ll have Wade investigate who he is exactly in the FBI.” Luca falls into step beside me.

“He must be undercover, because he worked for Sal for a long time. Perhaps he’s presumed dead?”

“No, not without a body. They’re looking for him, or maybe they wanted him inside here?” Luca suggests.

“Either way, this is not good.”

“Well, at least we’ve gotten more information within five minutes than we’ve obtained in the last three months,” he declares.

“I wonder if Adriano will see it that way.”

“Are you afraid of him, Cam?” Luca teases.

“Aren’t you?”

“Nah. I’ve known him since I was seventeen. He’s defied my orders in the past as well when I was his superior. We’ll be fine as long as one of us tells him about our little stunt. I can handle him.”

“Well, I
can’t
handle him lately,” I admit.

Luca stops and turns to me. “He’s just busy, Cam. Don’t forget that he has a lot of responsibilities now, much more than when he was a
Capo
. What he needs is for you to keep supporting him.”

“I’m trying to do that.”

***

“W
ell done, Cam,” Wade toasts, clinking his glass with Luca’s and mine in the closed dance club.

I toss back my shot, followed by a gulp of water to soothe my burning throat. “What the hell is this?”

Luca grimaces as well.

Wade grabs the green bottle and eyes the label. “Some Polish drink. It’s disgusting.”

“It’s chemical,” I add.

Abruptly, the mood changes, and Luca sets his glass on the table when I hear from behind me, “Well, what are we celebrating?”

I freeze, then with infinite slowness, I crane my neck to be met with Adriano’s dark and stormy eyes.

He tilts his head to the side.

“
Amico
,” Luca starts, but Adriano holds up his hand while scowling at me.

“Let me guess. Toasting to Santino?” Adriano speaks in a low voice, and then he marches toward the grand staircase across the club. “Luca, Cam, my office. Now!”

This does not bode well.

Adriano

––––––––

I
arrive back at the club while everyone’s gone.

Tired, I enter my office and sink down into my leather desk chair. The past two weeks have been daunting and not good for my relationship with Cam. I can sense how she’s still struggling to find her place. And so am I.

But distance creeps in when you live a busy life. I’ve seen Serena more often than Cam, much to my dismay, but Serena has proven to be a good partner to work with. She’s quick, precise, and checks on her girls often. In the long run, this will benefit me. However, first, the girls need to learn to trust Tez by seeing how much Serena trusts him, and then, I want to offer them contracts with us. This is the only reason I’m working with Serena. Wade had told me about her when I first took over the club, but she was my least appealing choice because I thought our past might be an issue, yet she’s been a complete professional so far. I did love her once, over twelve years ago, but it was young love. She left me and I was heartbroken, but it was so long ago, I never think about it anymore.

Nonetheless, for Cam, it’s not that easy. I feel her frustration about my involvement with Serena. She doesn’t comment or pick fights with me, but there’s been a change in our interaction. An unwanted detachment has sneaked in between us.

In a couple of weeks, when the management of the sex club has been handed over to Tez completely, Cam and I can focus on each other again since I’m quite displeased with the current state of affairs. But little do I know, I haven’t even discovered the worst.

I catch voices coming from the other side of the interconnected door to the adjacent security room and walk over to check to see who’s behind it.

When I clearly hear someone utter
Camilla
, I pull it open to find a guard and Serena watching the screen.

My displeasure mounts into anger when I witness Cam and Santino standing very close together in a heated conversation.

A wide array of emotions fight for attention. Jealousy, annoyance, and obsessive love. It’s a lethal mix. My love for Cam results in a burning jealousy when I see her this cozy with another man. A man I forbade her to talk to, which has my irritation spiking.

Serena and the guard stare at me as I grit my teeth.

“This isn’t live feed. When was this?” I ask.

“About ten minutes ago, sir.”

“Where is she now?” I demand.

“She’s in the club now, sir.”

Having lost all grip on my emotions, I barge out of my office to find Cam downstairs at the bar cheerily toasting with Luca and Wade, so I order them to come upstairs with me.

Back in my office, I close all the doors and demand an explanation from Cam.

Facing her, I say, “To my utter surprise, I come back to see
you
on camera being very cozy with Santino.” And I glance at Luca. “Someone let her in, and it wasn’t me, so that only leaves Luca as your accomplice. Care to explain what my underboss and
Capo
were doing?”

“What did you see?” she asks.

“Answer. My. Question.”

Luca perches against the desk, knowing when not to interfere between Cam and me.

She doesn’t back down. “Adriano, hear me out before you get upset. Luca and I discussed this beforehand and thought it was the perfect plan. I told Santino that I could help him escape. He said that he has contacts in the FBI, but the way he said it, I believe he
is
an FBI agent who was working undercover for Sal. He wasn’t worried in the least about escaping with me, so I did learn valuable information. He trusts me, and I was right!”

Luca chooses to join us, but neither Cam nor I are budging.

“And you helped her without my knowledge, Luca!”

“She has a point, and I knew she could get something out of him because we’ve held him for so long. He was too relieved that someone finally offered help to question her motives. And now, Wade can dig further and find out what case he was working on before we end him.” Luca rests his hand on my shoulder to get my attention.