Mobster's Baby: Bad Boy Mafia Romance (18 page)

“You
really
think Axel will save you?” He looked at me, up and down, letting his eyes linger on my chest. I shuddered again.

“I hope so,” I said. “After all, you need your money, right?”

“Damn straight,” Jackson replied. “Rico, this one ain’t so dumb after all!” He let out sound that sounded like a cry of joy. “Hold on a second,” he said to me in an oddly formal tone, as if I was just waiting for him to do me a favor. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he dialed a number and held it up to his ear.

“Yo, Axel,” Jackson said. He winked at me and I felt my heart plummet to the bottom of my ribcage. “Deal’s changed. That’s gonna be
double
the money. I just found out that Blondie here is carrying a special load.”

I set my lips in a thin line, determined to look as strong as possible. In reality, the situation was absurd. We were standing in Axel’s driveway, with a dead body on the sidewalk not twenty feet away. My heart went out to that little old lady. She probably had a family, she probably had
grandchildren
. And now they wouldn’t get to grow up knowing her. Jackson had ended her life in less than a minute.

“And, Axel?” Jackson grinned, keeping his wolfish eyes locked on my face. “You gotta call off that deal. I ain’t gonna help you now, and I think you know that.”

I stared. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but judging by the tinny, murderous reply I could hear spewing from Jackson’s cell phone, I knew it must be bad.

Axel

When Jackson hung up the phone, I was shaking with anger and grief. I was still standing on the front porch of Leo’s house, staring at the street and the other houses. It looked like a normal day: cold, chilly, no one outside. It looked completely innocuous. I had a hard time believing that just behind me lay two dead bodies.

I’d given myself a few minutes to wallow in the shame of having my father and his girlfriend killed by my supposed brother. Jackson and I had grown up together, and this was how he’d repaid my family. He didn’t give a shit about my father. He didn’t give a shit about me. He only cared about himself, that rat-faced bastard.

“Jackson, you are fuckin’ dead,” I mumbled under my breath. I could just see him now: conniving and sneaky, the same asshole he’d always been. Secretly, I should have known better. I should have seen this coming. I should have been able to tell that Jackson’s motives were far from pure.

But all I could think about was Portia. Was she okay? Was she hurt? I shivered. Jackson wasn’t good to women. He didn’t like them, and as evidenced by Terry, he didn’t give a shit for their dignity. I shuddered, remembering that she’d been naked when I found her. Even though Terry loved parading around in skimpy outfits, I didn’t think she would have been naked when Jackson found her. My mouth went dry as I thought about him raping her, hurting her until she couldn’t move, then stabbing her just like he’d stabbed my old man.

I didn’t want to think about it anymore, but I couldn’t help it. I imagined Jackson slipping into the house. Terry would have been prancing around in a bikini or a short skirt, maybe planning something for Leo’s lunch. Jackson would have acted friendly, then attacked Terry when her guard was down. I shook with anger as I thought about the screams and cries she must have made.

Jackson had killed Terry first. I just knew it instinctively. Terry was a relatively young, athletic girl. She easily could have run away if she smelled the faintest whiff of trouble. But she also wasn’t very bright. I easily saw her letting Jackson in, making him a cocktail or some coffee, bantering with him about whatever. But then he killed her.

And Leo must have heard everything. Leo had been upstairs, warm in bed, cranky and waiting for lunch. And then the doorbell rang, and he probably yelled for Terry to hurry up, probably told her that his blood sugar was low. As Leo listened to Jackson and Terry flirting downstairs, he probably got mad. He was probably shaking with anger, jealous and mad enough to spit. When they went quiet, I bet he was thinking about Terry getting on her knees and sucking Jackson off. I bet Leo was even thinking that it was getting to be time to replace Terry soon, that she’d been living off the goodness of his heart for a long time.

But Jackson had struck first. He’d killed Terry and shoved her body in a cupboard. When he went upstairs to see the old man, I bet he did a great job of acting like nothing had happened.

I shook my head in disgust and rage. Whatever sadness I’d felt about my father’s death was slowly draining out of my body, leaving me angry and powerful. I wanted to find Jackson and rip his head off, or put his feet in cement and force him off the end of a boat. I
hated
him.

Leo had always told me that working in the family business meant working with people you couldn’t stand. It sounded naïve, but I’d never believed him until now. He’d always said that we were different because we had to do “close” work together, like disposing of bodies and shit. Well, Jackson and I had never done that together but I hated him just the same.

When Portia had told me about her family, I’d wanted to laugh. It sounded ridiculous—a single mom taking care of a little Italian girl, clueless to her husband’s real identity. I’d always thought the way I’d grown up was best: spare time filled with Italian family get-togethers, lots of meetings in the basement. I’d always felt cool, at least I had ever since Leo had included me that one fateful night. It sounded stupid, but I thought I was better than a lot of people. My family wasn’t like everyone else’s family. We didn’t pay taxes or hold stupid, shitty jobs that wore us down year after year.

But now I was almost envious. I wondered what it would have been like to grow up with a family who loved me, who wanted to take care of me. I wondered what it would have been like to have a father who came home and played action figures with me instead of a father who disappeared into the basement with a cigar and a fifth of brandy. I wondered what it would have been like to grow up without seeing a gun, or hearing someone shriek before they died, or having to scrub blood of my school uniforms.

“It probably woulda been real fuckin’ boring,” I said under my breath. Balling my hands into fists, I climbed behind the wheel of my Porsche and started towards home. I knew Jackson and Portia wouldn’t be there, but some part of me still thought this was a joke. Some part of me still felt like I was going to get there and Jackson would jump out from behind a banner that read,
Congrats, Axel, you schmuck!
Portia would jump on me and wrap her legs around me, press that full, generous mouth against mine. I shuddered. I couldn’t wait.

Snap out of it
, I told myself.
She ain’t gonna be there. He took her, and that’s that
. But I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. Maybe this was all a joke, maybe everything was happening under guise of something else.

But then I remembered Leo and Terry. The way Terry’s body had looked shoved into that cabinet. The way Leo’s sheets had been gelled with blood, like it was ketchup or paint or something much thicker than the blood that flowed through our veins.

My hands tightened around the steering wheel. This was war, and I knew it.

My phone buzzed in my pocket again. I knew instinctively that it was Jackson. As much as I didn’t want to give him the time of day, I knew that he was counting on me to answer. If I didn’t answer, he’d likely hurt Portia. And I couldn’t deal with that now, I just couldn’t.

“Hello?”

Jackson laughed. “Yo, Axel,” he said in a breathy voice. “Deal’s changed. That’s gonna be
double
the money. I just found out that Blondie here is carrying a special load.”

I balled my hands into fists.
Shit. She must have told them she was pregnant so they wouldn’t hurt her
. It was a smart move, but one that had put me in even deeper shit. I couldn’t believe it.

“And what else?” I said through gritted teeth. “I know there’s something else, Jackson.”

I held my breath as Jackson told me exactly what I hadn’t wanted to hear: the drug deal was off, and I wasn’t going to be able to move that coke. He confirmed my suspicions, telling me that he thought things were going to end up this way anyway.
That dog,
I thought to myself.
He always wanted to fuck me from day one, and he’s finally done it
.

Without even realizing what I was doing, I let loose a scream of anguish into the phone.

Jackson laughed in response. “Oh, yeah, boy,” he said. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he must be smirking. “That’s how it goes, son.”

“I know you killed Leo,” I spat harshly. “I knew you would do that. He confessed, you know. He was still alive, right when I got there.”

Jackson laughed. “And that’s a problem? You hated the old man!”

“That’s not the fucking point, Jackhole,” I sneered, using a nickname from when we were kids together. “You killed him. He was the fucking leader of the family business, and now he’s fuckin’ dead. You happy about that, asshole?”

Jackson didn’t reply. “It doesn’t matter,” he said greedily. “That old man was a fucker. His bitch, too. She screamed and screamed when I killed her. The neighbors ten miles away probably heard her crying.” Jackson’s voice sounded dangerous, pleased with himself.

“Fuck you,” I muttered. “I recorded Leo’s last words, you know. The last words where he confessed that it was you who’d killed him. He said your name, you know. You’re fucking dead, Jackson. And if anyone else in the business hears about this, they’re gonna want you dead, too. How’s that gonna feel?” I smirked, forgetting somehow that Axel was the one with the power right now. “You’re gonna be on the run, without any money, without anyone to boss around. I bet it’s gonna feel pretty fucking bad, huh?”

Jackson hung up before I had the chance to reply. I tightened my jaw and let out a long, low scream of displeasure. I was going to kill that fucker if it was the last thing I ever did, if it was the
only
thing I ever did.

I imagined Portia and our baby, fatherless. She’d be sitting in the window, rocking the infant from side to side. He’d be named Axel. Portia would say, “Baby Axel, your daddy died keeping you safe.”

It was a grim image, but it was just what I needed to keep going.

Portia

After Jackson hung up the phone, he looked at Rico. “Tie her up,” he said quickly. “I don’t want her fucking getting away again.”

I shivered as I felt Rico’s rough, tough hands sliding over my smooth skin. Even though I’d taken him to be the nicer one, the gentler of the two, he didn’t show it this time. He grabbed my wrist and then spun me around, grabbing my other wrist and tying them firmly behind my back.

“She’s done up tight, boss,” Rico called, pleased with his work.

“Doesn’t it bother you that we’re doing this in a public driveway?” I snapped.

Rico walked around to my front and faced me. “You’re a cunt,” he said, repeating Jackson’s earlier words. “And a fucking nosy cunt at that. Shut up,” he said, pulling a gun from the waistband of his pants and waving it around. “Or I’ll fucking pistol whip you until you can’t talk anymore.”

My face must have showed horror because Rico grinned. “She’s gonna be quiet,” he said proudly to Jackson. “I fuckin’ shut her up.”

“Good,” Jackson snapped. “Put her in the car.”

Rico grabbed me and wrestled me back towards the car. The backseat doors were open and he put one hand on my head, shoving me in. I spat and kicked and did everything in my power to make it harder for him, but Rico was much stronger than me.

“God, what a bitch,” Rico said. He slammed the door shut. It was hot in the car and I could feel sweat beading on my forehead. Even though it was chilly outside for a fall day, Jackson had parked in the sun. The leather interior burned my bare skin like fire, and I moaned and writhed around, trying to get out of the direct light.

Jackson and Rico were staring at a map that was spread out over the hood of the car. I shuddered. Were they planning to kill me? If so, I almost wished they would get it over with. Jackson had to know that Axel was good for a lot of money, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why he wanted to kidnap me. After all, Axel had kept my identity a secret, even from me. I hadn’t found out until I’d seen the locket and confronted him. If I hadn’t known who I was, how did Jackson know? How did Rico?

My mind was swarming with crowded thoughts. When Jackson and Rico let themselves in the car—Jackson behind the wheel, Rico riding shotgun—I barely noticed until Jackson gunned the car into gear and started backing down the driveway.

“Hey,” I said suddenly. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because we want to,” Rico said. He turned around and faced me, a grin plastered on his grimy face. “We like to make pretty girls suffer.”

I shivered. I was more afraid than I’d ever been in my life, but I didn’t want him to know that. “I don’t think that’s the reason why,” I countered. “I don’t think it’s anything to do with me at all. I think you’re trying to get to Axel.”

Rico laughed out loud. “Jackson, she’s a genius!”

“Shut up,” Jackson snapped. He took his eyes off the road and turned towards me, twisting in his seat and contorting his face with rage. “Shut up! Shut up, you stupid cunt!”

I blinked. I was almost used to being called horrible names now. It still bothered me, but it didn’t have the same sting as it had before. I shuddered at the thought of being
used
to anything that was this bad, but I knew that I was doing what I had to do in order to stay alive.

“Why do you want to hurt Axel?” I asked softly. “His father is the leader of the family business. You owe everything to him. Even I know that, and Axel doesn’t tell me shit.”

The truth was I didn’t know anything. I was bluffing. I’d been bluffing since the beginning, and I didn’t see any reason to stop now. But I thought somehow, if I could provoke Jackson into getting angry, I’d be able to take advantage and run away. It was a stupid idea, but it was the only plan that I’d even come close to formulating.

“You don’t know anything,” Jackson snapped. “Axel’s father was a fucking pig, and I stuck him in the fucking gut.”

I glared at him. “Why? Why did you kill him?” I racked my brain, trying to remember everything Axel had ever told me about Jackson.

“Did you have any brothers or sisters growing up?” Axel and I were lying in bed, just after sex. He was staring at the ceiling, flat on his back. I was on my side, propped up and watching his gorgeous, masculine face.

“Nah,” Axel said. He swallowed hard. Without turning towards me, he asked, “What about you? Did you have any siblings?”

I shook my head, even though Axel wasn’t watching me. “No,” I said softly. “I always wanted an older brother though. Someone who would look out for me, someone who would, you know…” I trailed off and giggled as a blush came over my cheeks. “Someone who would protect me. Someone who would teach me about being an adult. I know it sounds corny, but I always wanted that as a kid.”

Axel snorted. “You’re full of it, sister,” he said.

I reached out to pull him closer to me. I knew that Axel wasn’t the snuggliest person in the world, but I was feeling alone and I wanted some comfort. “What?”

“What?”

Axel pulled away. “I ain’t that kinda guy,” he said roughly. “I ain’t the kinda guy who snuggles and shit. You want that, get a puppy.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I’d rather have you,” I said softly.

Axel didn’t reply. He was still staring straight ahead. I looked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what was mesmerizing him so.

“What is it?’”

Axel didn’t say anything. Finally, he let out a long sigh. “You know, I was pulling your leg before,” he said in a low voice.

I perked up. “You do like to cuddle?”

Axel snorted. “Fuck no,” he said. “I meant, I had a brother.” He let out a long sigh. “Well, I kind of had a brother. He was basically adopted. He was my best friend growing up and Leo took him in.”

I was silent. It was still hard for me to accept the fact that Leo called his father by his first name. “Oh,” I said softly. “I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, cause I didn’t tell you,” Axel replied. “But now I am. So that mean anything to you?”

I bit my lip. “Why wouldn’t you have told me about your brother?”

“It’s complicated,” Axel replied. “It’s different. You probably grew up in some happy family, some huggy shit, some talk-about-your-feelings shit.”

I shook my head. “Not really,” I admitted. “I always wanted that…but my family wasn’t really like that. My dad died when I was a little kid and my mom was always busy. She didn’t really like having a kid. I mean, she never said anything about it. But I could always tell.”

Axel sighed. “I loved my brother, Jackson. I mean, he’s a little shit. And sometimes I think Leo likes him more than he likes me. It’s like that shit from The Godfather.”

“I’m sure your father loves you very much,” I told Axel. “You’re his son. It’s in your blood.”

“Shit ain’t like that in the real world, princess,” Axel said. “Shit ain’t this good. You know that, don’t you, honey?”

I blinked. “I’m not sure that I do,” I said. “All families love each other.”

Axel shook his head. “You got a lot to learn,” he said softly. “You got a lot to learn.”

I blinked. Suddenly, I wasn’t in bed with Axel anymore. I was in the back seat of the Mercedes, with Jackson and Rico. And we were going towards an unknown destination. I wondered again if they were going to kill me.

“Axel loved you,” I told Jackson. “He told me things were difficult, but you should know he loved you.”

“If you don’t shut her up, I’m gonna blow her head off,” Jackson said to Rico in a low voice. “Can you keep her from talking?”

Rico turned around. With surprising force, he kicked me hard in the shin. I cried out as pain bloomed in my leg and tears came to my eyes. Awkwardly reaching down, I tried to wrap my bound hands around the throbbing pain but I couldn’t. Rico laughed as tears leaked out of my eyes and fell down my cheeks.

“You hear that, bitch? If you don’t stay quiet, I’ll do worse,” he threatened.

I glared at him but I didn’t speak again. Rico gave me a satisfied smile and turned back around.

“Yo, boss, where we goin’?”

“Like I’d tell you,” Jackson said dryly.

The minutes faded into hours. I was only slightly aware that we were outside of Morris, perhaps even outside of New Jersey. We drove past field after empty field, and then finally the fields turned into trees. There were hardly any road signs or traffic lights, and I felt all traces of hope leaving me.

No doubt about it, Jackson was going to kill me. It was just like in the movies—he’d drive me to a remote location, make me get out of the car, put a gun to my head, and that would be it.

I shuddered with fear.

“Hey, girl, we’re here,” Jackson said, as if confirming my fears. “Ready to take a little walk?”

He slowed the car and turned off on a dirt road, leading towards the woods. I shuddered as I watched the sun disappear behind the clouds and the trees. I could already feel a difference in the air—it was cooler, damper than the air back at Axel’s house.

“Please don’t hurt me,” I begged, feeling pathetic.

Rico threw his head back and hooted. The car turned down an unmarked path and Jackson yanked the gearshift to a halt. The tires stopped with a grinding screech sound that ricocheted off every single filling in my teeth.

“We ain’t gonna hurt you,” Rico said. He looked at Jackson. “Right, boss? We ain’t gonna hurt her.”

Jackson climbed out of the car. “Get her,” he said, pointing to Rico. “And don’t take all fuckin’ day. We gotta get out of here soon.”

I shuddered as Rico opened my door and grabbed me, hauling me to the ground with his bulky body. “Come on,” Rico hissed under his breath. “I ain’t got all day waiting for your fat ass to get out of the car.”

My cheeks burned in shame as Rico wrestled me to the ground. I could barely walk—my legs were so weak—but I managed to stay upright. The air smelled good. It was fresh and cool and clean, and for a moment, I took a deep breath and tried to relax.

Jackson slapped me hard across the face. “We ain’t gonna kill you,” he said with a grin. “Just in case your boy comes through with that money. But we ain’t gonna take care of you neither,” he added, grimacing at me. “Tie her to that tree,” he instructed Rico.

No matter how I twisted and turned in Rico’s arms, he held me firm. He dragged me across a bed of pine needles and with some rope, bound me to a giant tree. The bark dug into my bare skin and I whimpered.

“This hurts,” I said in a whiny voice. “You tied me too tightly!”

Jackson grinned. He climbed back inside the car and rolled down the windows. “Sorry, Blondie. Can’t risk you running off again!” He threw his head back and hooted at his own joke. “You’re gonna suffer, sweetheart. You and that baby in your belly are gonna suffer, and then you’re gonna die. You got that?”

A chill ran down my spine. They
did
mean to kill me. They just weren’t going to shoot me. Maybe life wasn’t like a mob movie after all.

For a second, I didn’t think they were actually going to leave. But then Rico climbed in the car. Jackson rolled up the window and turned the key in the ignition. The headlights practically blinded me and I closed my eyes, screaming at the top of my lungs.

If they heard me, they showed no sign of caring.

Axel, please find me soon
, I begged. The sun was going down and I was already shivering. I couldn’t imagine how cold it would be after dark.
Please, Axel. You’re my only hope
.