My Bad Boy's Secret: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (22 page)

              I saw someone with long hair further to the left, sitting next to an old man. It took me a moment to see that it was Luciana. She was tending to the old man’s wounds and occasionally firing her gun. It all made no sense to me.

              The police stopped their cars, jumped out, and drew their weapons. They had come fully prepared for confrontation. Initially, none of the combatants noticed the new arrivals. They were too engaged in killing each other. When the officers fired their handguns as a warning, however, they gave the police their undivided attention.

              I think at first the bikers and mafia silently considered forming a temporary alliance to fight off the police, but they soon realized that was futile when the police showed that they brought more than just pistols. They carried shotguns and assault rifles with them, and fired them at a few criminals foolhardy enough to resist. Two bikers and one mafioso were killed.

              I stopped my car and sprang out. The scene was too surreal for me to make sense of it. Seeing that they were either going to jail or going to their funerals, some of the men soon dropped their weapons and put up their hands. The officers handcuffed and guarded them, then called for backup to take them to the nearest jail.

              “Stop! Hands in the air!” one officer pointed his gun to stop two people from running off. I saw that it was Luciana and the old man she was caring for. Was that her dad?

              As they were handcuffed and brought to a police car, I couldn’t contain myself any longer. Luciana was hanging her head down and avoiding my gaze. I did my best to stare into her eyes.

              “What are you doing here? What the hells is this all about?” I was just getting started with my questions. It was hard to hold back my emotions.

              Luciana just looked at me and gave me a weird slight smile. “I’ll explain later.”

              We got to Chattanooga Municipal Jail. Luciana sat in one cell with the man who turned out to be her father.

              “Name?” one officer asked.

              “Amilcare Adalfieri,” the old man wheezed out. He was barely hanging onto life after being shot multiple times.

              The officer’s eyes widened and he whistled. “Adalfieri, huh? It’s been a long time since we’ve heard that name. You’re a long way from Chicago.”

              I went into the interrogation room Luciana was brought into. She was just sitting there in silence. I turned to look at her. She was still smiling slightly. “Luciana, just who are you anyway? What is going on here?”

              She looked up at me and paused for a second. “I guess you would’ve found out sooner or later. I wish it was under different circumstances, but I’ve got no choice.”

              “You’re – you’re with these guys? The mob?”

              Luciana smiled even more triumphantly. “Not just with them. Born into them. My daddy runs the Maggadino family. We worked hard to keep it on the down-low. That’s how I’ve been able to live and work in Atlanta right under the government’s nose and not draw any attention.”

              “Why would you do that? What were you doing with Blake?”

              “Blake’s in trouble. There are people who want him dead. We heard about the bounty on him, so we decided to take him in. Of course, that didn’t work out.” She sighed and drank some water.

              I was ready to vomit. “I can’t believe that after all those years of being close friends, and you helping me through law school, you were hiding this secret.”

              “What was I supposed to do? Brag to everyone that my family is mafia? How long would I last in the world like that?”

              I hardened my glance, but it wasn’t working very well against my best friend. “You’re nothing but a thug.”

              Luciana just shrugged. “Call me what you want. I’m not ashamed of my family and who I am. We do what we want, and we earn our money fair and square.”

              I didn’t know whether to hit her or hug her. I still loved her dearly, but she was now nothing more than a criminal to me.

              “So what about Blake raping you? Did that even happen?”

              Now Luciana laughed out loud, like I had just told her a funny joke. “Oh, you fell for that so hard! I almost broke character back there at home! No, he never touched me. I would’ve cut his dick off in a second if he tried anything.”

              “And so you brought him to your cabin, and got your dad and his buddies to take him away?”

              Luciana folded her arms and looked smug. “And we would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you and the cops.”

              I stood silent and thought about it all. I wasn’t sure what else in my life was true or false.

              Luciana piped up again. “For what it’s worth, Rose, I really do like you. I wasn’t lying about any of that. You are my best friend, and I have always looked out for you. I even thought about telling you the truth. But when I saw your new boyfriend, I decided that I had a duty to my family. We needed the money and the respect from bringing him in.”

              I didn’t want to hear more from her. She was dead to me. I remembered all the good times with Luciana, but she had lied to me and played me so hard that I needed to be alone for a while.

              “Goodbye, Luciana,” I said quietly. I opened the door and walked out.

Chapter 9 – Blake

              The doctors and nurses keep saying they don’t know how I’m still alive. I have my head bandaged and I’m on painkillers for my fractured skull. I have broken ribs and pains and aches all over my body. There are cuts on my face and arms, and a couple of gunshot wounds to my stomach and side. I haven’t had any real sleep in days. The hospital food here is just awful.

              This has been the shittiest week of my life. I got drugged, kidnapped, beaten, almost killed, and now I’m officially under arrest and going to jail as soon as I am released from the hospital.

              A nurse came in to take away my tray of food, which I barely touched. “There is a visitor here to see you,” she called out.

              “Tell them I’m sleeping,” I said.

              “Sorry, she says it’s urgent. Says she knows you’re just making an excuse,” the nurse replied, and walked away with my food.

              My stomach growled. I looked up and saw Rose enter. She kept her gaze trained on me, and pulled up a chair to sit beside me.

              For a minute neither of us spoke. It was painful to look at her, so I stared at my sheets. She spoke first.

              “So you’re Blake Snatch.”

              “Yeah.”

              “Not Robert Jackson.”

              I stared even harder down. “No.”

              Rose held my hand softly. “Blake, I need you to be honest with me from now on.”

              I looked at my hand with hers, and then at her face. “I am.”

              “No more lies, because you telling me the truth is the only thing that will keep you from being put on trial and spending the rest of your life in prison.”

              She wasn’t joking. I swallowed. “OK. I’ll tell you the truth.”

              She took out a candy bar from her handbag. “Here. Eat this. I bought it for myself, but I can hear your stomach rumbling, and I know the food here is just awful.”

              I grabbed it and wolfed it down immediately.

              “Now,” Rose continued. “Who are you really? Where are you from? And why did you come to Atlanta?”

              All I could do was tell the truth. “I’m from Detroit. I’m a guy you call when there’s someone you want dead and you don’t want to do it yourself. I ran away because I screwed up my last job, and the Blood Brothers were after me. I killed a bunch of witnesses and left one girl alive. I should’ve killed her, too. If I had, I wouldn’t be here in this situation right now.”

              Rose’s eyes widened. “So the Blood Brothers case I’m on… Clarissa Petersen, that was all because of you.” She took her hand away from mine.

              Her voice grew harder. “Keep talking. Tell me everything about you. I need to know if I’m going to help you.”

              Help me? I wanted to ask what she meant, but her tone told me not to question her. So I kept talking. I told her about my life, growing up, my parents, getting started in crime, the cases I was a part of, the people I murdered, and the gangs I worked for. Everything I could think of that I had ever experienced, I let out. Then I told her about meeting her, meeting Luciana, us hooking up, the lies she told me, going to the cabin, getting kidnapped by the mafia, and ending up in a hospital in Chattanooga.

              The afternoon soon turned to evening by the time I finally stopped. I was exhausted from talking, and hungrier than ever. Rose didn’t say much.

              She left and came back with some fast food, and we ate together. When we were finished, she began to speak.

              “Blake, after hearing everything you told me, I have to put you in jail.”

              I expected that. “I know. Isn’t that what everyone wants?”

              “But I don’t want to.”

              My head jerked and I looked at her. “What?”

              She sighed deeply. “My head tells me you’re a monster, but my heart says otherwise. You’re the most heinous criminal I’ve ever encountered. I’ve only read about people like you. You need to be put away so that you’ll never hurt anyone. But what Luciana did to you was horrible too. She was my best friend, and she lied to both of us.”

              She paused before resuming her words. “And I love you.”

              Those four words sounded unreal to me. “You love me?”

              Rose nodded. “I loved being with you. You were a completely different person in Atlanta. You tried to change. You didn’t act like the person you’ve told me about. You made me feel more alive and on fire than anyone ever has. You gave me hope. I don’t want to lose you. If I put you on trial and get a conviction, and that’s a sure thing, you won’t just go to prison. You’ll most likely end up dead. Everyone will know who you are and will kill you for the fame. I know what it’s like in there.”

              Rose held my hands again. “I need you to promise me you’ll change, Blake. If you can stop being the old Blake, and be a new honest, caring and law abiding, Blake, I’ll do everything I can to help you stay free. If you lie, I’ll kill you myself. But if you keep your promise, I’ll save you.”

              I wanted to say yes, of course. But Rose’s challenge was daunting. Change myself? How was I to do that? Was there some sort of report card or checklist for going from killer to law-abiding citizen? What could Rose do that would save me from going to prison?

              “Yes,” I uttered. It was the only answer I could give.

              Rose kissed me and held my face in her hands. I pulled her onto my bed and kissed her back. We petted and rubbed against each other. As we did this, my head was filled with doubt and fear. I might not be dead soon, but I had no idea what my future would bring.

Chapter 10 – Luciana

              It’s a good thing I always carry so much money in my purse. The thousands of dollars I had were more than enough to divide among the guards. I knew the low wages they earned, and all those Benjamins made their eyes shine. Once I told the guards about the pay I was offering them, they got their keys and let us out. They even helped us shoot the guards who weren’t so cooperative and willing to let us go.