Twisted Bonds by Cora Reilly
CHAPTER 16
KIARA
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“Have you heard?” I askedexcitedly as I headed toward Leona. She was sitting on their terrace with a book on her lap. I loved that I could go over to visit her whenever I wanted now that the fence between the houses had been taken down. “Remo asked Serafina to marry him. Well, it wasn’t really a question, but with Remo that was to be expected.”
Leona looked up and nodded with a tight smile. “Yeah, Fabiano mentioned it. When are they going to marry?”
I sank down in the chair beside her, confused by her mood. “May, after the twins’ first birthday. I can’t wait to organize everything. It’ll be amazing. Will you help me?”
Leona nodded again. “Sure.” I caught the hint of uncertainty on her face and paused.
“Everything all right?”
“It’s nothing ... I mean it’s ridiculous. I—” She shook her head. “I’m being stupid, ignore me.”
“No,” I said, leaning forward. “Is it because you want Fabiano to ask you to marry him?”
“No...I mean perhaps. We’ve been together for two years, which isn’t long considering normal standards but I know how things are in your world, even in the Camorra, which isn’t that conservative. And Fabiano’s been growing up in the Outfit and that is still very traditional, so I’m wondering what’s holding him back.”
“Maybe he’s just waiting for the right moment.”
Leona stared down at the bracelet adorning her wrist. “What if he realized that he wants an Italian woman? Fabiano is traditional in many aspects, so maybe he decided I wasn’t fit to become his wife, a Scuderi.”
“Now you are being ridiculous,” I scolded gently. “Fabiano loves you. It’s obvious from the way he looks at you. And he even got this mansion for you. Just give it time. He’ll ask you eventually.”
“He got this mansion because he wants to be close to his brothers-by-choice,” Leona said softly.
Brothers-by-choice, that was the perfect term for Fabiano and the Falcones. I gave Leona a reprimanding look. “And because he wants you two to have enough space for each other and a family.”
“You’re probably right, and I really should be focusing on my classes and not worry about getting married.”
I smiled.
Leona stared off into the distance, then smiled. “What about a bridal shower? A hen party where we, for once, get ridiculously drunk and have fun.”
I considered that. “I’ve never partied.”
Leona’s eyes grew wide. “We need to change that.”
“Have you been allowed to go party?”
Leona laughed. “Well, Fabiano was with me every time I went to a club. He’s a great dancer.”
“We could take Serafina to a club, dance, drink, have fun. It would only be us, because Serafina’s friends are in Minneapolis, so...” I stopped. I hadn’t really made friends in Las Vegas, not that I’d tried and I just hadn’t gone out to meet new people. Leona and I loved spending time together, and I had a feeling that soon Serafina would be an important part of our close-knit group.
“You think you can talk Nino and Remo into letting you go party?”
“I don’t think they’d mind, if you disregard the security aspect. That’ll be a problem. They’ll insist we have guards, and they don’t really trust many people around us.”
“It’s not a hen night if one of our men is there.”
“Yeah, maybe Savio and his friend Diego could guard us.”
“That could work. I’ll try to convince Fabiano, and you work your magic on Nino and Remo. Serafina can’t know beforehand!”
I sighed. Convincing both Remo and Nino wouldn’t be easy.
Leona and I talked about the latest series we watched until I finally left so Leona could get a bit more reading in and because I wanted to work on a new piano piece. I went to the bathroom because I had a slight headache. Opening the drawer for pills, I froze when I saw my stash of pregnancy tests. I quickly grabbed something for my headache. We had a bridal shower and a wedding to organize, there wasn’t time to obsess over my troubles. Nino was right, I needed to relax.
After I’d taken a pill, I settled at my piano and began to play, losing myself in the music like always.
A knock sounded, making me jump, and the melody died in a low moan. Adamo stood in front of the French window, a cigarette in his hand. I smiled and motioned for him to come in. After he took a last pull from his cigarette and stomped it out on the ground, he slid open the door and stepped inside.
“Don’t forget to pick up the stub later or Nino will have your butt,” I said with a smile.
Adamo nodded, no smile, nothing. Shadows spread out under his eyes as he walked over to the piano and sank down beside me on the bench. When he didn’t say anything I started playing again, trying to suppress my flood of questions wanting to burst out of me. Months had passed since his capture, and his body had healed and scarred. But he had become more closed off.
After the melody ended, silence descended on us until I couldn’t take it anymore. “You’re gone a lot.”
“I’m with C.J.”
I bit my lip. “At the Sugar Trap?”
“There and at her apartment.”
Adamo was fifteen. C.J. at least twenty-eight. “Are you together?” I asked, trying to keep the judgment from my voice so Adamo wouldn’t shut down again.
His eyes rose to mine, and an ironic smile tipped his lips up. I still remembered his honest, kind smiles from before. “We’re friends with benefits.”
I blinked, then nodded, unsure what to say to that. My protective side made me wonder what she got out of it. C.J. seemed nice but why would she hang out with a teenage boy for no reason?
Serafina came in with Greta and Nevio, then paused when she saw me with Adamo. He got up. “Hi, I need to leave anyway.” Without another word, he walked out, not taking the cigarette butt with him.
Frowning, I got up and picked it up and threw it in the bin beside my piano that was reserved for papers with my scribbles.
“He’s still suffering because of what happened?” Serafina asked.
I nodded. I’d noticed that Adamo often avoided Serafina’s presence. When he was around her. Adamo was nice but he made sure he was gone most of the time. “Do you want me to take Nevio?”
Serafina handed him to me and I smiled down at his grinning face. “I wanted to ask, if you want to come along when I go wedding dress shopping?” She was still unsure if we were friends. Maybe she thought I was only being nice because I felt obligated, and while that might have been true in the beginning I honestly liked Serafina, not just because she was a great mother, but also because she was nice and tough, and loved Remo.
“Yes, of course,” I said. “Would you mind if Leona came along?”
“I’d love for her to be there. I wasn’t sure if she’d want to though, because I don’t know her that well.”
“Not yet, but we’re all family so you will sooner or later. And I can’t wait to look for a dress for you. I’m so excited to plan this for you.”
Serafina laughed. “My last wedding took two years to plan and it never happened, and this time we have only months.”
“Are you worried it won’t be a big enough affair?”
Serafina shook her head, gently rocking Greta who was getting squirmy. “No, Remo and I don’t want anything big. Only a family wedding, nothing fancy.”
“That’s perfect. What’s the use of having hundreds of guests you hardly know?”
Serafina’s face lit up. “Right?”
I could hardly hold back asking her about what she wanted to do for her bridal shower. I stifled the impulse. This had to be a surprise.
Nino, Fabiano and Remodid eventually agree on us going dancing—of course, under certain conditions. The three of them would stay home and watch the twins while we had to take Savio, Adamo and Diego with us. And of course stay in contact through Savio in case anyone needed to intervene, which wouldn’t happen. It was already April and there was only one month until the wedding, so it was high time we finally got around to our hen party.
Serafina, Leona and I got ready together in Leona’s vanity while the men were over in the Falcone mansion. I had bought a tight mini-dress for the occasion that made my blood pound faster with nerves when I wore it, and matching red high heels.
Leona shook her head. “Men are going to trip over themselves for a dance with you.”
My eyes trailed over Leona in hot pants, a tight shirt and high heels, and Serafina in a glittery mini dress. “I think they’ll have a hard time choosing.”
We giggled and clinked glasses. We’d finished off a bottle of sparkling wine while getting ready and were already feeling a nice buzz.
Serafina downed the remaining wine and set the glass down with an audible clang. “Let’s head over and show our men why they’d better appreciate us.”
Leona grinned and I shook my head with a giggle.
“They’re going to decide that we’re not allowed to go out after all,” Leona said. “Fabiano is super-jealous. He won’t like this.”
“He’ll get over it,” Serafina said.
“Is Remo jealous?” I asked curiously.
Serafina shrugged. “He said he’d kill anyone who touched me, so I suppose he is.”
Leona rolled her eyes. “Mafia men are so possessive.”
“They are,” I agreed. Nino had never really showed jealousy, but he’d never had reason to.
We found our men with Savio and Adamo in the gaming room, having drinks.
“Fuck,” Savio exclaimed when he spotted us, setting down his glass. He was already dressed for the occasion. Form-fitting dark blue slacks and an even tighter white dress shirt that showed off his muscled body. He’d have more trouble fending off admirers than we would. “We’re screwed, Adamo. We can only lose this gig.”
The other men turned, and their reactions were a mix of slack-jawed surprise and disapproving scowl, Adamo and Savio the former, Remo, Nino and Fabiano the latter.
“What the hell it that thing you’re wearing?” Savio asked me.
“It’s a dress,” I said, flushing.
“I know what dresses look like and that’s not it. That’s the lovechild of a tanktop and a bandana,” Savio said.
Ignoring him, I gave Nino a hopeful smile and he came over and touched my waist before whispering in my ear. “Don’t get too drunk. I want to shove up that dress and bury my face between your legs tonight. I want you to think of my tongue in your pussy when you dance later—to imagine how hard you come when I lick you, and you will again, tonight, if you stay lucid enough.”
My cheeks heated and I had to suppress an embarrassed laugh. Nino pulled back, looking cool as a cucumber.
Savio let out a low whistle. “Your face goes well with the color of your dress.”
I considered throttling him with the strap of my purse.
“How the fuck are we supposed to stop men from slobbering all over them? That’s going to be a hell of a job.”
“If someone touches Kiara, you’ll give me a call, Savio.”
“Nino,” I said with a small giggle. “You won’t ruin Serafina’s hen party by killing anyone.”
Nino regarded me with that stoic calm that told me nothing I said would change his mind. “I’ll only capture them today. I’ll kill them tomorrow.”
“That sounds reasonable,” deadpanned Serafina with a roll of her eyes.
Leona was busy talking Fabiano out of whatever overprotective mode he was in. Only Remo looked surprisingly calm. He gave me a twisted grin and kissed Serafina fiercely. The look she gave him after would have made me blush further if I wasn’t already red-faced.
“You keep a close eye on them, got it?” Remo told his brothers after he’d pulled away from the kiss.
Savio sighed. “Let me guess, you’re going to send me to Kansas if I don’t, right?”
“If you’re lucky,” Remo said.
Nino lightly caressed my butt. “Remember what I told you.”
“The Cosmos is the bestclub in Vegas right now,” Savio said as he parked in the side alley.
Leona, Serafina and I sat on the backseat of the SUV while Adamo and Savio made up the front. “Have you ever been to a club, Adamo?” I asked curiously.
Adamo glanced back. “Sure. A few times.”
Savio nodded toward the front. “There are Mick and Diego.”
We all got out of the car and headed for the waiting men. Like Savio, they were dressed in form-fitting slacks and dress-shirts that accentuated their muscular bodies. Diego and Mick lost their composure for a moment seeing us.
“I’ll give you one more second to get a grip on your fucking dicks or I’ll kick your asses,” Savio called.
Diego and Mick tore their eyes away. Diego was the bulkier of the two, broad shouldered, wrestler-like, while Mick looked like a runner, tall, with more sinewy muscle. Savio clapped each hand briefly before he nodded toward us. “Leona, Fabiano’s girl, Serafina is Remo’s wife, and Kiara, Nino’s wife. I don’t think I’ll have to say more?”
Diego gave us a polite smile. His gaze had trouble not straying below our faces. Adamo came over to us. “Hey.”
He shook their hands then shoved his own back into the pockets of his black jeans and checked our surroundings. At the end of the alley, we saw part of the queue waiting to get inside.
“So how do we do this?” Diego asked, rolling up his sleeves.
“One on one?” Mick suggested, doing the same.
Savio narrowed his eyes in thought. His sleeves were already rolled up. Leona sent me a questioning look.
“Sleeves up, Adamo,” Savio said.
Adamo scoffed but did as he was asked. Diego and Mick’s gazes dropped to the burnt tattoo on his forearm and Adamo’s face darkened.
“Many people know this means they better stay away from us,” Savio explained, indicating his tattoo.
“Scare tactics,” Serafina said with a laugh.
“We’ll need them,” Savio muttered. “You girls probably want to dance on your own?”
I shrugged, not having given it much thought.
“We want to have fun together and not have you attached to our hips all night,” Serafina said.
“All right,” Savio said. “We’ll dance close to you, but if guys are too touchy each of you will have to dance with one of us so the assholes think you’re our girlfriends.”
“You’re younger than us,” Leona said.
Savio flashed her a cocky grin. “Barely, and we don’t look it.” He was right. They appeared like grown men, not teenagers, hardened by what they’d seen and done, and with a confidence usually reserved for older guys.
Savio gave his friends a sign. “Let’s go.”
Together we headed for the end of the alley and passed the queue toward the two bouncers, tall tattooed guys. Savio gave them a curd nod and they let us through.
“Does this club belong to the Camorra?” I asked Diego because he was closest to me.
Surprise crossed his face, then pride. “Every club in Vegas does. The Falcones kicked the Russians and the MCs out when they claimed power.”
Savio turned briefly and smirked. Diego returned the look.
A hard beat which pounded in my body greeted us inside the club. Everything glowed in a pinkish light and the ceiling looked as if it was made of thousands of crystals which threw the light right back. The club was crowded with convulsing bodies, trapped in the thrall of the music. I took everything in, the way everyone seemed to lose themselves to the bass, some of them with eyes closed. People rarely understood what music did to me, but in this moment, in this club, everyone was a slave to the melody.
Excitement bubbled up in me and my pulse picked up, caught up in the magic of the fast beat. Serafina flashed me a grin, and Leona, too, looked ecstatic. We headed over to the bar and ordered a Cosmopolitan for each of us.
“This is cool,” Serafina shouted over the noise.
I nodded, sipping my drink, taking in everything. Savio, Adamo, Diego and Mick were at the other end of the bar, pretending to be on a boy’s night out, and maybe to strangers it looked convincing, but I saw the concentration and vigilance on their faces.
I turned away from them, taking another sip, and began to bounce to the music. Soon all three of us were buzzing with the need to dance, so we drank faster.
“Here they come,” Leona shouted.
I followed her gaze, and saw a group of three guys heading our way. Nicely dressed, smiling. I was trying to come up with a nice way to let them down. Serafina was quicker. She shook her head at them and lifted a finger, looking like the ice princess she told me she’d been known for in the past. The men came to a stop, unsure if Leona and I shared Serafina’s opinion. I shook my head as well and finally they turned away.
I gave Serafina a grateful smile. “I didn’t think it would be this easy to keep them away.”
Serafina shook her head. “They’ll return later once they’ve had more drinks.”
We made our way over to the dance floor and began to dance close together, grinning at each other. I raised my arms, twisted and turned, letting the music guide my movements. Trying to ignore the looks of the surrounding men soon became difficult, and I noticed how several of them danced closer and closer to us, so Leona, Serafina and I had to build an even tighter circle. Soon the presence of two guys behind me, the way they tried to dance with me, became overwhelming. I shook my head at them, but they smiled as if they thought they only needed to try harder. Serafina glowered at a guy behind her and shouted something—from the look on her face, nothing nice.
Leona shoved a guy’s chest when he came too close.
One of the guys behind me danced even closer and reached for my hip. I shoved his hand away, my pulse picking up. “No. Leave.”
He scowled at my rebuke. From the way his eyes shone it was plain that he was drunk. He took a step closer and tried to bring our bodies in for a dance. A tall figure shouldered him out of the way and for a moment I thought it was Savio. Then I saw the curls. Adamo faced off with the guy like Savio and Diego did with Leona’s and Serafina’s admirers. Mick stayed a few steps back, keeping an eye on the general public.
Adamo shouted something and the guy backed off. After that Adamo danced close to me while Diego danced with Leona and Savio with Serafina. I smiled up at Adamo who moved easily to the music and he gave me a small smile in return. Serafina and Savio had their own private dance battle and they seemed to enjoy it thoroughly and Leona was grinning too, even though Diego looked tense dancing close to her.
Eventually my bladder asked for relief. I leaned up to Adamo. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“I’ll go with you,” he shouted back. We motioned at Savio who nodded. Adamo grabbed my hand and we made our way through the crowd until we arrived in the back where the restrooms were located. The music was a distant throb that still reverberated in my body, calling for me to return and lose myself again. Of course, there was a crowd in front of the girls’ room, which meant at least a ten minute wait. I really wished I’d gone sooner because I wasn’t sure I could wait that long.
Adamo shook his head. “That’s ridiculous.” He tugged me along toward the men’s restroom.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving time.” He shoved the door open and we stepped inside. “Better close your eyes until I tell you to open them again.”
I squeezed my eyes closed, only briefly catching a glance of men’s backs in front of urinals. I let Adamo lead me along, trying to ignore the biting stench, until he stopped me with a soft touch on my shoulders. “All clear.”
Opening my eyes, I found myself in front of an open toilet stall. I went inside and closed the door, then considered my options. Touching any part of the toilet was out of the question so I started ripping off toilet paper to build my personal bird nest. It was strange taking a pee surrounded by male voices who were guffawing and bragging, and even their bodily noises were louder than any girl’s I’d ever heard. When I was done, I hesitated. “Adamo?”
No reply. Sighing, I opened the door, trying not to see anything I really didn’t want to see. Adamo was nowhere to be seen. Stepping out of the stall, several guys glanced my way. If the same happened in a girl’s restroom, everyone would start screaming, but these guys seemed not to care that I was there while they peed into urinals. Keeping my eyes straight ahead, I quickly went over to the sink and washed my hands, wondering where the hell Adamo had gone.
I headed for the exit and stepped out into the dimly lit hallway. The girl’s queue had barely moved. I caught sight of familiar brown hair further down the corridor. Adamo talked to two guys and one of them handed him a small, clear bag and Adamo handed something back to them. My heart sank, realizing what it had to be.
Adamo glanced my way and he quickly excused himself and hurried over to me, shoving something into his pocket.
“Kiara, I thought girls need longer in the bathroom.”
“The men’s restroom doesn’t really make you want to linger.”
Adamo nodded, looking caught. He ran a hand through his unruly locks. “Listen, please don’t tell anyone. I’m not addicted or anything, it just helps me forget what happened. Without the weed, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all at night.”
“Only weed?” I asked. It was bad enough but there were many worse options he could consume.
“Only weed,” he said. “I didn’t want you to see, to put you in a position where you have to keep a secret from Nino. You won’t tell my brothers, right?”
His eyes begged me, and remembering the haunted looks he so often displayed, I nodded. “I won’t, but promise to try to stop completely. Talk about what happened instead, maybe that’ll help.”
Adamo nodded but I could tell he wouldn’t. “Let’s get back before Savio gets suspicious.”
We headed back to the dancefloor and Adamo started to dance at once giving me a challenging smile. Pushing my worries aside, I returned the smile and danced with him. Leona laughed at something Diego said and Serafina was holding a bottle of champagne in her hand. She took a huge gulp then held it out to me. I grabbed it and tipped it back, letting the prickling liquid carry away my concern.
I definitely wasn’t lucid when we returned to the mansion. Leona was the only one who could still walk on her own, being more restrained when it came to alcohol—
except for her birthday bash. Adamo lifted me out of the car with a grunt and carried me into the building while Savio held Serafina.
“A little help?” he called, when we stepped into the gaming room.
“Weren’t you supposed to keep an eye on them and not let them get completely shit-faced?” Remo said.
I giggled when Nino came into view and with a small frown took me from Adamo.
“Your wife is like a fucking fury when you try to take her bottle of champagne away from her. I didn’t want her to scratch out my eyes or kick my balls,” Savio said.
“Where are Greta and Nevio?” Serafina slurred.
I peered up at Nino with a grin.
“Upstairs, asleep, just like you will be soon,” Remo said.
“I don’t want to sleep,” Serafina said.
Savio groaned, and Adamo left, shaking his head.
I giggled again.
“I’m not into being puked on during sex, Angel,” Remo said.
Nino rolled his eyes and began to walk away. The last thing I heard was Serafina mumbling something about doggy style.
Nino carried me into our room and I tried to give him a seductive smile. His brows drew together. “I told you to stay lucid. You didn’t. You’ll have to live with the consequences.”
“Nino,” I mumbled indignantly.
He shook his head and undressed me, then himself. I tried to wrap my legs around his hips when he joined me in bed but he gently turned me around so my back was pressed to his chest. “
Sometimes I hate your control...”
He chuckled and kissed my neck. “It’s as hard for me as it is for you, but we need to make sure you behave next time.”
