Veiled Amor by V. Theia

TWENTY-NINE

“Nice doing shady business with you. I’ll take a tripleta sandwich to go.” – Malachai

 

 

They’d settled into a sort of couples routine over the weeks.

Capone woke first. Usually, it was to do something wicked to her body before she cracked her eyelids open, and once the pleasure shook her foundations, he would slide out of bed, start the coffee, and then stand under a cold shower like an absolute maniac. The first morning he tried to convince her a cold shower was much better for her system than her usual hot one, she almost screamed the apartment down to rubble. Her man knew now, if he wanted her in there with him, especially on her knees, then the temperature needed to be steaming first.

The morning following their swimming pool romp, she lay warm in bed with her face buried in his pillow while she listened to him moving around the apartment. Happy, she stretched until her bones cracked, but not as good as her chiropractor could do. She might not have spent money as her father wanted her to, but some comforts she deemed a necessity, and being realigned regularly was one of them.

“Hey, do you know of a good chiropractor?” She asked once she’d made it into the kitchen. Capone turned a raised eyebrow on her as he poured creamer into the coffee she knew he was making for her.

“Good morning, nena. Come kiss me.”

She smiled, shuffling over to meet his lips. A hand curled around her neck, and she shivered with happiness. This man loved her. Loved her. She was a freaking lottery winner.

“Did I go so hard on you last night that I’ve dislodged your bones?”

Lucia snorted and accepted the coffee, breathing in its aromatic steam as she perched on a stool. “I can take what you give. I like to keep my body well-tuned, so I need my chiro-guy.”

Capone growled, hot and heavy, to send trembles of lust through her limbs. “I can keep you tuned up, nena, believe it, sí?”

“I’m a believer.” She teased. “I still need a chiro.”

“I can find you one.”

“That’s okay, I can do it today. I’ll ask Kate, the spa she took me to was amazing. I wish I’d gotten a massage.”

A hand appeared on her back, stroking up until he reached her hair. “A female masseuse, Lucia.” Snorting, not sure she heard the possessiveness in his command, she put down her cup and quirked an eyebrow at him. “Jealous?”

“No, you’re mine, can’t get jealous over something I own.”

God, this man. Why was that hot as fuck?

Because she’d wanted to be owned by him for a long time, that’s why.

“Possessive then,” she poked. A smile of glee on her lips. A smile he noticed when he dropped his head an inch from her mouth and waited for her to breach the gap and make their lips meet. Mmm, he tasted deliciously of coffee and man.

“Sí.” He didn’t hesitate in answering, and warmth spread over her skin. She loved his honesty and ability to not give a fuck by appearing possessive. She felt the same, so she gripped his shirt. “If you ever get a massage, it can only be from a man. A hideous one.”

Capone snorted. “Nena, the only hands I want digging into my sore muscles are yours.”

Oh, yay. That could be arranged. She could picture him now, lying prone on their bed, naked and glistening with oil. Mmm. God. Yes.

“Dirty thoughts,” he rasped, amused, and made her blush with a grin.

“It’s your fault.”

“I will take the blame. What do you want to eat?”

“I’m not hungry. I only need to shower real quick, and then I’ll be ready to go.”

They had plans to drop by the shop, she couldn’t stay home and watch TV again; she was going crazy with boredom, so she jumped at the chance to go with Capone.

While she was getting dressed, she answered an incoming text.

 

Kate: Fancy meeting up for lunch today? I’m bored.

Lucia: Sure! I’m with Capone this morning, but I can let you know when I’m free.

Kate: Sounds great, I can’t wait to live vicariously through your relationship stories!

 

Lucia chuckled. The woman had no filter when it came to pumping her for relationship goodies. Lucia was private and didn’t want to share the unfolding perfectness with anyone. The boys were holding a birthday party for Capone soon, and she’d been unsure if she could invite her new friend, not knowing how the MC rules went about who could go to the club. Maybe next time, when she felt more at ease around that place. For now, she was happy the other old ladies had asked her to come around.

“Try this one, tell me what you think?”

Yet another morsel was thrust in front of her. Lucia’s stomach was threatening to burst open at the seams. They’d only been at the shop for an hour, and already, Levi, a twenty-something sandwich artist, as he’d introduced himself, made her sit at the counter and taste his creations.

She was stuffed, but every tiny square sample he put in front of her was delicious.

“What’s this one again?”

“Bocadillo de calamares.”

She loved how half of the menu was Spanish-themed sandwiches mixed in with Levi’s creations, and some were Capone’s personal favorites.

“It’s good. Jibarito is still my favorite, though. I could eat that one all day long.” She declared. She loved the sweetness of the plantains used instead of bread.

“Hey, boss.” Called out Levi. “Maybe you wanna call it Lucia’s Jibarito.” She laughed at his joke but then gasped when Capone replied, “change it on the menu.”

Aww. And he said he wasn’t romantic. She beamed at him and licked a bit of pesto mayo from her thumb. Seeing how his broody eyes flared with lust.

He stalked over and not caring that Levi, the sandwich whisperer, was nearby, he grabbed her around the throat and caught her mouth in a kiss so scorching it burned clean down to her curling toes. Damn, he had the patent on passionate kisses. She was breathlessly clutching to his shirt front when they parted. Capone smirked. “Love you, huh?”

“Love you forever,” she whispered back.

Finally, the luck of fate was on their side, it was a long time coming, and Lucia felt ready to shed the last of the secrets between them. Oh, not here. It could wait until tonight at home, but she was ready.

Noticing how Capone glanced over the top of her head, she switched her gaze to the window to see Texas pulling up in front of the store on his Harley, and a big black Escalade came alongside him a second later.

“Hey, Levi, go grab a break,” Capone called out.

“Sure thing, boss. Be back in an hour.”

“Make it two.”

She watched Levi slap hands and bro-shoulder hug with Texas outside, the pair talking like friends. Capone had introduced her to the sandwich maker on the first day as Tiny’s younger brother. She knew of Tiny, one of the fallen bikers, his name was on a plaque in the clubhouse. She’d thought it was extra lovely of Capone to hire his friend’s brother and give the younger man a chance at a career.

“Do you need me to make myself scarce too?” She asked, assuming the boys were here for a biker meeting. He leaned in, pressed his lips to her forehead. “No, Lucia. Listen, I have to talk to you about something.”

“Oh? Something serious?”

“That guy out there with Texas is his twin brother, Malachai Hunt. He’s a former ATF, now FED.” Color her surprised. The bikers didn’t like cops, that much she knew.

Did they have an FBI friend?

Was he a crooked cop the club used?

“Why is he here?”

“He’s not a friend, Lucia, we won’t be inviting him for dinner, sí? But I’ve asked for his help. With your father.”

Oh.

That took the wind from her sails.

Not altogether a surprise.

With little to no conversation about her father, she didn’t want any talk of him to sour their relationship.

“Are you going to kill him?” She had to ask.

A tick worked through Capone’s sharp jawline. “I chased one of his men the other night. The same one we encountered at the motel. He’s been watching my building, waiting for his time to grab you.”

Oh, shit. Something else that wasn’t a surprise, but she’d stupidly thought her father had given up on trying to control her and would leave her alone.

“What… what did the guy say?”

“Not much of anything.”

“Are you going to kill him?” She asked again.

“Do you want me to?”

Her heart pinched.

For all his faults, and there were so many, she couldn’t say she wanted him to die. She was stupid to hope he might change one day and love her as a father should.

Capone answered before she could. “I won’t kill him, Lucia. But I want him out of the way. That means I need your help too, to tell Hunt anything you know about Nicholas’ dealings. I know it’s gonna fucking suck, it’ll hurt you to do it, but this is what I’m asking.”

It wasn’t only her heart which reacted this time, her stomach rolled with dread. Fear too, if Capone were trying to take on her father, he wouldn’t take it lying down, which meant Capone would be in danger.

“He’s dangerous, Gi.”

“So am I.” he kissed her temple and spoke close by her ear. “I hate putting this shit on you. I can do it alone, but you gotta trust me to know what I’m doing is the right thing. We need him out of our lives, or we won’t have one; he’ll keep coming for you.”

She knew that.

“Trust me, huh?”

“I do.” She answered immediately. She’d already chosen her side a long time ago. “We’re a team, Giancarlo. I will tell you anything that you think might help. Do we trust this guy?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then how do we know he’ll help?”

“He’s a crooked cop, he knows how to cut corners, and his ego wants to take down someone like Nicholas.”

Lucia didn’t smile, but she leaned into his arm.

“My good girl.” Lips to her temple.

“What else am I?”

Capone didn’t need clarification when he dropped his head, so his mouth skimmed her ear, his voice for her only as the two men stepped into the shop. His growl was heat all over. “My sweet little fuck.”

Yes, she was.

And Capone was her everything. The complete whole of everything that meant the world to her.

She couldn’t claim to have fought much in her life, having allowed her father to dictate her every move. But in this, with her man, she would fight tooth and nail to preserve what they were building together.

If that meant she had a hand in putting him away for a very long time, it would be something she would have to come to terms with.

But there was no hesitation.

With his arm around her waist, he held out his free hand to Texas, “Hermano.” They slapped palms, then Capone turned unsmiling dark eyes to the other man. “Hunt.”

“I was surprised you wanted to see me, Capone. I hear we can help each other out.”

Malachai Hunt wasn’t a carbon copy of Texas, but there were enough similarities for Lucia to see their blood connection.

“Hi,” he turned, smiling eyes at Lucia. “I’m Mal, and you are?”

Feeling Capone stiffen, she slipped her arm around his waist. “My name is Lucia Cole.”

“Mercado.” Capone corrected, and she turned a smile up at him before facing the FED and Texas again. “My father is Nicholas Cole, and you’re here to help us put him away.”

Any semblance of friendliness slipped off the man’s face, and he switched gazes to Capone. “You want to take down a Kingpin? Fuck.”

“You got the balls for it, Hunt?”

The silence was deafening.

“Daddy doesn’t approve of your biker boyfriend?” He posed the question. “Seems extreme to get him off your back. No offense, but what can he do?”

From the way Capone stiffened, she got there first, putting her hand on his stomach to stop him from detonating. “He’s trying to force me into a second marriage I don’t want, Mr. Hunt. I’ve been a trapped bird in a gold-plated cage. I had to sneak out in the night, leaving everything I had behind. He’s sent several men after me already. One who nearly grabbed me off the street, if it were not for Capone.”

The man didn’t react, but again switched a gaze to Capone. “Good enough for me. I need to know everything. Is she able to go through with it?”

Could she?

For love, she could do anything.

If she thought her father would change his mind and leave her alone, there would be no need for something so dire.

But he was who he was.

“Tell me what you know about him,” Capone said.

The cop started rattling off the list of her father’s known crimes. Things he paid crooked cops, judges, and attorneys to make go away.

Capone’s plan was out there, and it probably wouldn’t work, but they had to try.

“That’s only the tip of his iceberg,” Capone announced, and Lucia blinked up at him, stunned. “I’ve kept my eye on him for years. Don’t care if you peacock in the street once you get him, but you make fucking sure all charges stick.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Smirked Malachai Hunt. “Now, can we grab a seat? I’ve had a long drive. I could murder a coffee. How about you, twin?”

For the first time, Texas spoke. “I’ll go to the diner. How about you come with me, Lucia?”

She looked to Capone, and he nodded briefly before he kissed her lips.

The pair were in a thick conversation when they came back holding takeout cups. Catching Capone’s eyes as she stepped through the door, she smiled. He held out his arm for her to fix herself into his side again.

“Lucia,” Malachai started, pinning her with vivid eyes. “I need to know everything you know about your father. Did you see any of his deals? Hear anything?”

It was funny, she still felt a loyalty to him and wouldn’t have divulged his business to anyone. But in the light of him trying to pull her away from the only man she could ever be happy with, she talked.

And it came quickly, with hardly a stutter of guilt to her tongue.

“Every Thursday, I used to receive a delivery for him in the early hours. I never knew names, only I had to be at the gate around the same time. My father didn’t think I looked inside the crate. It was cocaine.”

“You keep her out of this,” demanded Capone, his stare was hard as brick. “She wasn’t there, and she didn’t know shit.”

She loved this man more than she could say and she put a kiss on the side of his neck.

“Relax, my man, I have no interest in sending your woman to prison, but I still need to know everything, even if that was her setting out lines of coke for his associates.”

Lucia chuckled at the bizarre conversation taking place. She caught Texas smiling at her too; he got the weirdness. It was only her gorgeous protector who was tense. She rubbed her hand along his back. “I did nothing like that. But here’s the thing, Mr. Hunt, when you’ve trained your daughter to be seen and not heard, what you don’t realize is, that daughter sees and hears everything. I hosted more criminals in my father’s estate than you’ve probably arrested. I heard a lot of things I shouldn’t have heard. And you know what?”

“What?” The man quirked a brow.

“I remember everything.”

For the following hour, between Capone and Lucia, they told Malachai Hunt everything they knew.

Lucia gave him names, dates, places, whole conversations, and deals, past and current. She gave him down to the hour when her father’s shipments came into the country, what warehouses he used to cut the drugs, where they were sent, and who his dealers were. Supplying names of people Nicholas Cole killed, either personally or had them killed by his say-so. She listed the names of other significant people who came through the estate. Some of them Malachai became very interested to know about. If he were lucky, he could catch a whole net of big fish. Her father’s network went far and wide across the world.

And Lucia had paid attention to it all while being his docile, sunbathing daughter.

Sitting back in his seat, Malachai drained the last of his coffee and pinned them both with a stare that looked gleeful. “Your father missed out on an asset like you, Lucia. He greatly underestimated who was under his roof.”

She was unsure if she should take it as a compliment.

“You realize, if he connects any of this to you two, you’ll be on the run forever.”

“That’s where you prove you’re a shit hot crooked cop,” Capone told him. The other man laughed. “Trust me, I know who to take this to, so Nicholas Cole can’t make it go away. He has friends in high places. So do I. And mine can’t be bought off, he doesn’t own every judge.”

Oh, god. She trembled, it was suddenly very real, and Capone cuddled her closer. “Okay, nena?” He asked in her ear. She nodded. “Still sure about this?”

“What other choice is there? Will he leave us alone?”

Capone’s straight face was answer enough.

Her father would never stop. Not unless they diverted his attention, and this seemed the only feasible way to do that.

A few minutes later, Capone walked her out to his Jeep after warning Texas not to let the cop snoop around his shop. He cupped her cheeks so softly. It almost brought tears to her eyes. “Tell me now it’s just you and me. Are you okay, amor?”

“I know this is the only way. But…”

“But he’s still your dad, the man you’ve been loyal to even when he didn’t deserve it.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, leaning her forehead into his chest. “I felt like I was betraying him. Which is stupid because he’s never been loyal to me.” When she glanced up, she found Capone frowning and she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. “You don’t have to worry about me. I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re my woman, I will always worry about you. Always try to make you happy. I got a lot of fucking time to make right.”

“We’re making it right together.”

He smiled.

“And I want to tell you everything tonight, is that okay? No secrets between us, Giancarlo.”

Frowning, Capone only nodded.

“Give me a good kiss, my serious man, so that I can go to lunch. We’re still meeting at the club in a while?”

“Sí. I’ll be there.”

That was perfect.

After he kissed and left her without air and his taste in her mouth, she warned him to try not to kill the cop; he smirked and told her no promises.

She loved how he stood on the sidewalk and watched her drive away until she was out of sight.

Her serious man was taking a lot on his shoulders. And as nervous as this made her, so many eventualities could play out where they landed in trouble, he wasn’t alone.

Her Capone would never be alone again.

This was her solemn promise.

No matter what she had to do.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Malachai Hunt hadn’t been excited about a case in a long time.

The blood pounded eagerly in his ears.

A fucking Kingpin, no less. Nicholas Cole.

For years, no one could get anything concrete on him, and here Mal was with a notebook full of shit to pin on the guy, and all of it came from his daughter.

He’d have to keep his team small, those he trusted while he put surveillance in place.

Already his mind was flying through the possibilities.

As he watched Capone saying goodbye to his woman on the sidewalk, he cast a look at his twin, who’d stayed in the background.

They still weren’t on solid ground, so he’d been surprised to hear from him, and not only that, one of his biker friends wanted a favor. He’d been on the first flight he could get. Straightening the tie at his throat, he was glad to see his twin had retained one piece of their old life; he still wore his ties. Mal swung into his suit jacket. “What do you make of it?” He asked.

Tait…Texas as he liked to be known, fucking ridiculous name, but whatever. He was trying to accept the life his twin had made for himself, if only so Tait would allow Mal to be included in a small piece of that life too.

Recovering their relationship was taking time.

He didn’t mind putting the time in.

Mal had nothing but time anymore.

“They’re desperate, and desperate people will do anything to protect those they love.” The warning came into Tait’s eyes, and Mal knew what was coming next. There was no one more loyal than his twin. Mal once knew what that felt like until he’d broken their brotherly bond. Now he had to stand by, biting his fucking tongue, and watch his twin give that loyalty to others while waiting to earn it back. “That means you don’t fuck Capone over, Mal.”

“Relax, Tait, you already gave me the speech twice from the airport.”

“Then listen to what I say. You don’t fuck him over. You don’t use this info to do anything other than what he’s asked you to do. If you have ideas to get in with a Kingpin…”

Scowling, fucking offended, he stared at Tait. “I’m a lot of things, most of them are true, but do you think I’ve worked this hard to gain your trust just to toss it all away now?”

“For power? I think you’d do almost anything.”

Mal swallowed the lump of pain.

He couldn’t blame Tait. Not at all. It was Mal’s fucked up decisions that had brought these brothers to their rift. But things were different now. Mal was trying to be different.

“Not this. Not to you, twin.”

Tait only nodded. Mal was unsure if he believed him.

“How about I take you and the wifey to dinner tonight before I catch my plane?”

“It depends on if Poppy wants to be in your company,” Tait said honestly, and Mal laughed.

He could accept that.

“Penelope loves me.”

Tait snorted, a grin twitched his mouth. “Not quite, she tolerates your ass because she has manners.”

“Unlike you.”

“Unlike me.”

With each visit to Colorado, tension lifted from Mal’s shoulder. He didn’t have the first clue if he’d ever get to a good place with his twin again, but he kept trying. And when Tait suddenly said, “this Kingpin, Mal? Try not to get dead taking him down.” He felt a new sense of hope fill his chest that Tait wanted him around.

Mal smirked and clapped Tait on the back. “I have to keep breathing, there are too many beautiful women out there. Did I tell you about the gorgeous woman I went on a date with last week? A neurosurgeon, she has one of those yappy dogs, though. She’s worse than Penelope is with her goat. Not sure if I’ll see her again, I can’t be a puppy dad.”

The brothers shared an identical smirk.

It was a good day. Dinner with his brother and sister-in-law and then home to put a team together, the wheels in motion for him to work his way up the Director ladder.

Hooking Nicholas Cole, the most notorious Kingpin the states had ever seen, would undoubtedly get Mal noticed.

It was a damn good day to take the world away from a drug dealer.