Crooked Heart (A Death So Sweet Book 2) Read online

  Or maybe he thought blinding us with his headlights would give him the upper hand. Either way, he would be sorely disappointed. You could gouge out my eyeballs and I’d still come after you if I had to. I was tenacious like that.

  Danny was a fellow who wasn’t quite in middle age yet. He was older than the Luciano brothers, a bit older than Viper. He had brown hair that was shaved short to his head, along with an impeccably-groomed beard. He wore dark clothes, keeping with the theme of this city, but all in all, he was nowhere near as impressive as the men around me.

  He did have a fancy car, but fancy cars were a dime a dozen. Shiny, expensive things did not impress me. I was a Harding. I grew up in Lionsgrove. I was born among the shiny and expensive things.

  “You know,” Danny spoke, his voice dry, “I like it better when we meet in bars, for the record. This—” He paused, glancing around us at the empty, forsaken area. “—this is just creepy.”

  Sylvester stood in the front, and I knew he had a gun hidden beneath his suit. His reflexes were fast, so if something were to happen, he’d be fine. “I think the time of meeting in bars for us is long gone, don’t you, Danny?” His blonde head tilted as he waited a moment before saying, “Or should I call you traitor, instead?”

  Danny let out a chuckle, but it was an anxious sound. He stepped closer, shaking his head once. “Really? After all these years, you think I would really go to the DeLucas? Come on, Sylvester—”

  I shifted my weight, and it was then Danny saw me.

  Or, more correctly, he saw my mask. “I heard you had a new toy. Didn’t think I’d get to see her.”

  Anytime I was out on a job, I wore the mask now, so no one knew my full face. Most often, I was around for kicks, to intimidate people… but sometimes they let me loose, and I was able to do whatever the hell I wanted. When that happened, things had a habit of getting bloody. It was a damned good thing the police in this town looked the other way when it was Luciano business.

  Sylvester turned his head, glancing at me. Though he said nothing, I knew what he wanted me to do, so I stepped out, away from the three men, moving toward Danny.

  Danny’s posture went rigid, but he didn’t try anything, to his credit. Then again, they rarely did. I think it was because of the mask. It made them so uneasy, so weirded out that they couldn’t quite think straight. Such as, letting me get so close would only be detrimental to their health, but they didn’t seem to mind until it was too late.

  I stopped only when I stood beside Danny, my head cocked as I stared at him.

  Danny was slow to take his eyes off me and bring them back to Sylvester. I was able to see just how intimidating Sylvester was right now with both Tony and Viper behind him. A trio of absolute doom and death and violence, and they were downright godly in the shadows of the night.

  And, even better, I’d get to go home with them after this. You really couldn’t beat that.

  “Look,” Danny spoke, “the DeLucas have been asking around, that’s it.”

  Sylvester’s expression mirrored that of his brother, for once: downright murderous. “And did they find out what they’ve been after? Did you tell them Mario’s dead?”

  Ah, so that was the point of this little meeting in the middle of nowhere. Danny here sure did make a mistake, and it would be his last.

  The Lucianos had been trying to keep Mario’s death under wraps for as long as they possibly could, because losing a son would make them seem weaker—and they were, but I think their weakness had been building for quite a while. The longer a war went on, the more casualties there were.

  Only this particular casualty was because of me.

  I made them seem weak in front of their enemies. Who knew? Maybe knowing Mario was dead would give the DeLucas ideas to try to take this city from them. That was not something I could allow.

  As far as I knew, no one had told anyone Mario was dead, but then Sylvester reached into his suit and pulled out a small card. He tossed it at Danny, and it landed on the concrete just before his feet.

  Danny bent down, never once breaking eye contact with Sylvester as he picked it up. Since I was so close to him, I was able to see what it was. A sympathy card, a sorry for your loss card, and it was signed in regal handwriting by Carl DeLuca, the head of the DeLuca family. It didn’t address Mario specifically, but what else would it be for?

  Danny’s hands trembled a bit; I only noticed because I was so close. I bet Sylvester and the others didn’t see it. “I didn’t tell anyone,” he said. “I haven’t even talked about Mario—I mean, I might’ve mentioned to a friend that I hadn’t seen him in a while, but I never said he was dead.”

  “What friend would that be, Danny?” Sylvester asked. “I hear you’ve been seen in some DeLuca hangouts lately. Why would that be?” As he spoke, he sounded so interested, so calm and collected even though I knew, deep down, he wanted to tear the skin off this guy. I had to hand it to him. Sylvester was something else.

  Danny didn’t say a word, but his hands did fall to his sides, the card falling to the concrete below.

  “You know we hear and see everything in this city,” Sylvester spoke. “Who’s your new DeLuca friend?”

  “If you see everything, you should already know,” Danny spat out.

  Everything that happened after that happened fast. Everyone had amazing reflexes, it was truly something else. But you know what? I was still faster, because I’d been itching to get my knife out this whole time.

  Danny pulled out a sidearm, seconds from lifting it up and pointing it at Sylvester, but I had a knife put to the side of his throat before he could lift his arm and aim.

  I breathed hard beneath the mask, the sound of my breathing all Danny could hear, at least until Sylvester spoke evenly, “I do know. You’re the Princess’s new toy.” I wasn’t sure who the Princess was, but I could attribute that to the fact that I was still pretty new in town. I didn’t know everybody. There were too many nicknames.

  Danny chuckled, and when I put more pressure onto his neck, he dropped the gun. Its steel clattered loudly on the concrete. “You’re all fools,” he spoke with a shake of his head, as if he really, truly believed it.

  No, he was the fool, the big idiot who went against the Lucianos and would now pay the price.

  You didn’t tell their rival’s family that they’d lost someone without any consequences. Unfortunately for Danny, the consequence wouldn’t be too pretty.

  I kicked the gun away from Danny’s feet, sliding it over to Sylvester, who slowly bent to pick it up. Sylvester approached him, though Viper and Tony hung back, watching what was about to unfold with interest.

  Keeping the knife against his throat, I jammed my foot against the back of his ankle, causing Danny’s leg to give out. He was on his knees before Sylvester within a moment, and I gripped his hair, pulling his head back as I moved the knife to the front of his neck. He divided his time between staring at me and staring at Sylvester.

  He should’ve looked at me more. Tonight, I would be his angel of death.

  “You think I’m the only one?” Danny spat out, blinking far too much. It was like he was finally realizing tonight was going to be his last night on this earth. What a feeling that must be. To any normal person, I suppose it would be frightening, but to me? To me this poor bastard was lucky.

  This world… it wasn’t meant for good people. I supposed that’s why I was still here. It had tried to swallow me, but it hadn’t devoured me just yet.

  “Who else betrayed us?” Sylvester asked, but I knew it was a pointless question. Danny might barely admit to his betrayal, but he would not confess to anything else tonight. “Who else?” His voice was rough and wild, and it looked like he was barely able to hold himself back.

  Danny grinned, though it was more a grimace than anything else. “I ain’t telling you shit. You Lucianos think you own the city—you have another thing coming, and I only wish I’d be there when—”

  Sylvester waved his hand, turning hi
s back on Danny as he blabbered on. Like, come on, dude. This wasn’t his villain monologue. He was a nobody. A nobody who had told the DeLucas that Mario was gone, but a nobody all the same.

  And he would die like a nobody.

  I dragged the knife along Danny’s throat, carving a deep gash in the most tender spot on his body. How ironic that an important vein sat not too far from the surface of the skin. When nicked, you bled out so fast.

  Blood spewed from the wound. Sylvester was too far away to be splattered by it, and I held onto the back of his head for a few moments more. He struggled, sure, once he knew he was fucked, but by then it was too late. The ugly, thick gash was already in his neck and his blood already coated his chest and the concrete before him.

  Such a pretty picture it painted, and it reminded me of the night I’d done the same thing to my mother. Mommy dearest got what she deserved, just like this fucker did. I didn’t mind being the Luciano’s weapon of vengeance. Not one bit.

  I released his body, watching with a smirk beneath my mask as his corpse fell forward, collapsing with a satisfying thud on the ground.

  “Clean this up,” Sylvester ordered, “and get rid of his car. Put him in the river. I don’t care.” He left Viper and Tony’s side, stepping around the body, around the giant pool of blood to get to me. His hand curled around my upper arm, and he dragged me away from the scene.

  Not too far from there our cars sat. Viper had driven with Sylvester and me, while Tony met us here. Two cars sitting in the darkness near a warehouse that looked like it was so old it should be torn down and leveled.

  He only let me go once we neared our vehicle, and I lowered my mask as I stared at the red staining the knife in my hand. I didn’t get to stare at it for long, though. Sylvester took the knife out of my hand, setting it atop the hood, and he towered over me, breathing hard, his eyebrows furrowed.

  Now, normally he got off watching me have a little fun, but this… I didn’t think this was like that. This was different, for whatever reason. This was more.

  My ass leaned against the car’s hood, Sylvester’s tall frame blocking out the moonlight. “My father isn’t going to be happy to learn that there are more,” he whispered, shaking his head once. He leaned toward me, resting his forehead against mine, as if my presence would calm him.

  “You said you guys heard and saw everything in this city,” I spoke, reaching my bloodied hand to his tie, staining its fabric. His family had more than enough money to replace any clothes that got dirty on the job.

  “We used to, but now?” Sylvester paused, sighing. “Things have changed. You… my father might try to blame you, but it wasn’t Mario’s death that caused this. Our family has been losing the war for years now. No one wants to admit it.”

  “Well, you have me now.”

  At that, he smiled. His eyes were half-open, hardly more than slits as he stared at me, breathing in my air and forcing me to do the same to his. He didn’t bring up how I was the one who’d killed Mario, how I might’ve set things off and made things worse for his family. Instead, he murmured, “You are certainly something to fear, aren’t you?”

  I brought my bloodied hand to his neck, the leather of the glove smooth against his skin. “I am. Don’t pretend you didn’t know that already.” I grinned, closing the distance between our mouths the next moment.

  Who was I trying to kid? He got turned on watching me go batshit crazy, and I got turned on by the sight of blood and the adrenaline pumping through my veins. The only way to relieve the feeling was to fuck right here, right now, while Viper and Tony were off on cleanup duty.

  All I could say was: thank God I wasn’t on cleanup duty. Cleaning up the mess isn’t half as fun as making it.

  I bit his lower lip, not hard enough to make him bleed, but hard enough so he knew I was serious, so he knew this wasn’t just a quick make-out session. Come on. We were both adults here. Fucking was the fun part. Kissing was… well, I could still do without it, but the feeling of Sylvester’s lips on mine did make me want more.

  Not that I would ever admit that out loud, because I wouldn’t. I would never speak about how badly these guys made me wish things were different, that, for the first time in my life, I wanted something that wasn’t just an escape.

  I wanted to be alive, and though I was far past that point in my life where I could live, being with these guys was the next best thing.

  As I kissed him, my hands dropped to his belt, which I frantically started to undo. Gripping everything was hard with the gloves, but I knew if I took them off, it might cause more of the scabs to peel. As annoying as the scabs were, I had to heal. I had to get better so then I could have no barriers between my hands and the blood I spilled, so I could feel the warm, gooey messes I made for the Lucianos.

  Eyes on the prize.

  Sylvester pulled his mouth off mine, beginning to work on my own pants. My jeans only had a button and a zipper, and within a moment my bare ass was against the car, my jeans and my panties pulled down. I got his cock free, its length already rock hard.

  I didn’t know how long we had before Viper and Tony showed up, how long it would take them to get rid of the car and the body, but odds were we didn’t have long. They’d dump both in the river and then make their way back here, but you know what? I didn’t care if we had an audience. In fact, the more eyes on us the better. Give Viper and Tony a taste of what they were missing.

  Well, Tony at least. Viper already had the pleasure of being inside of me, though I did wonder if anyone else knew about that.

  Things had been a little weird between Sylvester and me after the whole birth control thing. And now that he knew the truth, things had slowed down a bit, sex-wise. Doing this, it was back to normal, in a way.

  I did wonder what he thought of me, if the truth about my past made him think I was weak or something. I was, but then again, I wasn’t that scared little girl anymore. She’d been buried a long time ago.

  One strong arm around my back, he used his other hand to guide his cock to my entrance, pushing in as he let out a low groan. Sylvester fucked me against the car, hard and rough, calling to mind how his brother would take me.

  Oh, Maddox certainly was mad in every aspect of the word, but he wore the madness so very well.

  Sylvester’s madness was more refined, though the violence and cruelness ran through his blood just as much as it did to his brother. He was cold and calculating one moment, warm and welcoming the next. Hot and cold, sweet and cruel, a combination meant for hell, not heaven—but hell was where all the fun was at, anyways.

  I stared at the starry sky for a few moments, at the moon and its beauty, before closing my eyes and losing myself to the feeling of being complete, being full with Sylvester’s cock. My blood felt like it was on fire, although I guess I could attribute that to both the killing and the fucking.

  Yeah, yeah. I was fucked up. We’d already established this, so let’s move on.

  My gloved hands gripped his blonde head, grunts escaping me each time he thrust into me, filling me up to the brink. His cock was hard and thick, my body more than ready to take everything he gave me.

  I’d never become a slave to another person’s body, but for the two remaining Luciano brothers? Oh, I just might rethink that. They each had a way with me I couldn’t deny, made me feel things I couldn’t fight. I wanted their darkness. I wanted to see their monsters and show them mine. A bit of show and tell was always fun, wasn’t it?

  We were two lost souls, currently losing ourselves in one another. Sex had always been just sex for me, a bodily release, but this… this felt deeper than that. This felt like a soul release, whatever the fuck that meant. Like, it wasn’t just my body that was about to have its tension-relieving orgasm. It was my entire being.

  Maybe it was the fact that I was being fucked against the hood of a car, or maybe it was the fact that we might have an audience at any time, but I found my release soon enough, my body shaking with an orgasm. Violent and del
ightful all at once, I cried out and threw my head back, arching my spine to let Sylvester pummel me deeper. Everything was tingly, everything was great. There truly was no other feeling like it in the world.

  Sylvester took up a rougher rhythm with his thrusts, and I managed to open my eyes. I stared up at him, a soft smile on my face. As our eyes locked, his lower back tensed and his balls slammed against my ass. He came with a thunderous groan from his chest, and I imagined him filling me up with his cum, marking me on this night as his.

  We must’ve been at it for a little while, for footsteps approached us. Sylvester didn’t pull out of me right away, but he did toss a glance over his shoulder at the two coming upon us. Tony and Viper, done with cleaning up. Almost perfect timing. If they would’ve been a little bit quicker, they would’ve been able to watch.

  “Oh, don’t mind us,” Tony quipped, grinning. “Keep going.” His eyes were on me, as were Viper’s. Both men looked downright starving for physical touch, like they could each go a round with me.

  If only Sylvester would let them.

  Sylvester grunted, pulling himself out of me and putting his cock away, adjusting his pants and his belt before turning to face them.

  Me, on the other hand, well, I took my time in sliding off the car’s hood and bending over to grab my pants, which I was certain gave everyone a nice look at my pussy in the darkness. With the moon full above us, it wasn’t like it was pitch-black out. I grinned to myself, mostly at the expressions Viper and Tony wore.

  They wanted to take Sylvester’s place, obviously. They wanted to be the ones to stick their cocks so far into me they’d lose themselves in my body. I couldn’t blame them, and if it was up to me I’d say yes. Just pass me around the Luciano household, to my bodyguards and even Tony. Why not? My life would be too short for me to ever grow old and have regrets about who I didn’t fuck.