31 Kisses Page 16

  I quickly glance over at Breaker. He’s seated on the arm of a chair, gun resting on his knee as if he’s contemplating something, or buying time.

  “I did. I should have killed her myself for what she and Fabrizio did to me, but when she wanted retribution on West and found out her own son killed her lover, she couldn’t live with herself, or her lies.”

  Breaker laughs and scratches his head with his free hand.

  “They were trying to put me in prison and ruin everything I've built. If no one knew anything then I didn't see a problem. I framed West, built the list, and secured this family's future.”

  “Oh boy,” Breaker says as he gets to his feet and shakes his muscles loose. “Want to hear the best part?”

  My face drops along with everyone else’s. “When Dad sent Franco, I asked him to find out if the caccia was sanctioned. A list that big had to go through the right channels because there were associates and protected people on that list.”

  “You gave her a list with thirty-two names on it. The last one was you, Kelsie. Because now the Commission wants you dead.”

  I didn’t know it wasn’t sanctioned, but I know now Costa wouldn’t have minded killing me. I press the metal to the back of his head. “Rebecca Stanton?” I growl. “What did she have to do with all of this?”

  “The dog lady?” Costa smiles wide.

  “You told me she shared secrets that got my father killed.”

  “Well, she did know secrets. She knew your dad was having an affair with my wife. We couldn’t let her be a witness if the Commission came questioning Breaker’s legitimacy.”

  “You lied to me?”

  “Don’t expect an apology,” Breaker adds. “I told you to kill her and stop asking questions.”

  I’ll deal with Breaker later. “Why me?”

  “Because you are expendable, my dear. And what better way to seek revenge on my enemy, than to steal his daughter and kill her. Granted, I didn’t expect you to become such a valuable asset.”

  Breaker cocks his head the side. “Trigger pullers are easy to come by, Kelsie.”

  Stone warns, “Don’t do something you’re going to regret, Breaker.”

  Costa limply raises his hand, stopping the conversation. He turns his head to the side. “You see, Kelsie.” He’s referring to Breaker’s comment. “Expendable. With Stone by his side, Breaker doesn’t need you.”

  “I won’t stay,” Stone affirms. “If anything happens to her, I’ll walk out that door and never come back.”

  Breaker clucks his tongue. “What if I asked you to choose between Kelsie and your best friend?”

  Breaker points the gun at my direction.

  “Do it, son,” Costa chokes out as Stone shouts over him. “Stop.”

  Propelled by adrenaline and betrayal, I put my finger on the trigger. If I die, I’m taking Costa Beneventi with me to the grave.

  The next few minutes happen so quickly, I barely have time to register it.

  Stone steps forward, putting himself in the crossfire.

  His father demands of Breaker, “End this.”

  Breaker laughs and the shot goes off.

  13

  Bargain

  Kelsie

  I glance down at Costa Beneventi. The bullet in his chest makes me happy, even though I didn't put it there.

  Breaker smiles and puts his gun back in his holster. A little too at ease and happy for having murdered the man he considered his father. Not going to lie, I’m happy I’m not the one with the extra hole in her body.

  Breaker takes a seat behind the desk, and motions for me to do the same.

  I point at the dead man beside me, whose blood is being soaked up by the blanket he had across his legs. I ask for confirmation, “You shot him?”

  He opens the bottom shelf of the cabinet and grabs the bottle of whiskey and tumblers. He pours himself one and then slides the bottle toward me, using his hand to tell me to help myself.

  “I told you before. You had your list, and I had mine, sis.” He scoffs and chugs half his serving. “That I wasn't expecting, but I'm curious.” He points to both of us. “What was the plan here?”

  Stone’s already sitting with his hands folded, watching both of us. “To ask a favor and get the truth.”

  “You have a lot of nerve asking me for favors, Stone.”

  I grab the seat next to Stone and take advantage of Breaker’s benevolence. “It's about the flash drive.” I elbow Stone.

  He retrieves the green thing from his inside pocket. “We propose a trade. Me by your side and this drive, for the life of Jason West.”

  Breaker arches his brow. “So, you figured out it was Hayden?”

  “You knew?” Stone asks. “I’m not surprised.”

  Breaker uses his chin to point to the dead body. “I saw the picture when I went to get the money for your informant at the office. I was going to kill him myself if he showed up tonight… Then you, sis. I didn’t think you’d have the balls to kill the guy you love.”

  Motherfucker. I nonchalantly place the gun on the desk. Stone blocks me when I lean forward. I sigh and let him speak.

  “If you hurt Hayden, I’ll take this straight to the police. I have the other copy.”

  Breaker smirks. “You always were smart, little brother.” He takes another swig of his drink. “And you, Kelsie?”

  I growl, “Me what?”

  “What do I do when the hitman has a hit on her back.”

  “You step up and save your sister, Breaker. For fuck’s sake.” Stone shakes his head in disappointment. “You owe her that much.”

  “I owe her nothing,” he corrects, but I catch the softness in the corners of his eyes when he looks at me. “But I do have a soft spot for the broken mafia princess, so I’ll pin it on Dad. He’s dead anyway.”

  “Will they believe that?”

  “They want her dead because they fear her.”

  Why are they talking about me like I’m not here?

  “Mafiosas are a lot more threatening. They don’t play around. She’s a good asset.”

  “I’m not a fucking piece of property.”

  “See?” Breaker smiles. “I love it,” his tone turns dark, “now cut it the fuck out. I want your guarantee that you won't try to kill me again.”

  “Do I have yours?”

  “We’re family. That does change some things, doesn’t it?”

  Yeah, a little bit. “Like you no longer threatening me with the Ranch?”

  “I always did like the liberties you took with your tongue. You make me laugh.” Breaker chuckles, frightening me with how lightly he’s taking this situation. Death literally is in the room with us, and he’s acting like his whole life just started. I guess it did. “In all seriousness though, we both know, you’d kill your way out of there in an hour.”

  “Which means your only option would be to kill me.”

  “I don’t think it will come to that.” He bounces his gaze toward Stone. “Will it?”

  I’m beginning to think a lot more was said in their meeting at the strip club.

  Stone stretches the muscles in his neck. “You get me, Kelsie, and the hard drive. One year, then we can renegotiate.”

  “One year and half.” Breaker tries his luck.

  “One year,” Stone holds steady.

  “Two.” Breaker asserts his position. “Don’t make me change my mind.”

  I interrupt the stare down. “One and a half. When Hayden graduates.”

  “All this to save some guy’s life?”

  “He’s not just some guy,” I say.

  “He’s family,” Stone finishes.

  Breaker considers this for a moment and then agrees, “Fine, but if he runs, the deal is off and I’ll kill you all myself.”

  Stone gets up and extends his hand. Breaker stands and shakes his brother’s hand.

  “What are you going to do about him?” I ask, as I grab my gun and strap it to my thigh again.

  Breaker walks ove
r to the body and places a kiss to his still warm forehead. “We’re going to start off the New Year in mourning, but tonight,” he squeals, rubbing his hands together. “We party like I’m the Boss.”

  He opens the door I hadn’t realized had been closed and steps out in the hallway. Stone and I follow to find two guys standing guard, one of them being Franco.

  “You can let West go. He’s under Beneventi protection.” Franco opens the door to the storage closet, letting Hayden out.

  Hayden comes out with his hands around his waist and his shirt is ripped. Spots of blood are on his white collar and a few spots on him are discolored.

  “You beat him up?” Stone shouts, as I reach under my skirt for my gun.

  “He resisted.” Breaker holds his hand up in the air, stopping me.

  “Sis?” he says. “I’m kind of liking the way that sounds.”

  “I’m not.”

  He smirks and smacks Hayden in his bruised cheek a couple times. “Next time, don’t leave him in the car.”

  That’s where Breaker disappeared to at the bar.

  A woman floats over to us, distributing champagne. We all take a glass, even Hayden, who is being pinned against the wall by the next guy I’m willing to kill.

  “Oh, and I also have the two hundred grand you had in your car in case this all went south.” He nods to his goon, and Franco loosens his grip.

  Hayden shrugs out of his grasp and stands face-to-face with Breaker. “No hard feelings,” Breaker says and pats Hayden on the shoulder. “Sorry about your father.”

  “Did you kill him?”

  “I don’t have time to get into that story, but now that we’re all one big happy family, I’m sure well have plenty of time to discuss the details.” Breaker saunters down the hallway, leaving the three of us alone. We hear him address the crowd as Magdalena wraps her hand around his waist. “It’s about time to announce the new year. It’s going to be one hell of a year for the Beneventis.”

  Hayden steps toward Stone and me.

  “You okay?” I whisper, not sure if I should hug him or hit him for letting himself get caught.

  “Yeah,” he says, planting a kiss to my forehead. “I didn’t see them coming. They broke through the window and held a gun to my head. I thought… For a second…”

  “You thought we turned on you?” Stone punches him in the shoulder. “You’re an idiot.” A few shards of glass fall to the ground, and I notice the small nicks on his neck.

  He cracks a smile. “Maybe. At first, but they kept asking for the hard drive, so I figured it wasn’t true.”

  Stone shakes his head and leans against the wall. “I can’t believe I’m stuck here after doing everything I could to get the fuck out of here.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say, genuinely feeling guilty for it. Hayden does the same.

  “You both owe me,” he says and straightens himself when the crowd in the other room cheering. He used the round bottom of his flute to point at our brother, “That guy right there, isn’t the brother I walked away from three and a half years ago.”

  We all watch as he works the crowd like he didn’t just kill his father and orchestrate taking me down.

  “I’m going to go get something harder than this. Today might be the last easy day of our lives.”

  Hayden and I stand together watching Stone. He turns to me, wincing from the pain in his side and places his hands around my waist. “So…all this for me, huh?”

  I glance back at the office door and nod. “Your worth me wasting a few bullets.”

  He smiles. “I get a feeling there’ve been more than a few bullets in your life since we met.”

  I smash my lips together. “Let’s not keep count.”

  The people in the background start counting down to the new year and I wrap my arms around him, happy that I helped save him. I would’ve traded every bullet I shot for a lifetime of kisses with Hayden Masters.

  We stare at each other; letting the events of the last few days settle around us instead of between us. They draw us closer and closer until the numbers in the background dissipate and only he and I exist in the moment.

  “Do you still care?” I ask because I need to hear him say those words.

  “Yeah,” he whispers on my lips before kissing them gently. He breaks the perfection, just to warn me not to say I shouldn’t.

  “I wasn’t,” I pout. “I was just going to say Happy New Year.”

  I wouldn’t say happy. With Breaker Beneventi taking the lead, and all the things left to figure out, it’s sure as hell going to be an interesting one.

  About the Author

  Sonya’s a nerd—a cool nerd—who loves science, books, make-up and unicorns. She even has unicorn slippers and unicorn plushes adorn her office. It’s not obsession (or so she says), it’s simply an ode to her imaginative side.

  She believes in fairytales and in the beautiful things a mind can conjure. She’s a firm believer of empowering the crazy fictional ideas, putting them down on paper (figurative paper because she’s not a fan of writing in notebooks), and letting them flourish into a story.

  Don’t believe me? Ask her in any of her social media. She’s all about those connections.

  “There’s so much potential in a dream…

  a thought…

  not exploring it seems like such a waste of something absolutely beautiful.”

  Sonya Jesus

  Acknowledgments

  So…. about the Beneventis…

  This was an introduction to the cast of the Beneventi series. Keep a look out for Breaker’s big moment in 2019, and if you would be so kind as to leave a review, I would be so happy! These books are like babies and I’d love to hear what you think.

  With that, I would like to thank you for reading this and taking a chance on me.

  To all of those who helped me create this book baby, thank you. A special thanks to the Beta readers, editor and my fans. I heart you guys big time!

  P.s. #nothingchanges

  Also by Sonya Jesus

  Knights Series

  Book 1

  Knights After My Heart

  Book 2

  Knights Who Stole My Heart

  Book 3

  Knights Who Broke My Heart

  Book 4

  (Coming Feb/March 2018)

  Knights Who Won My Heart