Page 3 of Bulletproof Baby
I’ll do anything for my family, but I need to make sure. “If I do this, and Saul makes the winning bid…”
A tremor of despair ripples through my body, waiting for the answer.
“If Saul wins, he only wants the time he bids for. Nothing more and nothing less,” Ma says.
A weekend alone with that sleazebag is worth a lifetime of freedom; for our business, our family. More importantly, it keeps my father out of prison. The leather handles of the duffle bag are as cold as my parents’ request. I give them a scathing look of disapproval before walking off the construction site into a waiting car. The minute I slide into the back seat, Saul Caputo sits with a wicked gleam in his eye.
“Is this some attempt to kidnap me? I’m not just going to go along with whatever this is. What about the auction?” I ask him. My words come out rapidly as my adrenaline spikes. Fear has me eyeing every window and door, wondering how hard I need to kick to get out of this car.
“Relax, my dear Lia. I’m keeping my hands to myself until the precise moment you scream ‘Yes Saul’. Besides, adding you to the auction is going to do a lot for my reputation. It’s going to do even more when I outbid everyone there for you. Don’t worry. Once you see the power I wield over these bozos, you’ll be begging to be my woman.”
There’s a hint of delusion ringing through his words, but I keep my opinion to myself. Even as we arrive at the luxury hotel overlooking Central Park, my mouth stays shut. The last thing I want is for my temper to make me say anything I’ll regret.
Saul escorts me through the lobby and to the elevators. No one’s stopping him. No one’s paying attention to us as we ride up to the penthouse floor. A man wearing a suit stands in front of a pair of ivory-colored doors at one end of the hall. Saul nudges me toward the guy.
“Let her get ready and then bring her in, Bruno.” Saul says to the guard. The guy nods and opens the door into the lavish suite.
The view is breathtaking, but I can’t enjoy it. There’s a table full of food with a king-sized bed. The burly bouncer pokes his head into the suite. “I wouldn’t eat. Most ladies get sick. Nerves and stuff. Everything you need is in the bathroom. Please don’t cause any problems. You’ve got twenty minutes.”
“I won’t.” I assure him. He backs out, locking the door behind him.
Twenty minutes doesn’t give me much time, but it’s enough to shower and slip into the black minidress my mother brought to me. It hugs every inch of my frame like it was made for my body. The soft ruching drapes over the midsection to the side, giving me the perfect silhouette.
By the time Bruno pokes his head in, his reaction is exactly what I’m going for. He keeps quiet, but the way his eyes take me in from head to toe gives me a glimpse of what’s coming.
Whatever’s happening at this auction is already underway. There are only a few men walking around the two-level suite next door, all of them donning expensive suits. Wall-to-ceiling windows stretch nearly fourteen feet high with insane views of Central Park and the skyline of Jersey City across the river.
My heart races as Saul approaches me with his arms outstretched and a grin. Happiness lends a level of creepiness to his jagged smile as he speaks, “You look better out of those gritty clothes and even better on my arm. I can’t wait for these assholes to see you leaving with me too.”
The sound of someone laughing behind me captures my attention. In the seconds I steal a glance over my shoulder, the powerful gaze of sharp blue eyes holds me in a trance. Tattoos peek from under the cuffs of his sleeve as he reaches his hand beyond me toward Saul. Saul looks at the stranger’s ruggedly large hand with disgust.
“Leave it alone, Barrone.” Saul snarls before wrapping his grubby fingers around my wrist and pulling me to the center of the room. “She’s mine.”
The stranger’s words reach me before Saul. “We’ll see about that, Caputo.”
2
VALENTINO
Wavy black hair drips down the young woman’s back like ink. The way her dress grips every inch of her body is like an oil slick, coating my imagination with fantasies of peeling her out of it. However, Saul’s holding onto her like he should have had her on a leash. The way her eyes dart around the room makes her primed to bolt as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
There’s a small bar in the corner of the penthouse suite. Nights like this require alcohol. The auction is a time-honored tradition of La Familia. It’s one I hate, but as the don of the Barrone family, my attendance is necessary. It makes no difference if the bulk of my business dealings are on the right side of the law. Once you’re a made man, no one gets out alive.
The empty seats around the small bar beckon me to get a drink. The gentleman at the bar looks just as annoyed to be here as I am. Alessandro De Luca’s scar is like a signal for the weak to stay away from him. I’ve never been on the Butcher of Howard Beach’s chopping block, so it leaves me free to approach him, hand extended.
“You’re the last person I expected to see at an auction, Less,” I greet him with a smile. He shakes my hand as I order my drink.
“I’m only here as the family rep. My father RSVP’d to this thing before he got swept off his feet by his nurse.” He laughs softly before taking a sip of his drink.
“Lucky guy,” I tell him as Dimitri Vassa walks toward the center of the suite, hands in the air to get everyone’s attention.
Dimitri’s one of the few men in New York that can straddle the lines between criminal organizations with little hassle. The Bratva and La Familia let him move through the city with a freedom most men have to pay an arm and a leg to get.
“Thank you all for coming out this evening. We have one last item on the auction block. Please, step forward, Miss.” Dimitri waves for the young woman who came in with Saul. She stands in front of him.
The murmurings of men ready to throw their life savings make Saul fidget right before he shoots an angry glare to most of them.
“Caputo’s up to something,” Alessandro mentions to me as he chugs the rest of his drink. “He gets messy when he wants to own things. You guys have fun. I’m out of here.”