Ruthless Games

NERO

I don’t sleep.

Lily spends the night with me. Lying in bed beside me, sprawled on the bedsheets, asleep to the word. I watch her breathe, trying to imprint this memory, every fucking detail of her perfect face, to store them away in my mind forever.

Who knows how long this peace will last?

As dawn breaks, I leave her sleeping, and head into my office. I shower there, and scrounge up a clean shirt, but despite the fact I’m tired, hungover, and in dire need of breakfast, I can’t keep the smile off my damn face.

She’s mine.

Not just because of a signature on the marriage certificate, or because I’ve trapped her into an impossible bargain. She said it herself, last night, her cries of pleasure like a drug to my system.

She’s mine. She’s always been mine.

All these years, I was certain she betrayed me. Roman swore it, everybody said. There was no way she hadn’t known, she’d been in on it with her father, keeping me panting after her while they set up the ultimate deal to narc.

And I believed it, too. Heartsick, furious, full of self-loathing. I thought she’d played me for a fool. That betrayal has driven me on, hardened my heart, pushed me down this path of vengeance to become the man I am today. Feared. Revered. Alone.

But I was wrong about her. I could see it in her eyes when she made her sobbed confession last night. What we shared was real. She loved me.

Which means she could, again.

I shake my head, still trying to get my mind around it. Everything’s changed. Everything. It’s like I woke up this morning and gravity has shifted. This core belief I’ve built my life on isn’t just wrong, but the total opposite. Down is up. Left is right. And Lily…

Lily is my wife.

Not just on paper, but in every way that counts. In my bed. In my arms. Clenching around my cock like a goddamn vice.

Regret slams through me, thinking of the past few weeks of rage and resentment. Hell, the past ten years. If I hadn’t wasted all this time hating her…

But the past is dead and buried now. All that matters is what I do now that I know the truth.

Besides getting myself some food.

“Freddie?” I yell. One of the new kids comes running. He’s barely seventeen, and his older brother’s one of my lieutenants. He tested out of high school early, a smart kid, he’d be wasted on the streets, so I’m thinking about sending him to college, training him up as a lawyer or accountant to keep an eye on our books.

“Yes, boss?”

“Go to Gino’s and grabs me one of their Godmother subs. Wait, make it two,” I say. “And get something for yourself,” I add, tossing him a hundred-dollar bill.

He races off eagerly, passing Chase on the way in.

“Tell me you have coffee,” I say, grabbing a bottle of aspirin from my desk drawer and gulping a couple back with a slug of whiskey. I wince. “I’d give you everything in my wallet right now for a decent espresso.”

“What the fuck’s going on with you?” Chase’s expression is pissed. “I’ve been calling you all night.”

I already don’t like his tone, but I’m in a good enough mood to let it slide.

“I slept in,” I say, passing him in the doorway and heading to our shitty kitchen. The coffee pot’s been brewing there for God knows how long, but fuck, it’ll do for now. I look around. “When did this place start falling apart? Maybe I should ask Lily to give this place a revamp—or hire someone who will.”

There’s a beat of silence as Chase stares at me like he’s looking at a stranger.

“You want to redecorate? What the fuck, man?”

He’s right. I shake it off, striding back to my office. “Don’t get your panties in a twist,” I say, gulping down the sludge that passes for coffee around here. “We don’t have to live like animals, is all I’m saying.”

“I knew that fancy new place in the Village would go to your head.” Chase scowls. “In case you forgot, this is our territory. And the Kovaks are making moves to muscle in.”