Dirty Look - Dark Desires

“Long shower," Enzo notes when I come out. “You feel better? I have croissants." He has more than croissants. He has bagels and lox and cream cheese, a whole spread.

“No, thank you,” I smile. “Uhm. I think I should go to class. If you think it is safe, that is?”

“I think you should go to class," he says. "Once I’ve got more people watching over you. I’m calling in backup. By the end of today, we’ll have people on every corner. There won’t be a second where you’re unprotected."

"That means they'll work it out."

"Work what out?"

“That I’m in danger. And my father will know there's something wrong. He’ll come himself, especially if he sees those pictures."

Enzo shrugs. “If that happens, then that happens.”

"My father will kill you for not telling him about the kidnapping threat,” I say simply.

Enzo smirks at me. “I'm not worried about your father, Mia."

I think he's lying.

"You should be,” I say. “You need to deal with this. You need to kill that man, and you need to clear the cartel out of Boston. Or my father will. And then he’ll kill you for letting someone like that ever get close to me."

What I'm saying is true, but Enzo doesn’t like hearing it.

“Let me worry about that, Mia. Go do your homework. Your next assignment for my class is due tomorrow, remember? I’m sure you have others."

He's talking to me like a little girl again, and not in a hot way. He’s talking to me like I'm not really part of this. Like I'm a spectator on the sidelines, who doesn't get to care about her friends, or even really care about him.

I have to prove myself to him. I have to show Enzo that I’m not going to be the typical mafia wife, buying fur coats and pretending she doesn't know where the money comes from. If I can't escape this life, then I'm going to be an active participant in it.

“I'm going to grab a shower,” he says. “Eat something.”

I don't eat anything. The second I hear him get into the shower, I grab my bag and I leave. I’m going to go and get Davo. If he's alive, I'll save his life. If he's not, then I’ll... what? Get myself kidnapped like an idiot? I cannot be stupid about this.

I slip Enzo’s gun into my bag. I grew up with men who knew how to use guns, and I made my bodyguard show me how. I’ve studied this.

I don't want to lose Davo. I don't want to sit in a cage and be safe while everyone around me is picked off, a target for evil. I want to walk into the middle of that cartel and do something, really fucking do something.

Mia’s got a gun, and they’re going to regret ever taking one of my friends.Enzo

Something tells me today is not the day for a long shower. Things have been getting out of control lately, and Mia with them. It’s that goddamn Davo. I knew I should have killed him that first day. If I’d eliminated him as a variable, then none of this would be happening.

Hot water runs over the back of my head, down the nape of my neck, cascades over my shoulders and does absolutely fucking nothing to relax me.

“Can’t kill everyone, Enzo,” I tell myself.

I know it’s true, but I wish it wasn’t. Life would be much easier if I could eliminate every potential threat to the woman I love. I’d kill for Mia a thousand times over. She’s so innocent. She thinks she is part of this world, but her reaction to the whole Davo situation tells me she’s never really been touched by it. She’s not hard like I am. She’s soft, and sweet, and that’s the way I want to keep her. I don’t just want to save Mia. I want to protect the innocent parts of her forever. The world is ugly, but if I can keep her seeing the beauty, then maybe all my brutality has been worth something.

I can hear her moving around in the bedroom. Opening drawers. Messing with the wardrobe. She should be doing her homework, not trying to pick out a new outfit. Something tells me I shouldn’t be leaving her unattended right now, maybe not even long enough to get cleaned up.

I get out of the shower, towel off, and step back into the bedroom naked.

“Mia…”

But it’s not Mia.

There’s a man in my room. Heavy set. Going through my shit.

If I had a gun, he’d have a bullet in him right now. But my gun has fucking disappeared, along with Mia, apparently. If this guy has hurt her...

“What the fuck are you doing?” I roar the question as I charge at the guy, ready to kill him with my bare hands.