Twisted Loyalties (The Camorra Chronicles 1)

He shrugged. “Then sell it somewhere else.”

I fingered the delicate gold chain. “It’s not for sale.” Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. For some silly reason I didn’t have the heart to sell Fabiano’s gift.

“Just give me two hundred as a credit.” Indebting myself to the Camorra, what a day. Boulder would have to lose tonight. Then Mom would be free, and Fabiano wouldn’t be able to hold her debt against me anymore.

I had to look a second time, unable to believe my eyes. Leona was handing over money to Griffin, our bookie. I’d only come to Roger’s arena to see if Leona had already returned to work and to watch Boulder’s fight later. I stalked toward them. “What’s going on here?”

Griffin nodded a greeting at me. “Earning money like I’m supposed to.”

Leona gave me an indignant look.

“How much did she bet?”

“Fifty in cash and two hundred in advance against Boulder.”

I shot her a look. Boulder was one of the best. He came directly after me and the Falcone brothers. He wouldn’t lose his fight. “She’s not betting,” I ordered.

Griffin hesitated with his fingers against his iPad, finally looking up to me. A frown drew his grey brows together.

“I am,” Leona interrupted. “My money is as good as anyone’s.”

People around were starting to stare. I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up from the leather booth and away from Griffin.

“Does that mean the bet is still on?” he shouted. That was why Remo liked him. He was always focused on the job at hand, never one to be distracted.

“Yes,” Leona shouted in reply.

I dragged her toward the back and then downstairs into the storage room, seething. Only when the door fell shut behind us, did I let go of her. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“I need money to pay my mother’s debts to you off, remember?” she muttered. I staggered toward her, backing her into the wall. She was driving me insane. “And you think you can do that by making new debts? Boulder is going to win and you’ll lose not only the fifty you handed over but you’ll be indebted with two hundred more. I don’t think you have them, and soon they’ll be twice as much.”

She gave me a ‘so-what’ look. “I know what it means to be indebted to the Camorra.” For the first time, she rolled the ‘r’s the same way I did. “I saw what it means to be indebted to your Capo.”

I pressed my palms against the wall beside her head, glaring down at her. “You have seen what it means to be indebted to Remo, but you have never felt what it means to be indebted to us. There’s a world of a difference between those two scenarios.”

She smiled joylessly. No. So wrong on her freckled face. These smiles were for others. Not for her. “And who’s going to make me feel what it means? Who’s going to remind me of my debts? Who’s Falcone going to send to do his dirty work? Who will he send to break my fingers or take me back to that basement?”

I didn’t say anything.

“Who will be the one to make me bleed and beg, Fabiano? Who?”

She shook her head, looking crushed. “You are his Enforcer. His bloody hand. You are the one I have to fear, right?”

She straightened her spine and reached for the knife in my chest holster. I let her do it. She held my gaze as she pulled it out. “Who’s going to pierce my skin with this knife? Who’s going to draw my blood with this blade?”

She pressed the tip of the knife against my chest. “Who?” The word was a mere whisper.

I leaned closer, even as the blade cut through my shirt and skin. Leona drew it back but I moved even closer. “I hope you’ll never find out,” I murmured. “Because it sure as hell won’t be me, Leona.”

She exhaled and I crashed my lips against hers, my tongue demanding entrance. And she opened up, kissing me back almost angrily. The knife fell to the ground with a clatter as I slipped my hand between us and into her panties until I found her hot center, already wet. I stroked my fingers over her clit, making her gasp into my mouth. I slid my finger into her tight heat. So fucking hot.

She tensed at the foreign intrusion but softened around me as I pressed the heel of my palm against her bundle of nerves. I finger-fucked her slowly, allowing her to grow used to the sensation. “I don’t want to see you placing a bet ever again. You hear me? And no other messed up ways of earning money either. I won’t always be able to protect you.”

She huffed, her eyes glazed over with pleasure as I pumped into her slowly with my finger. “And how am I supposed to pay back my mother’s debt? Or perhaps you don’t want me to so you can blackmail me with it?” Her voice was shaky with desire. The sexiest sound in the world.