Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy 3)

“The Feds are always looking for him. That doesn’t mean he can’t help us.”

“I’d imagine helping me is the last thing your father wants to do. In his mind, I’ve tainted his precious daughter,” he said, lowering his voice, a slow smile spreading across his face, “and more.” He reached up, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear and brushing his lips across mine.

“Hey, Romeo and Juliet - how about we get back to the matter at hand?” Bella’s voice cut through the moment like a butcher knife. “Call your father, Gabby!” she pushed her cell phone into my hand.

I stared down at it like it was a gun. It was either going to save me, or it was going to be my demise. I looked up at Dante, his eyes questioning, kind, gentle, his hand on my back so warm and comforting, that I couldn’t help but lean into him.

I put Bella’s phone in my back pocket and shook my head slowly.

“Not yet,” I said, ignoring the incredulous look on Bella’s face. “I need to think.”

Dante

“Come on,” I said, grabbing Gabby’s hand and leading her back into the bedroom, leaving Romeo and Bella alone with Gino.

“Watch him, Romeo,” I said, over my shoulder.

“He ain’t going nowhere on my watch,” Romeo said, sitting across from Gino with his gun drawn. Bella stood watching all of us, her arms crossed in frustration.

“I —,” she was just about to start speaking when I closed the door in her face.

I turned to Gabby, pulling her into my arms again.

“If you call him, he’ll kill me. And I can’t let him, or his men, get close enough to do that.” I ran my hand through my hair, trying to find another way to explain this to her without sounding like a monster. “So that’s what we’re dealing with here, Gabby. I don’t want to have to hurt your father. I respect you too much for that. But if it comes down to him or me, I’ll fight to the death. That’s the kind of man I am, and I don’t know any other way of being. I won’t stop you from leaving, either, but I think it’s a disastrous idea to leave alone.”

“So what do you suggest? You haven’t come up with an answer for me yet. You just keep saying to wait. Well, what the fuck are we waiting for, Dante? We’re sitting ducks staying here!”

“I know a place we can go. Upstate. It’s safe.”

“That’s what you said about this place,” she replied, her green eyes looking up at me warily.

“Safer.”

“Dante…what’s the point? Do we just keep running? Until when? When do we stop? Where does it end?”

“I don’t care,” I said, my heart in my throat. “I just can’t let you go yet, Gabby.”

Her eyes widened and her pretty pink mouth opened, a tiny little ‘oh!’ escaping from it. I leaned down, kissing her gently. It was all going to be over soon. Part of me knew it. And another part of me, a much bigger part, was screaming in protest.

“I don’t want to let you go either,” she sighed. “I don’t know what any of this means, Dante. But if by some twist of fate, we don’t end up in prison or dead, then I’d really love to spend some time with you again.”

“Maybe we could go out on a date?” I winked down at her, grateful for a moment of levity. My heart was heavy, and I remembered how good it had felt to laugh with her last night, if only for a fleeting moment.

“Sure,” she smiled. “As long as you don’t take me to Otto’s.”

“Deal,” I said, pulling her into my chest, her soft hair tickling my chin. My cock hardened in my pants, even know, despite all of this, hungry for her.

“Deal,” I said, kissing her again.

Lauren

Leaves crunched under my shoes as I made my way slowly down the trail. The biker and Gabby’s roommate had disappeared down it a half hour ago after fucking like a couple of rabbits on the side of the road.

I’d watched from afar, partially hidden by trees as the biker bent Gabby’s roommate over his bike and fucked her silly. I have to admit I was a little jealous. He was a lot hotter than Tony, and he had a much bigger cock. Maybe if I’d stuck around and fucked him instead, maybe he would have lead me to Loprinzi and the other biker…

Instead, I’d fucked the stupid bartender, who’d given me absolutely nothing but a couple of missing pearl buttons. How gullible was I?

I waited till they’d disappeared down the road before following on foot. The trail, and the road, seemed to go on forever. After a few miles, my loafers had rubbed a blister the size of Texas on my ankle and I winced in pain with every step.

My white silk blouse was soaked through, leaving big ugly circles under my arms. I would have given my left tit for a pair of hiking boots and some nice cool cargo shorts right then. Maybe a light tank top, too. I didn’t even let myself think about water or what it might feel like as the pure fresh coldness hit my lips. I’d barely eaten this morning, instead opting for those last fifteen minutes of sleep and hammering the snooze button. Images of dancing buttery croissants filled my head like sugar plum fairies, and I began to feel a little dizzy.

I wasn’t used to this heat. I stayed in my air conditioned car, office, and apartment most of the time. I wiped the sweat from my brow and kept walking, determined and stubborn.

I wasn’t about to let those assholes at work see me fail. I’d come this far, and if my intuition was correct, then I was close.

As if a sign from above, I rounded a corner and a small cabin came into view. Outside, two bikes were parked. The front door was closed, but I could hear voices coming from inside. Hiding behind a tree, I waited several minutes, watching for any activity, but nothing happened.

I grew impatient, the heat snaking around me like it was hugging me. My breath became ragged and slow, but I soldiered on. Almost there, I thought, as I started walking towards the cabin. I snuck up to a window, staying as low as I could and peeked in.

I swallowed a gasp as I saw a man tied to a chair with something stuffed in his mouth. He fought against his restraints and the biker sat in front of him taunting him and laughing at him. The girl paced in the kitchen, her face locked in anger.

I scanned the rest of the cabin, but there was no sign of Gabriella Loprinzi.

Shit! I thought. Maybe I’d made a mistake after all.

I’d come all this way, endured all this fucking heat, and Loprinzi wasn’t even here.

I looked back in the window at the man tied to the chair and noticed his vest. He was one of the Iron Godz. But why did this guy have him tied up and what did Loprinzi’s roommate have to do with it?

Maybe I just needed to wait a little longer. I’d jumped the gun. Maybe Loprinzi would show up here at some point. I’d just wait in the woods and stake the place out. Maybe find a water hose or a stream or something in the meantime.

Crouching down low, I wobbled around the side of the house, my throat clenching with dryness. I walked slowly, lightly, trying like hell not to make a sound. I rounded the corner, staying as low as possible.

Bingo! A hose was attached to the side of the cabin, directly under another window.

Now, if only I can turn it on without anyone hearing, I thought. I raised myself to my tiptoes to peek into the window first.

Double Bingo! Loprinzi stood with her arms wrapped around the man everyone in town was looking for.

Yes! I thought, my heart overjoyed. I’ve found them!

I crouched down again, looking longingly at the water hose. I couldn’t risk turning it on now because they would definitely hear me. I would go back into the woods and wait and watch.

I’d taken two steps before I went down - a thick, heavy thud the last thing I heard before my body hit the ground.

Leo

“My shoes are fucking ruined, Rizzo!” I yelled as we trekked through the stifling heat of the fuckin’ Jersey woods. Rizzo shuffled alongside me like a sick horse.

“Si cammina lento come un cavallo malato!” I sneered.

“A sick horse?” he asked. “My Ma used to say that to me an

d my brothers all the time. ‘You walk like slower than a sick horse, Rizzo’, she’d say.”

“Yeah, well it didn’t help did it? Walk faster!”

Rizzo had been with me for five years, and he was the most loyal of all of my men. Even the ones that had been with me longer weren’t as loyal as him. They all had an angle. They all wanted something from me. Rizzo? He just wanted to be near me. To make me happy.

His dad was a part of the family, and together we’d been part of Giannetti’s family back in the day. Rizzo’s dad died a long time ago. So long ago it seemed like another lifetime really, even though it must have only been about fifteen years or so.

I could remember it like it was yesterday, though I tried hard to forget it most of the time. I’d done a lot of things I wasn’t proud of. But like the Don before me, I’d made sure to balance it all out with doing good. Like the 101st Street block party every Fourth of July. I’d continued that tradition, with no thought for how much it cost, just like Giannetti.

To some of the kids in the neighborhood, it was the only fun they got to have all year. You think their deadbeat parents were taking them to Coney Island to see the fireworks? No fucking way. I brought that to them, so they didn’t have to. Just like the good man before me.

We weren’t monsters. We didn’t see it that way. We did what needed to be done to take care of the neighborhood, to make sure people were provided for. If that meant we had to knock a couple of heads together in the process, so be it.

“Not for nuttin, Boss, but it sure is fuckin’ hot out here today,” Rizzo said.