Page 28 of Dangerous Secrets

“Shhh, Dad, don’t talk.” I know he’s trying to communicate something but each word brings more coughing and it makes him hurt worse, and there is nothing worse than watching him cough up blood and gasp for air.

He calms, but there is a deep rattle in his chest now. He wheezes each breath in and out. It even smells different in here, like the decades of smoking he’s done over his lifetime are creating a cloud of death in the room to accept his soul and carry him to the other side. I sit back down but I keep his hand in mine. He’s right. I have to honor my family and my faith. We all do. Nothing in this life will ever be as important as that.

I just have to decide who my family is now, because Bianca is more than a fling. She just has to decide to be mine as much as I want her to be.

18

BIANCA

The rest of this entire night has been nothing but shit. I did my shows. I had a shower, and now, right when I am about to go home and soak in a hot bath to relax, Soren and Mickey are here. They aren’t happy either. Soren’s sour expression is trained on me. He dragged me into this mess—the family, the crime, being an assassin. He trained me to do this, taught me everything I know and even how to disguise myself. He could do this job, but no one will suspect a woman, so he put me here.

And now he wants payback, and so does Mickey.

I sit on the seat next to the vanity with my arms crossed. The hooded sweatshirt and black jeans that I wear is my signature look, the way I dress when I’m out to hunt, except the beasts Mickey wants me to hunt are all safely tucked away inside their guarded fortress for the night. I’ve done my research. I can tell him exactly where they are, what they’re doing and who they’re with almost every second of the day. I’m not failing my mission for lack of ability. I’m choosing to abstain from killing them and I think it’s become obvious to everyone now. Especially after those idiots chased Rome off earlier tonight.

Mickey stares at me with haunting, hollow eyes. Black as death and empty as the grave, they search my expression, then my body. I’m clothed fully, but it feels like he can see through me, right to the lies I’ve hidden from him for months now, and it makes me feel naked.

“What do we do with someone who defies an order, Soren?” Mickey pulls his gun out, turning it over in his hand. Then he retrieves his silencer from his pocket and lines it up to the barrel, twisting it into place.

“They die.” Soren looks away from me. I see the hint of pain in his eyes, but I know he’s loyal to a fault. He will literally stand there with his hands clasped in front of himself watching Mickey gun me down in cold blood and never say a word. I have no excuse. No way to explain my hesitation or reluctance.

“It’s a shame the next time all your beloved fans will see you is in a casket. You promised you would do the job and you’ve failed.” Mickey walks toward me and I feel my palms sweating. I know he won’t kill me right here. There’s too much to clean up. He’ll take me to some other place where things can be hosed off and my body can be tossed. This is just a threat, but it still has my stomach churning and my pulse racing.

I keep my eyes fixed on the wall, near the light switch. It’s my focal point, supposed to keep me grounded in the moment so my anger or anxiety doesn’t get the better of me. But when the cool metal of Mickey’s gun presses under my chin and directs my face to look up at him, I have no choice but to let my gaze follow.

“You’ve been hiding things. You’ve been lying to me. You have been procrastinating.” Mickey’s tone is that of a father, caring and patient. But the man is anything but that. I’ve seen him slit a man’s throat for not putting ice in his soft drink. “Fucking the enemy is one thing.” His nose scrunches up and he shrugs. “I’ve been known to fuck a good pussy now and then. But you’re getting into this too deep.”

I don’t dare protest, not a word, not even a peep of a sound. I’d love it if Soren did. If he stood up for me and defended his little sister, but I know if he made a sound there would be a bullet in his head in a split second. So I keep my lips pressed into a firm line and take it like a good girl, though the damn hormones raging through my body make me on edge, ready to bawl at any second.

“Is that why you won’t do it? You’ve let your feelings get in the way? You fell in love with that piece of shit? How’d he get in your head like that? Is he hung like a horse or something?” Mickey eyes me, gun still holding my chin up. “You know, we have plenty of well-endowed men in the family, Bianca.”

I avert my eye but only manage to catch Soren’s expression. I can tell he isn’t pleased with me, but I can see how much he wants to intervene. He’s restraining himself now, which makes me feel a bit more comforted than I was a few seconds ago, but there is still nothing he can do. If he takes action and stops Mickey, he’ll be dead. Whether by Mickey’s gun or one of Mickey’s brother’s, he’ll die and then I will too.

“Do you need to be reminded that people who cross me die?” He forces me to look back at him and I bite my cheek.

“No, sir.” My words are blunt and short. He should just kill me now and save himself the time because I can’t hurt Roman. I know my end. I have no choice but to warn Rome and his brothers and then run.

“Hmm, well it appears to me that you’ve forgotten your job and your loyalty. You are sworn to me, Ms. Moretti. You and your brothers.” He raises the gun and points it at Soren, and my pulse quickens again, only this time, it’s real fear. He can do whatever he wants to me. I can live with that, but Soren doesn't deserve this.

“Sir…” I protest, but Mickey chambers a round and I panic. “Soren didn’t do this. This is on me. He did his job.”

“If he did his job, your man would be dead. You would be in compliance with my orders and my problem with the Russians would be over.” He raises the gun on aim, pointing it at Soren’s head. My brother doesn’t flinch at all. He stares straight ahead at my mirror. I know he can see me and himself in it. I know he’s probably regretting the day he brought me into this with him. He probably thinks I’m emotionally weak or incapable of doing this job.

That’s wrong. It’s all wrong. I have done this job since the day they gave me my first target and I’ve been excellent at it. I never thought I’d fall for Rome or end up pregnant with his child.

“Please, Mickey, I’ll do it.” I blurt out the words without thinking. I’ve made this promise a million times, swearing to murder Roman and his four brothers. But this time he doesn’t believe me. He doesn’t lower his weapon. He doesn’t even smirk, or glance at me. I’m not changing his mind. “Please,” I say again, firmly. I begin to stand up and Mickey fires the gun.

The sound is muffled but loud enough to startle me. I gasp and cover my mouth, but the bullet strikes the wall beyond Soren and bits of plaster puff out into the air. Soren flinches too. I watch his eyes blink and his shoulders shake. He takes a deep breath and swallows hard, but doesn’t turn to look at me or Mickey.

“You see, Bianca, I’m not a man to fuck with.” Mickey turns back to me, bringing his weapon around to point it at my chest. He draws a line down the front of my hoodie, parting it. I’m wearing a V-neck t-shirt that hangs loosely. The tip of his silencer traces the neckline then pulls it away and he looks down at my tits, after which he drags the metal across my breastbone upward to force my chin to angle toward him again.

I’d kill him right now if I didn’t know better. He probably has five men outside waiting to burst in here and take me and Soren out if anything even sounds off. And even if he didn’t, they’d hunt me and my brothers the rest of our lives. We’d never live in peace. I have to sit here and take this for the moment, and it takes every ounce of humility in my soul to do so.

“You’re off the job.” His eyes flash with rage but his face remains stoic, and those two things along with his words make my heart sink. I can’t be off the job. If I’m off the job it means the hit will fall to someone else’s hands and those hands will take the life of my child’s father.

“No…” I whisper, but Mickey continues.

“Soren, you are to finish this. And for good measure, you can let your sister watch when you gut that pig she’s been sleeping with.” Mickey scowls at me, the first hint of frustration or anger that has crossed his face since he walked in. “Because we have standards, and anyone who works for me will respect me.”

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