Page 2 of Depths of Desire
One of the workers steps forward, his bulky frame nearly matching Nico’s height. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.” His accent is American, his tone threatening.
Nico snorts, unfazed. “I don’t care who you think you are. Your job is to deliver my cargo. You failed. I’m not paying for lost goods.”
The worker suddenly swings a massive wrench toward Nico’s head. I let out a gasp and Nico looks up. Our gazes lock. The wrench connects and he crashes over the railing, falling into the shadows below.
A yelp escapes me, muffled by my hand, but the men don’t hear.
“Now what?” one of them mutters.
“We toss him overboard once we’re out of the harbor. No one will find him for weeks.”
The third man hesitates. “I didn’t sign up for this.”
“Too late for that,” the first snaps. “Come on. Let’s move the body.”
Their voices fade as they walk away, leaving me frozen. My knees buckle, and I sink to the catwalk. What do I do now?
Nico is dead. Mia and Pippa’s husbands—his brothers—run the Valdici Family mafia. If they find out…
I need to get off the ship. Try again. Find another way. I stand and start to move down the catwalk back in the direction of the stairs. The ship’s horn blares, jolting me. It blares again, vibrating through my ribs. The ship lurches, and I know we’re slipping away from the dock into the dark.
It’s too late. I’m trapped. Twelve days on a ship with killers. My stomach churns violently. I just wanted to escape my family, and now I’ve jumped from the frying pan right into the fire. I’m not sure I’m going to survive.
CHAPTER TWO
Merda. Dying sucks, no matter how it happens, but especially when it’s painful. Falling several stories onto a steel floor fits into that category. I struggle to breathe in and out as I wait for the pain to subside, and my body puts itself back together. The sound of footsteps on the catwalk above reminds me I have limited time until they come looking for me.
I test my limbs. I can wiggle my toes and fingers. Another minute or two and I can get up and walk away. I steady my breath as my body repairs itself. I shouldn’t be in the situation but seeing Luna Benedetti above me on the catwalk totally blindsided me. What in the hell is she doing on this ship?
The clank of a metal door reaches me. Time to move. I sit up and then get to my feet. I’m slow but I can move. In another few minutes, I’ll be at full strength. The blessing and curse of being a vampire is that it’s very hard to die, no matter how much you might want to.
I move quickly across to the far end and slide in behind a large stack of containers. They must be stacked ten high or more. I don’t bother looking up to find out. If I need to, I can climb tothe top and out onto the deck. However, at the moment, I have to decide what to do about the men that are coming for my body.
I peek around the end of the container as the door opens. It’s about halfway along the bulkhead. The two idiots I had been doing business with enter the area a few feet from where I landed. The taller one, Pedro, stares at the floor where there’s a small patch of blood. “What the hell?” he says.
It would be impossible to hear him above the din of the ship and the creaking of the cargo containers, but my senses are much better than normal humans.
Carl, the jerk who hit me with the huge fucking wrench, looks around. “He was right fucking here. Where could he have gone?”
“Did Mikey get him?” Pedro asked. “I thought he was going to call his people in New York.”
“It’s not like the fucker could get up and walk away. No one survives a fall like that or a smash in the side of the head. I hit him good.” Carl looks around again.
“You don’t think someone else found him, do you?” Pedro looks to the left and then the right. “Do you suppose someone stumbled on this asshole and took him to the captain?”
Carl snorts. “Nah. No fuckin’ way. He was dead as a fucking doornail. No one was gonna pick him up and take him to the captain.” Carl looks around again. “You know what? You think we’re the only ones doing illegal shit on this tub?” Carl shakes his head. “Either Mikey got him, or someone else found him and took care of the problem for us. No one wants any kind of investigation by Customs or the cops.”
“So that’s it?” Pedro asks. “We just let it go?”
Carl shrugs. “Yup. We go get chow and forget all about it.”
“But what about the money? New York ain’t gonna be pleased that we didn’t get the money.”
“That’s Mikey’s problem. He made the deal. I don’t even know who the deal is with, and I don’t want to know. You andme? We just walk away like nothing happened.” Carl turned back toward the door and pulled it open. “And if Mikey asks, we tell him it’s all taken care of because it is. Don’t say nothing else.” He glared at Pedro. “You hear me?”
Pedro, after a moment of hesitation, nodded and then followed Carl through the door, letting it clang shut behind them.
I lean against the container and weigh my options. Normally, I would just snap their necks and be done with it. No one rips off the Valdici family and gets away with it. No. One. But Luna is here, though God knows why, and she saw me. That could cause difficulties. A lot of difficulties. If anyone ever questioned her, I’d have to rely on her keeping her word. I could provide an alibi, but it would complicate things. Plus, if she talked about me being thrown over the railing, well, that could have other consequences. The rule is to bring as little attention to ourselves as possible. The world isn’t ready to know vampires exist.Fuck. I’ll have to let the assholes go… for now.
