Page 97 of Of Desire And Deception

“I am.”

Cosimo stayed by my side as Olesya placed an IV catheter and gave me fluids. She prepared the sedative. “Okay, take deep breaths for me. You’ll feel sleepy. Don’t fight it. Take a little nap before you have to deal with this asshole again.”

I laughed, then looked at Cosimo. His dark eyes were intent on me as the sedative pulled me under. I tapped him on the hand. “I’m never taking you to another doctor’s appointment. You’re a menace.”

The world went black as I listened to his rumbling chuckle.

“I told you I’m fine.” Cosimo was driving me fucking insane. “It’s been two days since I got the IUD. The sedative is out of my system. I feel fine. Great, even.”

“You can’t be too careful,” he said, sliding a cup of coffee across the kitchen counter to my waiting hands. “I can do this myself.”

“I swear, if you hunt those men down yourself, I will stab you at the next opportunity.” I took a sip and nearly burned my tongue off. “And you won’t like it.”

Cosimo smirked. “You underestimate your effect on me, piccola diavola.”

“But if I stab you, you’ll die. Then you can’t help me,” I pointed out. “Or fuck me. No babies, no future.”

“Fair point.”

“So I’m going with you,” I insisted, running my hands down my black jeans. “I didn’t dress up to stay home and miss out on all the fun.”

“Fine,” he pouted. It was a sight to see a psychopathic killer act like a wounded puppy. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “You have to take this seriously. And follow my lead.”

“How quickly you’ve forgotten I was trained in infiltration tactics,” I teased, finishing my coffee and sliding off the stool, stretching my muscles.

Cosimo took my coffee cup and washed it. “I’m concerned for that very reason. These men don’t play by the books. They fight dirty, and will exploit any weakness they find.”

“Then I won’t give them anything to use against me,” I said confidently. The clock showed it was just after midnight—the perfect time to find the lawless men who lurked in the shadows.

Cosimo grabbed his keys and motioned toward the door. I followed, and we took one of the family’s black SUVs down to the docks, parking a couple of blocks away. While the upstanding citizens of Chicago slept, the underworld sparked to life. Men in dark clothes skulked across the area, skittering like the rats they were.

I placed a hand on my sidearm, double-checking my lifeline. With Cosimo, I’d been all bravado, keeping any hint of hesitation from my words. Now, I faced the reality of snatching men right off the streets.

I can do this. For justice. For revenge.

Cosimo pointed two fingers to a building up ahead, and I pulled the black mask up to cover the lower half of my face. It must have been the place the River Raiders were meeting. The tip Cosimo’s man had gotten said both former Bratva and the Neretti traitors would gather at the docks to discuss the next shipment of women. Fucking traffickers.

We crept up to the back door of the warehouse, keeping an eye out for any guards. The lack of security was laughable. Cosimo tested the door and found it unlocked. He peered inside, then motioned for me to follow. The interior of the building was no warmer than outside, but I could hear men speaking on the other side of the space. I kept low, crouching behind crates until I circled closer to the group. My breath was hot against the fabric over my nose and mouth. I squinted, forcing my eyes to adjust to the fluorescent light illuminating the five men in the room.

Something metallic landed by the front door, the sound drawing the men’s attention. That was our signal. I unholstered my pistol and darted around the crates as Cosimo hurdled over the pallets he’d been behind, overtaking the first two men before they knew what had happened. He was silent, deadly, slitting one man’s throat as he held a gun to the other man’s head.

I pistol whipped my first target, sending him to the floor, unconscious. The second held his hands in the air when I pointed the gun at his head. Somebody didn’t get the memo, and the last man lunged for Cosimo, earning a knife buried in his shoulder for his misguided efforts.

“Give it up,” Cosimo growled. His voice made me hot at the most inopportune times. I pressed my thighs together and exhaled slowly, because he nearly took me out with his next words. “On your knees.”

The four men dropped down, two of them soiling black suits indicative of mafia membership. The others wore jeans and black hooded sweatshirts. It was an odd grouping, but fit what Cosimo had told me about the group.

Cosimo stabbed a needle into the first man’s neck without warning. When the man in front of me flinched like he was going to make a move, I struck out with my booted foot, catching him square in the face and knocking him out cold. My husband whistled as he wrestled the other men into submission, drugging everyone. He pulled the SUV around to the back and we dragged the men out to the trunk, piling them haphazardly.

“How much do you want to fuck me right now?” he asked as we drove, reaching over and grasping my thigh.

“I’d let you fuck me on the pile of men if you asked,” I replied, pulling my mask down. His laugh held the edge of something not quite sane, and we fell silent for the rest of the drive.

I thought we’d return to Deception, but he headed in the opposite direction, to an abandoned warehouse. I’d been naïve to think he only had one place to take captives. This place was equipped for larger parties, with sets of chains bolted to one cement wall. Steel beams supported the building overhead, and more chains hung suspended from them.

Cosimo opted for the suspension chains like I’d seen him do once before when he killed a man in front of me. He winched the men up, giving them shots of another drug to bring them back to consciousness. They awakened spitting mad, and I watched my husband work, removing clothes and playing with his blades. The men began to whimper, cry, and spill secrets faster than my husband could bleed them out.

“Want a turn?” he asked, dropping a scalpel back to the table of torture implements.

---