Hard Lessons: A Mafia Romance Read online

  She glanced at her watch. “I should get going?”

  “Where to?” David was really slurring now and appeared unable to hide it.

  “My hotel.”

  He waggled his eyebrows, a terrible habit he had. Likely he thought it made him look suave. “No, don’t do that. Stay here.”

  “Here?” she asked.

  “Yes, they have rooms upstairs.” He placed his hand on her thigh, slid it upward, high, higher still, his fingertips dragging at the material and exposing the lace of her stocking top. “Come with me, to a room. We can make that magic happen.”

  A room. Is this guy for real? How has he managed to get away with this behavior in the past?

  “It’s not unusual,” David whispered, “for rooms at The Rook to be hired out by the hour.”

  She touched his cheek and licked her lips. “I didn’t realize it was that sort of place.”

  “Everyone has needs.” He grinned, his eyes glazed. “The patrons here can afford to pay for discretion as well as the finer things in life.”

  A room. A photograph of them going into a room together, after all the flirting in the bar, it would be the icing on the cake.

  She risked a glance at Luca. His eyebrows were pulled low; in one hand he held his phone, the other fist was clenched on the table. His jaw was so tight she reckoned his teeth were in danger of cracking.

  Placing her hand over David’s, she slid it a little higher, exposing more leg and ensuring he felt the lace top of her stocking. “Not something I can put on expenses, but if you can arrange it... then a room filled with magic could be just the relaxing balm I need.”

  “Of course I can arrange it.” He gestured to the barman with the moustache. “I need a room, on my account.”

  “Certainly, sir.” The barman retrieved a small wooden box from beneath the bar. He opened it and took out a key. “Room twelve.”

  “Thank you.” David mimicked signing his name. “I’ll just...”

  “Of course.”

  A pen and receipt were produced.

  As David signed, the barman glanced at Serena.

  She didn’t like the judgement in his eyes. He saw her as an easy lay. A woman with low morals. Someone who would spread their legs for a guy she’d just met in a bar. For a moment she wanted to scream at him that there was only one man for her and he was sitting twenty feet away. That her man was probably thinking about killing the guy who’d just stroked her thigh. That her job wasn’t in fashion, it was in extortion, in arms, drugs... whatever Cosa Nostra called for.

  Damn it. Get a grip, Serena.

  David stood; he swayed and held the bar. “Shall we?”

  “Lead the way.” Serena smiled then slipped to her feet. She was the same height as David.

  Follow us, Luca. Follow us.

  She didn’t need to worry. In her peripheral vision she spotted him standing. Then as they made for a door at the back of the room, bearing a sign that read Residents Only, she could feel Luca following.

  The small stairwell had worn red carpet and the banister was polished dark wood. A window with stained glass depicting a crest of arms looked over the dogleg.

  “I would never have known this was here,” Serena said, slipping her hand into David’s and squeezing. She was keen to keep his attention on the task of climbing to the first floor. He didn’t need to see the ominous shadow following them.

  They came to a landing, the old floorboards a little wonky, clearly an older part of the building.

  Room twelve was before them.

  David held the key aloft, wrapped his arm around Serena’s waist and grinned. “I’ll warn you, I’m one hell of a magician.”

  “And I can’t wait to see what you can do with your magic wand.” She giggled then pressed up against him, gazing at him as though she was about to rip his smart suit clean off him.

  He grinned and tipped his head. Set his lips over hers.

  Serena resisted the urge to shove him away. Instead she leaned in and accepted the kiss.

  When David pulled back, his lips wet and cheeks red, he held the key up again. “Right then, let’s get this show on the road...”

  Luca was behind him, phone aloft the same way as David’s key. Luca’s expression was thunder, his eyes burning with rage.

  “No more than necessary, you’re mine, remember.”

  His words came back to her. She’d overstepped the mark in Luca’s mind. She knew she had. Serena had seen the look before. The green-eyed monster had come out to play; no, not play, party, and it was one of those parties that would turn to mayhem and carnage.

  “Ladies first.” David unlocked the door and used the flat of his palm to push it open. He gave Serena a lopsided grin.

  The expression on his face changed in a split second when Luca set the sole of his boot on David’s ass and kicked him into the room.

  “What the?” David staggered forward then spun around, half stooped as he flailed to hang onto a dresser. “Who the hell...?”

  “Am I?” Luca curled his arm around Serena’s waist and ushered her into the room. He then slammed the door closed.

  “Yes, who the bloody hell are you?” David seemed to gather himself, straightened and tilted his chin.

  “I’m the guy whose woman you’ve been groping with your sweaty little hands for the last hour.” Luca stepped up to him. His shoulders seemed impossibly wide as he loomed forward. “I’m the guy who knows what disgusting thoughts were going through your head when you picked up that key and hired a room.” He fisted David’s tie and pressed his knuckles beneath his chin.

  David gasped and went onto his tiptoes as his torso elongated. “Leave me be.”

  “Leave you be?” Luca gave a hoarse chuckle. “Why would I want to do that?”

  “She... she didn’t tell me she was married.”

  “She doesn’t have to be married to belong to someone,” Luca growled. “Though I know you’re a married man, David Watson.”

  “What? How do you know my...?”

  Luca released him, shoving him backward so he sat on the bed with a bump. “Are you really so dim?”

  Serena checked the nails on her right hand. Had she broken one sliding it up the banister? No, seemed okay.

  “Dim?” David repeated.

  “Yeah, you really think a beautiful woman like that would want you?”

  Serena set her attention on David then slid her hands from her breasts, over the dip of her waist and the curve of her hips.

  “Stop it, Serena,” Luca snarled. “You’ve done enough already.”

  “Don’t say my name.” She frowned at him and folded her arms.

  Luca grimaced. He knew he’d messed up.

  “Serena. Serena what? I’ll need to know for when I go to the police. This is... this is... not on.” David reached into his pocket.

  “I’ll take that.” Luca whipped the phone from his hands.

  “Hey.”

  “Giovanni Bianchi will be interested to know what communication you’ve had with Parvo. I’m guessing this little beauty will give up the secrets.”

  “Giovanni Bianchi.” David’s mouth hung open, then after a moment his eyes seemed to clear a little, as though a shot of fear had sobered him up the way a cup of coffee might.

  “Si, Giovanni Bianchi. He’s none too happy with you,” Luca said.

  David gulped.

  “You’ve been double crossing my boss,” Luca said. “And not holding up your end of several bargains from what I hear. They were lucrative for you, but left Giovanni seriously out of pocket and a tight spot when it came to... the logistics of his business interests.”

  Serena walked to the window and looked out. Beardy was still waiting opposite, in the doorway of a bank with a picture of a black horse on its sign.

  “Let me go. You have no right...” David said. “I have no idea who this Giovanni fellow is.”

  Luca cracked his knuckles, first on his right hand then his left. “You know what I hate almost as much as someone creeping all over my woman?”

  David twirled his thumbs and shook his head. “No.”

  “Liars.”

  “I’m not a liar, I’m—”

  “You’re a liar and a cheat,” Luca said. “You were just about to cheat on your wife with my woman. Not that I’d have let you get any damn closer than you already had,” Luca said, the look he sent from Serena to David full of daggers. “You’d already overstepped the fucking mark.”

  “I didn’t know she was yours, there’s no ring, no...” David whined.

  “Shut up!” Luca held up his phone. “I’m going to show you something now, and if you play your cards right, you’ll be the only one to ever see it.”

  Serena knew that was a lie. Giovanni would already have those pictures in his possession.

  “What? What have you done?”

  As Luca flicked through the photographs he’d taken in the bar and the video outside the room, David’s cheeks paled. A certain clarity came to his eyes and he clasped his hands together. “What’s it going to take for you to delete all that?”

  “Two things.” Luca pocketed the phone and stood.

  “Name them. My wife, she’ll... if she’s sees them she’ll...”

  “Be upset?” Serena said, strutting across the room and wriggling her ass as she went. “Yes, I’m sure she would be if she saw me and you together, all cozy, slipping into a hotel room hired for an hour.” She raised her eyebrows.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Luca muttered. “Will you...”

  “What?” She paused and placed her hands on her waist, jutted her right hip to the side.

  “Just fucking stop it. You’ve done your bit of the job.”

  She huffed. She was still mad that he’d said her name in front
of David. And it wasn’t like she could get changed out of the sexy dress and heels and she walked the way she walked.

  “What do you need me to do?” David asked.

  “Giovanni needs you to pick up the reins again, the reins to his fucking horse, not Parvo’s.”

  “It’s not that simple... it’s... you see—”

  “Seems pretty damn simple to me.” Luca tapped his pocket, over the phone. “Do as I say or these go straight to Mrs. Watson’s phone. I have her number on speed dial. I’m sure it will ruin her day, don’t you think.”

  “Okay, okay. Done. Tell Giovanni I’m his again.” He scowled and a small pout tugged his lips. “Though Parvo won’t be pleased.”

  “You’ll have Giovanni’s protection.” Luca shrugged.

  “And what else? You said two things.”

  “One hundred thousand pounds.” Luca puffed up his chest. “If you want us to delete these photographs right here, right now.”

  “Two hundred,” Serena added.

  “What?” David’s mouth fell open.

  Luca looked at her, a neat crease formed between his drawn-together brows. “Two hundred?”

  “Yeah, I reckon our silence is worth that.” She reached into her purse and pulled out her lipstick. After rolling it up she drew it over first her bottom lip and then her top. She smacked them together.

  Both men watched her.

  “In cash,” she said, putting the lipstick away.

  “How the bloody nora do you think I’ll get hold of that kind of cash?” David’s shoulders slumped.

  “There’s a bank over the road. I’m sure they’ll be able to help.” Serena shrugged. “Or Fleet Street is just a short cab ride away, plenty of journalists there who’d like to see these pictures, quite the political scandal. Would be worth money to them and us.”

  “Bastards,” David spat.

  “Bastards make the world go round.” Serena smiled sweetly. “Or so it seems.”

  “Even if that bank could give me that kind of cash I haven’t got those funds.” David folded his arms and puffed up his chest.

  Luca walked to the window and glanced out. He didn’t hide the fact he had a gun shoved into the waistband of his trousers.

  “Oh, crap.” David seemed to deflate as he scrubbed his fingertips over his damp brow. Clearly guns weren’t his thing. Too bad he’d picked dangerous allies and enemies.

  “I know you were getting big hand-outs from my uncle for a long time,” Luca said, “and no doubt even bigger hand-outs lured your fickle loyalty away. So I know you’ll have those funds available without question.”

  “It’s not my bank. That one.”

  “He’s lying,” Serena said. “I saw his card in his wallet. It had that black horse on it.” She hadn’t seen it at all, but she hoped David being in the state he was in, he’d fall into her trap. The bank was convenient for Westminster and his local drinking hole after all.

  David glared at her. He fiddled with his tie as though it were still too tight from where Luca had grabbed it. He really was sweating hard now, his brow and top lip shiny. She prayed he wouldn’t go and have a heart attack on them. “Okay, yes, that’s my bank.”

  “Come on then,” Luca said, slapping David on the shoulder. “No time like the present, let’s go withdraw some cash so we can get rid of those pesky pictures forever, huh, and you can go back to your shitty little politician life and your wife will live in blissful ignorance.”

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Serena was flicking through a leaflet about mortgages as she waited in the lobby area of the bank. She’d found a seat and was waggling her heel and hoping she looked like a regular customer. Luca was by the door talking on his phone—his leather jacket covering his weapon. She wasn’t sure if it was a real call of if he was making out he was doing something so he could lurk.

  David had been ushered into a back room with a senior bank teller. She hoped to hell he was sticking to his side of the bargain and that he feared his wife finding out about his philandering ways enough to pay up and not grass them up.

  She didn’t fancy going down for extortion within a day of setting foot on UK soil.

  I have to stop doing this shit. I want to stop it.

  Just as she thought her nerves were going to fry, David appeared. He carried a small blue rucksack and walked quickly toward the door.

  Serena jumped up.

  Luca put his phone away.

  They followed him. Sticking close, trailed him back over the road to The Rook and Tower.

  “Well,” Luca said gruffly when he’d cornered David in the bar area.

  “I’ve got it.” David frowned and held up the bag. “Now get rid of those photographs.”

  Serena took the bag and opened it. “It looks like he’s telling the truth.”

  “Of course I am, do you think I’m a fool?”

  “Si, I do,” Luca said. “A very big fool.” He withdrew his phone. “But you held up your side of the bargain and as I’m an honest man these are gone.”

  He began deleting the pictures.

  “How do I know they’re the only copies?” David said.

  “You’ll have to trust me the way I did you, just now, in the bank.”

  “Why would I rat you out. I don’t want the police sniffing around me.” David shuffled from one foot to the other.

  The last photo and then the video disappeared.

  David pulled in a deep breath and looked at his watch.

  “You got to be somewhere?” Serena asked.

  “No, not really. But I’m sure you have.”

  “Si, you’re right.” Luca wrapped his arm around Serena’s waist. “We have. Nice doing business with you, Mr. Watson, good luck with all that campaigning shit you guys do.”

  David didn’t answer.

  The next thing Serena knew she was being marched along King’s Road at a rate of knots and gripping a bag containing two hundred thousand pounds. “Slow down, I’ve got heels on.”

  “What the hell do you think you were playing at back there?” Luca took the bag from her.

  “What are you talking about?” She glanced over her shoulder and clutched her small purse. Giovanni’s man, Beardy, was tailing them as planned.

  “Him, David fucking Watson. You fancy him or something?”

  “Jesus Christ, of course not.”

  “Don’t piss me about, Serena. Kissing him, touching him every chance you got, running your damn fingers through his hair. And I saw the smile on your face when he touched your thigh, when he pushed your dress up, his fingers inching closer to your pussy. Wet for him, were you?”

  “No, of course not.” She shoved his arm but he kept his hold on her elbow, steering her through the mass of people weaving in and out of shops. “I was doing my job, one your uncle asked us to do.”

  “Putting on your lipstick,” he went on, “your mouth an invite for a guy to ram his cock in it.”

  “If that’s what you think, you have a dirty mind.”

  “All men think that way when a woman puts on her lipstick. Why the fuck do you think it was invented?”

  “Jesus Christ.” His words infuriated her.

  “We’re going back to the apartment and you’re going over my knee for a sound spanking,” he said by her ear. “Your pert little bottom will be red raw by the time I’m finished with you.”

  “No fucking way.”

  “And then you’ll think twice next time about flirting with a target to the point I want to fucking kill him. Not only that you’ll consider the risks when you double a fucking price on hush money.”

  “You’re hardly a prime example of professionalism, Luca, you said my goddamn name back there.”

  “Sorry to break up your happy fucking party, but I got a bad feeling about this gig.” Giovanni’s lackey appeared beside them. “Two police officers on the other side of the road just gave us a longer stare than is ever good.”

  “What?” Luca twisted to look over his shoulder.

  “Don’t eyeball them,” Beardy muttered, quickening the pace. “I don’t trust that little weasel not to squeal, that’s all.”

  “Like he said, he’s not going to want police attention on his dodgy dealings,” Serena said. “He’s hardly clean.”

  “We’re not far from the apartment.” Luca increased the pace. “We go left on the next street. We’ll lay low for a bit.”

  “Yeah, well, hurry up,” Beardy said. “The hairs on the back of my neck are tingling and that gives me the shits.”