“Where are you heading?” The guard pushes his hand into me as if he’s got an issue with his cock being too small.
I look down my nose at him and smile. The guy is shorter than me. “Courtroom.” My accent makes it hard to cover the rolling R.
“Which one?”
I turn to look and see a board with papers.
“Not sure.” I point at the board.
“What’s the case?”
“Personal,” I bite out. There is no woman worth this headache, but something tells me I need to find her.
He nods and lets me pass. I walk to the board as he watches me. Searching, I don’t see her name, but then I see the Morello name. As I make my way to the room, my mark walks out.
She turns to look at me. Her eyes are bluer then I thought, and I watch as they flare wide while she takes me in. I know what women see when they look at me. I know my honed body and bad boy looks attract them. Her tongue peeks out to lick her lips as she takes me in. She’s dressed in another pair of black slacks with a black jacket and a jade green top. Her long hair is up in a tight bun at the back of her head. I want to pull it down and mess it up. The Monroe piercing on her lip and tiny diamond in her nose glint in the overhead lights. She visibly shakes herself and turns to head into the lady’s room. The vulnerableness is back in her eyes. There is more to this little Italian than the fact she’s a murderer. I want to follow her. To taste those lips and tongue, but I know I can’t go there with her. She’s a mark. “Never get involved with a mark.” Rule number three of Grigori’s rules. Right below “Don’t take a mark you aren’t willing to fulfill.”
I continue past the courtroom she came out of and wait in a dark corner. She exits the restroom. Her eyes don’t see me again, but they are tight, and I can almost feel the palpable anger coming off her body. She steps back into the courtroom, and as I’m about to walk over and enter, the family all comes out. She is leading them again with another guard at the back. I wait until they are closer to the lobby before I follow, keeping my distance. I try to blend in with the crowds outside, but she stops and turns to look at me as the family splits up. She gets back in the limo while the future capo takes the fragile woman in his car away from the courthouse. I’ll follow my mark. I make my way across the street as they start to pull away from the curb.
I follow them back to the mansion. Again, I park down the road, making sure I’m out of any camera views, and I watch the house again. I need to get this job done and soon before my boss gets upset.
It’s been over a week now, and I follow them back and forth to the school. My mark is now attending the high school with Morello and the girl. She doesn’t leave her side. Each day I watch as her eyes get more shadowed. The dark circles forming beneath them show she’s not sleeping well.
I’ve contacted a hacker I know to do further research and try to find out who she really is. A deeper background check into her. Everyone can be found on the internet, but not her. The family even has a small bit online, but again not her. Nothing. It’s as if she just appeared and never had a credit card or license anywhere. I need to follow her until I can get close enough to either end this or question her.
Chapter 2
Anatonia
In the time since I’ve been guarding Posy, I’ve confronted Natale for trying to keep her from everything, but I get it. I too want to protect her. But I know it’s selfish to keep her in the house all the time. She needs to attend school and have a life. She’s started speaking more, even to me.
But what she awoke in me is tearing at my nerves. The monsters are so close to the surface. I need to get away before I blow up. Before I hurt someone I care about. I need to find a willing body to fuck for a night. To relieve this pent-up energy and pain. At that thought, the image of the man from the courthouse flashes in my mind. I picture his large body hovering over mine as he powers into me.
I close my eyes for a moment to get my head in the game. I need to focus on Posy. We make our way into her art class. There’s something about this room. The smells bring back the memories more. The schools I attended in the past never had extra-curricular classes. We just learned more or worked harder. Posy starts working on a piece, and I stand back and let her do her thing. I know that my presence soothes and calms her.
As her charcoal scratches across the paper, a memory flashes across my eyes.
The cold from the floor seeps into my young body. My clothes are shredded. My shirt is ripped open, exposing my just forming breasts. They are marked up with teeth marks and bruises. I shiver and the pain between my legs intensifies. I can feel the blood oozing from there. From the men pushing their bodies into mine. Taking from me what my twelve-year-old body wasn’t prepared to give.
No tears roll from my eyes. I just stare at the stone wall of the dungeon room. I’ve been down here many times, but this was the first time they’ve done this to me. When I screamed for him to help me, he just watched. He told them they could have me. Grown men fought over who would be my first. Their bloody hands tortured my body.
A scraping sound comes from behind me, and I know the door is being opened but I don’t turn. I lie there ready for them to hurt me more.
“Vstavay, suka,” he yells at me in Russian. Get up, bitch.
I slowly curl my legs under my body and stand up. The skirt from my private school uniform partially hangs from my body.
“Take her from my site,” he says to one of his bratoks, his soldiers. He grabs my arm and I cry out as he squeezes the already bruised and damaged flesh. He strikes me across my beaten face with his free hand. “When you come back to me, you will be trained to do what you were meant to do. You will end this war.” I don’t understand what he means, and he doesn’t say anything further as his bratok drags me away from there.
I shake my head, trying to get the memory to stop. My body shivers and I look over at Posy’s picture. I need to think of anything else but the memory.
“Time doesn’t go quicker because you watch it,” I whisper quietly in her ear as I catch her watching the clock. She hides herself as she normally does behind her hair. She’s pulling a Natale from this morning. Wanting the day to go faster. “He’ll like that.” I draw her attention back to her picture. The image is of Natale. “The love you have for him shines through.”
“Do you think?” Her voice is quiet and still getting used to being used.
She starts packing up so we can get out into the hall before the crowds get to be too much. She looks at me with questions in her eyes, but she’s still unable to ask them. I remember those times. When I found myself with people I could trust yet still not sure I could trust them.
“Ask me when you’re ready.” I know her need for answers, but I’m afraid the questions will cause more pain.
The bell rings and we head out. I feel her being bumped and pushed around from behind me. When a group of boys push her into the lockers, I’ve had enough. Her small hand starts to release the hold on my belt, and I stop so I don’t lose her. I face them, ready to take them down for hurting my charge. I hear Natale before I see him, but I don’t stop taunting the young boys. I’m itching for a fight. However, it wouldn’t be fair to them when I break their bodies. My last memory is still too close to the surface and I will kill any threat that approaches me. Natale reaches down and picks up Posy. I push our way through the crowds and out to my Land Rover.