Be With Me, page 2
part #1 of House of Ferraro Series
My stomach bottomed out. I was on enemy territory.
Oh boy. My lack of an invitation to this party was starting to make a lot more sense.
I fumbled with the shawl, hands shaking. I’d gotten this whole thing wrong. But how could I have gotten it right?
Fabi’s family had always been a mystery. I only knew her twin sister, Elena, who went to the same boarding school, but she had her own friend group and never really hung out with us. No one had ever visited the twins at Valais Academy and there were only vague mentions of a brother. I remembered Fabi’s father died a few years ago. She’d confided that he’d been abusive to her mom, but nothing more.
Even if I’d suspected her and Elena were hiding something about their family, I would never have suspected this.
“Give me.” She snatched the shawl back, wrapped it over my hair, and reached into her clutch. A pair of oversized sunglasses appeared, which she promptly slid onto my face. “We need to get you inside. Now. Some people are running late, and they might arrive any second. We can’t risk anyone recognizing you. Are you okay to stand?”
“Yes.” This was exactly the kind of situation that usually triggered an episode, but it seemed like my body had decided to have mercy on me.
“Head down, don’t look at anyone, and for the love of God, do not look at the cameras. There’s the one above you and one in the lobby. Let’s go.”
Fabi corralled me through the front door, her hand pressed firmly against my back. We power walked through the house. It smelled like roses and a hint of masculine cologne. I kept my gaze on the floor, watching it change from pristine marble, to hardwood, then to a plush blue rug as we entered a room and stopped.
A door clicked shut behind me.
“You can take it off now,” Fabi said.
I slipped off the shawl and the glasses and tossed them onto a four-poster bed. We were in a guest bedroom with a small window that faced the backyard.
Fabi rushed over to it and pulled the curtains closed. “I’m so sorry. I wish you didn’t have to find out like this.” When she turned around, her eyes were glistening. “The last few months were impossible, Mia. I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t know what you’d think.”
“Start from the beginning,“ I said, trying to stay calm.
“Hold on.” She took a buzzing phone out of her clutch and pressed it to her ear. “Yes, she’s really here. Go inside from the back, take a right, and walk until the third door. We’ll be waiting.”
As soon as she hung up, she flung herself at me. “God, I missed you. I missed you so much, you have no idea.”
I gave her back a few tentative pats. Warring emotions were battling it out inside my chest. I was hurt, confused, and a little scared. I wasn’t ready for a heartfelt reunion. I just wanted the truth.
“Can you please explain what’s been going on?”
She pulled back, her expression all guilt. “I will. Trust me, I will, if you just—"
The door cracked open, and Nina stepped in.
The hurt surged forward, flooding my entire body. Nina knew, and she didn’t say a word.
Nina’s gaze connected with mine. She was wearing the red off-the-shoulder dress I picked out for her weeks ago. She'd said she needed it for a charity gala she was attending this month.
“You lied to me,” I accused, looking between her and Fabi. “Both of you.”
Fabi’s lips wobbled. “I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to go on for so long."
“I know you’re pissed,” Nina said, raising her palms. “But we can’t do this here. We need to get you out.”
My chest tightened with indignation. “I spent the last hour since I received that text freaking out. Imagine finding out your friend’s having an engagement party when you didn’t even know she was engaged. I thought I did something to upset Fabi!”
“Oh, Mia,” Fabi sobbed. “It’s not you. It’s me. I’ve made a horrible mistake.”
Nina sighed, grabbed a box of tissues from the nightstand, and shoved it into Fabi’s hands. “Don’t cry. You’ll ruin your makeup.” Then she turned to me. “We owe you an explanation—I’m not saying we don’t. But you know who’s out there, right?” She pointed at the window. “Someone’s going to start wondering where the bride-to-be has gone off to, and they won’t wait long before coming to find her.”
God. If they found her, they’d find me. I was easily recognizable thanks to the news coverage of the campaign.
Cold fear wrapped around me. The few safety trainings I’d received from my dad’s security team definitely hadn’t covered what to do if you accidentally crashed a mob party.
I was out of my depth.
And even though I didn’t like what Nina was saying, I couldn’t argue with her logic.
“Fine,” I said. “We’ll talk later.”
“Go, Fabi,” Nina commanded. “I’ll handle this.”
Fabi grabbed her things off the bed, gave me a final, anguished look, and slipped out of the room.
Nina’s expression was grim. “I’m calling you a cab.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed. “An Uber might be faster.”
“We don’t need a digital record of you being here,” she countered, already dialing.
She had a point. I gnawed on a fingernail as she spoke to the dispatcher. Questions clawed at me, and I was so desperate for answers, but I wasn’t going to get any right now.
Nina hung up. “Fifteen minutes.” She moved to the door. “Once the cab arrives, I’ll come and grab you.”
“Where are you going?” I asked, alarmed.
“I’m going to scope things out. Make sure the path is clear and that no one’s hanging around the entrance.”
I didn’t like this—not one bit—but I nodded anyway. What other choice did I have?
“Just stay put until I get back,” Nina said before slipping out.
Nerves prickled beneath my skin as I moved around the room, familiarizing myself with my surroundings. I peeled back the curtain just enough to get a glimpse of the party outside. The backyard was packed with men in crisp suits and women in glittering cocktail dresses, their laughter and conversation drifting through the night air.
From here, they looked so…ordinary.
But it was a facade, at least according to my dad. The mob families had tried for years to clean up their reputation, and they’d succeeded to some degree. Many of them owned legitimate businesses, some of which even traded on the stock exchange. But my dad said that beneath that polished veneer, they were still ruthless. Still dangerous. The same people flooding the streets with drugs and orchestrating crimes that made them far richer than any legal business ever could.
I swallowed and let the curtain fall back into place.
While I waited for Nina, I slipped into the en suite to use the bathroom. At the sink, I washed my hands and dried them on a towel monogrammed with the letter M. That must have—
CRASH.
My heart slammed into my ribs. I froze, fingers gripping the edge of the sink, breath caught in my throat.
Someone had just barged into the room.
And neither of the voices coming from out there belonged to Nina.
CHAPTER 3
MIA
“Calm down.” A man’s deep voice drifted through the crack in the bathroom door. “What’s gotten into you?”
“I’m tired of this,” a woman said, her speech slightly slurred. “I can’t stand him. The way he talks to me. The way he looks at me. Just listening to him chew makes me want to break a plate over his head. I’m done.”
Crap.
Why didn’t I close the bathroom door all the way?
There was a five-inch gap through which they could spot me if they moved to the other side of the room.
I backed away from the sink until my shoulder blades touched the cold tile wall. I was slightly more hidden here.
“You’re drunk. Go home, Harper. We can talk in the morning once you sleep this off.”
“No! I FUCKING LOVE YOU, ROMOLO!”
My breath caught.
Romolo?
As in, Romolo Ferraro?
The youngest of the three Ferraro brothers, or as my dad called them, Gino Ferraro’s spawns.
Like their father, they were criminals. I didn’t know which crimes they were guilty of, just that there were many. My dad didn’t share his research with me, and I’d never been tempted to ask. It was his passion. His purpose.
I had my own. And it had nothing to do with taking down criminals.
“Lower your voice.” Romolo’s tone was filled with warning.
Cold sweat sprang from my pores. He sounded scary. Dangerous. A little mean.
“Kiss me. Just kiss me.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. Get off me,” he snapped.
Okay. He sounded a lot mean.
“The cab just messaged,” he said. “He’s outside. Let’s go.”
“Romolo. Oh, Romolo. Didn’t you hear me? I love you.”
She moaned his name like a porn star.
I winced.
Yikes. I felt bad for her. But also… had she completely lost the plot? The guy radiated jerk energy.
He let out a loud sigh. I’d never heard someone sound more done. “Harper, we’re over. What we had has run its course.”
“No! You can’t do this! I can’t live without you. Don’t you see? I don’t want to live if we’re not together. I’d rather throw myself under a train and just end my misery.”
My mouth fell open. Who needed reality TV when this was your life? Were all mob relationships this dramatic?
“Harper,” Romolo barked. “Smarten the fuck up. All we did was screw for a few weeks. It wasn’t that fucking deep.”
Ouch.
She started to cry.
I pressed my palm over my mouth, mortified on her behalf. He was so cold. So goddamn rude. I couldn’t even imagine talking like that to someone.
Where the hell was Nina? And what was she going to do when she walked in on this?
Footsteps padded closer. A shadow passed the crack in the door.
I flattened myself tighter against the wall.
Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me. Please don’t—
The shadow moved back the other way.
“Here.” A dull sound reached my ears, like something landing on the bed. “Clean yourself up. Let’s go.”
Harper’s cries slowly died down. She blew her nose. “Will you walk me out?”
“You can find your own way out.”
She sniffed. “I’ll call you.”
“Don’t.”
A few seconds later, the door slammed.
Finally. Thank—
A sigh.
Crap! He was still here. Why hadn’t he left?
The clicking sound of him scrolling through his phone poured through the air.
I bit on a nail. Was he doomscrolling? How long was he going to stay here for?
A minute of silence passed. “Fuck. Gotta get back out there,” he muttered to himself. He must have been just by the door, because I couldn’t see him at all from this angle.
I heard the door open and then shut.
Gone. He was gone.
I waited a few seconds just to make sure he didn’t come back. When no sound came, I exhaled, peeled myself off the wall, and took a few tentative steps.
Still silent.
Slowly, I peeked my head out.
Big mistake.
A man stood by the door, his powerful frame filling the space, arms crossed over his broad chest, studying me.
My stomach dipped.
This was him. Romolo Ferraro.
Dressed in a suit, he was every bit as huge and imposing as I'd imagined. But what I hadn't expected was that face.
Strikingly, breath-catchingly handsome. The kind of handsome that made you do a double take.
“Did you enjoy the show?” he asked, his voice a low rumble that rolled over my skin like distant thunder. He didn’t sound even a little friendly. He sounded pissed.
Fear knotted my stomach. I was so screwed.
“Uhm—no. I’m just…uhh…” Words. I used to have those. I used to know how to form coherent sentences. But all that knowledge seemed to have been vacuumed out of my brain, leaving it completely blank.
Romolo arched a brow, clearly unimpressed with my eloquence or lack thereof. “Not exactly a glowing review.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” I tried.
His lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. “We both know that’s not true. Do you know what we do to eavesdroppers around here?”
Nope. And I had zero interest in finding out.
My adrenaline surged. My gut screamed at me to move. Right. Now.
I lurched toward the heavy lamp sitting on the nightstand at the same time as he moved toward me.
My hands curled around the base. I raised the lamp above my head, and whirled around to face him. “Stay back!”
He took another step.
“I said, stay back!” I lifted the lamp higher.
Another step. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
I hurled the damn thing at him.
God, what was that aim? He barely had to duck to avoid it. The lamp hit the wall behind him, bursting into shards.
Stupid. If it weren’t for the music thundering outside, the crash would’ve drawn every set of ears out in the garden.
He ignored the crunch of ceramic beneath his dress shoes as he prowled toward me, anger flashing in his eyes.
Panic rose up my throat. In retrospect, I should have thought this through. I was boxed in by the bed with nowhere to go.
A large hand clamped down on my shoulder.
I shrieked. He tensed, jaw clenching as he grabbed me and pulled me hard against him. My back hit his chest. His arm slid across my collarbone, the other clamping a hand over my mouth.
“Stop,” he hissed into my ear.
I didn’t listen. Of course, I didn’t. My animal instincts had taken over, and I was fighting for my life.
I bucked against him, doing everything I could with my five-foot-five frame to fight him off. My heels dug into the tops of his shoes. I kicked backward at his shins and landed a hit.
He grunted, lost his balance, and fell, taking me with him.
My body hit the bed, and he landed on top of me. He was heavy. The impact pushed all the air out of my lungs.
I bit the hand he still had pressed over my mouth. What else was I supposed to do?
“Goddamn it,” he growled, yanking it away.
He rolled off me and flipped me over. I tried to sit up, but he shoved me back down and stood up. He bracketed my legs with his, squeezing them together, and bent over me, trapping my wrists at my sides.
I couldn’t move at all now. My hair was in my mouth, and I coughed around it. The more I coughed the more hair fell in. I felt like I would choke on it until Romolo let go of one wrist just long enough to swipe the strands away from my face.
And then he stared.
Panting, I tried to catch my breath.
His eyes made a slow descent over my body, stilling on my chest.
I glanced down and felt my cheeks heat. My dress had gotten twisted during our scuffle, and my white lace bra was showing.
His jaw tightened. He yanked the fabric back into place with more force than necessary, but the anger in his expression had been replaced with mild curiosity.
I could handle that. What I couldn’t handle was him recognizing me.
If he knew I was Mia Morales… My lungs shriveled at the thought of what he might do to me.
I started squirming, trying to get away again. “Let me go!”
“Enough,” he said gruffly. He moved my arms and pinned my wrists above my head, clamping down on them with one hand.
“No! N—“
He shut me up by pressing his forearm straight across my mouth. I tried to bite him again, but the fabric of his suit prevented me from doing any damage.
“I’m not a chew toy,” he said through gritted teeth. “Fucking behave.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. I just needed to get him off me. Then I could run. I’d walk back to Manhattan if I had to.
“No?” He raised a dark brow.
Another shake.
“All right then.” He crawled onto the bed and sat down across my upper thighs, his heavy bulk pressing me into the mattress. “I’ll have to call backup. If you think I’m bad, wait until you meet my brothers.”
That froze me. The prospect of two more Ferraros storming in short-circuited my brain.
Satisfied with my reaction, he lifted his forearm from my mouth a few inches, as if he was ready to slam it back down if I made another peep.
It dawned on me that screaming was probably not the smartest idea. Would Nina hear me—where was she?—or would another guest?
Romolo’s gaze drilled into me. “Why were you in there spying on me?”
“I wasn’t spying on you.” My voice came out hoarse and much weaker than I wanted it to.
“Then what were you doing?” He sat up and let go of my wrists, but his body stayed exactly where it was—on top of me.
I pushed at his thighs, desperate to put some space between us, but it was like trying to push a brick wall. He didn’t budge. Not even an inch.
All I could do was huff in frustration. “I was using the bathroom when you and your girlfriend barged in. I didn’t know how to interrupt your fight.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” His eyes swept over my face, lingering, assessing.
It made me feel exposed.
“If you weren’t spying on me, why the fuck did you throw that goddamn lamp?”
“I-I don’t know,” I stammered. “I just acted on instinct. You were threatening me.”
He raked his fingers through his thick, raven-black hair. “You know who I am?”
I hesitated and then nodded.
“Then you should have thought twice about doing something like that.” His gaze dragged over me again, like he was pondering my punishment.
My teeth sank into my bottom lip. My body practically vibrated with fear. He looked like he was close to my age, but he was twice my size, and I felt like a little kid being picked on by the big bad bully in the sandpit.
