Deception (Mafia Daddies #3)

Rocco

I glance from one brother to the other. When Rafael called this meeting, I knew we would be discussing the problems I’ve brought down on the family.

“Papa reached out to the O’Connell’s.” Tommy glares in my direction. He hates being indebted to anyone, but fuck him, we’ve kept this family going in his absence while he got to tap out and play poor me in rehab.

“We also have the added issue of the Harrington girl,” Rafael states while staring above my shoulder. “I have a plan for that one.”

Tommy sits forward with intrigue, but not me. I couldn’t give a shit what they do with her or how they handle the situation.

“It’s about time Ricardo stepped up.”

My mouth falls open with Tommy’s.

“You know where he is, then?” my dumbass brother asks Rafael.

“Of course I fucking know, and it’s about damn time he paid for being absent all these years,” Rafael snaps.

“You’re going to get him to leave the MC?” I ask, knowing my brother won’t like this, not one bit.

“I’m going to give him no choice but to marry a Mafia girl. Should he choose to be a part of the MC while being her husband, that’s on him. But he will fulfill his duties, once and for all.” The confidence in Rafael’s tone has me certain our father signed off on this plan, and I should feel bad for putting Ricardo in this situation, but like Rafael said, he’s been absent from his duties for years. Why shouldn’t he finally be forced to step up?

“So, you’re going to be a daddy?” Tommy grins, changing the subject and causing me to mirror his smile with pride.

“Sure am.”

“Welcome to the club, brother.” He holds his fist out for me to bump, and I take great delight in participating.

Rafael clears his throat. “If we can stay on fucking topic.”

Tommy huffs and sits back in his chair.

I won’t lie, being in the same room with my brothers, working together as a collected trio, has me feeling more invincible than ever. Now we need a plan to back it up.

“I say we take off the head of the snake and work our way down.” I drag the tip of my knife down my tongue, and I swear I can still taste the juice of Hallie’s pussy on the blade.

“No. We’re not in a position to take down the chief of police, dumbass,” Rafael says. “But we do need to make a statement.”

I sit forward. “What did you have in mind?”

Rafael sits forward with a smile. “The kid.” He’s referring to Gerrard’s younger brother, the same one who set Oblivion on fire, no doubt believing we wouldn’t retaliate because he’s deemed untouchable. “We make him pay.” Of course, Rafael still has a vendetta toward him. He tried to snag his girl, after all, so who could blame him.

“That would be too obvious and put us under too much scrutiny. They must know by now we’re diverting shipments. If the O’Connell’s get dragged into this for helping us out, then we lose reliable allies.”

Tommy’s right.

“I could take off his hands. That’s a pretty big fucking statement to not to touch what’s ours.” I shrug.

Rafael pinches the bridge of his nose and tips his head toward the ceiling.

The door to his office is thrown open, and we all turn to glare toward the bastard who dared to intrude without permission.

A cumulative sigh comes from us all when our father walks into the room.

I’ll give the man his dues; he exudes power and commands attention simply by striding into a room.

He pulls out his chair at the head of the table, and Rafael clenches his teeth. He’s desperate to take over our family completely, and in all honesty, he’d be good at it. The thing is, our father doesn’t want to give it up, not yet anyway.

“Don’t you have a cute little sub somewhere you can play with?” Rafael sneers toward him, the distaste evident in his tone.

Our father has made no effort to disguise his sexual preferences. Since being a young boy, I’ve known he’s a dominant who parades his submissives around our house as if it’s normal. For us, it was, but that’s not what I want for my kids.

I like the quiet life in Hallie’s little house, a little family shielded from all this Mafia shit. Until I’m needed, of course, then I will do what is asked of me.

“I received a phone call.”

A laugh bubbles out of me, and I can’t help the sarcasm as it spills out. “Well done, old man. Did you need to remember to switch your hearing aid on this time before you pressed the answer button?”

Before I know what’s happening, my Adam’s apple is being squeezed so fucking tight I can’t breathe, and it feels like I’m being stabbed in the throat.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Rafael bellows. “Papa, enough!” He slams his fist on the table.

He drops me back into my chair, and I gasp for air, each breath burning, and I grimace as my hand strokes over my delicate throat.

“Now you know how a woman’s throat feels when you throat-fuck her.” Tommy chuckles into my ear, and I glare back at him. His lips tip up into a smile, and I want to slice the motherfucker for it.

“It’s your fucking fault we have the FBI breathing down our goddamn neck!” He points in my direction, his lips twisted in hatred. “How dare you fucking joke! You little sad sack son of a bitch.”

Okay, maybe I took it too far too soon.

My extra-curricular activities are still recent and raw.

I open my mouth to speak, but he holds his hand up. “Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear it.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him he probably wouldn’t be able to hear it, but I decide not to push my luck. It might be my balls he tries to squeeze out of me next, and I need those fuckers as much as I need air, especially with the number of kids I plan on impregnating Hallie with.

“As I was fucking saying. I had a phone call; Owen from STORM Enterprises contacted me.” Rafael sits forward. He’s worked with this Owen guy before. “It appears he has information on Harrison Davis being into human trafficking.”

Nausea hits me, and I fight back the bile creeping up my throat. The thought of Matt and Hallie being a part of that sick family sends a tremor of fear down my spine. They’re far more dangerous than I could have ever predicted, which means they’ve been in danger for a long time, and I hate myself for not acting sooner.

Tommy whistles like the cat that got the cream, sitting back in his chair with a smug smile.

Rafael’s jaw falls slack, and he scans our father’s face. “Human trafficking? The chief of police? Is he sure?”

“He’s watched the footage,” he states with a confident nod.

“Does he still have it?” I hear the hope in Rafael’s voice and feel it in my veins.

“No.”

“Fuck,” I grunt, then immediately wince at the tenderness behind it.

“You sound like your balls have just dropped,” Tommy mumbles into my ear, and my fingers itch to take my knife to him.

“How does he know Harrison wasn’t just undercover?” Rafael asks.

“He assures me he wasn’t. So much so, he’s willing to help us take him down.”

Holy shit. I want to say it but opt not to, preferring to save my voice for Hallie.

“What about Gerrard?” Tommy asks, and I want to high-five my brother for thinking of my predicament.

“We need surveillance on them. That Darryl kid too, all three of them.” My father’s voice is assertive, as if he’s already thought of this before informing us of this news.

“You think the kid’s involved?” Rafael asks, his eyebrows pull together.

“At this stage, we treat them as if they’re all involved. Until they prove otherwise.” I nod.

Sickness rolls in my stomach at the thoughts of the sick bastards around my family portraying a normal family life when they’re anything but normal. I might be a monster, but I’d never hurt women and children. These sick fucks are a different breed entirely.

Human fucking trafficking? Jesus. I scrub a hand over my face. “I don’t like the thought of Matt around them.”

“And Hallie,” Tommy tacks on.

I scoff, then end up choking, which hurts like a bitch even more. “She isn’t going anywhere near him again. Ever.” I stare back at my brother, and he smirks, knowing how much I mean it.

“Is Hallie on lockdown?” Rafael asks. As much as I’d like to say yes, I know how much her career means to her. Ideally, I’d still be a student there, but I don’t want to break my promise with her. Besides, she’s going to be showing off a wedding ring and baby bump, and the last thing my girl needs is for people to be digging deeper into her private life.

“No. She still wants to work; I’ll ask Matt to look out for her while she’s there and have Silas take her to and from school.”

“I don’t like the thought of my grandbaby being so out of reach,” my father states while swiping his finger over his lip, and for the first time since announcing my union with Hallie, he shows concern for my little family, and the thought warms me.

I shuffle from side to side as anxiety creeps up my spine. “Me neither.” I shrug.

“Are you moving her into one of my properties?” he asks, and I sit forward, preparing for his argument.

“No. I have her house so tapped and wired there’s more security on that street than a prison.”

“Does she know you own the street yet?” Tommy grins.

“No,” I snap back. How the hell will I explain that to her?

“Does she at least know you own the house?” Rafael asks.

I lick my lips, and even that somehow hurts my throat. “Not yet.”

“Think you should tell her?” he asks.

“I think you should keep your nose out of my goddamn business.”

“It’s your fucking business that put us in this situation,” he snipes.

“Pretty fucking sure your girl was caught with her tongue down the Davis kid’s throat and you roughed him up. That probably started a chain of events too.” I shrug.

Tommy laughs, and Rafael looks two seconds away from blowing a gasket.

My father slams his fist down on the table. “Shut the fuck up! Both of you. , keep your woman and baby close to you. The kid too. If he’s gonna be part of this family, I want his loyalty.”

I swallow back the painful lump in my throat at the thought of my father accepting Matt into our family, especially given his family are descendants of the criminal justice system. “You can trust him,” I say with confidence.

I know Matt. I’ve spent the last two years getting close to that kid, so I know him. Probably better than he knows himself. He’s my best friend.

He’s loyal.

Strong.

Dependable.

And most importantly, he’s my stepson, and there isn’t a damn thing I wouldn’t do to protect him.