Vicious Revenge (Vicious City Book 4) Read online

  These matters can’t be handled over the phone. They need to be taken care of in person. I make the drive upstate, where Angelo is lurking in one of his many retreats. I’ve known Mr Vitali for several years. We share certain tastes and styles of conducting ourselves. There’s a mutual respect which keeps me in one piece as I turn my car up a very long, tree lined drive which I know is under heavy surveillance.

  Angelo Vitali is the master of the unassuming fortress. I can safely assume he not only knows that I’m here, but that there are multiple weapons trained on me the moment I step out of my car in front of his colonial country mansion. He never keeps these places for more than a year, and he always has several to choose from. My sources indicate this is the one he’s at now, and they’re proved to be right when the man himself comes down the stairs to greet me.

  We haven’t spent a lot of time together in person, but I do get the feeling when we meet that we are cut from the same cloth. I see myself in his slick exterior, his insistence on a pristine appearance, the way nothing seems to touch him - and how he’s most dangerous to the people closest to him.

  If any other man on the planet touched Kitty, I’d tear his fucking heart out. Angelo is the one man who is going to get away with it - in large part because I can’t deny she absolutely deserved every bit of it.

  “I’ve come for my girl.”

  Angelo smiles charmingly. “You’re sure you want her back?”

  Fuck yes I’m sure.

  “Oh yes.”

  “Come and have something to drink. You’ve had a long drive.”

  I agree to his offer. We may as well conduct this like gentlemen. He might not want to give her back to me, but right now I am as close to her as I’ve been in weeks, and that’s good enough.

  He takes me through to a well landscaped back garden, where a pitcher of lemonade is waiting for our refreshments. He knew I was coming.

  I take a seat and sip my drink. This is a test which decides how our association goes from this point on. Violence is always an option, but I don’t want that and I suspect, neither does he.

  “I believe I owe you thanks,” I say. “She’s been quite elusive.”

  “So I gathered.” He looks out over the garden, and then back at me. “Quite a mess.”

  There’s another pause. I’m not doing the talking for good reason. I don’t want to start begging, or threatening. He knows what I want. We will see if he offers it.

  “She,” Angelo says after a moment or two, “Is a spoiled little shit. You cannot allow your lovers to run wild. It will destroy your reputation, and eventually, you. Love has brought down better men than you and I.”

  I have been put in jail, my car has been blown up, my cards have been declined, but this might be the most humiliation Kitty has put me through yet, and she didn’t even know she was doing it. I do not care for being lectured by anyone, let alone Angelo. The man has a good number of years on me and a certain gravitas, so this conversation feels a little like being spoken to by a disappointed father figure. It’s not a dynamic I intend to encourage.

  “Hand her over and I’ll deal with her.”

  “Will you? What are you going to do that you haven’t done before?”

  I’m going to tie her up, fuck her senseless, and whip every sensitive part of her until she can’t so much as think about pulling anything like this again. I don’t say that in so many words.

  “I’m going to handle her.”

  “You weren’t handling her already?”

  “Evidently not,” I say, not rising to the bait. “You don’t want her here, Angelo. She’s pretty far from being your type in more ways than one. Let’s stop playing these games.”

  “I like you, Arthur…”

  Oh, here we go.

  “And it’s because I like you, that I think I should keep that little girl of yours at least a few days longer. Don’t worry. You will get her back, and I’ll be careful not to damage her in any of the places I’m sure you’ll be enjoying her. But she needs someone to fear.”

  “She was taken by Petrov and hunted. She’s had someone to fear. The problem isn’t that she’s not afraid, it’s that she can’t accept her place.”

  “Then she needs to be put in it more firmly. Besides, Petrov was a monster, and monsters are vanquished. I’m a rather different proposition. Think of me more like the un-kindly uncle she doesn’t want to spend a weekend with.”

  “Angelo, that’s creepy as hell,” I laugh.

  “Is it?”

  “Yeah. It is,” I smile, amused. “I don’t think Kitty needs you as her uncle.”

  “I disagree. I’m aware of what her little implant can do. If you’d be willing to share the use of her, I’d be wiling to help on the discipline side of things.”

  I don’t need help. Especially not with discipline, but I know that right now, it doesn’t look that way. Kitty has made a mockery of me, and that’s a problem for us all.

  “How would you like it if I told you I was taking Bobby?” I try another angle of argument.

  “I’d wish you luck and book the funeral,” Angelo smirks.

  I allow myself a small smile. “Look, I’ll do what favors I can for you. I owe you for catching her, there’s no argument there, but it’s time Kitty came home.”

  “So she can blow it up? You realize she was looking for nuclear waste?”

  “What the hell was she going to do with that?”

  “Something impeccably stupid, I assure you.”

  I set my teeth. Kitty has made me a fucking laughing stock. I know these stories are circulating far more widely than I’d like, and I know that I’m going to need to make an example of her to everyone if I’m going to undo the damage she has caused to my reputation.

  “Let me help you,” Angelo says. “She needs to learn to appreciate what she has with you. She won’t learn it while she thinks you’re the man she needs to get revenge against. You can keep chasing, but she will keep running, and the distraction will cause more serious consequences. Your enemies will take advantage. This has to be dealt with, and swiftly.”

  He’s not wrong. My operation has a lot of moving parts, and those parts are lubricated with respect. Being shown up by Kitty puts everything at risk. I’m already getting reports of incursions on my territory.

  “She’s not entirely wrong to be angry,” I sigh. “I put her through a lot.”

  “As is your prerogative. You don’t think my boys have suffered at my hands? It is necessary. It establishes order. Your girl is rebelling against that order. The answer is more pressure. Enough that she won’t ever want to disobey you again.”

  His theory is the same one I operated under, but Kitty doesn’t give a damn about theory. She’s got more spirit than that.

  “I could have her brought down right now,” he says. “I could hand her over to you. And she could be gone again in a day, undermining you, making scenes, drawing attention to your operations.”

  “That’s not going to happen again.”

  “Why not?”

  He’s right. This has reached a crisis point. Kitty and I have a turbulent relationship, but no real alliance, and this chase is causing harm to us both. Maybe the answer to this isn’t what I though it was. Maybe desperate times call for desperate measures.

  And then my phone rings.

  Kitty

  “Where is he going?”

  Mark is standing behind me as I watch Vicious walk out the front door and back into his car. I was so sure that he was going to come and get me, that he’d take me back and we’d… I don’t know. Probably fight and fuck, in that order.

  But his car is pulling away. He’s…. leaving me here?

  “What’s going on?”

  Mark gives a little shrug. “I don’t know.”

  “He came for me…”

  “I don’t know, Kitty.”

  I push past him and leave the room, running down the stairs. I’m hoping to get to Vicious’ car before he pulls away. He can’t
leave me. He just can’t. That’s not what’s supposed to happen. He’s supposed to chase me to the end of the earth, and then he’s supposed to punish me, and we’re supposed to make up, and…

  I hit the bottom of the stairs and run straight into Angelo Vitali’s chest.

  “And where do you think you’re going?” He grabs my arms and holds me still though I try to push past him. It’s useless.

  “I saw Vicious here. I’m going to see him.”

  “Oh no you’re not. You’re going back upstairs.”

  “No!” I try to bite down on Angelo’s hand, but he’s ready for that. He turns me around and takes hard hold of the back of my neck, squeezing enough to get my attention. “You’re much smaller than my boys,” he growls into my ear from behind. “And you’re much softer skinned. Don’t push me, Kitty. Go upstairs.”

  “But why did he leave me? Why didn’t he take me?”

  Angelo turns me back around to face him. “You have waged all out war against him. You were looking for highly dangerous materials to use against him. Why would he take you?”

  My jaw drops. “I was just trying to show him what it felt like to be lied to and to have your whole world fucked up. I wasn’t waging war.”

  “Kitty, you’ve been more dangerous to Vicious’ operation than you realize. You’ve made him vulnerable in ways he may not be able to recover from. There are other organizations smelling blood. I understand his CIA handler is no longer working with him.”

  “Slick isn’t working with him? Why?”

  “I don’t know, girl. What I do know is that you’ve caused more trouble than you think. You don’t need nuclear waste to be toxic.”

  His words are harsh enough to bring tears to my eyes.

  I turn and run up the stairs and throw myself onto the bed which is not mine. Vicious left me here. He left me, and I don’t blame him. What else could he do?

  I’m sobbing so hard I don’t hear the footsteps coming up the stairs.

  “Kitty?”

  It’s Vicious’ voice. I look up from the bed and I see him standing in the doorway. I can’t believe it. He’s the most handsome man in the world. Those bright green eyes, that dark hair, that face so refined and brutal all at once. I push up from the bed and I run to him.

  “I thought you’d gone! Angelo said you were leaving me behind.”

  Vicious wraps me in his arms and hugs me tight.

  “You are so much trouble, but I’m never going to leave you,” he murmurs. “I do have to go though, and I can’t take you right now. I just got a call to tell me there’s been a raid on my property. There’s a lot going on.”

  Fuck. That’s my fault. I know it is.

  “I’m sorry. This isn’t what I meant to happen.”

  “We will talk about that another time.” He pulls back and looks down at me. “Seriously. Kitty. Nuclear waste?”

  “I don’t fucking know,” I whimper. “It seemed like a good idea.”

  “Your idea of a good idea is…” he shakes his head.

  “Why isn’t Slick helping you anymore?” I change the subject just a little.

  “Blaze is having a baby. He’s taking an extended leave with her.”

  “What!? Oh my god! I have to go see her.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he says firmly. “You’ve ended up in one of the very few places I’d consider you to be safe, aside from with me.”

  “I’m not safe here. Angelo and Bobby…”

  “Kitty, I have to go,” he says, kissing me. “I’ll be back, and when I am, your ass is going to pay. Try to be good, okay?”

  “O..kay..”

  Just like that, he’s gone.

  13

  Kitty

  I did this to myself. I know that. And I did it to Vicious too. But I can’t help feeling sorry for myself. This isn’t what I wanted to happen. I’m not sure what I wanted, some dramatic reunion in which Vicious apologized for everything and we lived happily ever after. Instead, I’ve messed with him, and in doing so, I messed with myself. Now he’s away cleaning up the mess I made, and I’m stuck here, with men I barely know who will hurt me if they want to.

  I wake up sore. Very sore. Angelo was brutal when he whipped me, and I shudder to think what he’ll do if I am left here very long. I really hope Vicious can fix what I fucked up.

  “Come down for breakfast,” Mark says, putting his head in the door.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Come down anyway.”

  I do as I’m told, still wearing the same clothing I wore yesterday. I’d like a shower, but there’s no time. I’ve been ordered down to the fine dining room with its high ceilings and fancy fittings which make me feel like something the cat dragged in.

  Angelo is at breakfast already, as is Bobby. Mark is just taking his seat, and a servant is spooning eggs onto his plate. This place is fully catered, like a hotel for evil.

  “Have a seat,” Angelo invites me. “Unless you’d rather stand.”

  I would rather stand, as it happens. I’m pretty sure putting my ass on one of those hard wood chairs would suck, and my life sucks enough as it is.

  “Yeah, I thought so,” Bobby smirks at me. “Not so tough now, huh.”

  On second thought, maybe I will sit.

  That turns out to be just as bad a decision as it seemed to be when I first made it. My ass starts to ache as soon as I put weight on it, but I can’t let anyone see that. Angelo is talking. I try to listen.

  “Some rules,” he says. “You will not leave the house without permission. You will do as you are told while you are in this house, and you will follow instructions given by myself or Mark. You will avoid Bobby in so far as it is possible.”

  “No problem.”

  I’m not going to argue with him. I’m not going to do a damn thing that will extend my stay here. I’m going to keep away from Angelo, I’m going to be good, and I’m going to wait for Vicious to come for me.

  The rest of the day sees me doing chores. Evidently, Angelo believes labor is the key to a rehabilitated soul. Or maybe he just really likes having his leaves swept up.

  I think as I work, wondering where I went wrong. Was it when I was born? Or sometime after that? If so, when? When I decided crime did pay? When I met Rollo? When I was turned into a walking talking spy satellite? There are hundreds of points of chaos in my life, and it is impossible to pick just one of them.

  “You’re fucked.”

  I turn around to see Bobby leaning up against a pillar, pulling at his vape pen. He’s the most mysterious of these men, so young and so bitter, so brutal in his every word and thought. I wonder what happened to him to make him this way.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean Vicious is probably going to end up dead or in prison because of you, and then you’ll be left with us. Angelo has no use for a woman.”

  “Yeah. I get it. He’s gay. You’re all gay. So?”

  “So he’s going to get bored of you pretty soon. Just like Vicious did. Except he won’t be able to fuck you, so I guess we’re going to have to find some other way to dispose of you. Maybe we’ll sell you to men who do like pussy.”

  “You’re a fucking dick.”

  Bobby smirks.

  I know he’s trying to mess with me. I know he doesn’t like me here. This is a closed system, a world where other people rarely intrude - especially not women. But this wasn’t my choice, and I’m not going to be bullied.

  “Don’t like it? What are you going to do? Get some nuclear waste?” He laughs at me.

  “Oh fuck off, just because you’re too scared to ever cross Angelo,” I snap back. “You’re jealous I have some balls. Angelo took yours long ago, didn’t he.”

  In an instant, Bobby is next to me, looking down at me with those black eyes of his. “If you were a guy, you’d be getting beaten senseless. That would shut you up.”

  “I’m not the one who started this pissing match. Why don’t you shut up.”

  “
What are you kids doing?”

  Mark strolls up at just about the right moment. I don’t know what Bobby was going to do to me, probably nothing, but I can sense the violence in him.

  “Nothing,” Bobby says, turning away from me.

  “Angelo wants to see you,” Mark tells him. “Something about being told to leave Kitty alone.”

  With a soft curse, Bobby heads inside.

  I watch him go, feeling no small measure of satisfaction.

  “How much trouble is he in?” I hope it’s a lot.

  Mark smiles. “He’s always in trouble, varying degrees of it.”

  “Can’t relate to that.”

  “Uh huh, sure you can’t,” Mark says. “You were both told to stay away from each other.”

  I realize I’m not the only one in trouble. Mark’s looking at me with that firm gaze, his big muscular arms crossed over his chest. He’s a really good looking guy, and even if he isn’t interested in me that way, I can’t help but respond to him.

  “He came and found me. I was just doing my work. See… sweeping!” I swish at the ground with my brush.

  “Mhm. Next time you see him, you go and find Angelo or I. Otherwise, I’m going to have your butt over my knee.”

  I feel myself blushing. I hate the way I now react to threats of punishment. Vicious has primed me, and now Mark’s stern warning makes me tingle and miss Vicious all the more. I would never admit it, not to anyone, but I kind of want to be spanked. Angelo’s belt made me sore, but it settled me too. Now, the idea of Mark’s big hand on my ass makes me feel the kind of heat I shouldn’t be feeling. Jesus, I need Vicious back, and now.

  “Go on,” he says. “Go to your room. You can stay there until dinner time.”

  I do as I’m told, and end up napping. There’s nothing else to do in this well-presented prison. I should be grateful, I guess. It could be a whole lot worse. I could be in an actual prison. I could be in some warehouse having my head sawn open. As long as I avoid Angelo and Bobby, I might actually get out of this place relatively unscathed.