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  “The paralegals and the senior associates filed in, followed by the partners. Then in came Patrick and David Miller. A few minutes of awkward silence and the client walked in. My heart started beating like a bongo drum. Raffaele D’Amato in the flesh.

  “Hello everyone,” he said, looking everyone in the eye. Did his eyes linger on mine? I wasn’t sure.

  “Mr. D’Amato. Welcome!” That was Patrick Miller. “You know everyone, except maybe our newest Junior Associate Lori Brinkley.”

  “Lori, nice to meet you.” He came down to actually shake my hand. I felt everyone’s eyes on me and I felt heat rise up my cheeks.”

  “Nice to meet you too sir.”

  “Now that we all know each other, Catherine, could you introduce the case?”

  Catherine was one of the senior associates. Very put together and hardworking, but I thought she needed to lighten up a bit.

  “You all know what happened about two weeks ago at the Port Newark Terminal in New Jersey.”

  I panicked. I’d heard about it but I’d been caught up in the drama of my life, pining after a certain Italian. I hardly knew what was happening outside of that.

  “The police have been investigating the port and the dead bodies found at the scene and just last night they called in Mr. D’Amato for questioning. They claim that it was a result of a gang war and that the casualties indicated a group led by a Nico Rodriguez and men suspected to be associated with Mr. D’Amato. The police also found a container filled with women, a few dead from stray bullets to the containers. They suspect that the women were being trafficked from Latin America to Europe but the remaining girls have not been answering any questions.”

  I had the sudden urge to gasp. Human trafficking and Raffaele D’Amato at the center of it. I glanced at him discretely only to find him staring at me. It was disconcerting. I averted my gaze immediately and pretended to be writing on my note pad. Catherine continued.

  “The client has refuted all claims and that’s where we are the moment.”

  “Thank you Catherine.” David Miller nodded and continued, “I spoke to somebody in the DA’s office and they don’t have enough to pin this on our client. In fact, though they’d love nothing more than to get Mr. D’Amato, they’re content on getting Nico Rodrigues instead. That’s your assignment ladies and gentlemen. You all have full access to the client’s file apart from Lori. Lori once you sign this confidentiality agreement, you’ll have full access as well.”

  He passed down a paper to me and I signed immediately. I’d already secretly read the entire file but I wanted to see if there was any additional information that would come from this new assignment.

  We discussed for the next half hour with the client, most of the senior associates shooting questions at him. I was too much in shock to write anything down. I just stared at Raffaele and wondered if he knew that his son was in town and whether he knew where Davide had disappeared to.

  After the meeting, we all started filing out of the conference room. The Millers and the client were still seated having a chat and because of where I was seated, I was the last to leave the room. As I was about to get out, Raffaele spoke.

  “Ms. Brinkley, I’d like to welcome you officially to my team. David, Patrick, if you don’t mind I’d like to have a word with Ms. Brinkley.”

  I turned shocked and noticed that my expression was pasted on the Millers’ faces too. I guessed that this wasn’t procedure. But as one of their biggest clients, they obliged him and left the room.

  “Finally nice to meet the woman confusing my son.”

  If I thought I was shocked before, it didn’t compare to how I looked after those words. Not what I was expecting.

  “Speechless Ms. Brinkley? Well, I’ll take this opportunity to inform you of a few things. Davide is in no position to have any sort of meaningful relationship. You know that and I know that. You won’t see him again and I want you to understand that. But I like you, I want to see you in my team. I hope you make me proud.”

  He made to leave and I grabbed his arm. He looked at my hand on his arm and then looked me in the eye. I shivered.

  “Careful Ms. Brinkley. Most people can’t look me in the eye let alone touch me.

  “Do you know where he is?”

  “He?”

  “You know who I’m talking about. I know you don’t like me…”

  “I didn’t say that. In fact, I’m pretty sure I just said I like you. I can see what he saw in you.”

  “Saw?”

  He didn’t answer. He just looked at me and shrugged.

  “Please give him a message from me and I promise that will be the end of it.”

  “This should be interesting. Tell me, what’s this message?”

  I took out my pen and wrote down on a piece of paper:

  A Great Big World

  I handed the note to him. He looked at it and shook his head as if trying to decipher it.

  “Is this some sort of code?”

  “No code sir. I’m just saying goodbye like you asked me to.

  He looked at me suspiciously and I met his stare head on. I imagined many people cowered under that look. He shook his head again. “I definitely like you.” He smiled and left.

  I was rounding the corner still dazed after my encounter with Raffaele when I almost bumped into Macy.

  “Oh my God Lori! Was that who I think it was?!”

  “Yup. In the flesh.”

  “What the..” she paused to look around, “What the fuck is going on?”

  Before I could even answer, she went on.

  “Is this about the killings at the port?”

  Was I the only person who didn’t know the details beforehand?

  “Yeah, he’s come for representation.”

  “And you’re officially in the team? Wow! This is the big leagues Lori.”

  I swallowed. I wasn’t sure I was ready for the big leagues.

  CHAPTER TWENTY – SIX

  Davide was tired of having nothing to do. He needed to do something. Anything.

  Raffaele had a doctor on his pay, Dr. Luca Salvatore. A very questionable type that did every medical procedure Raffaele threw at him. Sometimes for torture purposes, but mostly to treat Raffaele’s men when they got hurt. Davide mistrusted the fellow but so far he’d healed well from the shooting. Luca had said that he’d been very lucky. A clean shot through his shoulder, which had luckily missed the major arteries. Still hurt like a motherfucker.

  He’d spoken to Raffaele as soon as he came to, to find that the girls had been taken by local authorities, that Mario was dead as were most of the Dominicans, and that both Raffaele and Nico were under investigation by the authorities. Hector’s name was missing from the investigations, which meant the authorities didn’t suspect another player.

  Davide wished they would have tied it to Hector somewhat so he’d be done with this game. He was tired of all of it. But no way could he tell that to Raffaele. Hector wanted him back to Barcelona and he’d had to come up with countless excuses to stay in New York. He wanted to see Lori. She’d probably written him off by now but he wanted to explain everything.

  She would probably dismiss him but that was a risk he was willing to take. He didn’t want her thinking he’d messed with her. He wanted her to understand the complexities of his situation… and if she still wanted him, he’d do whatever it took to keep her. It was stupid, but he was tired of being alone.

  His phone rang from where it sat on the bedside table. Hector.

  “When are you coming back hijo? There’s a lot to be done here. And it would be best if you left New York before they tie you with the clusterfuck at the port.”

  “A few more days, Hector. I got a discreet doctor who put me on bed rest. Said that the bullet hit my brachial plexus and that I needed follow up surgery, which is why it’s taking so long. Apparently I’m healing fine after the second surgery, so I should be leaving NY soon.”

  “Brachial what? Just get back here
Davide.” He hung up.

  “Trouble in paradise?” Davide hadn’t noticed Raffaele come into the room.

  “I should go back to Barcelona. The best thing about what happened at the port is that Hector will think twice before getting another shipment. But he’s only going to figure out another way to get them to Europe.”

  “I’ll leave that to you. For now I have something for you.” He pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to him.

  He opened it to find only four words on it – A Great Big World. He raised an eyebrow.

  “From Lori. –“

  “Lori?! What the fuck were you doing anywhere near her?!”

  “You need to calm down. You do remember I have a case now? I thought she’d be a good addition to my team.” He smiled. “So you don’t understand the message? I thought she was sending some sort of code to you.”

  “You need to stop messing with her Raffaele.”

  “I’m not messing with anyone. I did something nice for her, I got her promoted.”

  Davide looked at the man who’d raised him. His only family. Raffaele was a cunning one. He did whatever he wanted, what with his god complex. Having him close to Lori would only make things worse. He shook his head. “I’m going to take your word for it. That you won’t do anything to hurt her. She knows a lot about you and now that she’s in your case, she’s about to know a lot – FUCK!”

  “What?”

  “Is there any mention of Isabelle in their files?”

  “I suspect Patrick Miller knows. We’ve been friends a long time.”

  “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Davide started pacing. “Well, she knows a lot about you and she hasn’t said a word. Let her be Raffaele.” And with that he walked out.

  He went directly to Isabelle’s room. He always used her room when he was needing motivation for his mission. But this time he needed closure. He sat on Isabelle’s bed and opened up Lori’s note again. A Great big World. What the hell was she trying to tell him? He didn’t have a clue. It was definitely something she thought he’d understand. He’d done the same last time when… that’s it! Had to be a message in a song, same way he’d sent her one.

  He went back to his room to find Raffaele thankfully gone. He powered up the desktop on the table and googled the words. The first result was a video of a song. Say Something by A Great Big World. He clicked on it and the melodic sound filled the room.

  He felt his heart constrict. No. No No. He was losing her. He’d probably already lost her. He decided to pay more attention to the lyrics. Did she mean that? Did she love him? But if she meant every word in the song, just like he’d meant every word in the song he’d sent her, did this truly mean goodbye? He decided to cling to the one thing that gave him some bit of hope. She hadn’t given up just yet.

  He had to go to her. He would bare it all this time. It worried him that she’d leave him anyway, especially once she heard what he did for a living. What he’d done. But he had to try. And if it went to shit, at least he’d tried.

  No. Fuck trying. She had to say yes. Had to say she would stay with him, wait for him, be with him. It had to work out. He deserved some bit of happiness in this cruel world he’d grown up in. And he knew, he knew that happiness was Lori. One couldn’t exist without the other as far as he was concerned. He’d give it his all.

  He drove straight to Lori’s apartment. If he had stopped to think about anything but her, he would have realized he was being reckless. He was driving way past the speed limit, as if he needed the police sniffing into his business. But that was the least of his problems. Even if Lori still wanted him, he couldn’t take her back to Barcelona. Yet he had to go back. Had to finish this thing once and for all.

  He arrived at her house in record time, didn’t bother to park his car, just left it right by the curb outside her house. He ran up the steps and rang the doorbell… then there she was. Looking as angelic as ever. God, he was an idiot for not claiming her sooner. She opened the door quickly, as if she felt his urgency. He lifted her up and held her close to him. He was never letting her go. Never.

  He closed the door with his foot and finally kissed her. He kissed her as if she was the very air he breathed. As if he was drowning and she was his only salvation. Because she was. She was everything he never let himself want. And so he kissed her with everything he had.

  When he came up for air, he looked at her, at everything he wanted, and for the first time in a long long time, he felt a smile form on his face. “I want nothing more than to lay you on your bed and worship you in every way I can.”

  She smiled, happiness written all over her. “I promised myself that I’d hear everything you have to say first but it’s been so long and I want you so bad.”

  “I promise,” he paused and drew a cross on his heart. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.” And despite the enormity of their situation, she smiled.

  “Okay.”

  He picked her up and took her to her bedroom. He laid her on the bed and climbed on top of her. Christ, she was beautiful. He looked at her pajamas and smiled. “Snow White?

  “I like the seven dwarfs. Did you know that the original ones didn’t have names? And when they did, it was the strangest of names. Blik, Flick, Glick, Plick…”

  He laughed. It surprised him how happy he sounded. “You’re so weird.”

  “There was no Doc! Can you believe that?”

  “Baby, I’m trying to seduce you here. Can we forget about Doc?” He ground his lower body on hers so she’d feel just how much he wanted her. She moaned and closed her eyes.

  “Good. Now we’re on the same page.” He kissed her then. He loved kissing this woman. Any other woman he was ready for the main show, but not Lori. With her he wanted to savor the opening act. He wanted to take his time and show her just how much he felt for her. But it had been so long without her. So fucking long. This time he knew, it would be over way too fast. He just had to have her. And only fast would do it.

  He rid her off her pajamas and looked at the body he’d missed so much. He couldn’t even speak, he wanted her so much. She looked at him, eyes drooping with want, body writhing in anticipation.

  “You missed me?” he whispered.

  “You know I did.”

  “Let’s see just how much you missed me.

  He placed his finger on her pussy and dragged it through the slit. Soaking wet. He raised his body to have a look. Her mound glistened in preparation for him, and he had barely touched her.

  He pulled his finger glistening from her wetness and put it on her mouth. “Is all this for me?”

  She moaned.

  “Words Lori, answer me.”

  “Yes,” she sighed and pulled his finger in her mouth tasting herself. God, she was sexy. He repeated the move only to put the finger in his mouth. He wanted to bury his face in her cunt and stay there for hours just pleasuring her. But he restrained himself. Instead he kissed the curve of her breast. Tiny nips and licks that led to her nipple. He pulled it into in his mouth and sucked hard, cupping her pussy in the process. He could feel her trembling all over.

  Not to be outdone, she reached into his jeans, held his cock in her hands and squeezed gently. He groaned. He had never had it as good. Not before or since her. He sat up and got rid of his t-shirt, then pulled out his jeans and boxers in one swift move.

  He put two fingers inside her and curved them towards the spot she loved so much. She moaned and pumped him harder. He groaned. She moaned again. Eyes open and on each other the entire time. Green to brown. Light to dark. It shook him to his core, this connection he felt with her.

  “Mine,” he whispered, meaning it with everything in him.

  “Yours,” she responded.

  He slid into her then. Slowly, torturously slow. It was so perfect he could have wept. Her cunt gripped him like a vice, and didn’t let up. He was getting close and he didn’t want it over so soon. Not when he hadn’t seen her for so long. Not when he’d missed her every
minute of the time she wasn’t with him.

  He pulled out and she whimpered. So greedy this sweet girl of his. He turned her and entered her again from the back. He held her hips and started moving. It turned from divine to animalistic in a second. Any thought flew out the window as soon as she screamed out her release, squeezing his cock even tighter.

  He wanted to see her when he came. He wanted her to see just how much this meant to him. Not just the sex, though that was out of this world, it was everything else. Everything that felt as if her heart was speaking to his. Soul to soul. And nothing else mattered. He turned her then and she lay on her back, still whimpering and pussy clenching with after-tremors.

  He looked at her. Blonde hair spread out like a halo and knew this was it for him. “Say it again, you know what I want to hear.”

  “I’m yours, Davide.” She breathed, barely able to speak. “Since the moment I met you, I’ve been yours.”

  He groaned and pulled out, thrusting his cock on his hand, one, two, three times and came all over her belly with some come coating her tits. He looked at her gazing languorously back at him. He loved her. That was all he needed to know for now. He loved her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY – SEVEN

  “Now, as much as I hate to ruin my afterglow, you promised.”

  They were lying on her bed entangled in each other.

  “Fair enough.” He sat up and looked at her. “God, where to start?”

  “Easy question first, how old are you?”

  He smiled, “Thirty Three.”

  “Ancient.” She declared.

  He laughed out loud. He loved these moments with her and he was only seven years older so he knew she was just being a little minx. “I can think of a few more things this ‘ancient’ body can do to you right now.” He pulled her closer to him and grabbed her ass with one hand. He slipped his other hand between them and past her still wet folds and rubbed her clit.”