A Sense of Guilt (Carlisi Familia Book 3) Read online

  Nico made a sound in the back of the car and Gino was thankful for the relative darkness of the cab, hoping neither of them could see the heat he felt sweep into his face.

  “Get the hell over it, Gino,” Tony snapped in the darkness. “Yeah, your childhood was shitty, so were a lot of ours, and Gavriil’s was no walk in the damn park either. But we survived and we are who we are. We stand together and we face anything and everything that comes at as. Together. So pull our head out of your ass and decide what that woman means to you. No one but you blames you for your childhood. No. One.”

  Gino slid into the drive that led to Marissa’s place, a three-story house with wraparound verandahs on all floors. The ground floor housed the restaurant and bar, the second floor were the bedrooms available for paying clientele, and upstairs were the private rooms for the girls. Marissa ran her house, her businesses, and her girls professionally, and if a man came here looking for comfort, with the money, the temperament, and the background check to warrant it, he got it.

  He parked the car and turned in his seat. “I know that, brother, and most of the time, I’m okay with it, too. It rears its ugly head now and then, though. But this isn’t about that. I’m not sure I can forgive myself for what happened the night Tito fucked with us.”

  Tony held his stare for a moment then nodded. “I can understand that, G. Guilt is a fucking heavy burden to carry, and I’d love to say it gets easier, but it doesn’t. You go talk with Rosa. Nico and I will wait in the bar and check in with Marissa. See if these two Hispanic fuckers are still here.”

  Gino nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Oh, and if they’re still here—”

  “We’ll hold them for you, brother,” Tony said with a grin.

  Gino stepped out of the truck and moved swiftly into the house. He made quick work of the large imposing staircase that swept up from the foyer to the floors above. He entered the private floor using his access card and headed for Rosa’s room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her moving about behind the door and lifted his hand to knock. He saw the strapping he still wore around the wound left behind when Tito took his finger, and memories of that night slammed into him.

  ****

  “N-no, please.”

  Gino froze in the middle of the sidewalk at the frightened female cry. He glanced around, looking for the woman in question. He stepped toward the dark alley that ran down the side of the casino the Carlisi family owned and operated and caught movement by one of the delivery bays.

  Frowning, he headed in that direction. He started to walk a little faster when he heard the distinctive sound of flesh meeting flesh and that same woman gasp.

  “You think I didn’t see the way you were looking at that bastard, bitch?”

  Gino got a look at the man just as the big bastard pulled his right hand up and backhanded a small woman with shoulder-length dark hair right across the face. The crack of his hand echoed around the alley, and from the way she dropped to the ground without a sound, he knew that she’d been used to the pain that came with such a strike.

  “Hey, asshole!” he yelled as he strode closer. “Takes a big fucking man to strike a woman. Why don’t you try it with me and see how you get on?”

  The man looked up to watch Gino’s approach and grinned. “Ahh, here he is now. Look, bitch, the part of the white knight charging in to your rescue, Rosa, will be played by Gino Esposito.”

  Gino stopped close to the man and glanced down at the woman, Rosa, who was still on the ground. In the glow from the security light over the delivery bay, he could see blood well and spill from the split in her bottom lip, and fear shone in her chocolate-brown eyes, but she was stunning. That was easy to see.

  He reached down a hand to help her up. “Come, sweetness, let’s get you up off the ground.”

  The man roared with laughter. “This bitch ain’t anything sweet, you dumb fuck. She is nothing but trash. She belongs on the fucking ground.”

  Gino stepped into the man, hell-bent on ramming his fist in the fucker’s face, but stopped when from the ground, Rosa gripped his leg. Then the bastard pulled a gun on him. He held his hand down again to help Rosa up but kept his gaze locked on the threat in front of him. He knew he had to comply with whatever was to happen or risk them hurting her.

  Gino went without a fight, allowing them to restrain him before throwing him into the back of a van, Rosa tossed in with him. It wasn’t long after that he found himself tied to a chair in Angelo Battaglia’s inner city apartment.

  What followed was a nightmare. Tito, who’d been waiting for them, soon recognized that beating Gino and using his knife to slice cuts into his torso didn’t get as big a reaction from him as when he turned those tactics on the woman. The fucker had stumbled across Gino’s personal nightmare, forced to watch as someone tortured and tormented someone weaker than them.

  Gino had cursed and begged for them to leave her alone, but they didn’t. God, the things they’d done to her had turned his stomach. They stripped her in front of him, and he could see the bruises and scars that covered her body, and had to endure the shame of being unable to help her. He was thankful for the moments when Tito would be enraged by whatever curse or insult Gino had thrown his way and turned his blade or fists in his direction. But every time, without fail, Rosa would do something to call attention to herself and Tito’s focus would switch.

  His actions got worse, the beatings harder, more blood was spilled from both of them, and Gino thought he would go crazy. At one point, Tito held a gun to Gino’s forehead, swearing and cursing, and he figured his time had come. But Rosa stepped in once more, slapping the gun away. She turned to run, but Tito grabbed her by her hair, pulling her down to the ground. Gino had witnessed his mother’s death at the hand of his own father, but what followed in that apartment was the hardest thing Gino had ever had to witness. He’d thrashed, gone crazy in the chair, making both his wrists bleed as he tried to get to her. To stop her torment, to stop the violation, but there was no escape.

  He kept his gaze steady on hers, desperately trying to get her to understand that he was there with her. Later, Tito made her film Gino’s torture, the video they sent to Gavriil, calling out Tony and Leona, looking to avenge his brother. She’d vomited when they took his finger, as if watching that done to him was harder for Rosa to bear than what she’d had to endure.

  ****

  The door opened in front of him, pulling him out of his memories as Rosa appeared before him with a bag in her hand. From the startled look on her face, she had no idea he’d been standing here. He lowered the hand he was about to use to knock on the door as he held her stare. She was so fucking beautiful, and if he didn’t pull his head out of his ass like Tony said, she was going to walk out of this house, out of his life, and never come back. One look at the resolve that shone in her beautiful eyes told him so.

  Gino had to come to terms with own his failures and what he’d witnessed. He hadn’t been able to protect her, or stop what had happened to her that night. But he wasn’t going to fail her now. Gino was going to do exactly what he promised her he would do. He was going to protect her from anything and anyone looking to hurt her.

  Even herself.

  Chapter Three

  Rosa looked up into Gino’s face and swallowed hard. His expression was almost blank, but the swirl of emotion in his eyes told her that whatever was going through his head was causing him pain. And she had a fairly good idea what that might be. Hell, that night had threatened to break her, too, on more than one occasion in the last five weeks, and it hurt that just seeing her caused him pain.

  The two of them stood for a long time, simply staring at each other, and Rosa felt a warmth spread across her face. “Um, Gino? Was there something you needed?”

  Gino’s gaze narrowed, dropping quickly to the bag she was carrying. “You going somewhere, Rosa?”

  Rosa swallowed nervously but nodded. “Um, yeah. I thought I’d go and—um visit a friend.”

  Gino a
rched a perfect brow in a way that made her feel like a child who’d just been caught in a lie. Which, okay, was not too far from the truth, but she’d never been a fast thinker, and when it came to lying, she sucked at it.

  “You thought you’d go and visit a friend at nine o’clock at night?” Gino’s tone was dry, and it was obvious he didn’t believe her.

  “Yeah, I’m an adult and can visit whoever I damn well please,” she snapped back, then tried to push past him.

  She would’ve had more luck trying to walk through the wall beside her, and within seconds, she found herself pushed gently back into the room as the door was closed quietly behind them.

  This wasn’t the first time Gino had been in the room, or the two of them had been alone, but never before had she been more aware of how big and imposing the man was. Not to mention how hot he looked in a suit, his brown eyes filled with fire, and he smelled amazing. She had no business thinking about the man in that way, so she made herself take a small step back.

  “Mio Dio, Rosa,” Gino sneered. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Rosa jerked in surprise. “I never thought you would. Why would you think that?”

  Gino lifted his fists to his hips, a move that pulled the white business shirt he wore beneath his suit jacket tight across his muscular chest. “Because you are fucking looking at me warily and you stepped back.”

  Rosa bit her bottom lip, not quite able to meet his gaze, and she closed her eyes when he stepped even closer.

  “Cara? Talk to me.” She felt him slide his hand beneath her jaw, gently tugging until her face came up. “Come on, sweetness, open those eyes and tell me what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours.”

  She shook her head, refusing to open them, afraid that he would read more in them than she was ready to reveal.

  “Then I guess I’m going to have to make you.”

  As she was processing that statement, Gino pressed his warm lips to hers. When she gasped, inhaling sharply, her eyes flew open. She caught the lust in Gino’s gaze in that brief moment before he cupped her face in his hand, tilting her head slightly, and then took the kiss to another level. This time, her eyes slid closed as her body filled with sensations sparked by a man who knew how to kiss. And Gino kissed like no one she’d ever kissed before.

  He claimed her mouth for his own, simply devoured her, and there was nothing she could do about it. Not that she wanted to. Gino demanded everything she had to give, and she gave it willingly. When he finally pulled back, they were both breathing heavily, and she was completely off the ground as he held her up against him. Her arms locked around his neck and her legs wrapped intimately around his waist.

  Gino leaned in to press his forehead against hers. “Can I take it from that, cara, that perhaps I was mistaken and you aren’t afraid of me?”

  Rosa smiled shyly, shaking her head. “No, Gino. Never.”

  Gino’s smile was genuine and her heart stuttered at just how incredibly handsome he was. “Good. I’m glad we have that cleared up. Now, tell me what happened tonight to scare you.”

  And just like that, all the warm fuzzy feelings that had heat pooling deep within her were washed away by ice-cold reality. “Why do you think something happened?”

  She winced at the tremble she heard in her own voice. Gino’s arched brow told her that he had caught it, too.

  “Cara, just tell me who those men were and what they said to you.”

  Rosa sighed, lowering her legs and pushing against him until he lowered her gently to the ground. “They were two men sent by my father.”

  Gino frowned as he moved back to lean against the wall. “You’ve never mentioned your father before. You’ve been pretty vague about your entire family, in fact.”

  Rosa nodded, crossing her arms around her middle, suddenly feeling chilled. “I know. I let you believe that I had no family, and to be fair, Gino, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t. You once asked me if I’d worked for the Battaglias and I said yes. But that’s not entirely true.” Rosa took a deep shaky breath as she prepared to tell him her greatest shame. “My father gave me to Vincent Battaglia three years ago.”

  The change in Gino was instant. He went from relaxed and inquisitive to apex predator in the blink of an eye.

  “He gave you to him?” His tone matched his demeanor.

  Rosa nodded, ignoring the heat that rose in her face. “My father is Eduardo Hernandez.”

  She saw that Gino recognized his name. Anyone who was anyone in organized crime in the Chicago area knew about the Hernandez cartel that operated out of Mexico.

  “Tito met me at our family home when I was twenty-one, and took a liking to me,” Rosa said in a small voice. “My father wanted distribution networks through the Midwest. He gave me to the Battaglias for access to those the routes.”

  Gino cursed in Italian for a long time, and oddly, she found it soothing. He was upset on her behalf. He pushed off from the wall suddenly and stepped into her space once more, pulling her into his arms. She wrapped hers around his waist and they clung to each other. She felt him take a few calming deep breaths and matched her breathing to his.

  When he finally pulled back to look into her eyes, she could tell he had himself firmly back under control. “Your father’s an asshole. And I look forward to telling him what I think of him face-to-face one day.”

  “Gino, no, you can’t!”

  Gino shook his head, lifting a finger to press it gently against her lips. “Shh, cara. When that happens, it will be between me and him. Right now, I want to know what happened tonight, between you and those two men. Did you know them personally? What did they say to you?”

  Rosa took a shaky breath and shook her head. “No, I don’t know who they are. They told me that now that Tito is gone, my father has demanded that I return home. He has another connection he wishes to make in this area, and I am to be part of that agreement.”

  “I’m so sorry, Rosa.”

  She gave him a small smile. “You can’t pick your family, right?”

  Gino laughed softly, holding her gently, making her feel safe. “Not the biological one, that’s for sure. But you can pick the one you will stand with and know that they will stand beside you.”

  She watched as Gino leaned forward, his eyes locked on her mouth, and she knew he was about to kiss her again. And she realized how much she’d been hoping for another kiss. The last one—

  “Gino!” They both froze, their gazes locked together. “You got anything to say to the assholes that scared our Rosa? Or you okay for me to deal with them?”

  Gino looked down at her with no small amount of regret in his expression. “Hold that thought.” She grinned when he pressed a swift kiss to her lips, then stepped back as he walked over to open the door.

  Gino leaned out into the hall. “Be right there!” He took a step out then turned back to hold out his hand toward her. “You coming, cara? If you’re going to be a part of this family in truth, then you need to see all parts of it. The good, the bad, and the satisfying.” Gino waggled his eyebrows at her, and Rosa giggled, slamming her hand to her mouth to muffle the sound.

  “Don’t hide that sound, sweetheart. It’s something beautiful the world needs to hear. Now, come on, let’s go and have a word with these boys and see if they won’t take a message back home to your father from me.”

  Rosa placed her hand in his, much like she had a large portion of her heart, and followed him out the door.

  ****

  Gino kept her hand in his as he walked into the room off the back of the bar. It was a room Gavriil had ordered modified, and it came with a healthy dose of soundproofing. From the looks of the two men Tony and Nico had corralled there, they had put up a fight before they got in there. He saw that both men took note of the way he held Rosa’s hand. The one on the left, a stocky son of a bitch who looked like he lived to work out, let his gaze drift over Rosa in a way that was very easy to read.

  “I
have this nasty habit of removing things that offend me.” He pulled Rosa closer, lifting their joined hands to his mouth, and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand before leveling the man with a look. “You stare at my woman like that again, stronzo, and I’ll remove your fucking eyes.”

  He held the man’s gaze, allowing every dark emotion he felt draw to the surface, and from the way the man paled, Gino knew he understood the threat was very, very real.

  “You stay back here, cara mia, I don’t want to get any blood on your beautiful dress.” Gino felt a wave of satisfaction at the sweep of unease and fear that flickered over the men’s faces.

  He gently released Rosa’s hand and stepped closer to them. “The first thing you need to know in this instance is that I only say things once. I won’t remind you of the question again. I will simply keep hitting you until you answer that question, or you lose the ability to speak, is that understood?”

  The man to the right nodded his understanding immediately, but the stocky bastard to the left spat at him. Gino’s smile had nothing to do with humor and everything to do with anticipation as he drew back his fist and slammed it into the man’s nose. The crunch of the bone beneath his fist pleased him just as much as watching the prick drop to the ground, cursing with hands pressed to his face.

  “Now,” Gino continued in a calm voice, “how did you know that Rosa was here at Marissa’s?”

  “Don’ you say a damb thin’, Filipe!” the dumbass on the ground yelled at his friend. Gino drew back his foot, slamming it into his head and knocking him into unconsciousness.

  “Filipe.” His voice remained even and calm. “If you want your thick-as-shit friend here to survive this night a little longer, you might want to roll him over so he doesn’t choke on his own blood.” Gino waited while Filipe moved swiftly to do as he suggested, then looked at him pointedly.