Love Me (The Lucky Family Book 3) Read online

  Shit. I was hoping she wouldn’t find out about this secret room and know that I have planned for this. Truthfully, I always wondered when my time was going to come and I have been ready for it.

  Just not for my girl to know.

  “Baby, go back to sleep,” I climb off the floor and get back into bed. “I’m here.” I rub my hand up and down her arm as she turns so she’s laying on my chest. Her perfect lips are pursed as she falls back asleep. I wait until her breathing has leveled before I slip out of bed again.

  Once the money is placed in my personal bank, I take all of my guns out of the drawer and place them on top. Sure, if someone were able to find this, they are about to get lucky. However, there’s only two people who knows where this is. My mom and my sister, Lia Sophia, and I doubt that they will come here to raid me.

  When the sun starts to come up, I look out the window and have the curtain cover me more. I want to see if they are still there but I don’t want them to fucking know that I know that this is coming.

  My phone continues to buzz but I’m not interested in looking at it. There’s nothing good that can come from it.

  I’m about to walk to my shower when the alarm trips. There’s a loud noise that’s shaking my house and I reach under the vanity and grab my gun. Once it’s cocked, Savannah gets out of bed and runs over to me.

  As naked as I left her after I fucked her asleep, I can see she’s trying to cover up her beautiful body. “What’s happening, baby?” She yells over the loud alarm and covers her ears.

  “Stay here!” I command and creep out the door. Cherub begins to bark and I want to shut him up. Either someone is breaking in or this is a raid. Either way, it’s best that I remain on top.

  The lights in the hallway are flashing due to the alarms and Cherub is barking louder. Since he’s an adult now, his bark is louder and menacing. Just how I wanted him just not now.

  Savannah

  With the loud alarm blaring, the last thing I want to do is to sit in the room and wait to find out what is happening. This has never happened before and I can’t help but think something bad is about to happen.

  I walk to the door with Cherub trailing next to me and I look down the hall. I can see the outline of Vincent’s body as it glows along with the lights. There’s a strobe lights of flashing beams that are coming from the foyer.

  “Vincent Moretti! You are under arrest! Drop your weapon and come down here. ” An angry mega-phoned voice calls from a man.

  “No!” I scream as I run to turn off the alarm in our room. When I rush back out, I see Vincent throw his hands in the air after dropping the gun on the floor.

  He turns to look at me and says: “Go back to our room. I will be home soon.”

  And with that, the bastard walks down the stairs and I burst out in tears. Big hot fucking tears that burn my cheeks. “No!” I yell and rush down the stairs after him. A man steps in front of me in a SWAT outfit and grabs my elbows to hold me back.

  “Miss, you can’t touch him!” The man that has me says sternly enough to have Vincent’s head turn.

  “Get your hands off of my fucking wife!” He commands and tries to break out of the hold that the police have on him.

  I watch in horror as one punches him in the stomach as I struggle to get free. If I can just get out of being held back, he could hold me and tell me this is all a big mess.

  “Vincent Moretti, you are under arrest for the murders of Joel Castille and three other missing persons- presumed dead- cases. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say, can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can not afford one, one will be provided to you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?”

  I struggle against the restraints of the man behind me and I try to kick up my feet to throw him off. He hisses and groans. “Do not make this any worse for you or Moretti. Do you want to join him?”

  Frantically, I nod my head and I try to get to Vincent. Before I make progress, they are pulling him out of the house and out into the dawn. He goes quietly but I know the truth. Inside, he’s waging a war that is about to explode.

  When they start to bring him to the SUV, I step on the man’s foot hard enough to scare him and run out the door. Before I can get to him, they are holding his head down so he can get into the backseat of the car. When the door closes, there’s a sense of finality that makes me crumble inside.

  “No! Stop! He didn’t do it!” I call out and try to get to the car.

  The lights of their rear bumper illuminate and shock my eyes. They are gone as quickly as they fucking came. The officer that held me back comes up and squats down so we are eye to eye.

  “Mrs. Moretti, you are pretty wise. You need to get out of here before the blowback affects you even more.” The hulking man leaves me on the stoop with Cherub rubbing his head on my arm in comfort. He, too, knows that this is bad.

  Anne

  We received a call early in the morning. I knew it wasn’t something good because nothing good happens between midnight and eight in the morning.

  Ronnie and I have been up all night with a teething LaVinia. Her cute little curly head has been warm all night and we almost took her to the hospital. I love being a mom, but a person can not go this long without sleep.

  I need sleep.

  I had my phone in my hand and a finally sleeping baby in the other, and we were rocking to the beat in my head. It was then that I received a call.

  Almost jumping out of my skin, I shut the ringer off and send a text that I have a sleeping baby when I get one back.

  Bethany: Pop has been arrested. we need you to go to their house.

  Me: wtf?

  Bethany: we need you and rossi at her house now

  Me: when did this happen?

  Bethany: now

  Careful to not wake up my baby girl, I rise out of the rocker and place her in her crib. We had decorated her room to be fit enough for an Italian Princess with gold and lace designs. Because she is a princess to us and to everyone else.

  Tip toeing out of her room, I run to my and Ronnie’s room. He’s sleeping diagonally across the bed with his ass in the air. We haven’t had alone time over the past year and I crave it with him. But we are parents now, and LaVinia comes first.

  “Honey, wake up,” I brush my hand down his back in order to not startle him. “Wake up. Something bad happened.”

  He jolts awake and flips over to his back and starts to get up before I could blink. “What’s wrong with my baby?”

  The sassy side of me wants to remind him that she has a name and she’s our baby, but I don’t. “Vincent has been arrested. We need to go to their house. Now.”

  “All right, let me wake up my mom.”

  Ronnie’s parents moved into the penthouse next to ours shortly before we had LaVinia. It works because we are able to go to the grocery store when needed and when I need a break. I stopped working so much so I could take care of her but every once in a while, mommy needs a minute to herself.

  I run into the closet as he gets out of bed and strolls to the front of our open penthouse. Once I’m in a pair of sweats and a baggy tee, I hear his mom speaking in rapid Italian.

  One of these days, I’m going to have to learn Italian. I swear, LaVinia is going to speak better Italian than myself. Maybe I could have her translate what her grandparents say.

  Focus!

  Ronnie comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. “It will be okay, honey. Don’t worry. I love you.”

  We leave our place and head over to Savannah’s house. When we get there, I’m horrified by what I find. There’s broken glass all over her front door step and her door is wide open.

  “Vans? Vans! Where are you?” I scream as I run up the steps and bust into her room. “Savannah! Where the hell are you?” I yell louder and then search through her whole room. “God damn it! Fuck. Where are you?”

  “Anne! I found her!” Ronnie y
ells from the bottom floor.

  “Jesus!” My feet carry me fast down the stairs and when I find where they are, I stop.

  She’s passed out in the corner curled around Cherub. “Vans?” I whisper and she doesn’t move. Ronnie is kneeling next to her and he’s brushing her hair out of her face.

  “Savannah, you have to wake up and tell me what happened.”

  Stubborn as normal, she shakes her head and burrows it deeper into the dog’s fur. He’s wet from her tears but he’s being a good dog and comforting her how she needs to be comforted right now.

  Vincent

  It wasn’t until I heard the gate slam shut that I realized that this wasn’t a dream. Call me fucking stupid, but I thought for sure that this was some sort of a dream and I was waiting to wake up from it. Never happened.

  The feds were very cheeky as they drove talking about how my arrest was going to make their careers. What the fuck ever. I’m not going to be here forever. It’s only a matter of time before I’m sprung and I can’t wait.

  We sat in a room with poor lighting and the two fuckers were standing around the room trying to intimidate me. “Tell me, what the Lucky’s have planned?”

  “What Lucky’s? I don’t know what you are talking about.” I learned from my father to deny everything and remain calm. If you let them see your unease, they will feed on it.

  “Vincent Pop Moretti. That’s your name, isn’t it?”

  I give him a stupid look and try to look as if I’m inconvenienced. “I’m Vincent Moretti. Who’s this Pop?”

  “Is that how we are going to play it?”

  I shrug and look at them in the eyes. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I’m ready to go home to my wife.” Poor Savannah. I had never prepared her for what life would be like if I were to go in the inside. I’m so fucking pissed at myself for that.

  Dumbass Number One with the dumbass haircut, lets out a sigh. “Your wife is fine. I’m sure she’s being comforted by one of yous cosca.”

  “You sure know some words about the mafia. Don’t you?” I murmur and look at my nails. I pretend that my nail beds are more important than they are to piss them off more. It’s a power struggle and I’m not letting these fucks win.

  “What happened to your wife’s husband?” Dumbass Number Two asks and pulls out a chair to sit in front of me.

  He’s trying to piss me off and I’m not going to let that work. “I’m my wife’s husband. Are you done trying to pin me with something I didn’t do?” I ask with boredom dripping in my voice.

  “What happened to Joel Castille? He’s been found dead outside of a Lucky building. From my understanding, you have beef with him.”

  I fight the urge to lose my cool and count to ten. “Look, Savannah’s ex-husband left and no one knows what happened to him.”

  “Pretty convenient that he died while you were supposed to be on your honeymoon with your new bride,” Dumbass Number One spouts off.

  “Right. Are you up my ass or something? You sure think you know a lot about me. Are you at my house while I make love to my wife? Are you there while I come all over those gorgeous tits?” I’m being graphic but he’s pissing me the fuck off.

  Number Two slams his hand against the table and Number One jumps. “We know who you are! You’re Pop! Admit to what we already know you did, and we can move on with our lives. You rot in prison and your whole syndicate falls apart.”

  See, that’s where he is wrong. The Luckys will never fall apart. We are strong and united. They will protect Savannah and I know that Anne is probably over at my house right now with her. Rossi is probably flipping the fuck out trying to figure out what to do.

  “See, I’m not admitting to anything because I didn’t do anything wrong. Where’s your proof? You know, your evidence?” The quicker I find out what they have on me, the quicker I can get out of here.

  The two dumbasses look at each other and one of them gets up and hits a button the television. The background is blacked out but I can make out the outline of a person.

  A man’s voice starts off: “Please tell me what you saw the night of October 20th?”

  Another male voice starts to talk: “I saw Pop Moretti walk into a warehouse with three other people and then a loud bang. About fifteen minutes, he left alone and climbed back in his car.”

  “What do you think the bang was? What did it sound like?”

  “Like a gun.”

  I know that voice. How the hell do I know that voice?

  “Did you happen to see who was killed?”

  “Joel Castille was led there before those three got there.”

  “How do you know who that is?”

  “I used to work with him.”

  “Did you see him again?”

  “Never again.”

  “What made you come to tell us now?”

  “I’m tired of the Luckys getting away with everything.”

  And just like that. I remember who that voice belongs to.

  That fucking rat bastard.

  And with that, Number Two shut off the television and sat in front of me with a smug smile on his face. I’m about to kill both of these fuckers. “What does that prove?”

  “That proves that you know something about his murder. You were there.”

  I lean back in my chair and rest my elbows on my side. Yeah, I’m preening but I’m getting pissed. “Maybe I was looking for a new place for my wife’s business.”

  “That’s not what we heard.”

  “I want my lawyer.”

  Savannah

  For the past three weeks, I have had my house run over by the wives and comares of all of the men. I’m ready to have my house be mine again and not worry about entertaining anymore people. Luckily for me, they bring food.

  Bad for my waist and hips, I eat the food. All of it.

  Vincent wanted a private hearing and I wasn’t able to go to it. Yeah, I’m fucking pissed off that I wasn’t able to be there but he said I didn’t need to see him like that. I have called the county jail repeatedly every night to see if I could talk to him. Each time, they told me the same thing: “Inmates are not allowed to receive personal calls.”

  I just want to hear his voice. I want to know he’s all right in there and he’s going to be okay. According to Sammy, he’s been sentenced to five years for conspiracy to commit murder. They never found Joel’s body or the others but they have suspicion that he is guilty.

  Here I thought that we lived in an Innocent Until Proven Guilty community. I guess I was wrong.

  It’s week four by the time that I receive a letter from Vincent. Sammy handed it over to me and told me to read it in private. Apparently, it’s supposed to help ease the ache of not having my husband here.

  After everyone left, I grabbed a bottle of wine and walked out to the hot tub. Once the water was turned on to create bubbles, I slid into the tub and took a sip of the wine. As the coldness of the wine flows through my senses, I open the letter.

  My lovely,

  I want you to know that I’m fine. There’s nothing more than that to say. I know you are worried about me as much as I’m worried about you, but there is nothing we can do about it.

  I hope you are all right and are letting the ladies take care of you because that is what they do. When we got married, you became apart of the sisterhood. They are there to help you cope and help you get on with your life.

  I love you and I will be out soon.

  Vincent

  Year One:

  Vincent

  Prison is like high school.

  There’s the cool people table, that’s the one that has all the scary people. That’s also the table of the guys you want to protect you.

  There’s the table with the gangsters who constantly throw up fucking signs. And across the mess hall is the table with other gangsters.

  In the far corner, there’s a table that holds the untouchables. Those are the guys that molested and or raped little kids. No one wants
to be seen talking to them or sitting with them. It’s kind of funny how that is. But of course, I fucking understand why. They are treated like the plague because they are predators.

  For the past year, I have been recruited to join every single one of these tables and I turn them down. I’m here to do my time and then go home and see my wife. Hanging around these fuckers is only going to get me time added. Which is not something that I’m interested in.