Chapter One
I changed lanes, and my eyes alternated their focus between rear view mirrors and the road ahead in a continuous cycle. No tails. The boss had called him specifically to be on alert this week. To watch his wife with a close eye. He wasn’t specific, but it was something serious if the boss was calling. The last time I had spoken to the boss was over a year ago when I was first brought into the family. I wasn’t Italian, of course. Like most Americans nowadays, I’m a hodgepodge of a dozen different nationalities, but that worked in my favor when I joined the Italian mob. They like Americans, in general. If I had been Greek, Spanish, or Irish, forget about it. They wouldn’t have touched me. But American? They know Americans don’t take sides. There’s no blood oath that we carry. We’re individuals, and that’s what the boss needed.
However, until now, my work for them was a bit more sporadic. One-offs. Asset protection and delivery, transportation… a year straight of having five thousand dollars deposited in my checking account a week from an LLC that employed me as a contractor. And all I had to do was wait for a phone call that came two, maybe three times a month. The pay wasn't bad for an entry-level job for a dishonorably discharged soldier, considering my assignments. Now, I was questioning that.
“Hey, new fucking guy? Is this as fast as you can go? I’m going to be late?” Marlene yelled from the back seat. The lingering touch of her distant Italian accent folded the end of each word. “Hello? Are you deaf?”
“No, ma’am,” I said with as much composure as I could muster. “I’m going the speed limit. Your husband said not to draw any extra attention to—”
“My husband lives in Italy,” Marlene said, waving her hand in the rear-view mirror. I tried to respond, but I could hear Marlene cursing at herself or whoever was on the phone with her. She ranted into Italian for several minutes and shot glares at the back of my head. All the while, I could only wonder how long this assignment would last.
It had been five days, but the boss hadn’t said there was a particular end date. All my other assignments lasted three to four days, six days max. I was told they were adding to Marlene’s security because of some kind of deal happening. They wanted someone with my skills as a former special forces operator to watch her rather than the regular guy who was more gangster than professional. Surely this can’t last much longer?
“Ohh, oh, I must go, love you, mwah!” Marlene signed off her call as she answered a second. It was her husband. The boss. They spoke in Italian as she held the phone up to her body and giggled as they must have been video chatting. I made several more turns and pulled to a stop at the red light. Marlene sighed and released a small moan.
My eyes flicked up to the rear-view mirror and saw Marlene had hiked her long red skirt up to her taut belly with one hand as she spread her legs. All the while, she held out her phone with the other hand, filming it. Marlene wasn’t wearing any panties. Slipping a finger between her lips, the gorgeous woman began to masturbate in the car. There was a honking horn, and I realized the light was green and quickly lurched forward. Marlene’s eyes glanced at me, then quickly looked back to her phone as a smirk competed with the look of pleasure on her face.
Listening to the wet sounds of her fingers pumping in and out of her pussy was hard enough, but the added moans and screams made it nearly impossible for me not to react. My cock twitched, then stretched out in my boxers as I made the last turn. There was an obvious code amongst the guards against flirting or even looking like you were lusting after the Boss’ women. Doing so was a swift way to end up with your feet stuck in a bucket of concrete and being dropped to the bottom of the ocean.
“Ohh ohhh yahh oh fuck! I’m cumming! I’m cumming!” Marlene moaned with her feet spread to nearly touch both doors. Her hips raised and fell in the air as she smacked her wet pussy and convulsed as she came.
I cleared my throat as I pulled into the event. It was some Miami Independent Film debut. A red-carpet event for people who were local celebrities. Marlene said her goodbyes while adjusting her dress and lowering her skirt. When I pulled into a park, I exited the SUV and handed the key to the Escalade to the valet. The half dozen photographers waited to see who was inside, and I realized Marlene was waiting for me to get the door for her. Opening it, I took her hand and helped her out of the vehicle to a sea of white flashes and catcalls by the photographers. It wasn’t until she had moved on that I looked down and felt the wet pussy juices on my hand from hers.
Chapter Two
The movie premiere was a dull affair. Enough private security and local cops working overtime assignments to ensure nothing would happen. It was the clubs that Marlene toured afterward that had me nervous. After connecting with three of her friends who appeared to be models or influencers… some kind of non-job job… I began escorting the four of them to a series of bars, starting with the most exclusive and, thus, the safest. By the time I parked the car in the valet lane of the fifth club, the three girlfriends had gone their own ways, leaving Marlene to decide to go to the Tree Bar.
“Ma’am, I really think we should—”
“No,” Marlene said, raising a palm to stop my sentence. “I really think you should drive my car when I tell you to.”
Biting down on my tongue, I took a deep breath and released it. “Yes, ma’am.”
The club was as chaotic as I imagined it to be. Then it got worse. The internal security was almost zero inside the place, and the number of people was way over capacity. I paid for VIP access for Marlene, which was standard protocol for her when she was clubbing, but the woman ignored the selective section for the main dance floor that was covered wall to wall with bodies.
Standing at the top of the stairs, I tracked her movements through the crowd.
“Fucking woman…” I sighed under my breath as I watched her dance between men, disappear for twenty seconds, then reappear, grinding on another woman. I had half a mind to charge into the crowd, toss her over my shoulder, and carry her out kicking and screaming.
Don’t think that will go over too well with the boss.
Not that there were too many known threats meant to be at a place like this, but it was the unknown threats I was concerned with. The boss had several rival gangs in the Miami area that weren’t fans of the Italians, but that would have to be a fool to go after a boss’ wife. Such an attack meant war—a bloody war. The only time the family of a boss was touched was when the boss himself was assassinated. Then, it was like a lion taking over a pride. The newcomer kills the mate, cubs, and all the remnants of the former boss. You’d have to be insane to ignite a war like that.
I stood for over an hour and a half as I watched Marlene switch between dancing on the floor and flirting with various well-dressed men at the bar. I hadn’t even thought of how I would handle her going home with another man. It was widely known that the boss had many girlfriends besides his wife, but no one spoke of Marlene.
Was it common knowledge she slept around and I just didn’t know?
It appeared we were going to find out. Marlene had selected a suitor. A clean-shaven bald man with a square jaw who wore a three thousand dollar Armani suit. I knew because I had the same suit in my closet. The man passed the bartender and large wad of dollar bills and the bartender pointed them down a back hall reserved for employees. I quickly followed, crossing the room, and entered the hall when the bartender was not looking. The hall turned and became a series of doors. Most were closed, but the few open revealed private rooms with sofas, TVs, and minibars. Marlene made eye contact with me from the room she entered at the end of the hall. Her face switched from laughing at what her new friend had said to an icy stare that appeared to be more of a warning to keep my distance.
By the time I reached the door, she had shut it, and I heard the latch lock. Stretching out my neck, I paced momentarily to let off the steam. If a heavy bag was available, I would have unleashed a sprint of body punches. I was so angry.
How could a woman who has lived the life she has been married to the man that she is, be so inept when it came to the danger she is putting herself in?
Tossing my hands in the air, I gave up and resigned myself to the door guard while Marlene got her fuck on. I had already decided to message my contact tomorrow and request a transfer. I didn’t care. I’d go to Italy to do some work if I had to. About five minutes after a blaring music roared from inside the room, I heard more noise. Clicks, thuds, a humming sound… I couldn’t place it and moved my ear closer to the door. I rolled my eyes as I realized I was probably listening to the woman getting railed, but then I heard the scream. It was a sharp sound that didn’t sound like pleasure. It sounded like fear.
“Ahhhmmm! Help!” she cried. I could just barely make it out through the door.
Trying the doorknob, I felt it was locked and immediately stepped back. Tucking my leg and kicking my heel into the meat of the door, just like I was back in Afghanistan, I watched the hundreds of pieces of wood splinter into a thousand directions as the door burst open. Charging inside, the stereo was turned all the way up with a new heavy rock tune playing. I turned and saw two black leather couches facing each other, and on one of them was Marlene. Her dress was hiked up to her belly, and her legs kicked in the air. Her hands were tied behind her back, with Andrew standing over her with no shirt on. To muffle her screams for help, Andrew had a pillow shoved down hard on Marlene’s face.
I moved quickly, already noticing my ward’s legs slowing their kicks. It was from exhaustion, or she was close to suffocation. The roar of the guitar solo on the maxed-out sound system was loud enough that Andrew didn’t see me coming until I shoved him hard, bouncing his back off the wall and into the other couch. Swatting the pillow off of Marlene’s face, I cupped her cheek as I watched her wide eyes almost roll backward, then forward and rest on me as she gasped for air.
“Hey, you motherfucker!” Andrew yelled as he stood up from the couch and swung a looping hook at my face. Cupping my ear, I raised an elbow and, blocked the punch with my shoulder, and quickly countered with a straight cross that struck his chin and stumbled him back a step. Andrew made a half-hearted counter-strike that I chopped down with a parry as I sidestepped and landed a tight hook to his jaw. The bald man crumpled to the couch, and I shoved my knee into his belly as I landed five more complex shots to his nose that bloodied his face and made him go limp.
Satisfied with his level of injury, I switched couches and went to Marlene. I pretended not to see her red panties as I grabbed her skirt and slid it down her thigh before carefully turning her to her side. Removing a tactical, spring-assisted pocket knife and flicking it open, I cut the tie that was used to tie her hands behind her back. She immediately sprung to her feet and started kicking the unconscious man and stomping on his crotch while shouting in Italian. I grabbed the back of her arm, pulling her away.
“No, no, let me do thi—” I said and was startled when Marlene turned and embraced me in a tight and desperate hug as she sobbed. Not knowing what to do or say, I hugged her back and said, “It’s okay… he’s never going to hurt anyone again. It’s okay…”
After a few moments passed, I got us separated and sat her on the couch as I removed several zip-ties I had in a pouch. Marlene watched intently as I zip-tied the man’s hands behind his back and his ankles together.
Chapter Three
It was nearly three in the morning by the time I pulled the car over to the side of the road. The bridge I parked on was dark and poorly lit in spots. The MacArthur Causeway was a place I had done work before and was familiar with it. Marlene sat beside me in the front of the vehicle. Her tears and sniffles had followed us all the way from the club. Using the tip of her finger, she carefully dried her eyes and tried not to smear her makeup any more than she already had.
“Are you sure you want to be here for this?” I asked gently. “I can get someone to take you home…”
“No, I’ll stay with you,” Marlene sniffled, then looked at me with sad eyes. “I thought I was going to die.” She broke into tears again as she cupped a hand over her mouth, and she took gasping breaths. Aside from a few bruises on her arms and suffocation, she was lucky to survive as long as she had, with no lasting damage. “He… was just so mad out of nowhere,” she continued. “He changed as soon as we were in that room. He just held the pillow down on my face so hard. He didn’t even try to fuck me, and… and…”
Marlene was gasping in a panic again. I picked up the bottle of water in the center console I had cracked open for her and opened it.
“Shhh, shhh!” I whispered, “It’s okay… it’s okay… I have to take care of this. You can wait in the car if you want.”
“No, I’ll come,” she straightened and turned her face serious. “I want to see.”
Exiting the car, we both walked to the rear of the vehicle, and I took my time taking in the surroundings. The empty road was free of cars. There were no boats in the water nearby. I didn’t see any security cameras. There was no need to inform anyone what happened. Laying a hand on the boss’ wife had a certain consequence that must be carried out swiftly. I would call Lorenzo in the morning, and the boss would know by tomorrow afternoon. They would be glad to know the man was dealt with.
When I felt satisfied, I popped my trunk. The bloody mess that was Marlene's date was hog-tied and gagged in the trunk of my vehicle. His eyes were wide and panicked as I dragged him out and dropped him on the concrete. I stood him up on wobbly feet that were bound together. Marlene’s face hardened, and she stared at the man who could speak but only could give her pleading eyes.