Ria
Later, after they had gulped down the hot and sweet tea that one of the men had prepared, they were back on the road. Ria wrapped herself in the warm jacket Philippe offered her and remained huddled after clambering hastily into the back seat of the little car, trying not to think of the bulky, attractive man beside her as he spoke on the phone, issuing terse orders in a low voice.
A part of her wondered bleakly, how had she managed to sleep with the man she loved without …?
As though he had heard her thoughts, Philippe turned to her and met her eyes, his black gaze burning into her with an intensity which made her tremble in anticipation.
‘I am waiting for you,’ said the silent, searing look,
‘I will wait for you to come to me. But I will not disrespect my Boss.’
His hot gaze slipped to her mouth and the swell of her full breasts beneath her layers of clothing, like the lingering touch of a lover, possessive and urgent. Yet Ria did not feel threatened. Instead, she felt a soft, fuzzy feeling, a strange longing unfurling in her core and spreading over her, a longing…she looked away into the darkness, blushing, unable to hold his clear, candid look.
*
Philippe permitted himself to look at her, his hungry gaze devouring her. But his love was strong and his loyalty to his Boss was powerful enough to make him control his deep hunger for the beautiful girl who stood before him, her moist lips parted.
“I must be a f*cking crazy weirdo,’ he thought savagely as he got into the car beside her, careful not to touch her as he began to inform his crew and of course, the Boss that they were on their way.
*
Dusak Rudenko as he called himself these days flung his cell phone across the room savagely. the two women who had been servicing him in his large, ostentatious bedroom in his villa, looked at him uncertainly, with fear in their eyes.
When Dusak was enraged, it was not good or safe to be anywhere near him.
“She got away, the b*tch!’ he shouted and kicking one of the women out of the way so savagely, she fell off the bed, he stomped out onto the balcony, stark naked. The cool morning air and the sight of the Aegean Sea before him soothed him. He was on the island of Astypalaia, enjoying his break with a harem he had selected from the women who were to be sold in the market in a month’s time.
The huge villa, sprawling and tastefully decorated, belonged to one of his associates and the man was to join him this evening, along with his friends. The sparkling, clear blue sea shimmered in the morning sunlight but the one-eyed man, who stood staring at it, was blind to the beauty of the moment. He had been so close to getting the girl he had lusted for after all these years. But that m*ther*cking Capo of Delano’s had managed to spirit her away right from beneath his nose.
*
He had received a trace on the phone the girl had been carrying. But it had also turned out to be a red herring.
Again he swore, his hand itching to hit someone. The women in the room trembled. They knew what was coming. They might not live to see the sun tomorrow.
Imbeciles!, he roared, thinking of his men in Hollowford.
“Jerks!’ he yelled, “Nincompoops!’
He had heard his uncle use the abusive words before.
His idiotic crews had been led a merry dance across the county while all the while, the girl had been safely stashed away somewhere else.
*
The phone had been traced to another woman, the Hummer he had been tracking, had turned out to be someone else’s.
His uncle would be furious in his cold way. The old man would give him a disparaging look and shake his head.
“Control your urges, boy,’ he would say contemptuously.
Dusak smote one of the white pillars savagely. He wanted to see respect and admiration in his uncles’ eyes when he spoke to Dusak but all this while, it had been a kind of cold disgust, like one would look at a particularly repulsive creature, with pity and contempt.
When he turned back to the hapless women in the room, they knew that they would not survive the ordeal before them…
*
Magnus Nord flopped onto the bed and re-read the text message he had received on his phone. He could not believe his luck. He had received a message from a top man in the world of dealers.
Yes, he had been snorting snuff, but so what? He thought it was cool and if it was not for his stupid mother, he would have been able to continue to live with Dad.
Which meant freedom.
But no, his mother, the stupid bit*h , had forced his father to give up any idea he might have had about letting Magnus stay with him.
A mother’s touch, she had said, her big blue eyes opened wide. He needs to be with me.
And of course, Dad had to agree.
But Magnus hated his mother for dragging him away from the only place he had been happy at, saying that he was getting mixed up with some undesirable elements.
*
A friend of Dad’s had been a Meth head and Magnus used to watch the man slyly. Of course, Ricardo, the friend, had disappeared soon after but Magnus had lain awake on the sofa in the front room of his father’s apartment, hearing the grunts coming from the bedroom where his Dad was busy f*cking the latest girl in his life. He used to think that it must be pretty cool to be a user. These days, he was using marijuana but he knew he was heading towards something stronger. Marijuana did not provide such a great kick anymore.
His dealer had promised to get him something on a higher grade but he needed to cough up the money first.
And then the call had come.
*
Most people knew him as the son of Tommaso de Luca so he had dreamt of a day when he would be sent a hint that someday, he was also going to be invited to join the gangs that roamed around the streets of his erstwhile hometown, to be one of those who was feared, respected; it had taken all he had to control the excitement that went through him when the call had come, unexpectedly…
A brusque query. Was he interested in joining them?
This afternoon, when he had been dragged to accompany his dumb broad of a mother, on a house hunting jaunt across the small city, the call had come through. Knowing that he could not talk in front of his nosey mother, he had made an excuse and slipped off while she was chatting with the realtor agent.
Almost fumbling with excitement he had returned the call. After a number of attempts, Magnus had managed to get across to the man he simply knew as Trix , a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks and dark glasses, with a knife mark on his cheek.
Trix had not wasted time in beating about the bush; he had bluntly asked if the youth was interested in joining them; when Magnus had managed to reply, overcome as he was by delight, Trix had asked, his voice cold and overtly impersonal,
‘Heard you was shacking up at the Delano mansion, kid? That true?’
Magnus had felt a moment of disquiet but he had answered loftily arrogantly,
‘Yeah, dude.’
Trix had been silent for a long, so long that Magnus felt his palms sweating nervously while he waited; had he inadvertently annoyed Trix? he thought scared stiff, cursing his overconfidence.
Then the man’s voice came over the line, as he said,
“Might have a job for you kid, before you join us. You game or wot? You know, like a test, huh?
His way of speaking, somehow trying to sound like a B-grade Hollywood gangster, had always made Magnus snigger at him inwardly. But today, the cliched talk was not affecting him in that way. His heart pounding, he said loudly, trying hard to hide his excitement,
“Yes. Yes.’