The next day.
The door of my bedroom squeaked open, and I wanted to yell at him for not answering my call again. I liked when he got pissed off. I bit my bottom lip, scooted up in the bed, and let the sheet fall from my naked body. His eyes turned animalistic, ready to attack his prey, and even though our night was cut short with everything happening with Sofia and Joaquin, I wanted to make up for the loss with him between my legs. Many people would say I was crazy for even thinking about dating a mobster, but becoming his fiancée was entirely another story. The biggest reason for our fights lately was me hiding our relationship. My job was to keep all eyes on Sofia and secretly, I feared dealing with the same problems that she was going through now.
“Breakfast in bed.” Hugo kissed me on the forehead and placed the tray in front of me.
The food looked delicious, and I was starving for something to eat. When Sofia called me last night about Alessandra, my main goal was to make sure the family was good and worrying about Hugo’s safety.
“You don’t cook.”
“Delivery.”
“Have some. I can’t eat all of this by myself.”
“I like to watch you eat.” Hugo reached over and rubbed my nipple.
“Mmmmm…”
“Eat.”
“I’ll eat afterwards. I want something else.” I pointed to his boxers, and he chuckled.
“No time for that. I need to get over to the house with Sofia and Joaquin.”
“How is Alessandra?” I cut into the pancakes and fed it to him.
“Quiet, playing the silent treatment with her brother.”
“She thinks Joaquin is going to send her back?”
“He already made the call.”
“Just like that?”
Hugo slid out of bed, and I admired his wide shoulders and muscular back with tattoos of his family and friends.
“Joaquin has enemies, and Alessandra is being foolish.”
“She’s young like me.”
“But you’re not acting dumb.”
“Well, only for you.”
He winked at me.
“I want to come.”
“No, you need to stay here out of trouble.”
“I can help.”
“Cassi.” He called me by a nickname whenever he was serious about something. I poked my lip out, moved the tray to the side, and crawled close to the edge of the bed. He stopped and narrowed his eyes at me.
“Sofia needs my help just as much as Alessandra.”
“You're going to tell her about our ring.”
He pointed at the jewelry box sitting in the nightstand.
“It’s too early, Hugo,” I whined.
“I’m not your little secret, Cassi.”
“When have I ever made you feel like you're a secret?” I rose out of the bed, closed the distance between us, and wrapped my arms around his waist. Hugo sighed, extended his arms to my lower back, and cuffed my butt cheeks. He peppered my shoulder with kisses, and I groaned, wanting to feel his thick shaft.
“Busy first,” Hugo muttered and pressed a kiss to my lips.
I dropped my hands from around his waist, stomped to the bathroom, and slammed the door.
“Withholding sex from me won’t work!” I shouted from the other side of the bathroom.
“Cassi.”
“What!”
“Wear your ring.”
The feeling of making it known to the world that I was getting married to someone my parents had only met a few times, that I half-lied about his occupation being a businessman. If they knew he was a trained killer, I’d probably be shipped out to a convent.
Later in the afternoon, I arrived at Sofia and Joaquin’s home to a barrage of cars and men outside like it was Fort Knox. Once Hugo left earlier, I had some work to do, getting Sofia back on set and approved for flying to Texas for an upcoming film shoot. I parked my car, grabbed my laptop and purse, and knocked on the front door.
“Hi, Cassidy,” Martha answered and stepped to the side, allowing me to enter.
I removed my glasses and followed Sofia’s voice in the living room.
“How is she?”
“Which one?”
“Both, I guess.”
“Alessandra is sulking in her bedroom, and Sofia is in the living room with the kids,” Martha explained.
“Thanks.”
When Pamela threw that question, I was pissed and ready to kick her ass, but I had to maintain my composure, or we’d be in more trouble. I stepped in the living room and chuckled at JJ trying to keep his food away from Jianna. That little girl was still in the body-feeding stage and thought she was grown and could have solid foods.
“He’s so big.” I ran my palm through his black, curly hair. He took after his father so much, even with that crinkle in the middle of his forehead that popped up when he was angry.
“Remind me to lock him and my sister up so they can’t grow up any more.”
Sofia stood and reached out for a hug. I rubbed her back and took a seat next to her on the couch.
“Where is everybody?”
“Joaquin is in his office with Hugo and Gael.”
“Alessandra.”
“Upstairs, refusing to come out.”
“When is she leaving to go back home?”
“I think tomorrow.”
“How are you handling all this?”
Sofia waved her hand in the air.
“I worked hard to have a career without any scandals, and now all that is being washed away.”
“You can't think like that.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“No, tell me.”
“Hugo.”
“What about Hugo?”
“You see what I’m going through with Joaquin. Why would you do the same thing?” she whispered.
I opened, then closed my mouth in surprise that she knew we were an item.
“You two are more obvious than you think.”
“I thought I was hiding it well.”
“No, you're not.”
“He wants to tell everybody.”
“What do you want?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way.”
“Depends.”
“I can’t worry what happens to him every minute and if people are trying to kill him by going through me.”
“Like my life.”
I nodded, hating to have these thoughts.
“It’s not easy. Sometimes I wish I could go back.”
“Any other surprises pop up?”
“The studio called me.”
“Huh… Why? I’m your manager.”
“They’re thinking of recasting my part.”
“What!” I jumped off the couch, startling the kids. Sofia grasped my arm and yanked me back down.
“Sshhh.”
“They can’t do that. We have a contract.”
“I know, and I threatened to sue if they tried.”
“What did they say?”
“Talked about the bad publicity with my marriage and shootout.”
“That’s bull crap.” I had to catch myself when JJ treaded over to me with his toy car.
“Baby, go finish your food,” Sofia said.
“Are you still going to Texas?”
“Joaquin said something about us needing to be on lockdown, but I have no choice but to go for work or lose out on this opportunity.”
“I think you should go. We can get extra protection.”
Buzz! Buzz!
“Who is that?” I questioned.
“My notifications have been going off all day.”
“I’m sorry this is happening to you. I tried to get a statement out, but Joaquin—”
“Stubborn, I know. Today, I was planning on talking to him about some things we need to change.”
“If he plans on staying married to me, he’s going to make some changes.”
“Are you thinking about divorcing him?”
“Divorce!” Alessandra shouted.
Sofia rolled her eyes, and I groaned, turned at her disheveled attire of gray sweatpants and large white T-shirts with her hair unkempt. This wasn’t the normal Alessandra we were used to seeing. The bags under her eyes told a story she wanted to hide.
“You're married to the Fuertes family; we don’t believe in divorce,” Alessandra preached.
“Alessandra.” I tried to calm her down.
She shoved her hand in my face, and I could tell Sofia was embarrassed about her sister-in-law.
“Alessandra, my marriage is none of your concern. You’ve done enough,” Sofia replied.
“Does Joaquin know you're trying to divorce him? Take his bambina and son away.” Alessandra pointed at the kids.
“What’s with all the yelling?” Joaquin, Gael, and Hugo stood at the door, and all I wanted to do was escape before everything blew up.
“She’s talking about divorcing you. I’m more loyal to you than your wife, and you want to ship me off!” Alessandra pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.
Joaquin narrowed his eyes at Sofia and gazed over at his kids. My mouth went dry in nervousness. The anticipation of World War III in front of my face was something I hadn’t planned on doing.
Boom!
“Arghhh!!!”
Everything happened in slow motion, and I prayed the kids' lives would be spared. Joaquin leapt over like Superman and covered the children, Gael reached out for Alessandra and tugged her down. I watched Sofia crawl to the kids, and Hugo went into attack mode and shot back. I couldn’t believe what I was in the middle of. I knew right there that my life would be forever changed.
Pop! Pop!
“Arghhhh!!” I screamed, watching Joaquin grab both babies. Sofia stood as the bullets stopped.
“We need to go to the basement,” Joaquin commanded.
“Where’s Martha and the rest of the staff?” Sofia called out, and we ran out of the living room and through the hallway to the basement door. We saw Martha holding the door open.
“Mr. Fuertes! We saw at least five or six men,” Martha explained.
“Gael, where are you going?” Alessandra pleaded, holding on to his jacket. He kissed the side of her face as the tears pooled into her eyes.
“Go with Martha. I’m right behind you,” Gael told her.
“No!” Alessandra screamed.
“Alessandra! Ti amore.” Gael gripped her palm and kissed her on the lips.
We ran through the basement and down to another door underground. I felt like I was in a movie. Sofia never told me about the basement or any of these compartments underneath the house.
“Let's go!” Joaquin shouted and held tight on to both crying babies as they screamed for their mom.
“Joaquin, how much further?” Sofia reached for Jianna, and Joaquin nudged her along, not breaking his stride.
“Right here.” He typed in the keypad on the wall, and the door opened to the outside. We stepped out to a helicopter, and I looked back over my shoulder and saw we were miles away from the house.
“What about Hugo?” I asked.
“He knows the rules.”
Joaquin buckled the kids into the plane. Another guy got in the front seat. Sofia climbed in the helicopter, and I looked back for Hugo and hesitated.
“Cassidy, come on,” Sofia muttered.
“I can’t leave him.”
“He’s fine. They’re securing the house and will meet us at our location,” Joaquin explained.
“How do you know?” I questioned.
“I know my men,” Joaquin said.
“Cassidy, he’s fine.”
“We have to go!” During her sobs, Alessandra covered her face with her hands.
“Joaquin.” As Sofia reached for his hands, he raised them to his mouth and kissed her palm.
“Martha, I thought you were a cook,” I inquired.
“I am a cook and house manager,” Martha replied.
“She’s trained on how to handle things in case I’m not home,” Joaquin explained, and I saw her in a different way. The woman had to be damn near in her late sixties.
“What about the rest of your staff?” I watched as the helicopter flew in the opposite direction of the house. I prayed Hugo and Gael came out of this alive.
“I have safety measures in place,” Joaquin responded, and I stared at the houses as they got smaller the higher we flew up.