Dangerous Flames (Mafia Hearts) (2 page)

“
You
have a good life with the best boutique in town, plus a fancy house.
Be satisfied with those things.”

Why
couldn’t he see her as more than his little princess? She could
do so much beyond selling designer clothes and looking pretty. Now
that she had returned home, she wanted to be part of it all. The
Mafia lifestyle ran in her blood and the desire to be part of her
father’s empire pumped through her so strong she could almost
taste it.

“
Why
won’t you let me do something small? Maybe collect money or
something?” Excitement bubbled inside of her.

“
I
will not talk to you about this again.” He picked up his cell
and dialed a number, but before sending the call through he took
another look at Gabrielle. “You’ll be at dinner,
correct?”

“
Yes,
Father,” Gabrielle said even though avoiding the weekly event
might help prove her point. Pushing her chair back and standing, she
mumbled, “See you at dinner.”

She
spun on her heel and walked out of the coffee shop knowing she had go
to the dinner instead of miss out on a moment to speak with her
father. He’d almost told her today so there had to be a way to
get her father to share some of the limelight with her. If she found
an opportunity to get him alone later, she might be granted the
opportunity pressure him a bit and then he’d tell her the
truth.

As
she rushed down the sidewalk in the direction of the shop, she tried
to ignore the cold swirling around in the Las Vegas air. She’d
left her coat at home since it usually warmed up by early spring. But
today the cold outside matched the chilly conversation she’d
just had with her father.

She
sighed. Someday she’d get him to change his mind, but how long
would her father take to come around to Gabrielle’s way of
thinking? She’d wait him out. After all, she’d inherited
his stubborn streak.

She
could always ask one of the guys. Of course they kept her in the dark
about the business, but she could try to get one of them to open up.
She might not know a lot about the Mafia Family her father
controlled, but she had figured out where everyone ranked in the
Family. She shook her head in defeat. Even if she got them to agree
at first, her father would quickly put an end to her job once he
found out.

What
would Mikolas say if she approached him about it? He had to be in on
the workings of the Family since he’d been around her entire
life. After all, their fathers were best friends. If she had an
opportunity to talk to Mik, she would bring up the subject. With any
luck, if Mik sided with her, they might be able to convince her
father to trust her with a small task.

She
flipped the open sign on the boutique window and greeted her first
customer while she tried to come up with a plan.

Chapter
Two

The
opportunity to visit with Mikolas had taken over her mind all day
long. She watched each minute click by on the register, waiting to
close the boutique, so she could hurry to her parent’s house
for Friday night dinner.

Although
the weekly event seemed suspicious to her, Gabrielle hadn’t had
a clear picture of the whole Friday night dinner before the meeting
with her father this morning. Now everything made sense. The
family-friends weren’t friends at all, but employees of her
father’s business. They had been able to hide the real details
from her because their dealings weren’t discussed at the
dinner, but she didn’t doubt the reign of control her father
held over the lives gathered around the long dining room table. No
wonder why Dad always said to keep your friends close and your
enemies closer. Holding the dinner once a week provided him the
ability to keep tabs on his men while giving her the convenient
excuse to see Mik.

Mikolas
Russo came to mind again and made her weak in the knees. How could
she convince anyone to give her a job for the Family when she
couldn’t find the gumption to tell the man she loved him? She
shook her head. Just stupid. She tapped her frosty pink acrylic nails
on the counter top.

Tonight
she would find some way to get Mik alone and lay her feelings on the
line. As children and young teens, the two of them had been close,
but they’d grown apart after she’d been sent away for
high school. Mik appeared to be a determined man, going after what he
wanted, and he’d never hinted at a date with her. Cleary he
didn’t see her the same way. Maybe if she became part of the
Family, he’d find her desirable. If he denied her, it might be
enough to twist the lock on her heart, giving her the determination
to move on with her life.

The
clock finally struck six p.m. “Excuse me,” she called out
through the boutique to the customers. “It’s time to
close. I can ring up your purchases over here.”

Normally
working late didn’t bother her a bit. She enjoyed her boutique
most of the time and usually stayed open longer if the usual crowd of
women continued rushing about with arm loads of clothes they planned
on purchasing. Contentment hadn’t arrived this morning when
she’d stepped over the boutique’s threshold, making today
different.

She’d
watched the clock all day, each passing minute seemed more like an
hour while her decision to reveal her need to press her father for
more details sprouted seeds of nervousness that she did her best to
push away. And she’d see Mik again.

Even
though they had grown up together, once she had gotten the beginnings
of a crush, he had suddenly decided to stay far away from her without
any explanation. They weren’t dating or really even friends
since she’d returned back to the States. He only offered her a
polite “hello” in passing while she’d love to have
a real conversation with him. Where did that leave them?
Acquaintances?

At
least at the boutique she felt like someone special. This was her
domain. She was a respected boutique owner and no one told her what
to do. The women who visited her upscale boutique on the popular
tourist strip of Las Vegas were a good mixture of local shoppers and
tourists. She enjoyed meeting the occasional celebrity and thrived on
the opportunity to give fashion advice to the socialites.

The
twenty or so people in her store acknowledged her then slowly made
their way to the register. Clothes draped over their arms along with
their designer purses. A variety of garments with hefty price tags
attached were dropped onto the counter one by one. Women with
designer everything, including lipstick, swiped their credit cards
and hauled their pink bags, with the sparkling ‘Gabrielle’s’
written in cursive print across the sides, out the door.

“
Why
are you rushing us out of here tonight, Gabrielle? You never close
the store this early,” Kendra, a local celebrity, asked. Her
long blonde hair had been styled in a French twist and her make-up
seemed flawless.

“
Just
have family obligations to take care of,” Gabrielle replied as
she rang up each item and piled the clothes into bags.

After
handing Kendra her packages, Gabrielle grabbed her keys and escorted
the petite woman to the door. There wasn’t any time to clean up
or do the books. This was it. Her life was about to change.
But
for better or for worse?

****

The
traffic through Las Vegas on a Friday evening wasn’t anything
less than crazy with the stop-and-go movement, reckless drivers, and
accidents galore. Gabrielle fit right in with her impatience and the
need to speed to her parent’s house. And Mik.

Gabrielle
weaved through of the heavy traffic, ignoring the honks on three
sides of her, as she pressed on the gas pedal. Nothing on her agenda
could be brought up at dinner. She’d have to find the
opportunity before everyone took their places at the long dining room
table. Being late tonight wasn’t an option.

Thinking
of Mik brought a smile to her lips. Several men had asked her out
over the years. Those relationships had led to nothing beyond a
casual date and a fling with one of them because Gabrielle had wanted
only Mikolas Russo. And tonight Gabrielle’s taking back the
control in her life.

The
Vegas traffic continued getting worse, forcing her to slow down, but
she still pushed the limits. Honking the horn and riding bumpers
didn’t help move things along. It did make her, in some weird
way, feel counter-productive.

She
zipped her silver BMW convertible in and out of lanes. When she
reduced speed behind a minivan she laid on the horn. “Hurry
up,” she yelled to the driver ahead of her, even though it
wouldn’t do any good. She revved her engine to help prove her
point. Traffic began to move again, making her hair fly behind her
like a black shadow.

She
whipped around another car and once back in the center of her own
lane, she glanced at herself in the review mirror.
Damn
it, I forgot to put my scarf over my hair, now I’m going to
look terrible when I get there. Oh well.
She’d
just take back her life with wind-blown hair.

Her
silver car sped up to the exit leading her into the neighborhood in
which both she and her parents owned homes. She rushed by her street
where two women yelled at her to slow down. Her hair flung back from
her face as she turned the corner and slowed her speed a little as
she turned to go up the long driveway to her parents’ house.
She came to a stop at the box and jabbed the intercom button.

“
Who’s
there?” asked the voice the over the speaker. The very guy who
made her tingle with only one short sentence. Mikolas Russo.

“
Mik,
let me in.”

“
Who
are you?” he teased. The richness of his voice along with his
words floated out of the little box.

She
tapped her long fingernails against the pink leather steering wheel
cover. “Quit messing with me. Just let me in.”

“
Calm
down, Gabi.” Mikolas gave a hearty laugh. “Come in.”

The
gates buzzed and opened inward at a snail’s pace. She nudged
her car forward a hair and made a mental note to talk to her father
about the gates. By the time they closed, a whole stream of enemies
could squeeze between them without anyone noticing. With all the
money her parents had, her father could afford a faster moving gate.

With
them finally open, she sped up the driveway and pulled her car behind
Mik’s SUV. Whew. She’d made it and even lucked out with a
good parking spot since most of the driveway would be filled with
fancy cars within a half hour.

Gabrielle’s
heart raced as she pictured Mik manning the security gate tonight.
First, she needed to even the score, and then she’d bring up
the idea of a date. Prepared to get Mik back for the habitual teasing
over the speaker, she closed her car door with barely a click. She
tiptoed up the security booth, moving against the small building to
avoid him seeing her. “Mik,” she yelled as she jumped
around the corner.

With
a swift movement of his arm, he aimed a gun at her chest with his
finger about to pull the trigger. His eyes were wide while his mouth
dropped open in shock.

Fear
of the gun aimed at her chest pushed the bile up her throat. She
gulped while taking a step backward and lifted her hands up.

Once
recovered, he said, “Damn it, Gabi. Don’t ever do that
again.”

Her
heart hammered in her chest. “But… I… uh.”

He
slipped the gun back into the waistband of his pants again. “You
what?”

She
crossed her trembling arms over her chest and took another step back.
“I only wanted to ask if you’d like to go swimming with
me later.” The fear of a gun pointed at her chest must’ve
pushed the suggestion right out of her mouth. She’d been around
firearms plenty of times hadn’t realized that Mik carried one.
She glanced back at the house, wondering how many of those guys were
armed. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.

“
Oh.”
His cheeks flushed. “When?” He glanced at the computer
video monitors when a familiar black BMW pulled up to the gate. Mik
pushed the button to allow the car to pass through.

She
stepped into the doorframe. “How long are you working in here
tonight?”

“
Enrico
assigned me to security until dinner.” He turned toward the
screen, giving her the chance to give him the once over.

She
couldn’t deny how sexy he looked with his polo shirt tucked
into his tan Dockers. His shiny dress shoes completed the outfit.
Even the gun she had seen him tuck in his pants made him seem to hold
even more of a dangerous sex appeal. His green eyes pierced hers,
making heat rush over her cheeks. Damn it, he’d caught her
ogling him. And now she felt like she’d been doing something
she wasn’t supposed to. His lips tilted into a half smile while
his eyes glistened with something she hadn’t noticed before?
Mutual attraction?