JOHN PAUL

Even though I'm missing Charmaine like crazy, I feel at ease and happy. This trip is night and day different from the last time I was in Chicago, and I know it's because of her.

The meetings are still boring as hell, but I look forward to the calls I have with her each night and can't wait to have her in my arms again.

Everything is going smoothly with the business transactions so far this week as well. I've met with several investors interested in the new resort that Timo is breaking ground in Miami. They seem pleased with the operations of the businesses here, in Chicago, and trust Timo will run a similar network in Miami.

I step into the elevator, heading out for lunch with a few board members, when I hear my phone chime. I check it and see it's a text message from Charmaine.

My Princess: Are you in a meeting?

Me: No, heading out to lunch. Everything okay?

My Princess: Okay, good. And Yes.

She sends me a video clip.

My Princess: Hope you like it!

I smile as I see she includes several winking face emojis, along with the blowing kiss emojis.

I click on the video, and my eyes, damn near fall out of my head.

The video is of herself in the shower...

I watch as she trails her hands slowly from her face, neck, and massages her breasts as another hand travels down until she's touching herself.

She moans out my name, and I drop my phone.

Fuck!

I'm all thumbs, trying to pick it up, with my briefcase in my other hand. Charmaine's panting moans are growing louder as she calls out my name again.

I finally pick it up but can't seem to remember how to work my damn phone and eventually turn it off.

I stand, fucking breathless; my face is on fire as I face all the eyes of the associates and a couple of the investors looking back at me.

An older guy of the group, Fredo, clears his throat. "That your girl?" I look at him, not quite meeting his eyes, and nod at him.

"She send that to you?"

I nod again, and I tug at my tie, feeling it constrict against my throat.

"Yes," My voice sounds strained.

"She sounds like a keeper," Fredo tells me, winking, and I let out a breath, laughing shakily. I notice a few others nod in agreement.

"She is," I inform them.

The doors couldn't open any sooner, and I take a deep breath of the fresh air in the lobby; as I step out of the elevator, I excuse myself and walk outside the building.

I hit the power button on my phone, waiting for it to come on; I then hit her contact, waiting as it rings.

"JP's sex queen. How can I help you?" She answers; I can hear the smile in her voice.

"Sex queen? I like the sound of that."

Charmaine laughs into the phone. "So...did you like it?"

"From the few seconds, I saw, yes."

"Few seconds?"

I tell her what happened in the elevator, and she bursts out laughing, causing me to laugh along with her.

"Oh my gosh! That is too funny! Are you still going to lunch with them?" She asks me, still laughing.

"Yes, I don't want to look like a pus—chicken." I correct myself as an older woman gives me a scathing look as she walks by, but I give her a charming smile, and she smiles in return as she walks away.

"Anyway, I'll probably jerk off to it tonight."

I hear her take a sharp breath. "Really?" She breathes into the phone.

"Hell yeah."

"I miss you."

"I miss you too, baby. I'll be home in a couple of days. And then we've got to make up for all this time apart."

She laughs into the phone quietly. "Can't wait. Well, I'll let you go, so you don't keep your group waiting. I love you."

"I love you more, princess."

I head towards the restaurant we agreed to eat at and walk-in. The hostess gives me a small smile, but I notice her eyes don't meet mine. A couple of men are sitting at the entrance, waiting to be seated, and then she picks up the phone, even though I didn't hear it ring.

Weird, probably too shy to make conversation; definitely not a good thing for being a hostess.

I scan the room and look for our group, and I see them towards the back. If I weren't still anxious about being among the group after they heard Charmaine's video, I would have noticed one of the men sitting at the entrance behind me got up and locked the door to the restaurant.

However, I do notice it's eerily quiet for a lunch hour service, and the other patrons keep their eyes down as they eat. Not that I expect them to look at me or anything, but at least a passing casual smile, nod, or even glance but nothing.

When I reach our group, no one acknowledges me, either.

Now I'm on high alert that something's for sure off. I reach for my weapon, but I feel as something hard is pressed against the back of my head, and then I hear the safety of a gun removed.

My gun is taken from the waist of the back of my pants.

"Uh, uh, uh. I'll take that. And... let's see, where is it? Ah, there we are." My knife is pulled from my suit pocket, then tossed to a man to the left of me, pointing a gun at me.

"Nice of you to join us, John Paul. Bet you'd never thought you'd see me again." I slowly turn around and face the smug expression on Jimmy's face as he points a gun to my forehead.

"What the hell do you want, Jimmy?" I ask him through gritted teeth.

"Now, now, is that any way you greet a former brother?" He grins at me. "Bros before ho's, right? You're not still mad; we almost killed that piece of ass of yours, are you?"

"How is she, by the way? Have you hit that yet?" He smirks at me. "She seems like she'd be a great lay, feisty, and super flexible, from what I remember, when we'd work out together." He rubs his chin with his gun.

"What, not kissing and telling, JP? That's okay. I'll find out for myself soon enough." Jimmy says confidently.

I step towards him, but a couple of his friends aim their guns at me, and I stop, causing him to laugh loudly.

"Honestly, I didn't expect to see you here. We thought Timo was going to be here. But, I should have remembered; he's been sending you in his place. I wouldn't mind killing you now, personally, but the boss might have some use for you."

I look behind him and see the two men who were sitting at the entrance, are walking towards us, now armed. "Take him and that other one." Jimmy points to Adriano with his gun.

Jimmy addresses the patrons in the restaurant. "Thank you for being so cooperative, ladies and gents. As promised, no one will get hurt if you continue doing what you're doing. Keep your eyes down; if anyone so much as breathes too loudly, the person you're sitting with will get a bullet in their head. We have snipers at the ready. Heads down, please."

I'm grabbed roughly, along with Adriano, and we are lead towards the restaurant's kitchen. Armed men are pointing their guns at the staff of the restaurant.

Jimmy picks at the different foods, spread out as he walks by, throwing them in his mouth as if he owns the place.

"Where are you taking us, Jimmy?" He ignores me as we are corralled through the back of the restaurant.

We step out in the restaurant's back alley, where there's a waiting van and two SUVs. The men tie mine and Adriano's hands, and they put a sack over Adriano's head, and he starts praying loudly.

I start struggling against the ties and push up against the men that are around me. I ram into one of them, using the SUV as my leverage to keep them pinned.

"Keep him under control!" Jimmy yells.

Someone hits me in the back of the head, which causes me to fall on my knees hard, feeling dizzy from the blow.

I'm lifted to stand again when I hear guns shots.

The fast zipping sounds make me duck out of instinct, and Adriano huddles next to me. "Did Timo send someone?" He asks breathlessly.

I shake my head at him but realize he can't see me with the bag over his head. "Timo wouldn't know this was happening yet. It's not him." I look up towards the roof of the buildings around us, but I don't see anyone.

Several of Jimmy's guys fall around us like flies.

Jimmy yells out orders to the remaining men to spread out while telling a few others to grab Adriano and me and lead us into the cars.

As they herd us to the other SUV, several more shots ring out, shattering the windows and tires of the SUV.

"Sniper, boss!" One of his men yells out.

"Where are they shooting from?" Jimmy yells. "And where are our guys?"

The remaining men shout out their confusion, not knowing where the shooter is.

"Fuck this, get in the van!" Jimmy orders.

"What about these, two?" Another man yells out.

"Take them!" But as soon as one of the men reaches for me, a bullet pierces his forehead.

I see a shard of glass next to me, and I turn to pick it up and start using it to slash the ties. I'm cutting my palms as I feel it slice through my skin, but I feel the tension release as the zip-ties fall off my hands.

I grab one of the guns next to me and shoot the guy behind Adriano, and I pull the sack from his head.

Jimmy looks over with shocked outrage on his face; I raise the gun at him, but he grabs the guy next to him to shield himself as I unload the gun on him. Jimmy walks back until he gets in the van, dumping the guy he used as a shield and peels away.

I look back at Adriano. "You okay?"

He looks at me. "I'll probably need to change my pants, but yes, I'm fine." He tells me shakily, looking pale.

"Where's the shooter?" Adriano asks me. I look up at the roofs again but can't see anything or anyone.

We hear footsteps coming towards us and the sound of glass crunching under their feet. I pick up another gun and check if it's loaded.

I get down, looking under the van, and see black boots stop, then start walking around towards us. Adriano starts breathing heavily again.

I hold my breath, raising the gun as I see their feet come around the car facing us. I look up and see Enzo standing with a rifle swung over his shoulder.

"Someone call for a knight in fucking armor?" He smiles at me.

"Enzo? What the hell are you doing here?" I ask him, lowering the gun.

"Saving your ass," He tells me as he leans his rifle against the car and turns Adriano around, pulling a knife from his back pocket; he cuts the ties on his hands off.

"Adriano, go back to the restaurant and make sure everyone is alright. Then head back to the office. I will call Timo." Adriano nods at me and hurries back in. I turn back to Enzo. "How'd you know about this going down?"

"I'll tell you, but we've got to go before the cops come." And right on cue, we can hear the sirens in the distance. He wipes down the rifle he used and throws it in the van.

I run over to the guy my knife was tossed at and check his pockets. I turn him over and feel my knife in his back pocket.

"Lucky knife?" Enzo asks.

"Char gave it to me for my eighteenth birthday, and I've carried it with me ever since."

He nods at me in response.

"Isn't it risky to be out in broad daylight taking people out?" I say as we walk out of the alley and onto the main sidewalk.

"Maybe you haven't heard of me before. Hi, I'm Lorenzo Romano, but most know me by my professional name, Furia." He tells me cockily as he holds his hand out in front of me to shake as we continue walking.

"I'm pretty good at what I do. Some even say I'm the best." He says with a boyish grin, and I roll my eyes at him.

"Anyway, the night of the gala, I had asked Stella about a Cassian James Carminati, she didn't recognize the name, but that same night after the shooting, she told me someone named Jimmy had Dominic's phone. So, I figured Cassian goes or went by 'Jimmy' short for his middle name of James while employed with Timo."

"Turns out he's Gio's number two and worked as a mole, but I gotta say I'm not impressed." Enzo clicks his tongue and pulls shades out of his back pocket, putting them along with a hat.

"They are now also working with Cardinale. After I had confirmed that, I had a meeting with Bobby and slipped a device on his phone that lets me see his messages, and I came across a plan, in text messages between them, to take Timo out during this trip.

When I saw Stella earlier this week to tell her, she told me you were here, in Timo's place. Stella would hate me if I knew about this and didn't do anything to help you." He shrugs.

I shouldn't be annoyed as much as I am that he's proving his loyalty to her, over and over again, but I can't help it. I thank him again as I follow him to a parked car about a block away.

I call Timo as soon as I'm in the car, giving him the rundown of what happened and how Enzo showed up. "No, don't tell her, I will," I tell him after he asks me if he should tell Charmaine.

"Why do you guys always keep her in the dark, man?" Enzo asks me after I hang up with Timo.

I grit my teeth before I answer him. "I'm not keeping her in the dark; I said I'd tell her myself. She wasn't meant for this life, Enzo. You of all people should know that."

"Yeah, maybe. But she can't help who she is and what she is a part of; the fucked up part is that you all are taking the choice away from her. She's stronger than you give her credit for."

"Don't fucking tell me what I already know!" I shout.

"Sorry," I mutter. "I just don't want her to get hurt."

"There's an understanding that comes with being in this world, that you could die at any point. But the reality is, that could happen whether you're part of this or not. People die every day, JP," He tells me.

"Yes, but you don't always have to look over your shoulder wondering if those around you are assassins, or hitmen, coming for you as you do in this life."

"So you'd rather die not knowing it's coming?" He asks me. "I've come to terms that I will die on the job or being around those in this life. Sooner or later. But I think in the end, I like knowing it was coming."

"I never thought of it that way...still that's a little twisted," I say, looking out the window of the car.

"She'd chose you and this life if you asked her." He says, keeping his eyes on the road. "There's no denying she loves you and would do anything for you."

"I would never make her choose," I tell him quietly.

"So why not give it up?" Enzo asks, side glancing at me.

"I should have done it earlier, and I am planning on it. I've done things I can't take back. And after today, my hands are no longer clean, but I've already talked to Timo; I do plan on leaving with her after the trip to Miami." I sigh, running a hand down my face.

"The way she looks at you and feels about you, I'm sure you could never do anything that would change how she feels about you. Hell, she probably thinks you shit, fucking skittles!"

I laugh loudly. "What the fuck?"

"You know what I mean."

I laugh again, surprised that I feel okay, considering what just happened. I don't know if that was Enzo's way of getting my mind off what could have happened, but it worked.

Now I just got to call Charmaine and let her know even though I don't want her to worry, but I don't want to keep anything else from her, more than I already am.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~