Page 86 of Fatal Scheme

Kisses and whispers fill the air, while hands rub every inch of my skin, and words of praise leave lips, falling onto my ears, but I couldn’t place any of it if I tried.

I’m nothing but arms, legs, and a brain, running on autopilot as every ounce of energy has been exhumed from my body, discarding my soul to be puppeteered by the two men I’ve entrusted with my life.

“Come here, my little warrior, let’s get you into the bath,” Jasper says, and I barely register his words as he scoops me into his arms, his massive frame enveloping me into a sense of safety as he drops me into the scalding hot water.

“Oh, fuck. I’m on fire!” I cry, grasping the side of the tub with tears in my eyes, the burning reminder of what my body just withstood coming back at full force.

“It’s okay, baby girl, I’ve got you.” Tyson practically jumps into the tub, his massive body cradling mine, lessening the burn as his arms wrap me into a safety cocoon where nothing could possibly hurt me.

At the same time, I’m missing something, like half of me is lost and looking for it’s home, but when I look up, I find it staring at me with a devious grin while leaning against the marble countertop.

“Jasper, please,” I whine, and after a few beats of silence, Tyson moves my limp body, and another set of muscles slides under the water, his arms wrapping around me in perfect harmony.

“You’re beyond my wildest nightmares, my little ice princess.” He presses a kiss to my forehead, snuggling against my left side, and even though my body is begging for rest, I pull him until our lips meet in the middle.

After what we just did – the three of us making love, together – I need to feel close to them both, to feel the tender sides of them that balance out the rougher parts.

Even through our exhaustion, Jasper finds a way to turn our kiss from passionate to hot and heavy, his tongue fighting with mine, our teeth clashing as I slip my hand around his throat, pinning him to the porcelain while I climb into his lap.

“Fuck Principessina, what are you doing to me?” He groans, breaking our lips apart, his cheeks flushed with heat and tattoos on full display.

Rather than answer him with words, I lean over, grabbing Tyson by the back of his neck, cupping his face with one hand as I bring his lips to mine.

Taking my time with him, I slowly explore his mouth with mine, falling into a perfect synchrony as I feel my body shift, realizing that Jasper is quite literally sharing me, my legs straddling both of them.

It’s reflective of how close the three of us are, there never being any blurred lines or a proximity that’s proven to be too much.

My boys are confident in their sexuality, not minding their bodies touching naked, while in a bathtub, as long as we’re all together.

Taking turns, I’m passed between them, grinding my hips along their thighs, tangling my tongue with theirs, and feeling nothing but love while we fall into each other.

This is domesticated bliss, something I could wake up to every day, and fall asleep with at night’s end, for the rest of my life.

We’re on the cusp of the biggest decision of our lives, abandoning the families we were born into, and swore our loyalty to, but my life has drastically changed course, sending me down a path that should terrify me.

Since I was a teenager, I believed in the dream I was sold, to run the Cassini Family across the California coast, and I never thought I’d be able to picture a future where that didn’t come true.

Today, my dreams are vastly different, and I wouldn’t change a single thing that I’ve done since arriving at Emory – the place where my life truly began.

THIRTY-NINE

JASPER

Today marks the beginning of an ending, the plan we’ve set in motion finally coming to a head, and my first stop is the Masseria home.

After a whirlwind weekend in Manhattan, it was time to come back to Emory to clear down, tie up loose ends, and make our escape.

The idiot who worked for Corazza gave us a warning, a three day grace period to get our shit together, and I’m not wasting a second.

This war is coming straight to our door, but we’re going to be long gone by then, letting the rival families take their shots, and hoping they land where it’ll hurt the most.

That leads to why I’m here, alone, in the middle of the day.

My mother tends to stay out of the family business, opting to keep my sisters sheltered from the violence, even if my father didn’t allow her to meddle in those ways when it came to me, and I couldn’t possibly ever hold that against her.

If a battle is coming to this front door, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t at least warn her, and attempt to convince her to go somewhere safe.

Before I even knock on the door, she comes barreling down the brick stairs, her wild hair blowing in the wind as she comes straight for me.