Lady Boss (The Spitfire Book 2) Read online

  "You were there?" I was back to trying to find a gun, this was too much even for him.

  "That fuck Louis lump lump wasn't there though, friend my ass."

  "Dad you called him Louis lump lump his whole life even when you were kids, why would he come to your funeral?"

  "To show his respect fat fuck, I got something for him though."

  "You leave Uncle Louis alone; he wasn't there because he was doing something for me."

  "What, computer shit, cause that's all that fat fuck is any good for."

  "Yes, he was gathering information so I could find out who put the hit out on you."

  "Which led you here, which is only one more reason why I should put a hole in his fat ass."

  "Boy you Rossis sure like shooting people in the ass."

  I gave Shane the bitch brow to no avail; let him laugh now, in about five minutes he was going to be back to being pissed.

  "Anyway, since no one killed you my work here is done."

  "You know little girl, for someone who always swore she didn't want anything to do with family business you sure do think like a boss."

  "Stow it dad, I was just going to do this one job."

  "My girl was going to avenge her old man, see Alphonso, I told you she was just like her dad."

  "As I recall you bitched at me for turning your daughter into my nephew, now you wanna reap the benefits. I think she's got a little bit of both if us. Pure gangster."

  "You wish, now what the hell is going on?"

  "First, what the hell is going on with you and Flanagan, you ride me your whole life about my doings only to end up with my double?"

  Chapter 4

  Prince of the City

  I'm trying to take all this shit in, I had a mafia princess in my jurisdiction for a while and had no idea, how the fuck did she slip by my guys, she wasn't even using an alias, not that anyone knew too much about Rossi's only offspring, she was one of the mob's best kept secrets.

  "Swear to me that you didn't play me Mouth."

  I could forgive anything but the thought that she might've played me wasn't one of them, I'd let her into my circle, introduced her to ma; fuck, ma.

  "I didn't even know who you were, my research was only concentrated on the ones who took out dad, believe me I only found out about you after I got here, and since you weren't on my hit list I had no real interest in you."

  "Wait, your hit list, what the fuck, you're not hitting anybody, what the hell would I tell our kids?"

  "Uhhh, what do you plan on telling them about you?"

  "I'm a man; my boys will expect me to handle shit."

  "First of all, our daughters aren't going to be anywhere near this mess....."

  "When's the wedding?"

  That Alphonso prick piped in, I wasn't sure about him, he seems to like egging her on, encouraging her in shit. Her father had been a little tongue in cheek when he'd made that crack about her not wanting anything to do with the business too.

  "Wait, what wedding, nobody asked me about this."

  "Dad you're dead, and I'm eighteen nobody needs your permission to do anything."

  "That's what you think, do you have any idea what the ciuccio that marries you stand to inherit, he'll become my heir."

  "No he wouldn't, stop it dad..."

  "Of course he would, since you refuse the position, which is a pain in my heart, but he would become heir in your stead; but bambina, this medigan?"

  "Roberto, how many times must I tell you, come out of the dark ages brother, besides you know la Principessa never does the expected?"

  "Yeah Al but....."

  "Can we get back to the matter at hand, and I'll ignore the insults Rossi, just don't make it a habit."

  Badass or not, no one was going to disrespect me on my turf, future father in law or not.

  "What matter would that be young blood?"

  "The matter of why my future wife was here in the first place, someone in my territory put a hit out on you?"

  "Yeah, you could say that, but it goes deeper than that, it was a takeover attempt that was supposed to cover the whole of the Western faction."

  "What do you mean take over the whole of the west, that would include me and that shit's not about to happen, what's going on?"

  "Well it's like this, you have a family here that's associated with a family in my back yard, these two fucks got together and cooked up a scheme of how to take over, they were going to hit me first and then after a little time had gone by and the heat died down they were coming for you and all the other heads, but since you and I are the strongest opposition we were first."

  "Yeah but my dealings don't mesh with yours and your territory ends a state over from here, so how did I get involved?"

  "Didn't I just say they want the whole of the West?"

  "And how does Mouth play into this, if she is your heir....."

  "She was supposed to be forced to marry Carlo Stacco."

  "The fuck you say?"

  Chapter 5

  Prince of the City

  "You're not fucking marrying Carlo Stacco. The fuck?" She rolled her eyes at me before giving me the 'you're stupid' look. I walked to where she was standing and dragged her into my side.

  The two murdering old fucks got a chuckle out of that.

  "I didn't say she was going to marry the prick, I said that's what they were going to try. Get her to marry him so he could lead through her or at least that's what the organization was supposed to believe. Like we're fucking dopes, but our girl flew the coop before they could put that shit in motion.

  Which brings me back to my question, what're you doing in this dump?"

  "My place isn't a fucking dump, what I want to know is how the fuck did you get in here?"

  "Son that's my specialty. Getting in and out of places."

  I gave Mouth a squeeze; I guess that answered the question of how she got out of my bedroom.

  When he grinned at her, I knew I'd been right, the fuck had taught her all he knew most likely. If I caught her doing any more of that mob shit I was gonna kick her ass. My wife was supposed to be a stay at home mom who baked fucking cookies and shit, just like ma, not running around the place picking locks. Fuck my life, why me?

  "My guards downstairs didn't see you two come in, I wanna know how you got into my place without being noticed."

  "Can't share trade secrets son, not until you're part of the family anyways." Her jerk of an uncle was really beginning to work my fucking nerves.

  "Is anyone going to tell me what the fuck's going on here, I don't like too many of you on my turf, I get kinda twitchy when other bosses stay too long in my backyard, especially without my invite."

  Boss of bosses or not, no one was going to disrespect me, then again he was my new father in law so I could be a little more lenient, somebody's head was gonna roll though cause there's no way they breeched my security, I'm not that fucking green.

  "I'm here for my daughter; if her uncle was watching her like he was supposed to we wouldn't be here.

  "Don't start Roberto, you taught the brat how to evade and disappear, I had a hell of a time finding her, that fat fuck held out on me even when I threatened to off his mother, and then we got lucky." He smiled at me like he knew something I didn't. What the fuck?

  "Uncle Al you didn't."

  "Sure did brat, I would've offed the old bag too if I had to; now what the hell are you doing in Flanagan’s bed, didn't we teach you any better than that?"

  "Hey, watch your fucking mouth, the fuck's that supposed to mean?"

  "Keep your shorts on young blood, all I meant was that if she's trying to get out of the life then she shouldn't be shacking up with you."

  "Yeah Ari, my feelings are hurt, you tormented your poor old man for years about this life and now you're hooked up with mini me." Her father gave her a sulky look, some mafia boss he was.

  I know one thing, if these fuck didn't stop insulting me I was gonna pop a cap in somebody's ass, preferably th
e uncle's. I still didn't like him being all cozy with my girl, but that was for later. Right now I had more important things to deal with.

  "What's going on with you and the Staccos?"

  I faced the two of them, arms folded, face stern so they knew I meant business, I may be younger than they are, but this was still my territory and they had broken into my place, we all knew the only reason they were still breathing was because of my woman.

  "I told you already, they put a hit out on me."

  "Yeah but where does things stand now, how're you handling this shit and how the fuck do we get Mouth out of the middle of this fuckery?"

  "Mouth, that's what you call her, that's perfect."

  "Dad zip it."

  "See, always was a mouthy little thing you sure you can handle her Flanagan, of course I have yet to give my blessing, we're gonna have to have a sit down when this is all over."

  "I hear what you're saying she's your daughter, but understand when I took her to my bed I didn't know that, now it makes no difference to me, she's mine."

  "Shane,....I can't believe you just told my dad that we went to bed together, what are you new?" She put her face in her palm and shook her head.

  Before I could answer her there was a crashing sound and Michael and Anthony bounded through the door, guns drawn.

  Pretty soon there were six guns pointing in two directions.

  "Mouth, where the fuck did you get that gun? Put that thing away."

  Okay, I knew about the shooting incident with my little brother the fuck, but seeing how smoothly she drew her weapon, the familiar ease with which she held it, didn't sit too well with me. My wife shouldn't be handling guns. Fuck no.

  "The fuck Shane, we've been calling you for ten minutes."

  Shit, I forgot all about them.

  "Put the guns away boys, we've got company."

  "Fuck.....you're Roberto Rossi...and you're Alphonso Rossi......" Trust Tony to know who they were, he was almost as bad as Mouth with the mob trivia.

  "Wait a minute, Arianna...you're Arianna fucking Rossi Mouth? Oh shit, she's like royalty." Mikey was having an Oprah moment or some shit. "Wait 'til I tell ma about this."

  Oh fuck.

  "Nobody's telling ma about anything, now if you two girls would like to come in and close the door we've got some shit to deal with, it seems Stacco is after Arianna as well."

  "What the fuck for?" Mikey bristled.

  "Can I finish ...apparently the Staccos and some other faction from Rossi’s territory has decided to combine their efforts to overthrow not only Rossi's organization, but ours as well, they want to head the west coast families together.

  In order to do that they need to get rid of both of us. They think they've already taken out the old man, so I'm the only thing standing in their way, except to take over Rossi's side of things they need his only heir, which would be Mouth.

  The plan is for Carlo Stacco to force her into marriage against her will if necessary, take over, and run things in her name. So now things have escalated, I want to know where that fuck is yesterday, it's just become personal."

  "What the fuck was it before Shane?"

  "Business Mikey, now my woman's involved, I'm gonna cap that bitch ass motherfucker right after I cut his fucking dick off."

  Mouth who had been unusually quiet throughout my tirade rolled her eyes at me. I scowled at her in an obvious message of keep out of it, but did crazy mob girl listen, of course not.

  "Take it easy there Joe Bonano, don't go off half cocked...."

  "Mouth."

  "No hear me out, I've been working this for months, ever since they hit my dad." She gave him a scathing look.

  "You're not involved, give me what you've got, but you're out of it, from now on you don't do anything you hear me?"

  "Uh, are you off your meds again ...bless your heart? You don't get to tell me what to do capisce?"

  I was back to wanting to pop her one, I should be able to get away with it for all the aggravation she's caused me.

  "Mouth, I'll fucking lock you away somewhere, swear on my mother."

  "Let me know how you make out with that one........jackass."

  I pulled her in and bit into her bottom lip just to shut her up, but I'd overplayed my hand. I'd forgotten how the taste of her went straight to my head, and how she always just stopped whenever I touched her. It was like pulling a switch; she melted into me with a sigh. I took her mouth forgetting our audience until I heard throat clearing and chuckles.

  "Boy you're mighty brave manhandling my kid in front of me like that; I guess any man who has the coglioni to do that is good enough to be my son in law, my male heir." He actually rubbed his hands together.

  "Even though you're medigan, I would've chosen a nice Italian boy for you though Ari, but when have you ever listened to me?"

  I was ready to go apeshit when he mentioned choosing an Italian as her mate but Mouth calmed the situation.

  "Dad you knew there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that I'd ever marry one of your cronies or any of their deadbeat sons, knock it off."

  "See Roberto that's gratitude for ya, I told you we shoulda sent her to the nuns when she was little, she's got way too much fire in her, that can't be good."

  "She gets it from her mother, God rest her soul."

  "You're right about that, Dahlia was known to have a temper." He laughed in fond remembrance.

  "Are we through with family hour, because I heard something about some asshole plotting to take me out so he can take over my shit, not only that now I have to deal with the fact that said asshole's son was planning to kidnap and force my wife into marriage."

  "Uh..." Mouth raised her hand as if to interrupt, but since I knew what she was about to say I cut her off at the pass. She's my wife in my eyes and that's fucking final.

  "You're as good as; I don't need to hear it from you. Now what the fuck are we going to do about these fucks?" I turned back to her annoying family.

  "What you got Ari?" Rossi looked at his daughter expectantly, it didn't escape my notice that he still hadn't gotten too close to Mouth, he must really think she would slug him for making her believe he was dead all this time.

  She folded her arms and tapped her foot, aw shit, here comes the fucking attitude. Fuck my life, will she ever just do as she's told, I guess not, hard headed fuck. She's going to make me batty. This is what I'd chosen for myself, this is what I took one look at and decided I had to have it. Fuck me.

  "I want in, I did all the ground work it's only fair." I opened my mouth to blast her, no fucking way, if she thought I was kidding she could think again, I don't care what she'd gotten up to before she became mine, but there was no way I was standing back and letting her put herself in harm's way ever again though. Ma would have a coronary if she heard about this shit. She liked to pretend that I was just a night club owner; I liked to keep it that way.

  "Be reasonable Arianna, you never wanted any part of the life remember and this thing is big, this could mean all out war. Flanagan's right, you need to stay out of this."

  "Dead man talking. No." She actually held her palm up to him.

  Damn she even gives Roberto Rossi shit, this did not bode well for me, she was gonna run circles around my ass for sure. Shit, I am so fucked.

  Right now I have to find a diplomatic way to get her to pull out, she had that mutinous look on her face which meant we would be here all night with the back and forth and I wanted to get things rolling as soon as possible. Somehow knowing they were after her was more significant than them wanting me dead, and that's just plain fucked up. I think I might've borrowed Mikey's vagina. Pussy whipped motherfucker.

  "Okay Mouth, you got a point, you did the ground work, let’s see what you've got and we'll go from there."

  "Uh uh, promise me first and then I'll share."

  I had to give my wording some thought, couldn't lie to my woman now could I, that's no way to start a relationship, not to mention crazy woman would ha
ve my nuts if I fucked with her.

  "Okay, I promise that we'll let you help with the situation."

  "Thank you." She smiled and headed towards her bedroom returning with a box full of folders and what looked like her school shit.

  "Fuck Mouth, how long you been on these guys?" She preened at me so I stole a smooch.

  "Alright you two knock it off, Flanagan I hope you know what you're doing letting her get involved, she's obviously not listening to anything I say, not that she ever did. I can make grown men shit themselves but this little bit of a thing ignores me, now how fair is that I ask you?"

  "Karma dad, suck it up and stop whining."

  She spread her notes and shit all over the dinner table. She had dates, photos, transcribed conversations from wiretapping; I don't even want to know how she got that shit.

  She knew hiding places, hangouts, where the mistresses were kept. The shit was like an organized sting by a one woman force. Who the fuck was this girl?

  "Mouth when you have time to do all this, weren't you in school?"

  The peanut gallery found that funny, I glowered at the two old fucks, but they kept laughing. I get no fucking respect anymore.

  "Uhm, about that, I take one class in the mornings, but the rest of the day I do recon." She bit her thumb nail, I got suspicious.

  "And then what, you go back to school in the evenings so Tommy can follow you home?"

  "About that young blood..." Her uncle Alphonso cleared his throat, how did I know that I wasn't going to like what came out of his mouth next.

  "Tommy's ours..."

  "He's what?"

  "We sent him to you, when we learned about the hit on Roberto and the takeover here, we didn't know too much about you at the time so we thought to play it safe and get a man on the inside."

  "You know him? So that shit you gave me earlier about him following you?" I had Mouth by the shoulders.

  "I didn't know he was here until you had him tailing me." She held up her hands.