POSSESSED: MISS CIA AND THE MAFIA DON

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

…Moonlight strolls, whispered secrets…

CAMERON

I had been running away when I left the dining room.

I had also been flipping mad.

“How dare he imply that I would ever enjoy being one of them? How dare he?”

I also couldn't believe that I had let Earl put his finger in my mouth and that I had sucked on it.

I can’t believe that the whole time I had been thinking about what it would feel like if it had been his d**k instead.

It is almost as if being around him makes me temporarily take leave of my senses.

One goddamn touch and every inch of my body starts straining for him to do so much more.

Even worse when he looks at me like he did.

Like he is just one shuddering breath away from pinning me to a wall and ripping the clothes off of me.

I feel like a pet in heat.

At the same time, I also feel like I want to take a pen and stab him in the eye. That’s how angry he makes me.

So the moment Cara appeared to clear the rest of the table, I had practice leaped away from him and used helping her as an excuse to run as far away from Earl as I could get without vanishing on the spot.

Only to end up running into his brother in the kitchen.

And now I am hurrying down the hall, trying to get far away from Nikolas too and the fact that for one mad second, he had looked like he was about to kiss me.

No, I am imagining things.

Damn Salvatore brothers.

I have known them for barely forty eight hours and they are already about to drive me insane.

They make me feel all sorts of things.

Angry, hot, bothered.

Things I should most definitely not be feeling for men who I plan to put behind bars.

Earl confuses me the most, especially when he’s reaching out and holding my hand under the dinner table so I wouldn’t die of fear from his father glaring at me.

For some reason, the house as I wander through it, feels kind of deserted which serves me just fine.

I can’t go back to my room just yet.

Earl would be there and I can still taste him and the whiskey on my tongue.

I need to clear my head, maybe somehow find a way to escape the tension that has been building between me and Earl, and having to share a room is most definitely not going to help.

Maybe I can find Cara and convince her to fix me up somewhere. A house this size is bound to have a ton of empty rooms. There has to be somewhere I can sleep.

Somewhere utterly, and completely Earl…and Nikolas free.

So instead of heading in the direction I vaguely remember leads to our room, I walk the other way, my heart pounding in my chest, hoping I don’t run into any of them.

Somehow I end up walking down a chandelier lit corridor to a simple glass door that overlooks the garden.

Maybe the fresh air might help me get rid of the nervous energy strumming beneath my skin

I push open the door and step into the moonlit garden, the cool night air enveloping me like a shroud.

As I walk along the winding path, the sound of gravel crunching beneath my feet echoes through the silence.

The moon is like a half diamond crescent hovering above the treetops, but the path leading away from the door and deeper into the garden is lined with motion sensitive bulbs that light up as I walk through.

I can smell roses and jasmine and…tomatoes?

It’s strangely peaceful for a Mafia don’s backyard.

Suddenly my feet ache and I’m sick to death of the heels I’m wearing, of the dress that barely does anything to protect me from the cold, of the fact that I can’t bloody stop thinking about Earl’s eyes and the way they had darkened when I sucked his finger in my mouth.

I hear the sound of a twig snap to my left and my heart almost falls straight through my stomach and to the floor.

But before I can run screaming, a figure emerges from the shadows behind a tree just as a soft voice calls out my name.

My hand flies to my chest even as I let out a shaky breath.

"Rose," I sigh, my voice barely above a whisper even as I try to will my heart to stop racing.

Rose steps onto the path and into the light, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight as she approaches me.

She’s dressed in a blue silk nightgown with a sweater thrown over it and her hair fall over her shoulders in a way that makes it look like she just got out of bed.

"I didn't expect to run into you out here," she says, her voice laced with a hint of curiosity.

I look away and shrug. "I couldn't sleep,"

What else can I say?

That I’m wandering the house like a ghost because I’m afraid to go to my room or else I might cave and f**k your brother?

Oh and your other brother, who I think is a massive jerk by the way, just concerned me in the kitchen and threatened me, but he always makes my breath come out shallow and fast and…

“Hey,” Rose mutters sympathetically, reaching out to touch my arm. “Are you okay?”

I shrug again and she sighs.

"I know the feeling," she smiles sadly. "Sometimes, the night air is the only thing that clears my head. The only place where I can pretend I wasn’t born into the most messed up family in the world.”

She laughs depreciatively but I don't have a response to that.

So we stand in silence for a moment, the only sound between us the distant chirping of crickets.

Suddenly, Rose is walking and I’m walking beside her, our moving feet the only sound besides a hooting owl.

This is my chance to find out a little more about the Salvatore family.

This is my job. This is why I'm here. So why does it suddenly feel so hard?

"Rose,” I blurt, no longer whispering. “Can I ask you something?"

Rose doesn’t reply but she nods, reaching for a flower from a nearby shrub and plucking it out.

I take a deep breath. "What…what happened to your mother?"

Nobody, not even the CIA knows what happened to the former Mrs. Salvatore.

Rose tries to hide it but I can see her discomfort from the way she’s twisting the stem of the flower in her grasp.

"She left," Rose finally says, pressing her lips into a line.

The simplicity of the statement does nothing to hide the complexity of emotions beneath it, or the way her voice cracks at the end just a little.

When I see how upset she’s getting, I almost stop.

I know I should, but I can’t. I’m already lying to her about who I am. What’s one more hurtful thing?

"Just... left?" I ask, my brows furrowed and Rose nods.

"One morning, she was there and the next she was,” She mimes a vanishing act with her hands “Gone. Like a puff of smoke. No note, no explanation. Just... vanished."

I want to put my arms around her but I don’t feel like I deserve to. So instead I pluck my own flower and begin torturing the stem, twisting it this way and that.

"How old were you?" I ask quietly and she sniffs.

"Barely one," Rose replies. "Earl was around six and NIkolas was five, I think.”

Despite myself, my eyes go wide.

They lost their mother at an age where they were barely finding their feet.

An experience I know all too well.

"That must have been devastating," I mutter and Rose's nod is almost imperceptible.

When she speaks again, her voice is hoarse. "It was like she never even existed. Earl and Nikolas remember her, but I... I don't."

I’m reaching out before I can help myself, finding her hand and holding it in mine

"I'm so sorry," I whisper.

Rose's gaze meets mine, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"Earl's never forgiven himself," she tells me, her voice barely audible. "He thinks he was responsible, that he did something wrong."

"That's not true," I say and I am shocked at the conviction in my own voice. “He was six, what could he have possibly done?”

Rose's smile is a faint, sad curve.

"I know," she says. "But try telling Earl that."

We walk in silence for a moment, the only sound is the crunching gravel.

It is time to ask the question I really needed the answer to.

I bite my lip and squeeze my flower in my other hand. "Do you think she's still alive?"

Rose's shrug is a delicate movement.

"I don't know," she replies. "Sometimes I wonder... “

Her voice trails off but there’s something in her tone that has every alarm in my brain firing.

I don’t say anything and eventually Rose sighs, turning around to look at me.

"It’s just a feeling, you know?” She blurts as she runs her hands through her hair. “Earl and Nikolas,when I was growing up, they used to tell me about her. About how she was with them. The mother they describe," Rose shakes her head. "She wouldn't just get up and abandon her three children.”

Bingo!

I allow a few minutes pass before asking her why she thinks so and in response Rose's voice drops to a whisper as she steps closer to me.

"Once, I think it was the day I turned ten, I overheard father and uncle Marce talking. They mentioned something about a letter, one that arrived years after she left."

My curiosity is so piqued that I can feel my palms starting to itch. Forcing my face to remain passive, I frown down at her. “A letter? Do you know what it said?”

Rose shakes her head. “The old men denied everything. Said I had probably dreamed it up because I was so tired from my birthday fiesta.”

A shiver runs down my spine but I can’t tell if it’s the cold or something else.

Suddenly the shadows around us seem darker and the hooting owl that had been quaint now makes me want to run back into the warmth of the house.

"Do you think the letter is somehow connected to her disappearance?" I finally ask, rubbing my arms against the chill.

"I do," Rose says with more conviction in her voice than I have ever heard from her. "And I think my father might know more than he's letting on." She shivers hard. “Brrrr…we should go back in now. It’s getting cold.”

I nod and follow her back.

My heart is beating so loudly, I’m surprised Rose is unable to hear it.

Is this it? Could finding Earl’s mother hold the key to bring the Salvatore Mafia family down?

"Earl's been different since you arrived," Rose suddenly says, her voice startlingly me back to the present.

My gaze snaps to her.

"Different?" I repeat in confusion before scoffing and rolling my eyes. “You mean in the last twenty four hours since my kidnap?”

“No.” Rose shakes her head. “I mean since the night you two…you know.”

Shit, I forgot I told her about that.

I’m so grateful that it’s dark out because if it wasn’t she would be able to see just how red I’m turning.

“That makes no sense.” I say, clearing my throat loudly and Rose turns to me, her eyes wide.

“But it’s true.”

“Okay. Different how?” I ask, curious despite myself and Rose shrugs.

"I don’t know, He just seems more... intense," she shrugs again when I snort. "Honest! I've never seen him like this before."

And my stupid heart has the nerve to skip a bloody beat.

I kick at a stone in the path with the tip of my bright orange stilettos that for some bloody reason I still have on, "What do you think it means?"

Rose's eyes lock onto mine and in the waning white light of the moon, they look almost liquid.

"I think it means my brother may have just stumbled onto something he isn’t entirely sure he hates," Rose said, her voice soft.

This time I am very sure she sees the way my cheeks flush and I look away unsure how to respond.

Rose's hand brushes against mine.

In my heels, I’m much taller than her and when I turn to look at her, I have to lower my gaze.

"Be careful, Cameron," she whispers. "I love my brother but trust me, you do not want to fall in love with him."

I let out a bark of laughter. "Trust me Rose, the last thing I’m looking to do is fall in love your brother.”

Rose's smile wavers but there’s a gentle, knowing look in her eyes that I’m not quite sure I like.

"Maybe not yet," Rose says. "But I think it's already too late."

With that, Rose turns around, heading back into the house and leaving me reeling.