The Mafia Contract Series

It’s as if there’s a dark cloud of depression surrounding me as I move around Rockwell Academy like an avenging angel. I suspect everyone, and anyone that catches my eye is frowned upon as I figure out whether they could be the person responsible for that photograph.

Apparently, Miss. English has decided she’s pissed at being ignored and when the bell goes, says sharply, “Angelo, please stay behind.”

There is none of the interest that statement usually brings with it because I’m not in the mood for her today and even Alessandro doesn’t hang back, and I’m not surprised. He’s so wrapped up in feelings for my sister it should annoy me, but I just feel sadness for my friend who I know hasn’t had much love in his life, like us all really. At least I have my sister, but my friends have no one.

I’m not surprised they crave Winter’s attention and not only in a sexual way. She’s a soft breath of fresh air in an atmosphere that’s deepening by the second. An ominous promise of a dark life that we will struggle to survive.

Winter, and Emma to a degree, bring a different dynamic to the house, showing us how different life could be if we were allowed to choose. Maybe we are luckier than Winter because at least we get to set the tone in our relationships, but marriage for power doesn’t give us many choices. It’s why our fathers fuck around so much because their own marriages leave them cold.

Miss. English is looking like bubble-gum wrapped in cotton candy and for once it’s something I need right now. Not the hard fuck against the wall of the stationery closet, but someone to hold and wrap me in comfort.

Dangerous ground that could shift and take me under, so I fix a scowl on my face and wait for what she has in mind.

The door closes, and she perches on the edge of the desk, her skirt riding high enough to see she’s ready to go, and she pouts prettily. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“In your mind.” I yawn and she says sadly, “Honey, don’t shut me out.

You know, Principal Stoner is getting weary of the stories that reach his office. Two girls terrorized at one of your parties who left minus their hair one night. Whispered tales of gambling and one-night stands.” She shakes her head. “It’s not behavior that can be ignored much longer.”

I shrug. “Why don’t you add fucking a teacher to that list and see what he does then?”

Her eyes flash and she leans forward, revealing her soft curves which make me hard despite myself. “Don’t you worry about me, baby. I can handle my own shit, but I’m worried about you. Things are heating up and for your own sake you need to tone it down a bit before you end up out on your ass before graduation.”

“Lecture over, Miss. English.” I raise my eyes and throw her the usual fuck off look that I direct to most of the teachers in this school. “Is there anything else, or can I head to lunch? I’m rather hungry as it happens and have some freshmen to chew the fucking heads off, hair and all.”

She laughs softly. “There he is, my big, bad boy. You know, I’ve been thinking.”

I shrug. “It happens sometimes.”

Easing off the desk, she approaches me and leans down, her soft sweet breath grazing my ear as she whispers, “Meet me at my house later tonight.

You know the one. I’ll leave the back door open, and we can continue this discussion then. I’ll make it worth your while, and it may just settle your anger–a little.”

I’m surprised at the invitation because this is a first. Miss. English shares her house with Miss. Potts, one of the phys ed teachers, and by all accounts she has a thing for Miss. English herself.

“Will you be alone?” I’m mildly curious, and she nods. “Miss. Potts has been called home to a family emergency and won’t be back for a few days.

It’s an opportunity I don’t want to waste and who better to keep me company than my favorite student. We could, um, study hard with no interruptions.

What do you say?”

“I say nothing.”

I shift from my seat and as I stand, I feel an overwhelming longing to pull her close and bury my face in her sweet tits and just stay there. I am desperate for affection, love even, but know it’s not something I can allow. Maybe Miss. English will offer me something I can’t take from another, so I push back and leave without another word, knowing where I’ll be heading later because a night buried deep in a soft pussy with no repercussions sounds extremely good right now.

MALIK IS WAITING and as we move toward the house to grab lunch, I say in a low voice, “You got anything yet?”

I don’t know how he does it, but Malik can discover just about anything within a matter of hours, and part of me wonders if he’s bugged the whole academy. He’s always been a master at electronics and even installed a camera in the principal’s office to gather intel on him. Something we could use against him if the occasion arose, but that fucker is so boring he does nothing but work. Admiral, really, but extremely unhelpful. At least it gave us the heads up on Winter which made my blood boil when I discovered my father had sent her here. I still can’t work out why? We only have a few months before graduation. Why uproot her from Glendale Academy and start her somewhere new with such a short time left?Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Malik says in his twisted accent, “The cameras picked up a figure dressed in black, disguised by a face mask, around 4 am. They slipped the note under the door and ran away.”

“Male, female?”

“Too difficult to tell. Whoever it was made themselves a shadow.”

“The mask?”

I stare at him thoughtfully. “What was it?”

“An animal of some kind.”

“You’ve got that right.”

My blood boils when I think of this person messing with us and I long to get my hands on them and rip the truth from them with the most horrific force. It’s been a while since I’ve had that pleasure. School doesn’t offer many opportunities to hone the particular skills we’ll need in our lives. It’s why Alessandro and Ivan knock chunks out of each other for the practice.

Malik likes to practice mind manipulation, usually with a willing girl under him and I often wonder what games he thinks up because the fear in many of his casual fuck’s eyes when they see him coming, tells me he’s got some weird shit he likes to play behind closed doors.

Then there’s Flynn, our very own fallen angel, who, out of all of us, loves a different kind of project; a more noble one that rips the hearts out of every girl he fucks because he treats them so well and then leaves them crying for what they can never have. A different kind of game that always ends in tears, which is why I’m worried about Winter’s friend Emma, because she fits the usual profile of his victims, and we will have to deal with the consequences of that.

Sighing, I say moodily, “What’s the plan?”

“I’ve set up surveillance and dropped a whisper in the relevant ears around campus. If they strike again or speak of it, I should hear back within a few minutes. Whoever they are will be unmasked if they make another move, so we sit tight and wait for that to happen.”

“Do you think it will?” I’m not so sure and he laughs, “Why go to all that trouble for one photograph? I’m guessing there’s way more to it than that and probably involves your sister’s placement here.”

“What are you thinking?” It always amazes me how Malik’s mind works, and it always appears to be working because like me, he’s already decided Winter’s arrival concerns more than just passing her exams and I’m keen to know what he thinks about that.

“I’m guessing this is part of your father’s plan for her future. She’s either being set up, or we are?”

Just thinking of my father and his mind games tells me Malik’s spot on and I sigh heavily. “I’m guessing you’re right. But why? I mean, Winter’s only function in his life is to connect with someone powerful, someone he chooses.”

“Then we need to make a list and decide who that’s likely to be.

Remember, my friend, we are all here at the same place and maybe that has something to do with this. Perhaps your father is keen to use Winter to get to one of us. We just need to work out which one he has set his sights on.”

“Do you think it’s that easy?”

I laugh bitterly. “I wish that was the case. That he wants her to marry one of you to join our families, but my father’s not so kind. I’m guessing Winter’s future husband is ancient and all powerful. Someone needing a wife, perhaps. someone who is currently without one. Maybe we should look at any possible candidates for that and narrow down the field because if I know my father, Winter is here to cause trouble and I’m guessing that’s designed to break our friendship apart.”

“Then he would be doing a good job already.”

Malik sounds casual, but I know his mind is probably racing with possibilities and I nod. “Alessandro.”

He says nothing and I think about what has happened already and say darkly, “Then he hasn’t realized how deep our ties run because even though I want to kill Alessandro right now, I still love him like the brother he is. If anything, I wish it was that easy and that my father has marriage in mind with him, but it’s more likely he wants to ruin our friendship and leave me with no friends to count on.”

As the penny drops, we stare at one another with a moment of enlightenment and my stomach churns when I think of my father plotting to rip us apart and set us against one another. He knew I wouldn’t tolerate Winter living apart from me on campus, and he knows how protective I am of her. He placed the ticking bomb right inside the fortress and is waiting for her to blow us apart.

Malik says with a sigh. “I’m sorry my friend, as always, life’s a bitch.

You need to push aside your anger and work out who’s helping him because I’m guessing the person who delivered that photograph did it under your father’s instruction. If I’m right, then more will follow if he, or she, reports back and tell him nothing has changed. This could be the start of something that will test us more than any final exam, but this time we’ll be waiting and use it to our advantage.”

We reach the house and I shoot him a look that is reflected right back at me, and we nod as if we’ve just signed a declaration of war and for some reason, I feel a shiver of expectation pass through me because this is what I love, what I thrive on and what feeds the hunger within me. Games of the most destructive kind that I plan on winning in the end and if my father is messing with us, it just feeds the obsession I have to end his miserable life, in a cold and callous way.