His Witness: Dark Hearts Mafia, page 1
His Witness
DARK HEARTS MAFIA SERIES
TAMRIN BANKS
Copyright © 2023 by Tamrin Banks
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Contents
1. Victor
2. Petal
3. Victor
4. Petal
5. Victor
6. Petal
7. Victor
8. Petal
9. Victor
10. Petal
Epilogue One: Petal
Epilogue Two: Victor
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Also by Tamrin Banks
CHAPTER 1
Victor
The club is hopping and I sip my whiskey, waiting for my cousin to show up. He’s late but that’s nothing new with Xavier. He’s notorious for being late especially when he doesn’t want to do it. And he didn’t want to come to the club. The men are scattered around the club and they’re watching the doors closely.
You never know when someone could come through them that you don’t want to.
I spot Xavier moving through the club on the lower level and grin. He looks pissed as hell. I know he hates this shit but I wanted to have some fun tonight. Relax a little bit. I don’t know what’s wrong lately but I can’t relax. Can’t clear my mind. Can’t enjoy one damn thing. And that includes women. And I like women. Hell, I love women!
But lately none of them do a damn thing for me. Not that they’re not beautiful and charming. Sexy as hell. Nope. That’s true on all levels. And they’re always willing. I’m not a man who’s stuck on himself but I know that a lot of women find my big, rough body handsome. They don’t mind going home with me at all.
But I haven’t asked even one. I’m just bored to death with all of these beautiful women that sparkle under the club lights.
I want something different. I want a woman that challenges me. Not a woman that immediately wants to come home with me. I like the chase and I’m not finding it here at the club.
Sighing, I watch as Xavier finally climbs up the stairs to the VIP section of the club. He stalks up to me.
“This place is too fucking packed,” I growl.
He doesn’t answer me. He’s got a stunned look on his face and he’s staring down at the dance floor.
It doesn’t take long to figure out what he’s staring at. A woman. A very pretty woman, sure. But just a woman. A little bit insipid. But pretty enough.
“Why don’t you go say hi to her? Maybe she’ll let you take her home.” I shoot him a smirk and take a sip of my whiskey, swishing it around in my mouth before I swallow.
“That woman is not one that you just take home.”
“Yeah, she is. They all are.”
He stomps off and I tune him out except for the shocking admission that that’s his wife.
“You’re not married!” I shout.
“I will be.” Then he stalks the little gazelle down on the dance floor and unfortunately, some damn asshole gets the idea that he should rub up on her.
I wince when I see Xavier’s face. Yeah, that’s not gonna go well.
There’s an altercation on the dance floor and when the crowd parts, I see a goddess standing there staring at Xavier and his girl. My fingers clench on the railing and I can’t stop thinking about my hands on that beautiful, curvy body.
I shake my head to clear it. And see that my cousin is currently all up on the woman that he is fixated on. And the stunning brunette that was staring at them is now moving forward to cut them off.
They’re now sitting at a table, Xavier gets them drinks from the bartender and the sexy little brunette is still heading for them but all of a sudden there’s a sound that I recognize well. The loud rat-a-tat of gunfire.
The brunette freezes and I see several of our men running at Xavier, pushing him along. Jerking my gun out, I race down the stairs, shoving people out of my way.
“Get down, people! Get the hell down!” Screaming and shoving, I make it over by Xavier and his girl.
Xavier nods to me and I don’t even need the answer, but when he nods his head, “ Let’s go!” I grab the woman and flip her over my shoulder.
She screams and yells until she manages to kick me and then take off running. “Get her!”
The little blond runs right to the brunette that I saw earlier. She grabs onto her but she doesn’t react and my brow wrinkles. What the hell is going on?
That’s when we reach them and Xavier grabs her throwing her over his shoulder.
“No! Petal, Petal!” Xavier nods to the brunette and I grab her up, throwing her over my shoulder. Shivers sizzle along my skin but she doesn’t react at all.
She doesn’t make a sound, doesn’t even move. It’s a little eerie because the woman I saw dancing was vibrant and full of life. This woman is just a shell.
We race down the hall and out the back door into an alley where the car is waiting for us.
Xavier tosses his girl inside as do I and then we climb in and holler at the driver to hit it.
Tires squeal as he floors it and rips out of the alley. Both of the girls sway back and forth and the gorgeous brunette rocks into me. Electricity races along my body, making me growl with annoyance. She doesn’t do or say anything but Xavier and his little blond start scrapping over going home or not.
She wins but Xavier manages to get his way too, putting one of our guys outside their apartment building for the night.
When we drop the girls off at their place and head back to the mansion for the night, Xavier is an absolute knucklehead. A whipped pussy. The fucker can’t stop talking about his girl.
On the other hand, all I can see is the shock and horror on the brunette’s face. She really saw something that took it out of her. Scared the shit out of her.
I hope that the next time I see her, that sparkle is back in her bright blue eyes.
But Xavier and I sit up and discuss business, drinking whiskey and playing pool while plans unwind around us. At least until early in the morning when the police show up at the door.
“Mr. Campano?”
Both of the officers look at Xavier and I and he nods, his hands fisted loosely in his dress pants.
“Yes.”
This time both men turn to Xavier and a swift glint of sympathy shows up in the older one’s eyes.
“I’m really sorry to tell you this but your father will killed last night. In Club Curve.”
Xavier doesn’t react at all. If you didn’t know him you’d think that anyway.
I see that quick flash of pain and anger in his blue eyes. See the slight stiffening in his back.
“I see,” he says.
“I don’t know if you do,” the younger cop says, his lips curling. “Your father is dead. Killed by someone in that club.” He pauses and his pale, icy eyes narrow. “Maybe even you.”
“This is where I contact my attorney and sue your ass off if you say something like that again,” Xavier says.
I stiffen beside him, reaching around behind my back for the gun I have stashed in my waistline.
But the older cop moves in front of the younger hothead. “He didn’t mean that, obviously.” He starts pulling the guy away and I let my hand come back to the front of my waist. “We’ll just get out of your hair and let you mourn your father properly. We’re very sorry to have to deliver such shocking news. If you do know something or you’ve seen something…don’t hesitate to call us.”
We both nod our heads but there’s no way in hell we’ll go to the cops. If we find out who did this? They’re a dead man. Judgement will be swift and painful and quite possibly last a long fucking time, until Xavier and I get our pound of flesh.
They men pull out and Xavier sighs, his face crumpling in grief. I pull the door closed and nod at the men and he immediately understands. Now is not the time to fall apart. For now, we need to show a united front so that there’s no rough transition to him taking over the family.
Because this is his birthright and now I’m the second. I’m the man behind the man.
And I will not fuck this up. I might not have been born into this family but I might as well have. I would lay down my life for any one of them.
And I will gladly take the life of anyone that threatens them.
CHAPTER 2
Petal
I wish I could say I slept like a log but I didn’t. I barely remember what happened last night. I remember a few shadowy figures, my bestie, Tally, and a very vivid, horrifying thing that I wish I never saw. And sadly, I saw a lot. I saw the old man clutch his chest as it blossomed with a crimson flower spreading out to cover his chest on his suit coat that probably cost more than I make in a damn year. And I saw the gun pointing at him, saw the man that pulled the trigger. Saw the terrifying look of satisfaction on his face when the old dude hit the ground.
And then I saw his cold gaze catch on me and a new resolve that brought the gun up on me.
I don’t remember anything after that. Just running and trying to forget.
I turn on th
The reporter is standing there all bright-eyed and happy at god only knows what time of the morning it is when this was taped. It’s still early and I’m usually not up so early on a Saturday but something told me that today was going to be an unusual day.
Now, listening to her rattle off all the information she’s managed to collect in the eight hours or so since we were at the club, I feel my mouth moving but can’t make a sound come out. My hand waves frantically at air when I hear Tally’s bedroom door open up.
“What’s so interesting?”she says, grinning while she puts her hair up.
My mouth keeps opening and closing but I can’t make any sound come out.
I am so fucked.
The woman onscreen is babbling cheerily with a little snarky aside about the family being unavailable for comment and I wish I was standing right in front of her because I would ask her if she has a death wish. Why the hell would you try and piss off the new Campano family head about his father’s death. I mean, seriously, does she want to end up floating in a pond somewhere with cement shoes?
Unless they don’t do that anymore. I don’t really know how made men kill people and dispose of their bodies anymore. For all I know there’s some super-technical way to do it now instead of old school.
Which makes me think of school. I’m off for summer break, of course, but I still have personal development and yada yada to take care of. And I can’t do any of that if I’m dead. Which I will be if the guy who killed that man knows where to find me.
“Tally?”
She turned up the tv and she’s now staring at it like it holds the secrets of the universe.
“She seems really excited about that report and the possibility of a mob war. It’s really rather disturbing how macabre that is.”
Nodding, I can’t stop myself from saying, “I saw the man that got shot. I saw the whole thing.”
“I know. You said so last night.”
I turn to her and my heart races out of control. “No. You don’t understand. I saw the man that did it.”
“Holy shit!” She breathes out air like a deflating tire.
“I saw a mob hit by a rival mafia family. I’m going to die.”
“No, you’re not. Get dressed. We’re going to the police and get you some protection.”
I shake my head but she ignores me and starts throwing stuff into a bag like we’re taking a week-long tour of Rome or something.
She shoves me towards my bedroom door when I dig my heels in. “Let’s go! Hurry up!
Tally calls an Uber while I’m dressing and by the time I come out, she’s at the front door, tapping her heels and checking her watch.
“You know we don’t have an appointment. So we can’t be in that much a rush. And they’re probably not gonna believe me that I saw the guy.”
“I saw the guy that killed him,” I mutter to myself. The driver of the Uber shoots me a look and even though Tally’s been urging him to go faster, he just ignores her.
Until he hears me and starts speeding like a bat out of hell, squealing his tires as we pull up outside the police station in the little berg.
Tally drags me inside and babbles a bunch of shit that maybe she should have kept quiet in the open area of the lobby. A bored sergeant studies us like we’re some new invasive species. But he lifts up the phone and before too long, two cops show up to take care of us.
And I may mean that in the literal not figurative sense of the word. I don’t like these guys. At all.
Both of them are smug and arrogant. Both of them are condescending as hell. And their questions aren’t about me seeing a killer. Their questions are about the two of us and where we live and what kinds of jobs we have.
I may be naive but I’m not that naive and I keep yanking at Tally’s arm to try and get her to shut up.
“Stop,” I hiss under my breath.
She finally notices me and stops talking when she turns to face the two men and notices something on their faces that I don’t like and apparently neither does she.
“Well, ummm. Thank you. If you need us for anything. I mean, just let us know. I mean, well, we should be going.”
I think motor mouth just realized that these guys aren’t interested in a description of the killer and that she’s been spewing a whole bunch of information that maybe they didn’t need.
One of them leaves the room and I just have this really uneasy feeling that he’s going to call somebody else to come talk to us.
Or something.
Panic rears its ugly head and I jerk at her arm, my eyes rolling wildly.
“Well, we’ve really got to go. Thank you so much for listening to our crazy story.”
Then we race for the door and I almost sob with relief when I realize that it’s not locked. I had a sudden vision of being locked in that interview room when the killer shows up to fix what he didn’t get done last night. Because I’m pretty sure that the look on his face means that he’s planning to get rid of loose ends and that’s what I am right now. One big fucking loose end.
A car slides in front of us and then before we can even think to scream, we’re thrown into the back of it. The man I saw Tally with last night is sitting there, totally at ease, smiling softly at her and then the behemoth that I have a slight memory of hauling me over his shoulder last night, pushes into the car beside me and almost jams me into the opposite door. His big body is putting off heat like a furnace and I glare at him when he pushes at me and blocks me in.
“You really shouldn’t be at the police station, woman. They can’t help you.”
Glaring at him, it takes all of two seconds to rethink telling him that I know he’s right.
Ummm. Don’t tell the enemy what your next move is, stupid, I chide myself.
If I didn’t know any better I’d say that I said it out loud considering the hellish grin that crosses his very firm lips right before he leans closer and whispers, “I’m not your enemy, beautiful. I might be the only thing that manages to keep you alive when this is all said and done.” His harsh voice rings in my ears and I swear I feel blackness seeping into the edges of my vision.
I’m a good person. A good girl. What the hell did I ever do to deserve this nightmare?
CHAPTER 3
Victor
The woman is gorgeous. Petal. I remember it from last night. Petal Monroe.
She’s soft and curvy and built like my fantasy come to life. She’s also sweet, innocent and obviously naive if she thinks she’s going to be able to get out of whatever the hell she managed to get into by just ignoring it or going to the cops.
I shift on the seat, trying to get closer to the little tempting morsel. I’m a big guy but she’s got curves that look built for my pleasure. And I’ve got just what she needs for her pleasure.
Judging by the look on her face she’s not buying it though. Her hand comes out and pushes at my chest, trying to move me away from her and I want to laugh. There’s no way I’m moving if I don’t want to move. I’m 6’5” of solid muscle and immoveable object. I don’t go anywhere or do anything that I don’t want to do.
“What did you have to say to the police, little one?”
“Nothing,” she lies. I can see it’s a lie and I want to turn her over my knee and spank that gorgeous apple ass of hers until it turns pink with my handprints all over it. Until she can’t sit for a week and she remembers every time that she does that I don’t like being lied to. Especially by my woman.
“I don’t believe you, beautiful. And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s disloyalty.” I nod towards where Xavier and Tally are talking rather animatedly. “Your girlfriend seems to be doing well with Xavier because she hasn’t lied to him. I can’t say the same of you.”
