The Rookie Swapped My Gift Box for Lingerie,I Went Nuclear

"Lorenzo, yes, the Marchettis took me in over a decade ago. But the tribute I've brought this crew over the years is more than ten times what your family ever spent keeping me. Don't try to guilt me with that." With that, I didn't wait to see his reaction. I walked straight out, the sound of shattering glass following me down the hall. The whole way, I caught strange looks from every direction. Soldiers who'd once stood aside when I passed now let their eyes crawl over me. "Bet she tried to get her hooks into Marchetti and failed, and now she's been thrown out. Men like their women clean. She's spent all these years at his side and never got made worth a thing to him. Something's definitely off about her." "We used to think Marchetti was a fool. Turns out he knew all along. Poor man, holding out this long for the crew's sake. You think she's carrying some disease?" Inside the back office, my things lay scattered across the floor, stamped over with countless footprints. Vittoria sat in my chair, her eyes brimming with smugness. "Adriana, Lorenzo says the handler's spot is mine from now on. I've got so much of my own to bring in, so I went ahead and cleared out some of the junk first." Her smile held that beat too long, the way it always did when she was enjoying herself. "He also says he's going to have you cut off from every Family that does business in this city. The decree, all of it. Want me to put in a good word? He does treat me pretty special." Vittoria flaunted her victory, waiting to see me burn with rage. But I refused to give her the satisfaction. I turned and left. If I couldn't be someone's workhorse, then I just wouldn't be one. I scrolled to a contact in my phone and dialed. "That offer. Taking over. I accept." The reply came quickly, low and certain down the line. "Seven days from now, at the sit-down, I'll declare your name before all the bosses and put the whole Family in your hands." Back at my apartment, I threw myself onto the bed and got some real sleep. All these years I'd been busy running rackets and errands for Lorenzo, one thing piling onto the next, staying up through thousands of nights. Back then it never crossed my mind that I'd end up being tossed aside like a spent debt. I emptied my head of it all, and that sleep was the most restful I'd had in ages, right up until my phone started ringing. "Adriana, you've skipped out on a whole afternoon. If you still want a place with this crew, get yourself over to the Crisp Aroma Bistro right now." "Vittoria's sitting down with a partner tonight. She's young, she can't hold her liquor. You go drink in her place. If the pact goes through, I'll think about finding you a rank again." His tone dripped with charity. I rubbed at my bleary eyes, but my thoughts had already drifted far away. When Lorenzo and I first clawed the crew up off the street, back when it was on its last legs, we once set up a table to reel in a partner Family. Everyone seated there looked down on us and wanted a laugh at our expense. They made a game of it, saying they'd seal the pact only if we drank twenty bottles of hard liquor. Lorenzo was allergic to alcohol. I was barely past twenty, and I'd never touched a drop before. But I knew how much the crew meant to him, so I forced my way through and won him that chance. Twenty-five bottles of hard liquor later, the arrangement was sealed, and I was in a back-room clinic with a stomach hemorrhage. When I came around, Lorenzo was sitting beside me, wracked with guilt. The always-hard man's eyes had reddened, a rare thing to see. He wet his lip and held my hand and swore to me: "Once the crew's standing on its own, I swear I'll never put you through anything like this again." And now he was the one sending me to go pour drinks. An ache I couldn't put into words rose in my chest. My fingers found the jade pendant at my throat, my mother's, and closed around it. Without any hesitation, I shot back: "Lorenzo, I'm not part of your crew anymore. I don't need to show up for your business." I hung up and dropped his number and his account into my blocked list. Out of sight, out of mind. After Lorenzo's call, every trace of drowsiness was gone. I lay there staring at the ceiling, with no idea what I was supposed to do next. After my mother passed, the Marchetti household chose me to be Lorenzo's study companion. From that moment on, my whole life had revolved around him.

I trailed behind him, carrying his bag. I skipped out on things with him, ran the same streets he did, then built my place in the crew at his side. We never once put a name to what we were, but to everyone in the life, we were a pair. Associates and partnered factions teased us about it, and Lorenzo never bothered to correct them. I'd let myself believe he felt for me what I felt for him. Until Vittoria showed up and shattered that pretty little dream. Somewhere along the way, the boy who once shielded me, who once treasured me, had turned into someone I couldn't stand to look at. My phone rang again. When I saw the name saved on the screen, Carmela Marchetti, I froze, and it took me a long time to answer. "Adriana, Lorenzo's at the Linan Hotel, room 5312. He's been drinking. Go get him and bring him home right now." Carmela Marchetti's frantic voice carried through the line, and my first thought was that Lorenzo truly loved Vittoria. He knew he couldn't drink, and he'd stepped in and done it anyway so Vittoria wouldn't have to. "Move faster. He's allergic to it. If something happens to him, can you carry that on your shoulders?" "The Marchetti household took you in and raised you all these years, and you drag your feet over one small thing. What a waste, feeding you all this time." When I didn't agree right away, Carmela's tone soured, and I could almost hear the rings turning on her fingers. The refusal caught in my throat, and in the end I still answered, "All right, Aunt Carmela. I'm on my way." The door to room 5312 at the Linan Hotel stood wide open, and unease stirred in me for no reason I could name. This was neutral ground, a place made men came to talk over wine and no blood was supposed to be spilled. That was exactly why it felt wrong. But another prodding message from Carmela popped up on my phone, and I had no chance to think it through. I stepped into the dark room, and the next second, the door slammed shut behind me with a bang, and Vittoria's gloating voice exploded in my ear. "Adriana, Lorenzo said this is what you get for defying him. Enjoy the time you've got left." I lunged for the door and yanked at it, but it wouldn't budge. The lights flared on all at once, and when I saw how the room was laid out, a shudder ran through my whole body. Not just because of the chains and the whips, but because of a face I could never forget. "Long time no see, Miss Falcone. I told you you'd better not fall into my hands, or I'd finish you." The man sitting on the bed had a huge gut, and a lewd grin spread across his face. A scar ran from the corner of his eye down to his chin, hideous to look at. His name was Gennaro Rizzo, once an associate who moved product alongside the Marchetti crew, and the thing men in the life despised about him most was how lecherous he was. He'd set his sights on me before, and after I turned him down, he'd tried to drug me and force himself on me. To get away, I'd smashed him with a liquor bottle. That scar was mine to claim. "Gennaro, this is against the code. Neutral ground, in front of God and everyone. I've already sent word to the Feds. Turn back now, while there's still time." I forced myself to stay calm and pulled out my phone, trying to scare him off. My free hand found my mother's jade pendant at my throat and closed around it. But Gennaro just laughed like he'd heard some great joke, throwing his head back, and came toward me one step at a time. His thumb dragged slow across the old scar on his face. "You still don't get the situation, do you? That fresh young thing your crew sent over to seal the pact, she's a tender one. She was the one I wanted, but Lorenzo couldn't bear to give her up, so I had to make him hand you over instead." "Go on, call your Feds. The cameras are still rolling. By the time they show up, your little picture show will be all over the underworld, and every boss in the city will just say you spread your legs for the arrangement. Take my advice and behave. Make it fun for me, and maybe I'll even let you off." Only then did I notice the countless cameras around me, red lights glowing, and a bleak cold spread through my chest. Lorenzo knew exactly how much Gennaro hated me, knew that falling into his hands meant I'd be lucky to walk out with my skin, and he'd still delivered me to the door, all to protect Vittoria. He'd traded away his own blood to seal a pact with a rival faction, and there was no honor code low enough to name what that was. What right did he have to throw me away like this? Hatred rose up in me on its own, and a whip came down hard across my body, tearing open a line of blood.

I cried out in pain, and the sight only lit Gennaro's face with excitement. "Yes. Scream louder for me." I struggled, trying to twist away, but he came after me, thrilled by the sport of it. When I stumbled and hit the floor, he threw his whole weight down on top of me, his filthy hands landing on my clothes and ripping hard. "No! I'll make you pay for this!" His reeking mouth was closing in on mine. My hand groped blindly across the carpet, closed around the long iron chain, and I whipped it at his head. The blow landed, and Gennaro's face went dark. He raised his hand and slapped me. "You little whore. Marchetti's throwaway trash, and you dare put your hands on me? Wait. Tonight I'll ruin you for good." His thumb dragged once over the old scar I'd given him years ago, that pale seam along his jaw, the way it always did when he meant to take what he wanted. He reached for his belt, and I seized the moment to slam my foot into his groin. He doubled over backward, and with shaking hands I grabbed the heavy crystal ashtray off the table and brought it down on his skull. Terrified he'd come back at me, I smashed it down again and again, until warm blood splattered across my face, the heat of it turning my legs to water. I stared at Gennaro, out cold on the floor in front of me, and the terror inside me refused to settle for a long, long time. Only when the Feds broke the door in did my mind finally come back to me. I pointed at Gennaro. "He and someone else set this up to rape me. The proof is in that camera." A jacket was draped over me, and every taut nerve in my body snapped at once. I passed out completely. When I woke, the first thing I smelled was the disinfectant of a safe-house infirmary, sharp under the faint trace of gun oil from the man standing guard at the door. The door slammed open and Lorenzo came storming in, seething. He grabbed my arm, his fingers landing squarely on my wound, and blood welled up around them. The pain made me suck in a sharp breath, but he acted as if he saw nothing. "Vittoria's young. She only got reckless because she was trying to help the crew close this pact with the Rizzos. You're going down to the Feds right now to sign the statement that clears her." "When they took her away, she was so scared her eyes went red." So while I'd been unconscious, the Feds had pulled the surveillance footage and hauled both Gennaro and Vittoria in. I wrenched my arm out of Lorenzo's grip and said coldly, "Lorenzo, what makes you think I'm generous enough to forgive two people who tried to rape me?" Lorenzo went still for a beat. He'd never imagined that I, who had always obeyed him, would refuse, and his expression turned ugly. "But you're fine, aren't you? Since when did you get so petty? You just have to keep coming after Vittoria." His voice climbed a few notches, grating in my ears. I felt the gauze wound around my body and couldn't understand how he could push that sentence out of his mouth. When I gave him no answer, Lorenzo grew impatient. His tongue wet his lower lip, and his eyes flicked once toward the door, toward whoever waited beyond it, before he reached into his pocket and drew out a jade pendant, dangling it in the air. "Sign it, or I put this under my heel?" My eyes shot wide. That pendant was my mother's only keepsake. Back when I was still sure of what I felt for Lorenzo, I'd pressed it into his hand myself. I never dreamed the day would come when my love would be turned into a blade aimed at me. "Lorenzo, loving you is the thing I regret most in this whole life." His gaze dimmed, thrown for a moment, but he didn't take it to heart. I'd fawned over him for more than a decade. There was no way, he thought, that I could just stop loving him that easily. "Give me back the pendant, and I'll sign." Right in front of him I called down to the Feds and asked them to let the matter drop. The room was quiet enough that I heard my own voice waver on the line, and hated that he heard it too. At that, the faint unease in Lorenzo's chest eased into relief. He let out a heavy breath and tossed the pendant onto the sheets beside me. His phone rang. One glance and I saw Vittoria's name on the screen. "Okay. I'm coming for you right now. Don't be afraid. I told you, nothing touches you while I'm standing between you and the world." The words were so familiar. Once he'd made me that same promise. Now he'd handed it to someone else. My fingers closed around the jade at my throat, cold against my skin, and did not let go.

Lorenzo walked out without a backward glance. I ran my thumb over the jade pendant at my throat, and the tears slid down without a sound. I thought that would be the end of it, but Vittoria had no intention of letting me off. That very night, the footage from the safe-house camera was cut, doctored, and pushed through every channel the underworld whispered along. "They even brought out a whip. So this is what that kind of arrangement looks like? Look at the way she's enjoying it." "How much a night, you think? Heard she used to run operations for some crew. Slept her way up, obviously." Scrolling through all the filth being passed around, with harassing calls and messages pouring into my phone nonstop, I ground my teeth in fury. A message surfaced on my screen: "Do you need me to handle the whispers?" I turned it down. Burying it that quietly would only make people think I had something to hide. If I was going to move, I'd strip the masks off every one of them in front of the whole life. I rested quietly at the safe house, letting the wound close, until the day of the sit-down, when I crossed paths with Lorenzo and Vittoria. The moment they saw me, both of their faces registered surprise. But it wasn't the same kind. In Lorenzo's eyes there was a flash of being dazzled; in Vittoria's, nothing but jealousy. I thought of how I looked tonight, dressed by a name half the city couldn't afford to whisper, the jewels on me the sort no amount of tribute could buy. "Adriana, did you know we'd be here, so you slipped in? This is really too much. The Falcone Family is hosting this gala. If the Don learns someone walked in uninvited to spoil it, he'll be furious. And it would go badly if that anger settled on the Marchetti crew." Vittoria wore a show of kindhearted concern, but the mud she flung landed on me first. Her smile held a half-second too long, her eyes flicking sideways toward the door before they returned. Sure enough, Lorenzo's face darkened at once. He wet his lower lip, glanced toward the head of the room where the ranking men stood, then looked at me with displeasure and snapped: "Get out of here, now. If someone catches you and throws you out, I won't be able to protect you, and you'll only humiliate yourself worse." I watched the two of them sing their little duet, my expression unmoved. "The Marchetti crew and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. Whatever I do won't touch the crew. Besides, I'm one of the invited guests." Vittoria let out a snort of laughter, as if she'd heard a joke. "Someone like you, worth an invitation? Adriana, don't tell me you crawled into some old boss's bed and begged him to bring you along." She made no effort to lower her voice. In an instant, the eyes of the men and women across the hall settled on me, some curious, and more than a few who knew my face. "Isn't she the woman from that footage going around a while back? You all seen it? Filthy stuff." "That's Marchetti's man. What's the story between them?" I ran my eyes over Vittoria, thought of what I was about to do, couldn't be bothered to trade words with her, and turned to leave. But Lorenzo grabbed my arm, his eyes full of disappointment. "Adriana Falcone, how can you throw away your dignity like this? You really can't live without a man? You standing here is dragging down this whole sit-down." "I tried to talk sense into you and you wouldn't listen, so don't blame me for showing you no mercy." I found it almost funny. What mercy was left between him and me? Lorenzo called over the retainer running the floor and pointed at me as he gave the order: "This woman has ugly intentions. She must have slipped in to ruin the gala. Throw her out right now." "If the Don lays eyes on someone this filthy under his roof, every one of you could end up in serious trouble." Lorenzo had a talent for phrasing a thing so it sounded like he was watching out for everyone. But just as he thought I was about to be dragged off in disgrace, the old man leaned both hands on his cane and went completely still. Then he turned to Lorenzo with a look that could have frozen the wine in the glasses. "Signor Marchetti, mind your words. Miss Falcone is the host of this sit-down. Whoever heard of throwing out the host?"