AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When he called me a week ago to offer me this job, he didn’t give me details. All I know is that he, his wife, and his niece, whom I’ve never met, landed in Italy this morning, and he told me he’d fill me in on the rest when we met up. Until then, he offered me up to work a shift for his thug Italian friends during a drug deal. And seeing’s I’m an undercover agent investigating not only the Romano family, but also Dr. Boobs himself, it was the perfect opportunity.
In settings like this, I’m known as Hudson Hercules, the newest protector of some of the Mafia’s fiercest dudes, brought in by US reality star and plastic surgeon Beckett Benson. Who certainly isn’t the good guy the television paints him to be. Well, aside from him being responsible for installing many, many sets of tits. And fake or not, who doesn’t love a nice set of tits?
For a while now, some of the most powerful families in the US have deemed me a trustworthy guard who takes no shit and will protect his clients at all costs. And now, here I am in Italy, working with some of the most despicable human beings I’ve ever seen.
I stand here, witnessing the head honcho, Enzo Romano, murmur to one of his minions about what these drugs were cut with and how potent they are. They don’t care that they are killing people. As long as they are making a profit, it’s a win in their eyes.
Beckett has more money and power in the States than he could ever need. Yet it still isn’t enough for him. No, he needs to build connections here too. Putting his wife’s and now his niece’s lives in jeopardy. And in his head, he thinks he’s got Dillion Rossi—a longtime friend of mine and also an undercover agent—and me on his side too. He brought us here to protect him and his niece. Little does he know, us being here was all part of the plan to take him and every other man and woman involved in this drug cartel down. Everything has slowly fallen into place, landing us here in Italian territory.
I know the risk of going undercover with villains like this. Most days, I wake up and wonder if I’ll ever see my family or friends again. I worry that my mother will receive a phone call that her only child is dead.
Who am I kidding? With the people I’m running with now, no one will ever be able to confirm if I’m dead or not. I’ll just vanish without a trace—the way so many others in my situation have.
The thing with this line of work is, it can become a suicide mission before you can say the words oh shit. But I have to take one for the team and play the part. Shutting down these gangsters and protecting anyone else from getting hurt—it’s going to take time. I’m just not sure how much.
Living a double life isn’t easy. And being Agent Hudson Hale one day and security guard Hudson Hercules, protector of evil, the next is a lot.
But when I was a kid, my own father was shot simply for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, killed by thugs. And not just any thugs, but those working for the Romanos.
So, taking down these monsters isn’t a choice; I decided that I had to do it a long time ago. And seeing as I don’t have anyone at home waiting for me anymore, I don’t mind taking on the most dangerous jobs.
The degree of Beckett Benson’s involvement with the Romanos is still in question. But we know his family has been dipping their toes in illegal affairs to make money and gain power for decades, and now, he’s tied himself to the Romanos too. I already have enough evidence on Beckett to put him behind bars for a long-ass time. But I need him to lead me deeper into this mission. To gain more intel and put Marco Romano and his son, Enzo, away for life. Because pieces of shit like them? They don’t belong in this world, roaming free. And if I had it my way, they’d both be dead.
And hopefully, once this mission is over, that’s exactly what will happen.
“You are an honest man, Dr. Benson,” Marco Romano coos, looking me up and down in a way that makes me want to vomit all over his expensive suit that I think he might have soaked in the world’s strongest cologne. “She is a beautiful woman.”
My skin crawls as he continues to rake his eyes over my body. I want to rip his eyeballs from his head and then run out of here and catch a plane back to the shithole I grew up in. Because even a run-down, rat-infested shack in Georgia sounds better than this. Heck, a trash can sounds better than this right now. Just call me Oscar.
Finally, Beckett and Marco walk to the corner of the room, whispering back and forth, and I gaze around at the photos on the wall, taking in the pictures of his family. Somehow, every one of them makes them seem normal.
I’ve played dumb for weeks, ever since it was brought to my attention that I was going to have to travel to Italy and marry into one of the most powerful and evil families over here—the Romanos. I’ve feigned ignorance because of two reasons. One, since I was a child, I’ve wondered why my mother ran away from home at a young age to escape her parents. And why her brother, my uncle Beckett, not only stayed, but still praises his parents to this day. And, two, I have a feeling my uncle is wrapped up in some bad, bad shit. And as ignorant as it might sound now that I’m physically here and I can see how deep I’m in this, I thought I could maybe take him down for whatever crimes he was committing. Now, I’m wondering how on earth I could have been so naive to think it would be as simple as showing up here, pretending I’m some sort of badass detective, and figuring it all out.
I was trying to be a tough bitch. Now, I just want to go home, put on my sweatpants, and watch Grey’s Anatomy reruns—only the ones before McDreamy dies.
My mother and my father passed away years ago when they overdosed. They had not been perfect people by any means. Their flaws ran deep, and their demons were dark. But they’d loved me and my brother, Walker, more than anything. And I know they wanted to get clean and sober for us. They just couldn’t do it. But part of me has always wondered if, deep down, my mom’s demons were born because of her childhood. And because her brother, Beckett, still lives similar to how my mom grew up … I felt compelled to fall into my uncle’s trap and see what he was doing behind the scenes. Even though I know how stupid that is.
“All righty, missy,” Uncle Beckett drawls in his thick Southern accent. “Time to go meet your fiancé.”
“Great,” I utter as I try to hide my gulp, and my heart begins to race. There really is no going back now.
I feel like every person, at one point in their life, has done something they can look back at and say, Why did I think that was a good idea? Or, How on earth did I ever believe that could work?
Yeah, that’s me right now. And I wish I could click my heels together three times and be back in the United States.
I follow them out of Marco’s office and down a long hallway on shaky feet. I do not know what the hell I’m in for next, but I know I’ve put myself in an impossible situation. One that could have been avoided if I had just let the past be in the past and been more like my younger brother, Walker.
Walker has always done whatever he had to do to keep our uncle at arm’s length. He’s never trusted him—rightfully so. And he’s paved his own path. He lives just a few miles from Sunset Drive, where we grew up, and attends Brooks University in Georgia. He’s playing hockey as the Wolves’ newest center. He’s living his dream while I’m putting myself directly in the middle of a nightmare.
But I won’t be able to wake myself up from this nightmare, like I do with the others I often have.
As Marco pushes the door open, my eyes take in the man who has his cheek pressed into the wooden desk and a gun to his back. Even from here, I can tell he’s sweating and panicked.
“Where the fuck is the rest of it, Andre?” a man with thick black hair growls, pressing the barrel of the gun against him harder. “Did you save it for yourself to shoot up? You greedy fucking piece of shit.”
My stomach churns, and I feel sick. But I keep my composure because Beckett warned me in the car ride from the airport that if I act like I’m scared, I’ll make him look like a fool. And if I run, these are the type of people who would find me and kill me without flinching. So, I keep my face unchanged as best I can, and I try to pretend like there isn’t a dude about to get killed in front of my eyes. Maybe if I stare long enough, my mind will convince me it’s just like I’m watching an episode of CSI or True Crime.
“Enzo, son,” Marco says, keeping his voice calm, though it’s laced with warning, “let someone else handle this. Your guest has arrived.”
