Chapter Text
PRESENT DAY
DETROIT
Beth knew she looked good.
The maroon dress hugged her curves and accentuated the hourglass figure she usually hid underneath her sensible mom clothes.
This dress had been a spontaneous purchase after the first round of washing cash at Boland Bubbles went off without a hitch. It had been the right move, and she knew Rio was impressed, even though he would never admit it, of course.
The fracture between them was gradually healing, and he was slowly bringing her back into the fold of his shady dealings.
Though there was nothing shady about the opulent hotel ballroom they were currently in.
She still didn’t know why he dragged her here. He had just sent a quick text telling her to dress up and be ready for 7pm. He then proceeded to ignore all her texts for the rest of the afternoon. Jackass.
She could feel several sets of eyes on her as she walked forward, her arm lightly resting on the one Rio held out for her.
He was also dressed to the nines, forgoing his usual dark washed jeans and button up for a black tux with a crisp white shirt. He had forgone the tie, opting to leave the top two buttons unbuttoned, letting his neck tattoo be the focal point. Beth had almost tripped in her heels when she first laid eyes on him. She hated that he could look that good.
“Are you going to tell me why we’re here?”
“Business,” he drawled in that low grumbly voice of his.
“I figured as much,” Beth retorted with a slight eye roll. “Is there anything more you tell me?”
He looked down at her, and she could feel his eyes snag on her lips before dipping lower for a fraction of a second then coming to bore into her own, “No.”
Beth pulled her gaze away first, pretending to be interested in the grand space before her while people milled about, all dressed impeccably.
Rio was tense, she could tell that much for sure. He stood up straight, shoulders stiff and unmoving and his gaze was hard. Unrelenting. He had taken his boss persona up a couple hundred notches. It was jarring.
She had literally watched him kill a person in front of her, and he hadn’t looked as lethal then as he did now. Something big was going down.
“Markie?”
Beth froze. Her spine stiffened and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. It was only when she felt Rio lightly touch her back that she managed to pivot slightly to look at the approaching stranger.
Except he was no stranger. In front of her stood the last man on the planet that she ever wanted to lay eyes on again. Anthony Andretta.
* * *
OCTOBER 1998
UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY
Beth let out a string of curses as she ran through groups of people clustered around doing nothing to her 8am Economics class. She had slept in. She never slept in.
Her day was meticulously organized from her 7-minute shower in the communal washroom to her 3-minute payphone check-in with Annie to make sure she got home from school okay. At 8pm, she would call Ruby from her dorm phone, and mostly listen to her and Stan chatter about their time at Wayne State. Beth found peace in the fact that they were only a 9-minute drive away.
She had not intended to go to Detroit Mercy, but the church she was a member of, but hardly attended, had offered to pay her tuition for the year at the private Catholic college. She knew it was because they felt sorry for her. Her maternal grandparents had been well respected members of the church, even though her mother had not been.
Beth tried to sneak into the class unseen. Usually she would have gone and taken her usual spot in the front row, but this time, to stay discreet, she plopped down in the first available seat she had come across in the third row from the back.
In an attempt to fish out her notebook from her bag, she elbowed the person next to her. She looked up, ready to apologize, but was taken aback by the most stunning grey eyes she had ever seen.
* * *
PRESENT DAY
DETROIT
Beth blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, but no. Those were the same grey eyes that had captured her attention all those years ago. She felt sick.
“You look…amazing,” Anthony Andretta said in a voice so slick it made her want to gag. His eyes took in every last inch of her body. She could feel Rio tense beside her, but a quick glance at him showed her cold indifference.
“How do you two know each other?” Anthony asked, directing the question at Rio as he looked between them. He stood with a casual ease that Beth was intimately familiar with. Her quick wit and usual sass had evaporated the moment he had spoken. She had become that same terrified 18-year-old she had been all those years ago. The one she promised she would never be again.
* * *
DECEMBER 1998
UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY
Beth was trying to study for her Economics final that would be taking place on the following Monday, but she kept getting distracted by the feel of Anthony’s lips grazing over her shoulder and toward the back of her neck.
“We’re supposed to be studying,” Beth reminded him gently, pushing him away with a shy smile.
He flopped down on the bed beside her and looked up at her with his mesmerizing eyes. “There is no way you’re going to fail this exam,” he said confidently.
“What about you?” Beth teased, “I don’t think you’ve even cracked open the textbook.”
“I don’t have to,” he replied with a wink. He didn’t expand on the sentiments, though it was not the first time he had brushed her worry aside.
Beth was starting to think there was more to it than he was letting on, but she wasn’t willing to push too deep. This relationship of theirs was fairly new. They had been officially dating for a little over a month, but their first date had been right after the Econ class in which Beth had elbowed him accidentally.
Anthony was older, and at 22, he was in his final year while she was just starting her college experience. Econ was a class he was taking in order to have enough credits to graduate, and his work ethic had shown as much.
“Come on, Markie,” he said, pulling her out of her thoughts, using the pet name he had coined for her. “I’m leaving for two whole weeks to see my family over the holidays; I want to enjoy our last few nights together.”
Beth let him pull her down until he was laying beside her. His fingers ran up and down her side as he lightly kissed the sensitive skin by her jaw.
Beth was conflicted. On one hand, Anthony made her feel special in a way that Dean never did. On the other hand, there was something about Anthony that unsettled her. He had a way of making her do what he wanted, even when she didn’t necessarily want to. She mentally scolded herself as the thought cross her mind. Anthony had been nothing but a perfect gentleman, and while she may not have felt completely ready to have sex with him, she could still do some things to make the next few nights worthwhile.
She rolled over so that she lay on top of him, taking him by surprise for a moment. He grinned at her before rolling them back over, so that he was the one on top. She gave him the briefest of nods, and his grin grew wider still.
* * *
PRESENT DAY
DETROIT
“Tony?” A gentle voice called out from their left. A woman with thick, dark brown waves that flowed down her back joined their little trio. Another face from the long-forgotten past assaulted her. Marisol.
The other woman looked at her, then through her, as if she had no idea who Beth was. “Sorry to pull you away, but something came up. Mario is looking for you.”
That seemed to be enough to break the spell Beth had unwillingly cast on her former ex. He stepped away, then paused, “I’ll find you again soon.” It sounded like a threat.
She allowed Rio to lead her to the bar, in a daze, as she processed the current turn of events.
“Wanna tell me what the hell that was about.” Rio not so much questioned as he demanded, motioning the bartender over and ordering two bourbon on the rocks simultaneously.
“I uh, well…” Beth started, not because she was confused but rather still very much in shock.
Rio slid the drink over, and Beth downed it all in one go, barely reacting to the burn as it travelled down her throat.
“He…I—we knew each other. Years ago,” Beth finally managed to let out. Rio cocked up an eyebrow at her before sliding his own untouched drink towards her, which she took gratefully.
“You dated.” Rio said it so matter of fact, that for a moment, all Beth could do was stare at him. Then it clicked.
“You already knew,” she accused, turning to jab a finger into his ridiculously hard peck.
“Dangerously close to where you’ve already done some lasting damage.” His voice was like ice, but there was a hint of amusement that Beth could only now pick up on after paying so much attention to the little quirks of the man that stood before her. “Nah,” he continued easily, “I suspected, but I didn’t know.”
She wanted to ask him how. How did he come by this information? It was part of her past that not even Annie knew about. Ruby also only had the smallest kernels of information, and none of it important enough to truly resonate. No, this was secret she had planned to take to the grave with her. An embarrassing chapter in her life she had practically forgotten until it had walked up to her. She had a million questions for Rio but settled for the most important one.
“How are you connected to all this?” Beth inquired, taking a slow sip of the newly pilfered bourbon. She decided to ignore his little remark about her shooting him.
“Andretta,” Rio said, nodding in the direction of the other man, who Beth noticed was still looking at her as he spoke to a few other well-dressed men, “He runs this whole thing.”
“You mean he’s your boss.” Beth clarified, feeling stunned.
“And by proxy, yours too.” He didn’t sound thrilled about it either.
* * *
FEBRUARY 1999
UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY
What had started out so promising was slowly turning into a waking nightmare.
Beth pulled the sleeves down over the purple and blue bruises that spanned her left forearm from where Anthony had gripped her the day before.
She had been chatting with a friend from her psychology class when Anthony had stumbled across them on campus.
He had gripped her arm tightly as he introduced himself to the guy she had been talking to. On the surface, he was the picture of politeness, sharing a quick laugh with the other man before tugging her away with some excuse about needing to speak with her.
Beth looked at herself in the mirror that hung against the back of her dorm door. She looked so pale that her naturally red hair looked fake.
The gentleness had faded after the holidays, and in it’s place she found an angry, possessive man waiting for her.
She was now almost certain he had people watching her, because he always managed to find her when she knew that he shouldn’t have.
He had a cellphone, the only person she knew who did, and he would step out to take a call, only to return angrier than before.
She had spent time with him and his close friends in his apartment, where she overheard conversations in Italian that she couldn’t understand, but the Italian word for money was one she did know, and it was repeated many times. Even in that situation, she was more of a prop than a person, expected to perch in his lap and stay quiet as he not so subtly let his hands rove over her body.
Beth continued to stare at the shell of a person she had become in two short months. Anthony Andretta was bad news, and she was starting to realize that she had bitten off much more than she could chew with him. She had put enough of the puzzle together to realize she had gotten herself into something that she wouldn’t be able to untangle herself from all that easily.
“Hey!” followed by a loud bang against her door made her jump. Her heart beat a mile a minute, “Hurry the hell up.”
“Coming!” Beth shouted back trying to make herself sound peppy. She slung the crossbody bag over her shoulder and shoved her arms into the wool coat that hung up on a hook beside the door.
She swung the door open to see an agitated Anthony standing on the other side. His hand open, frozen in the air as if he was about to bang on the door again.
“Took you long enough,” he said darkly, looking her up and down a few times before letting out a frustrated sigh, “Good enough.”
He turned on his heels, giving Beth no choice but to follow behind.
* * *
PRESENT DAY
DETROIT
Beth walked side by side with Rio, his hand resting gently on her back, as he moved them towards an alcove and away from prying eyes and ears.
Once they had some semblance of privacy, Beth turned on her heels and stared up at the man that hovered several inches above her. She hated how good he looked all dressed up. His stance was casual, hands in the pockets of her overpriced pants and a blank expression on his face.
“How?”
“You gonna need to be more specific, darling,” he drawled out lazily.
Beth fumed. It didn’t help that she could see some amusement in his eyes as he watched her try and get control over herself.
“How are you a part of the Detroit Partnership?” Beth questioned.
The amusement in his eyes faded as his voice took on a gruffer tone, “Didn’t know you were aware of it.”
“You think I just dated Anthony Andretta and didn’t put together who he was or more important, who he worked for? Not that he even bothered to try and to hide it much.”
“He wasn’t the most discreet,” Rio agreed darkly.
“The Detroit Partnership is essentially the Italian mafia,” Beth continued, “and they are strict about keeping it all in the family. You’re not Italian.” It was a statement initially, but after peering at Rio for a long moment, she couldn’t help but squint, “Are you?”
“Not enough to matter,” Rio replied, which immediately stunned Beth. Rio was not one for sharing personal details.
In the last however many years she had known him, she could confidently say that she could count all the personal details she knew about him on her fingers, with some to spare.
“But you are, somewhat, Italian?” Beth asked, wanting clarification.
His eyes narrowed on her, but he let out a soft sigh, his stance relaxing slightly, “My great-grandfather ran this whole thing. Had two sons, with two different women. One was my grandfather, half Italian, half Mexican, and the other was Andretta’s grandfather.”
“Which means—”
“Andretta is my second cousin,” Rio finished. “My side got a hell of a lot more Mexican though. Might have something to do with my abuelita being the daughter of a Mexican drug lord.”
He had said it all so offhandedly, but Beth could tell there was a lot more going on under the surface, but now was definitely not the time to dig into it.
She had always assumed that Rio was just some mid-level gangbanger, because Detroit had plenty of those, and he didn’t exactly look the part of high-ranking member of the Detroit Partnership.
Some families passed on their family heirlooms, but Rio’s passed on an entire criminal enterprise. Maybe even two.
She didn’t need to ask him to know that he was a heavy hitter amongst this crowd. She could tell by the way people were giving him a wide berth, as if the last thing they wanted was his attention. Andretta had been the only one to approach them tonight, which again, made sense with him being the Boss and all.
Rio was outranked, but just barely, it seemed. Beth grimaced at the knowledge.
“Why are we here?” she asked, switching the topic to something that she hoped was a little safer.
Rio smirked at that, holding out his arm for her, before guiding her towards an empty table. He held out the chair for her before claiming the seat to her left.
Beth could see that a few others were starting to take their seats as well.
“It’s a birthday,” Rio finally said.
Beth looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression before it clicked. He was answering her question.
“Dare I ask whose birthday?” Beth muttered darkly as she took a sip from the champagne flute that appeared before her.
“Gia. Andretta’s sixteen-year-old daughter.”
Beth stared at him, mouth slightly agape.
“You brought me to a family event?” She asked incredulously.
“Look around,” Rio directed, “Does this look like a family event?”
It certainly did not. Especially not that of a sixteen-year-old. No, it looked like a meeting of the old boy’s club, and in a way, it probably was.
“Just a front,” Rio confirmed, letting his arm rest on the back of her chair. She could feel him lightly stroking the bare skin of her arm as a few others joined them wearily.
Rio didn’t bother introducing her, jumping into shop talk with a few of the men. They gave her a hesitant look, before deciding that if Rio could talk freely in front of her, they could as well.
It was all so very fascinating, enough so that Beth couldn’t even bring herself to be annoyed with Rio for not including her.
The mood shifted when Andretta took a seat at their table, in the vacant spot to her right.
She felt Rio stiffen beside her. It was clear that Andretta had just gone off book if the expressions of the rest of the table was anything to go by.
Rio continued to gently brush his fingers against her skin, but they were the only thing providing a minuscule separation between herself and Anthony.
She was now trapped between the two most frighteningly powerful people she had ever encountered and felt no more than a pawn in a game she hadn’t realized she was playing.