Benjamin, as quick as lightning, went behind the couch and hid there, screaming, "She can explain, Capo! Tell him about our deal, Jasmine! He'll kill me if I decide to speak!"
"You say one more word, Benjamin, and I will repaint this house with the color of your blood," Luciano threatened.
"You can't shoot him—"
I gasped as his gun switched from the couch Benjamin was hiding behind to my own forehead. In nervousness, I could onlyopen my mouth to say something stupid; "Killing your girlfriend is not the right path to take, Luciano."
"What the fuck do you think you're doing making inappropriate jokes. He's not kidding, Jasmine," Benjamin warned.
"Okay, I'm sorry." I gave Luciano a nervous smile as I stood up from the couch. "I wasn't actually going to sleep with—"
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He cut me off.
"What?"
"You threatened to have sex with one of my men under my roof. What were you trying to do?"
"Nothing, I—"
"When you return after you go see your father, you will head directly to the apartment you share with your roommate. You will not return to this house, understand?"
I wanted to defend myself, to ask what he was so angry about, but I knew that it would only make things worse.
"I understand." I nodded, wanting to get the whole thing over with.
"Benjamin."
"Sir."
"Stand up."
Benjamin, without hesitation, stood up. The fear in his eyes was enough to make me feel bad for him. Luciano started to make his way towards him.
"We weren't going to do anything, Luciano," I spoke for him.
Paying me absolutely no mind, Luciano towered over Benjamin. He was taller by just two inches or three, but you could tell who had more authority even without the height difference.
"You agreed to this?"
"He didn't," I answered instead.
"He can speak for himself," Luciano reminded me, his jaw locking and ticking. "Did you or did you not agree to what she suggested?"
"I did, sir."
God, no.
The sound of Luciano's palm connecting to Benjamin's cheek was loud enough for the whole of Vegas to hear.
"Luciano!" I shouted.
Another slap thundered against his cheek.
I didn't know whether to attempt to stop him physically. Not when he was like that. I had never seen him like that.
When he butchered off Roman's fingers, he had an amused craze in his eyes that told that he might still be there but now, he looked like anyone who came in his way was automatically done for. Especially me.
The last slap was even louder than the first two. Benjamin even let out a grunt.
I didn't realize tears were running down my face until Luciano walked away without sparing a look in my direction. I became fully aware of everything that had just happened. Everything I had caused.
"God, Benjamin, I'm so sorry." I tried to go to him, but he just took steps back, putting on a smile.
"Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for." I watched him go upstairs, his shoulders sunken and my heart dipped far into my stomach.
~
I spent the next one day in bed, shocked at what had happened the night before.
I couldn't seem to get that Luciano off my mind. The Luciano who looked absolutely emotionless, like he couldn't care less who was in pain and who wasn't as long as he had control.
Benjamin checked up on me a million times, asking if I was hungry or if I needed someone to talk to. I said no most of the time, of course. I didn't want him having to relive that nightmare. And each time, I accompanied it with an apology.
I spent most of my time texting Vera about things that we both loved, trying to get it out of my head.
I would be going to New Orleans the next day and my bags were packed. I had made sure everything I had brought with me was leaving with me as I wouldn't be returning to that house.
I didn't know why a part of me still expected Luciano to show up and say something. I couldn't even tell if I owed him an apology. He didn't seem to take any of the ones I had offered last night.
Maybe this was perfect. I would be away from him, he would be away from me, he would pay me whenever he wanted per the contract terms and I would start up my business. In six months, the flames of the hell I was in would be quenched.
Nothing too difficult, right?
Benjamin had gone out to the Strip earlier and I was fairly sure Luciano was all the way at his club, which left me alone in the house, if I took the hefty security guards out of the equation.
I tiptoed to the kitchen to find something to eat. There was so much, but I was indecisive.
I searched for easy dinner recipes to make on my phone. I settled for a simple beef tortilla wrap since I found all of the ingredients I would need.
Carefully following the recipe, I succeeded in making the wrap. The first bite had me smiling in satisfaction and pride that I made something like that without burning the house to the ground.
In an attempt to take the wrap up to the room, I bumped into Luciano at the entrance of the kitchen.
"Listen, I—"
Before I could get a sentence out of my mouth, he went around me and walked into the kitchen and busied himself.
He wouldn't even let me tell him I was leaving tomorrow?
I turned around, ready to start the sentence all over again when I noticed he had headphones on.
He had no plans of listening to me or whatever it was I had to say. If he did, he would have taken them out when he saw that I was talking earlier.
"I guess I'll just get myself a plane ticket to New Orleans, then." A tiny part of me hoped he was faking it. Maybe he wasn't listening to music, just pretending to.
But the big part of me knew that he didn't care.
"Goodbye, then, I guess." I turned and walked away, going up to finish my beef wrap and cussing myself out for not taking water with me.
I walked back to the kitchen, where Luciano struggled to crack two eggs. I washed the plates I had used, fighting the urge to turn my head in his direction.
I poured myself a glass of water and noticed his headphones lying on the counter.
I took my chance to finally announce it to his hearing. "I'm leaving for New Orleans tomorrow."
His concentration never split from the second egg he was cracking. He was obviously trying to achieve perfection. What an idiot.
Frustrated, I took the egg from him and cracked it into the pan, tossing the shell into the bin as he watched me with a raised brow.
"If you think I understand what's going on with you, you're wrong. I really don't know what to do. I'm sorry for what happened last night. It was all my fault, but you can't just shut me out. I'm assuming you're doing this to just me and not Benjamin because he had nothing to do—"
"He knew exactly what would happen."
I almost made a joke about how he finally spoke, but I stopped myself.
"I forced him to—"
"Trust me, you didn't. He knew better. I'm not having this conversation with you any further, Jasmine." He placed his eggs on a plate beside his strips of bacon. I was about to ask why he was having breakfast for dinner, bit I quickly recalled that we were not on that page anymore.
"I'm sorry."
"I heard you the first time." He picked at his food with a fork, staring blankly at it.
"I'll leave. You won't see or hear from me unless you call. I just need one little favor from you."
"What is it?"
"If Benjamin asks for something, please get it. I swore that you would." Now, his head whipped in my direction.
"You don't swear or make promises over someone else's actions, Jasmine. Especially not mine."
"I know, I know. Technically, it was my action. I told him that I would convince you to do it."
His nostrils flared and he closed his eyes for a while before returning to his food.
"Fuck's sake," he cursed under his breath.
"Is that a yes?" I grinned, already knowing the answer.
"If he doesn't ask for too much."
"I don't think he would."
"Don't buy a plane ticket. I'll have the air crew take you."
"Does that mean we're okay?" I smiled.
"What the hell does that even mean?" He grimaced.
"Oh, whatever." I waved him off, walking away when he called to my attention.
"Jasmine."
I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him. "Yeah?"
He cleared his throat, looking at everything in the kitchen like this was not his house but a stranger's house. If the word uncomfortable was a person, it would be him in that moment.
"Shit, Luciano, whatever you have to say can't be bad enough for you to have an internal panic, can it? You're not about to propose, are you?"
"Shut it. I just… I wanted to say that… I apologize. For pointing a gun at you and everything else."
"Oh, yeah. That. Don't ever do that again." I glared at him as he stuffed his face with his eggs.
"I don't know, you make it hard not to." He shrugged, that aggravating smirk making its way back to his face.
We were okay.