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She stripped me of my most valued trait. The one I’d taken years to perfect and master – control.
My phone rang, and in under a second, I was on the other side of the living room answering it, only to hear Gio’s voice on the other end.
“Hi, Boss. We have a couple of issues here at the club. I was wondering when we could meet to figure out the new routes. A couple of them have been repeatedly intercepted. That shipment is still MIA, and we’ve run dry.”
Maybe a distraction was precisely what I needed. Immersing myself in an atmosphere I reigned over and controlled.
“Maybe tomorrow?” Gio asked after I’d gone silent.
“I’ll be there in half an hour.”
I gathered my stuff and headed straight to Dea Tacita after instructing Max to stand by the entrance downstairs and warn me as soon as Francesca set her sweet ass in the building. Under no circumstance was he allowed to let her leave. He could hold a gun to her head for all I cared. As long as she was here when I got home.
Gio was in my office waiting for me when I got to the club, with my glass of Macallan already served and placed on my desk. It was past ten, and the preparations for the opening were now in full speed, the staff buzzing around on the lower floor.
I sat at my desk, taking a big gulp of the amber liquid after throwing my helmet onto the couch and relaxing into my leather chair. I ran my fingers through my hair as exhaustion hit me like a train wreck.
“Boss?” I heard Gio call from behind me, but so far, it almost seemed as if he was at the end of a never-ending tunnel.
I had come to get my head out of my personal problems, but I was too tired to even open my eyes.
“Gio, we can do this tomorrow. Let me think about it. You can go,” I said as my eyes fluttered closed, and a deafening ring pierced my ears, silencing the world around me.
I couldn’t say how long I’d been out before I heard Francesca’s pained voice in my head.
“Max, please get me out of here. Take me home.”
Chapter 14
Francesca
As I neared the apartment building, I saw Max sitting in the lobby. He approached me as soon as I came into view, not leaving my side while I walked through the enormous foyer to the elevator.
“Mr. Battaglia isn’t home. He had to go into the office and asked me to call him as soon as you arrived,” he explained as he fished up his phone from his pocket.
“Well, Max, let’s do it this way. Don’t call him, take me to him. I need to talk to him right away,” I said, taking his phone from his hand and earning myself a raised brow. “Deal?”
He looked as if I was asking him to murder the president. I could see that not following the boss’s orders had serious repercussions, and I didn’t want to cause the poor guy any hard time like I had accidentally done to Gio just before our honeymoon.
“Ok, go on. Give him a call. Tell him we’re on our way,” I said, handing him back his phone.
I watched him try once, twice, and three times without success.
“Let’s get going before the club opens for the night.” He said, placing his phone back in his pocket and walking me to his car.
“A Bentley? Mr. Battaglia pays well.” I cued, trying to start up a conversation as I got in the passenger seat of his car.
I earned nothing but a wry smile under an expression that clearly said, “It’s none of your goddamn business.”
On our way to his office, Max explained we were headed to a club called Dea Tacita. They had chosen a smart name that suited the business to perfection. Goddess of the Dead. Only, in our misogynistic little organization, women had no place amidst the men of honor, and even if they had, all the credit for a job well done would always be theirs.
Max tried reaching Matt again, with no success. For the two weeks we were away, I hadn’t seen Matt without his phone and switching it off was just not an option. I was sure Matt didn’t even know what a missed call looked like.
Max tried one more time, and when the end result was the same, he called Gio, letting him know we were on our way and asking him to pass on the message to Matt.
“Go on in while I park the car. Mike, that guy by the door, will let you in. I’ll meet you inside,” he told me before I got out, waiting for me to be inside the club before he drove off.
The club was luxuriously decorated with black walls and golden and white décor pieces. There were a bunch of employees running around, restocking the liquor shelves and carrying clean, empty glasses.
