“I want to remind you of who I am. Who Klaus is. Who Evan is. You’ve seen the hell he can rain down on you in the blink of an eye. I would hate to have a repeat.”
I chuckled softly at that. “If you can get through my security this time, then I deserve to have my ass handed to me. I am not concerned.”
“She is our world?—”
“I understand the sentiment,” I said. “She was once my world.”
“Once.” He laughed softly. “And you want me to feel comfortable leaving her and my daughter with you. If you don’t care about her now, then perhaps this is a bad idea.”
“You know she’ll be safe with me,” I snapped at him. “She will have the entire house to herself most days with security just a button away. I work long hours, E will be taking Lazarus with him, and if Cole returns, he has to work long hours at the hospital on top of working for me.”
“Then maybe give him a fucking vacation and not make my fiancée’s stay in vain.”
I breathed out. He was marrying her. He was in the same position I had been in at one time.
Fucking asshole.
“Don’t worry about it. I will handle it,” I said, feeling on edge.
Anson scoffed. “You’re too confident, De Luca. Understand this. Rosalie is famous now. You were just in the headlines with a sex tape that had you two in it. If she’s seen with you, it could fuck everything. She doesn’t need the stress. This is me telling you not to fucking stress out my girl. All she has to do is cry one fucking time, and I will come for you. I don’t give a fuck whatsort of empire you put together. I’ll burn it down and piss on the ashes.”
“I don’t doubt you, so I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t doubt me.”
He was quiet for a moment, so I took the opportunity to speak.
“I know what it’s like to be in love with someone and have her staying with someone you don’t trust. I get those feelings, but I will treat her right. She will be safe here. So will her daughter. She won’t have to worry about seeing me. I will keep my distance. I do ask that Dante Church be made aware of the situation, so I’m not getting my house stormed by his men. I assume that would be traumatizing for Ellis to see her dear uncle behaving in such a manner.”
“It will be handled,” Anson said stiffly.
“Good. Then I don’t foresee any issues. Not even with the stalker nonsense. In fact, I would think it’s a good thing to get her away from all that. Whoever this person is, they won’t know she’s here, so that adds to her safety.”
“Except whoever that person is knew you had videos of her, so clearly they’re close.”
I rubbed my eyes. “And if they get close enough, I will kill them myself. I promise that to you.”
“Fine. If you fuck anything up?—”
“I won’t,” I said firmly. “I promise. She and Ellisandra will be safe with me.” I let a bit of myself drip into my words. “Anson. Know that I will do everything to protect them. I promise you.”
“OK,” he said, sounding defeated, but I could still hear the worry in his voice.
“I will need an address to pick her up from.”
“Check your phone.”
I looked down at my texts to see an address from him.
“Perfect. I will be there within the hour.” I disconnected the call and looked to E.
“It’s happening, huh?” he asked.
I nodded. “Seems so. Cole isn’t answering. Can you swing over to our old place again and see if he’s there? If he is, tell him he needs to come home.”
“I will. I have to grab Laz from preschool anyway, so I’ll swing in after I get him.”
“How is he doing? He said some kid was making fun of how he talks,” I said.
E sighed. “He’s upset, but I’ll talk to him again today. He hasn’t been wanting to talk as much, so that’s an issue. Fucking kids, man. Not him,” he hurried. “Just these little prick bastards. Almost makes me want to make them orphans.”
