Page 63 of Dangerous Games

“I received an interesting phone call from Dimitri this morning,” Matteo says, making all of our attention move to him. The air in the room is tense.

“About what?” I ask. I have a death grip on my glass.

“Well, for starters, he wanted to know if we knew any information about where Brian was or what happened to him because he received a nice package in the mail that contained his dick on dry ice.” Matteo pauses as he eyes me. Shit. I forgot to tell him I did that. Enzo is laughing silently beside me. “I played it off, but he’s going to figure it out sooner or later. You’re the only one I know around here who can’t just kill someone like a normal person and call it a day.”

“Killing someone and leaving it at that is such a boring way to send a message,” I argue.

“Jesus Christ,” Alessio says as he rubs his temple. “His fucking dick, Gio? I hope Bronwyn knows what she’s getting into with you.”

“She’s perfectly fine,” I say as I cross my arms and glare at him.

“As I was saying,” Matteo interrupts. “He then went on to ask what our affiliation is with Bronwyn.”

You could hear a pin drop in the room; that’s how silent it was after what Matteo had just dropped on us.

“What?” I ask, my brows raising as my tone takes on a sinister edge.

“I think he caught on from your visit.”

Fuck.

“He didn’t let on that he did,” I bite out.

Matteo shrugs. “Playing devil’s advocate here, I wouldn’t either if I were him. The empty seat you took was Brian’s. It doesn’t take much for him to realize why you were there. He already knows Dennis is Bronwyn’s dad.”

“How pissed is he?” Alessio asks.

Matteo sighs as he leans back in the chair and pulls out a cigar from the interior pocket of his suit jacket, the leather creaking as he adjusts. “He’s not happy. Brian might have just been a lower-level errand guy, but he owed the Bratva a lot of money.”

“So he’s going to send another man after Bronwyn,” I say. Pain shoots through my jaw from how hard I have it clenched.

Knowing another man is going to come after her sends a rage through me like I’ve never felt before. If Dimitri was pissed about getting Brian’s dick delivered in a box, he’s in for a rude awakening because I’m about to rock his fucking world.

Matteo inclines his head as he lights his cigar. “That’s the impression I got. Obviously, he isn’t going to tell me his plans, but we need to be prepared. She’s yours, yeah?” He raises his brow at me in challenge.

All eyes are on me as they await the answer they already know.

“She’s mine.”

Matteo sighs. “I don’t like it. I don’t know her and I’m not sure she’s cut out for this life. I want you to know that I’ll be watching her until I feel that she has earned my trust, but she will be under our protection. It pisses me the fuck off Dimitri doesn’t seem to give a single fuck that he’s sending men to grab a girl that lives in a building we own. He’s never bothered me before, but this crosses the line. I don’t know what his next move is, but I know it’s coming, and we need to be alert. I want Dennis found and brought to me. I have some questions for him.”

“I’ll find him,” I vow. “He’s mine.”

Aldo studies me. “Do you think you should be the one to handle this?”

“Why wouldn’t I be the one to handle this? If our family needs to teach someone a lesson, I’m the one who does it,” I say, my tone taking on a scary, defensive edge.

Aldo holds up his hands in an effort to placate me. “I didn’t mean you can’t do your job. I’m just concerned Bronwyn might take it a little more personally if you’re the one to deal with her dad.”

Alessio nods in agreement. “Aldo is right. She’s going to be more hurt if something happens to him at your hands versus one of us.”

I stay silent as I let what they said sink in. Would she hate me? Every bone in my body tells me no, but now they have me second-guessing it. She made me do her stupid pinky promise that she would tell me if he contacted her again. She was so serious about it. There’s no way she would go back on something like that. And last night, after I made her cry, was the first time I finally felt like I was breaking through to her with how much of a shit person her dad is. But I guess no matter what that person does to you, they’re still your family. If any of them in the room right now fucked me over, I’d be pissed and want to kill them, but would I actually do it? Probably not. Because deep down I still have love for them and hope they will do better.

“I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Chapter

Nineteen