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He paused for a second before unfastening his belt.
I held my hand up, shielding my view. “Um, if you’re going to drop your pants, please warn me.”
He laughed before passing his belt around my waist and tightening it. “There. You look great.” He winked at me. “We’ll be ten minutes. He’ll never even know.”
Somehow, I thought he would, but I wasn’t turning down the chance to escape.
12
Gio
I washed the blood from my hands and forearms, unable to do anything about the obvious splits and bruising across my knuckles. I slipped on a clean shirt before leaving my room and descending the stairs into the main body of the house. Screams echoed along the corridor, drifting up from the basement where I’d left our latest mob captive with Jackson. At least our little war was keeping my enforcer happy. Jackson was ruthless at the best of times, but with a rat in our close ranks, he was exceptionally driven. And that guy was the lone survivor from a group who’d tried to steal a shipment we had just taken from the Chicago PD. How the hell did they know what we were doing?
Another scream rang through the house before it cut off, and I wondered if the man was dead or just unconscious. No, he’d be unconscious. Jackson would keep injecting him with adrenaline, bringing him back from the edge over and over until the guy broke. Though I’d just taken out every inch of my recent frustrations on him and he hadn’t said a word.
I grabbed my phone and car keys from the kitchen counter, frowning when I read over a text from Philipe.
“Tommy took Emilia out of the apartment.”
Why the fuck would he do that? She’d one hundred percent take the opportunity to run. Dammit. I left and got into my car, calling Tommy as I floored it down the drive. Of course, he didn’t pick up. The thought of anything happening to her had a horrible sense of fear skittering over my skin, the likes of which I hadn’t felt in a long time. Shit. Did I care about her, or was I just obsessed with her?
When I made it back to the city and walked into my apartment, Tommy and Emilia were sitting on the couch laughing, a bag of chips between them. In an instant, Tommy’s smiling fucking face became the focus of all my rage.
“What the fuck, Tommy?”
“We went to get supplies.” He shrugged. Shrugged.
I glanced at Emilia, unable to stop my gaze from roaming over her, looking for injury. The only one I found was the little purple bruise on her bottom lip from that kiss last night. If I could even call it that. It was more like a damn attack. However, my attention quickly shifted to her exposed legs, my shirt barely reaching past her ass, a belt cinching her small waist. He took her outside dressed like that. I was going to kill him. Slowly. Painfully.
“You took her outside where she might escape, or where The Outfit might get her, for fucking snacks.”
Emilia flinched at my raised voice.
Tommy just folded his arms over his chest. “Fine. No popsicle for you.”
My eye was twitching. “Tommy!”
“What do you mean, The Outfit might get me?” Emilia asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“They tried to kill you once. You don’t have the protection of my name. Out there, you’re fair game.”
The color seemed to drain from her cheeks. Good. I needed her to know what was at stake here. I didn’t mention the fact that Sergio would actually probably just marry her off elsewhere. I didn’t need her thinking she had any other option but me.
Tommy huffed out a sigh. “Don’t pretend your guys weren’t following us. If she’d escaped, they would have caught her, but she wasn’t going to, were you Emilia?”
She shook her head like some scared little lamb. I hated it. Hated that two minutes ago, she’d been laughing with someone who wasn’t me. Hated that I gave a single shit about her happiness beyond making her scream my name.
“And even The Outfit aren’t stupid enough to kill her in broad daylight in the middle of New York.”
It was highly unlikely, but I didn’t care. It was as though one kiss had exacerbated my obsession tenfold. I had to go out tonight. Tommy was supposed to watch Emilia, but I couldn’t handle the thought of having her away from me where I couldn’t see her. Fuck, I was losing it. “I’m taking her with me tonight.”
She would certainly make a boring affair much more interesting. All part of my legitimate image. Successful businessman, charitable donor, and all-around saint. Torture at five and raising money for orphans at eight.
“Call Naomi and get her a dress.”
He cocked a brow. “You’re taking her to a gala? You just said she was a flight risk.”
