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Chapter Six
-Dante-
HIS BLOOD SHOULD HAVEdripped from the end of my blade. My knuckles should have been sore from my fist smashing into his face repeatedly.
But they weren’t.
The bastard gave us the slip, disappearing into the market crowd. We tried to find him for over two hours, looking in shops, darting down alleys, pushing over trash cans.
We returned to the yacht without having captured our prey. I leaned on the railing, clenching and unclenching my fists, corralling the rage that coursed through me after missing my chance to take my fury out on that motherfucker.
He dared to touch what was mine. He knocked her over then threatened her - withme. Warned her to stay away fromme. Who the fuck did he think he was?
The son-of-a-bitch would pay for that.
He wasn’t fast enough when he made his escape from the cafe. He was stupid and sloppy. I thought he was better than that. He hadn’t expected us to be there. He panicked when Noemi saw him, drawing attention to himself. Then he regrouped, pulling on his skills and training to give us the slip. I wasn’t surprised by that. Pissed off, but not surprised.
And when I visited his boss in New York next week, I’d let him know just how unhappy I was, both at his flunky’s stupidity and athisinterference in my life.
Noemi tossed her book onto the lounger when I approached her on the deck. “Did you find him?”
I shook my head, picking up the book so I could sit down. I flipped through the pages as I dealt with my uncharacteristic reluctance to start a conversation. I had to tread lightly. There were things at foot that I hadn’t expected, and I couldn’t reveal any of it. Not that I had any answers yet, but the search for those answers would bring things to light that needed to remain in the dark.
“Who was he?” Noemi asked.
I promised to be truthful with her, but there were things, so many things, that she could never know. The burden of years of secrets started to bubble, still containable but simmering below the surface as I chose my words carefully.
“I don’t know.” I tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Tell me what happened. Tell me exactly what he said when he ran into you.”
She frowned but leaned into my touch. I squashed the urge to dominate, to conduct my interrogation with the same lack of mercy I would usually have employed.
She wasn’t a lowlife piece of shit. This was Noemi. No matter how furious I was that she’d kept their encounter from me, I didn’t need empathy to know that it was also not her fault. Later, I would have the opportunity to take my rage out on the person who was responsible. I’d let Noemi see my displeasure, let her know how disappointed I was. I’d find out if that mattered to her, and then, when I was alone in the black cabin tonight, I’d wonder why the fuck it mattered to me.
“I was on my way back from the massage. He was walking down the center of the path, heading right for me.”
“Where did he come from?”
Dark tresses bounced as she shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t notice him at first. My mind was on other things.”
A healthy blush filled her cheeks as she continued. “I was looking at the flowers and then... he was just there. I tried to move out of his way, but he adjusted and ended up walking right toward me and would have ran into me if I hadn’t moved. When I stepped out of the way, I fell into the flower bed.”
“Not hurt?”
“No. I would have said something then. I didn’t fall hard. I landed on my knees. I thought he was going to help me up, but when he leaned over, he ...”
I raised a brow at her reluctance to speak. She’d already told me once, so I helped her out. “He told you to stay away from me. That I wasn’t who you thought I was.”
She swallowed and nodded as if those words couldn’t be spoken again. “Why would he say that?”
It wasn’t a lie when I answered her. “I have no idea.”
I didn’t know his motivation, nor did I know why he had been sent to sabotage our week together. I needed time to review the facts. Incidents were piling up. There had to be a connection between them, but I wouldn’t figure out what it was by sitting on the aft deck with the most delectable woman I’d ever known.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. My carefully laid plans had been fucked with. No matter how much support I wanted to give Noemi right now, I had work to do. But I had to know one thing first.
“Have you been able to reach your brother yet?”
“No. He hasn’t answered, and he hasn’t returned my messages.”
“Is that normal?”
I doubted that it was. Noemi and Willis weren’t inseparable, but they were close. I couldn’t imagine him not calling her back unless he had very specific reasons for not doing so.
“No, actually. It’s not normal at all. I was going to try to call him again after lunch, but then...”
“I understand.” I stood up to move away from her. I needed to concentrate, and I couldn’t do that around her. “I have some calls of my own to make. The windows will be done soon then we set sail. Try to call him one more time. I don’t want him to worry about you. I’ll be in the library. The door will be locked, but if you need anything, just knock.”
I left a confused woman sitting on a lounge chair on the main deck of my yacht. I knew she deserved better from me. But I also knew that if I didn’t start connecting some of these dots, she wouldn’t be alive long enough to come to that realization herself.
