AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Giovanni
PLAYLIST: ? BURN IT DOWN- LINKIN PARK ?
“Falynn.”
Her name tumbles past my lips in a shocked whisper. The other line has gone dead. Lovato’s hung up, but I haven’t moved a muscle, listening to the beep of the dial tone over and over again.
The bastard’s got Falynn. I try to process that horrifying revelation, but my brain refuses to cooperate. How in the fuck has he gotten his hands on her? And, more importantly, what is he planning?
Scratch that. I know exactly what he’s planning. Falynn is going to be used to destroy me.
Finally, an opponent has out-calculated me. It’s a move I didn’t see coming. A move that opens the floodgates for a thousand other questions, like how’d Antonio Lovato know things between me and Falynn had been serious?
She’s not the first woman I’ve had on my arm at events. She’s one of a million. How could he have guessed she’s the only one I’d developed feelings for?
“Boss?” C.J. says nervously. “What now?”
“Go keep watch on the casino floor and await further orders. Give him a moment.” Robby jerks his head in the direction of the hall.
C.J. hovers uncertainly for a second. When I don’t say anything to contradict Robby’s order, he listens. The door snicks shut and Robby turns to me. I’m so damn out of it, I don’t care that he’s eyeballing me as I sit at my desk in speechless shock.
If Lovato lays a finger on her…
My hands clench into tight fists. It’s only a hint of what’s going on inside me—the rage roars to life in my veins. It courses through every part of me ’til it turns me from the calm and collected businessman Mafia king I am to something else altogether. Something not even human anymore.
A beast ready to fucking tear Antonio Lovato limb from limb.
Robby waits by the window, looking out the glass as the Strip sparkles in the night. He’s patient enough to give me several minutes before putting out some feelers.
“We can’t let him get to us.”
The words pierce the silence out of nowhere. At first I’m certain they weren’t even said at all. Then I glance over to the window and find Robby staring expectantly back, his face pale with a ghostly glow that’s almost feverish. There’s a new look in his dark eyes, a certainty what he says is the only answer.
My brow furrows. “You picked a dangerous time to start telling jokes.”
“Boss, I’m serious. Lovato’s got the girl because he wants to force your hand. But if you don’t give in to the threat, then there’s nothing for him to dangle. It’s no longer the trump card he thinks it is.”
“And Falynn?”
“None of our concern.”
The anger coursing through me explodes. With a rumble louder than thunder, in a raw flex of power, I rise up and flip my executive desk over. The large hunk of luxury wood crashes down and shakes the floor. The laptop, landline phone, paperweight, and all the other useless shit on top tumbles right beside it, broken into pieces. I don’t stop there, tearing down the gigantic Las Vegas canvas hanging on the wall behind me. It rips in half over my bent knee, and then I fling the halves across the room. One nearly hits Robby, but he ducks.
I come out from the wreckage I’ve caused and barrel toward him in a couple short, quick steps. He flinches as I close in, assuming I’m about to deck him. It’s a good instinctual reaction—my fists itch to break his face for even suggesting what he has.
I hold back, my gaze dark. Our faces are almost close enough to touch. “Falynn,” I say in my lowest, scarily calm tone, “is my biggest concern. Don’t you ever fucking suggest otherwise.”
He hesitates so long, I assume he’s dropping it. He’s weighed the pros and cons and decided it’s not worth incurring my wrath. Particularly when the two of us stand a foot away from a giant window eight stories high. But, for the second time tonight, I’ve miscalculated.
“Sheleftyou,” he says after his pause. He speaks the simple sentence plainly, like he’s stating the fucking weather, telling me there’s seventy percent chance of rain. “What I’m saying is, Boss, she made her choice. Now she’s gotta deal with the consequen—”
My fist connects with Robby’s nose. The crunch of bone is a satisfying sound to my ears given how livid I am. Blood spurts from his nostrils and he stumbles back, banging into the glass wall. It’s not like that ugly, hooked schnoz of his was ever a prize. I’m doing him a favor.
No mercy.
I don’t stop there, snatching him up by the shirt collar and dragging him toward me like he weighs nothing. “How many warnings have I given you? What did I tell you about speaking about her? Yet you continue to defy me. What’s not sticking for you? Do I need to smash your fucking head through the window? Will that make you understand?”
Robby coughs up some blood. A few droplets spray onto the front of my Dolce & Gabbana dress shirt. But I only shake him some more, producing a rattling noise from his loose teeth. He spits one of those up too. The brutal impact of my fist is undeniable. The swelling starts up immediately along the center of his face, his nose more of a disaster than even his worst day.
