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“What do you mean sketchy?” I snap. “Tonight is the first night she’s been away from her son. She hasn’t left the house in over a year, and tonight I had to take her through the middle of a fucking city,” I point out, just in case he’s forgotten.
“Do you think she suspected anything?” he lowers his voice, looking even more concerned.
“No,” I shake my head confidently, passing off his comment as ridiculous. “I had her wait in the car.”
I’d hated having to leave her outside alone, but I couldn't take her in with me, and when I saw the state of the situation, I was grateful that I hadn’t. I trace back through all the things Riley might have found suspicious about what had happened earlier. Hopefully, she will be asleep by the time I join her in bed, so I will have plenty of time to come up with a reasonable explanation.
“You have any idea who’s behind this?” Ricardo asks, his eyes thinning into tiny slits.
“I have my suspicions,” I nod, not giving too much away as I pour myself a scotch and take a seat at my desk. “I just can’t seem to find a link, though. There were five girls auctioned tonight. Why was she the one they took?”
“Perhaps she was the one that appealed.” Ricardo shrugs his shoulders.
“Perhaps.” I pout before knocking back what’s left in my tumbler. “Or perhaps it was done for a reaction. To drive me out and expose me.” The rage begins to bubble hotter under my skin.
“We need to level up security around here. If this is part of some plot to get her back, we need to be one step ahead. No fuck ups,” I warn.
“I’ll pull some men together. Nothing’s gonna happen to her or the kid, boss. You got my word on it,” Ricardo promises before leaving me in peace.
As soon as the door is closed behind him, I open up my top drawer and take out the photos that Gioele has provided me with over the past few months.
Liam Hayes has changed. He now carries a blackness inside of him that I know firsthand can only come from grief. And grief can be a powerful weapon to a man who knows how to use it.
It can drive a man to greatness, but it can also tear him apart.
I don’t care whether the kid and his club are looking to find Riley or seeking revenge because they assume her to be dead. I decide that with them, I need to play the long game.
No rash decisions, no mistakes. I need to take down the Souls to protect my family, and if that means killing Riley’s brother in the process, then it will have to be done.
I wait a few more hours until I can be sure that Riley’s asleep before I climb the stairs to go to bed myself. I check in on Gabriel on the way past his room and smile to myself when I see him sleeping on his front, with his hands above his head in the exact same way Riley likes to sleep. I tease one of his dark curls off his forehead before bending down to kiss him there.
“Buonanotte mio mondo,” I whisper before creeping back onto the corridor and making my way to Riley.
She’s sleeping soundly when I step into our room. She’s even wearing the shirt that I laid out on the bed, ready for our return, before we left.
I still love the sight of her in one of my plain white shirts. My plan had been to come home from a night at my new restaurant and spend the entire evening making love to her in it. I want to get started straight away, making another child that we can fill with love and spoil.
But as I slowly undress and carefully slip under the covers beside her, I take care not to wake her. I need time to invent the lie that's going to shield her from the fact she lies beside a monster each night. And right now, with all the anger coiling through my veins, I’d be incapable of being gentle with her.
Tonight my need to feel the inside of her pussy isn’t important, and as I slide my hand over the smooth tops of her thighs and feel her skin against mine, I remind myself of the positives of the evening.
Riley wants exactly what I want. She wants to expand our family. And for that, how can I not feel like the luckiest man on the planet?
I open my eyes and smile at the sight of my little boy snuggled up between us. Rafe’s strong arm rests over the pair of us protectively, and I watch them both sleep. In those blissful few seconds, I forget everything that happened last night and allow myself to still believe that this life I’ve been gifted by Rafe is pure and good.
Then reality rolls over me like a black storm cloud, dulling the vision in front of me and making me feel like my air supply has been cut.
I quickly get out of bed and head for the bathroom, moving quietly, so I don’t wake them. I need a little space and some time to think all of this through.
Is Rafe really capable of this? There might be a perfectly innocent explanation for it all. There has to be because I know Rafe. I’ve spent almost two years with him.
I love him.
Sure, the man can be controlling, and I’ve always known there was a dark side to him. But trading women? It can’t be true.
While I wash my body, I try to come up with a way to find out more information. I wonder if Sylvia knows about Rafe’s dealings, and if she does, how she feels about it. And the more I think about it, the more things start to make sense.
Was that the reason Rafe had been at Adriano’s house the day he saved me? He didn’t seem affected by the horrors down in the basement. Is this why he couldn’t save those people?
