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“Noted,” she said, not once looking away from her phone.
I didn’t have time to deal with this bullshit today.
“If you don’t want to let her go, you could always take the money for yourself. You have the perfect opportunity, and that could help you expand all your businesses. The opportunity—”
I wouldn’t hear another word. I slammed both palms into the desk and reached forward, grabbing the front of his shirt. “I must not have made myself clear,” I snarled in Damien’s face. “We aren’t going to touch a hair on Ciara’s head, and we’re not going to talk about it, either.”
It didn’t matter that he stood taller than me by an inch. It didn’t matter that his bulk nearly doubled mine. The man looked terrified to be in this position with me, and I knew it was because he wouldn’t win this fight. He knew it, too. I’d clawed my way up the ranks with the previous boss, and I’dearnedmy position as the boss when he’d been killed. I’d killed and tortured and maimed to get here, and Damien had been at my side through all of it.
“I was just saying—”
“You weren’t,” I repeated. “Because if you say it again, I’ll tear out your throat with my fucking teeth. You’re not going to touch her. You’re not going to suggest I hurt her. And if I catch a whiff of youthinkingabout this, I’ll kill you. She is under my protection, and you will either respect that or die. You choose.”
I heard him gulp, and amusement danced through me as I realized how scared he seemed.
I glanced over his shoulder at Nadia, and she didn’t even bother looking in our direction as she continued scrolling through her phone nonchalantly.
“Am I interrupting?”
I shot my gaze over his shoulder to where Ciara stood in the doorway, wringing her hands in front of her. She bit a lip and looked to the ground instead of making eye contact, and my chest hummed as I looked her over. She wore pajamas and looked ready for bed, so I glanced down at the clock on my computer screen, finding that it was nearly midnight.
I shoved Damien away and pointed to the door. “Everyone out,” I demanded. They both scattered out of the room quickly as I fell back into my chair and took a deep breath, calming with each step she took into the room.
“I just came in here to ask about a room,” she said, biting her lip. “I don’t mind sleeping on the couch again, but Andrei had a long day, and he fell asleep there. I don’t want to wake him.”
I nodded and powered off my computer screen. With the threat against her, I couldn’t have her far from me as she slept. I trusted Andrei to look out for her, but behind closed doors, a lot could happen without detection.
“I’ll bring you to the room,” I told her, passing her in the doorway and guiding her down a long hallway.
“Thank you,” she said. I looked over my shoulder and found her bouncing after me, so I slowed my pace. “I heard something today, and I want to know if it’s true,” she admitted.
“Shoot.”
“Did my dad issue a do-not-touch order on me after I left?”
I wondered where she’d heard that, but I didn’t ask as I guided her into the master bedroom. “He did. It went out to everyone in his borgata and all the bosses in other ones. It was a pretty serious threat, so nobody questioned it.”
“Even you?” she pushed, moving toward the bed and sitting at the end of it.
“I’ve never had any reason to hurt you.”
She nodded slowly, the confirmation clearly unraveling something within her. She finally took a deep breath and spoke again after a moment, and I leaned into the doorframe. “I—I guess I’ve just hated him for a long time because he wasn’t there for me. He was so willing to sell me off to the Chicago Irish boss without my consent, and I hated him for it. If I’m being honest, I hate the whole mob life. The guns, the death, just everything.”
“Guns bother you?” I asked.
She glanced down to my hip and bit her lip again. I felt my cock hardening beneath my pants as I considered taking that lip and sucking it into my mouth. I noticed a trace of anxiety in her eyes when she looked at it.
“I’ve seen what they do to people, and they kind of terrify me,” she admitted. “Even being around one has me nervous.”
I nodded and removed the gun from my hip, taking mental note of the way she stiffened. I cleared the chamber and put it in my dresser, closing it and turning to her. Immediately, her posture relaxed. I’d have to be more careful about wearing a gun around her when it clearly made her uneasy.
“Okay,” I told her. I began unwinding my belt from my hips, and I tossed it atop the dresser. I reached for the button of my pants and popped it open before she gasped and stood.
“What are you doing?” she asked
“Getting ready for bed,” I replied with a raised brow.
“Do it in your own room,” she scoffed, clearly uncomfortable with the sentiment of watching me undress.
