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Baron waves away my question. “You’re completely transparent, De Luca. Even now. Do you know what I see?”
“No. And I don’t want to know either.”
He continues anyway. “You thought you’d steal her away from him, enjoy her for a while, then toss her back after she watched his destruction. Instead, you’ve fallen for her. She has you so firmly wrapped around her finger that you literally cannot spend a minute away from her. So, you’re up here, spying on her, like some kind of love-sick fool.”
“Watch it, Baron,” I rumble in warning. “I’ll only stomach so much of you for old time’s sake. Besides, you know absolutely nothing about love. You wouldn’t recognize it if it shot you in the face.”
He sneers. “Thank fuck for that. After watching everything you went through with Olivia, I’d rather kill myself than ever fall in love.”
My mood turns sour at the mention of my first wife. “Don’t ever speak her name to me.”
Baron studies me for a couple of seconds before he nods, once, then returns his attention to the dance floor. “I will say that the blond is pretty enough. Which one is she?”
I glance down. “Ginevra Pontrelli. She’s the youngest sister, barely eighteen, and the wild one.”
“Is that so?” His interest is piqued. “I’d fuck her for a night.”
“No, you won’t. I’m marrying into that family, which puts Sophia’s sisters under my protection.”
“You’re such a hero, De Luca.” He fakes a yawn. “How boring.”
“Fuck you.”
“Thanks, but you’re not my type.” He leans slightly forward. “Though the red-head with them, she looks a few years older, is also quite fuckable.”
I grunt. “She’s married to the Beast.”
“Right.” He snaps his fingers. “I remember that now. Such a scandal. Twins are always troublesome. Wasn’t he promised the other one, and then surprise, it’s the wrong twin?”
“For someone whose business is information, you’re certainly lacking in some areas. That happened over a year ago.”
Baron sighs, settling back into his seat. “You can’t expect me to stay up to date on who is arranged to marry whom and how their match turns out. I’d rather eat a can of nails.” He raises his glass to his lips. “Do you see what I see?”
I pull my attention from Sophia again and scan the club. Following Baron’s line of sight, I spot Dimitri Kozlov, Nikolai’s cousin, two booths over. My teeth clench. At least he’s alone, as far as I can tell.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” I say more to myself than to Baron.
“Strangely, I don’t know. Business, perhaps? Oh, no, things are about to get interesting. Motherfuckingidiot.”
I glance at him, momentarily confused. “What the—?”
Below us, Nikolai Kozlov has his hands on Sophia. He’s hauling her through the crowd toward the emergency exit. She’s struggling but his grip is relentless as iron.
Rage, unlike I’ve ever experienced before, thrums through my veins. I’m on my feet, shoving people out of my way to get to Sophia. None of them matter. I only care about her.
The urgency to get to her is all-consuming.
Kozlov is going to fucking die for laying his hands on her. I’m going to make that beating I gave him in the library seem like a bit of rough fun between friends. He’ll be begging me to pull the trigger by the time I’m done with him.
I charge through the crowd to the door leading to a staircase and head down toward the exit sign. Baron is hot on my heels.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I exit into a back alley. There, two of Kozlov’s goons block my path while he drags Sophia toward a waiting car. That’s when she finally sees me.
“Roman!” Her scream pummels my gut. She thrashes harder against Kozlov, momentarily slipping from his grip until he catches her again and carries her toward the car.
I don’t have time to fuck around. The first goon to step in my way, I throat punch. He stumbles backward and drops to the ground, allowing me to advance on Kozlov. I catch up with him as he’s opening the car door and trying to toss Sophia inside, but she’s giving him hell.
That’s my good girl.
