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“Aren’t you?” I taunt, gripping her wrists tighter. “I imagine that if I really wanted to, I could have you telling me all kinds of things. And you’d do it with a smile on those pretty lips. Or, depending on my mood, you’d tell me with tears falling down your cheeks. But lucky for you, I don’t have the time for either of those options. So for now, I’m going to put you in that bed and you’re going to get some sleep. Defy me, and I’ll end up coming back down here and it won’t be as nice as this time. Do you understand,topolina?”
There is apprehension in her gaze now, but not fear. Interesting. Perhaps she thinks I’m bluffing. An unfortunate thing, because I never bluff. She finally says, “Fine, I’ll get some sleep. Will you let go of me now?”
I don’t move, instead I watch her for another moment, trying to figure out if she’s lying to me. Her eyes don’t move from mine, and that’s when I see that fire underneath. The kind that wants to curse me to hell, but she won’t. Those words will never leave her pretty lips. Instead, her eyes return to being flat as she stares up at me. I smirk at her and say, “If I have to put you in that bed, it’s not going to end well for you.” I let the mild threat hang there for a few extra seconds, but she doesn’t react. I release her and step back, watching her carefully.
She doesn’t move for a moment, but then finally steps away from the wall and around me, but careful to never give me her back. A practiced move if I’ve ever seen one. I follow her, watching as she climbs into the bed, and lays stiffly close to the edge. She arches a brow at me, as if to ask if I’m happy now. How a woman can be so damn sassy without saying a word is a skill I’ll never understand, but instead of saying anything, I head for the door, carefully listening for any sounds of movement. I’m almost hoping she will defy me, because tying her to the bed will give me some goddamn peace. Something I haven’t had for weeks because of her.
When I reach the door, I glance back and see she hasn’t moved, her eyes staring at the ceiling. Something tells me it won’t be long before she’s either out cold or she’s up and defying me anyway, hoping I won’t notice. I walk out, locking the door behind me, and move halfway down the hall before I pull out my phone and look at the cameras. Surprisingly, she hasn’t moved, though that could be because she knows I’m waiting on the other side.
When she doesn’t move after another few minutes, I head back down to my office and find Dante waiting for me. I’m far too restless to sit and work now, so I bark, “Let’s get going.” Dante doesn’t question me, just calls for my car. I leave the office to head for the entrance to the underground garage, but stop when I see Sofia instructing one of the staff on something. The young woman’s eyes widen when they see me, but I give her a cool look that has her scrambling to walk away. Sofia gives me a look of annoyance, which I also ignore and I order, “No one is to enter the east wing. Understood?”
She gives me a curt nod. “Fine.”
I narrow my eyes at her in warning. “I’m losing my patience with your sass, woman. Perhaps it’s time for me to remind everyone around here, including you, just who is in charge.” Her expression doesn’t change, and she just stares at me. I let out a low snarl before turning and stalking away. I’ll deal with her later. Right now, I have more important things to focus on.
When we are in the car and speeding out toward our destination, I pull up the camera feed. Anger burns in my gut when I see the bed empty once again. Looks like my little mouse didn’t take my warning seriously. I’ll have to make sure she sees the error of her ways when I get back. I scroll through the different camera feeds until I finally land on her. I pause when I see where she is, a slight frown pulling at my lips.
I figured she would be back up in that damn library again, but this time I find her in the walk-in closet, a blanket wrapped around her small frame, and curled into the very back of the closet. If I wasn’t looking for her, I’d probably have missed her. Her eyes are closed, and she looks like she’s not that comfortable.
I suppose she’s sleeping, but what I want to know is why is she sleeping in a damn closet instead of a large, comfy bed? But that’s a problem for later, because right now, I need to put her out of my mind and focus on the task at hand. I put my phone down and see that we’re approaching one of our stash-houses. A cold determination settles over me as we pull into one of the dark alleys. I exit the car quickly, before Dante or Davide can even get to my door. I’m impatient to get inside.
No one steals from me, and before I’m done today, I’ll know if one or both of the men are guilty of it. And if they are, one or both of them will be dead before the day is out.
I quietly open the door and walk inside the stash-house. I hold back my snarl of displeasure when I see that there is no guard at the door. Anyone could just walk inside. Not to mention the fact that the majority of people in the room aren’t even aware of my presence the moment I step in. They’re all laughing and joking, and if I’m not mistaken, there is two of them snorting some of my drugs, and two women in the back grinding against each other, clearly high. I look around for Carlo, but don’t see him, which infuriates me even more.
I don’t even look at Dante as I move further into the room. That’s when people start to notice my presence. People scramble back, trying to blurt out anything to get me to focus my attention elsewhere. Blaming any and every one for their fuck ups. “Silence!” I roar, the room falling silent. I look coldly at the women near the back of the room, who I see are completely naked. I turn my attention back to the rest of them, and demand, “Where is Carlo?”
“He left, told us to have fun,” one of the men squeaks, as he swipes at his nose to erase the evidence of the product he’s just stolen.
“And where did he say he was going?” I demand impatiently.
“He didn’t say,” another man said cautiously. “But he stormed out of here pretty pissed off.”
“And you decided to just help yourselves.”
No one replies. Until finally one of the women whimpers, “We were just having some fun, Nico. We’ve been working so hard.”
I pin her with a stare that has her physically shrinking back. “Fun?” I repeat. “Fun by stealing product from me? Davide, make sure they and everyone else in here gets back to work. And if one of them even tries to get a whiff of it, kill them.” Davide nods, but before anyone can move, I pull my gun from my back, lift and aim, killing both men that I saw snorting the product. They fall to the floor and I turn and aim the gun at the two women. They scream and cry, begging for mercy, but I show none as I pull the trigger twice, killing them both. I look at Davide who looks at me expectantly. “Get this cleaned up, and make sure they get back to work. I want a call the minute Carlo walks through the door.”
“Yes, sir,” he replies, turning to give a cold eye to those still standing there.
I turn away and head for the door, where Dante holds it open for me. I climb into the car, while Dante climbs into the driver’s seat and we head out of the alley. We’re quiet for a few moments, and I’m still seething those bastards dared to steal from me. And as much as I wish I would have kept them alive to torture them over it, I don’t have the time to waste on people that don’t matter. I’ll be getting that money back out of Carlo and the rest of them. With interest. And if they know what’s good for them, they won’t dare to try that again.
“You think Carlo ran?” Dante finally asks me.
“If he did, he knows I’ll hunt him down like a dog. But something tells me there is something else going on here. And I plan to find out what it is.”
“I already have the men looking for him. He won’t be getting far.” Dante’s face is set in a grim look.
We say nothing else as we drive to the second stash-house. I pull out my gun and reload it, making Dante smirk. This stash-house is in the middle of the downtown core, and from the outside looks like a simple pub, but I made a deal with the owner a long time ago to use his basement as an area for our operation. The bartender, a pretty, young blonde, gives me a flirtatious smile as she leads us to the back. I’m not sure if she’s brave or stupid considering the don’t fuck with me vibe radiating off me, but at least she has some smarts not to say anything to me.
I wait impatiently as Dante shoves the large bookshelf out of the way to reveal the sealed door we installed. Don’t need any nosy busybodies working here to get any stupid ideas. And our workers use another main door, and most of them don’t know this one exists. Thankfully, it opens up into a large closet area, so it’s not easily seen. Dante swiftly inputs our passcode into the secure lock and then opens it, stepping back to allow me through, and moving the bookshelf back in front of the door to keep anyone out before he shuts the door behind me and we walk out into the main room. I narrow my eyes at everyone, but none of them stop working, though I notice the nerves that cover their faces once they realize I’m standing there.
I head toward the back of the room, hearing Alonso’s voice through the quiet. I stop just outside the door, careful to not alert him to my presence, letting him finish whatever conversation he’s having. But when I hear Carlo’s voice, my blood burns hot and I have to force myself to remain still. If these bastards are cooking up some kind of scheme, they’ll be dead before long.
“I will not take the fall for you, fucker,” Carlo snarls. “You stole my product, you fucked with my operation, and now you’ve tried to sabotage me by having your damn people sneak in and use the product. You really think that when Nico finds this out he’s going to let it go? You’ll be fucking dead.”
“The only one who will be dead is you,cazzone,” Alonso sneers. “You can’t prove I did any of that, and who do you think Nico is going to believe? A long time employee that has served both him and his father? While raising profits, I’ll add. Or some no good chump that came from the streets? You are barely Italian. No honor, and no loyalty.”
