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“How much?”
“For you? Two hundred thousand. A pittance compared to what I was going to charge.” His smile was charming, but it didn’t work on me.
Moving away from the desk I walked over to the wall safe in the corner of my office. I glanced over my shoulder and raised a dark brow at Paolo until he looked away uncomfortably. Blocking the pad with my body I punched in the number and opened the door. Grabbing what I needed, I closed the door behind me and strode over to the man sitting in my office.
I set two stacks of cash on the desk beside me as I leaned on it again and watched as his eyes glued to them. Lesser men negotiate their fees. They think it's a skill, a sign of how clever they are. But when you are a man of power, price is just a number. Negotiation is for small men. I snapped my fingers in front of the money and his eyes snapped to mine. “This is yours. Bring the information here tonight and give it to Luca.”
Paolo looked floored. Probably because I was giving him money before I got a product. “If I find out you’ve double crossed me, Paolo… Or you take my money without giving what you owe me…” I let the threat hang on the air while he aggressively shook his head.
“I’ll bring it tonight. I swear.” I motioned to the cash and he cautiously leaned forward before snatching up the money and scampering toward the door, looking much like a small rodent. Luca swung open the door and ushered the man out.
Drumming my fingers on the desk, I considered my options. There was always more business to take care of, but I was feeling restless. I had been since the other day. A pair of gray-blue eyes came unbidden to mind.
I went around my desk and flipped open a folder, staring down at the gorgeous face that had been haunting me for the last ten days, since we’d bumped into each other outside of Dante’s apartment complex. I had Chet send over the information he had on her from her renter’s application. The restless itch intensified, and I quickly left my office, mind made up.
Ten minutes later, Luca stepped out from the side drawing room as I loped down the stairs. He paused when he saw me, his dark eyes taking in my jeans, boots, and baggy sweatshirt. I slowed, a dark frown spreading over my face. Nodding his head, he turned and quickly left as quietly as he’d come. He knew that when I was dressed like this business was over for the day.
This was the real me. Most people would say I looked like a common street thug and maybe I was. I may dress up in thousand dollar suits most days, but I’d started out with my mother in a homeless shelter. My father took us in and made me a part of this family, gave me the name, the money, the facade. But the power, I’d earned that all on my own from the beginning. I’d earned it the old-fashioned way, by kicking the shit out of anyone who dared to take me on as a kid. As I got older, I did it by killing anyone who challenged me.
My father made the Romano name a worthy one. I’d amplified it to legendary status. I rubbed elbows with the elite and lowlifes alike. Jogging out to my detached garage, I stepped inside and studied the multitude of vehicles sitting there, deciding on what I felt like driving. I opted to go for the classic and ever reliable Mercedes S-Class. She was what I drove the most. Sleek, comfortable, fast, but not so flashy that I got too much attention.
Half an hour later, I pulled into Malavita. I stepped out and studied the stables. It was one of my guilty pleasures, I loved the place. Very few people knew how many businesses I actually owned, and most would be shocked to know I owned riding stables. Today, it was going to give me the added benefit of cornering Havoc somewhere that my brother wouldn’t see us. I’d been keeping almost as close an eye on her as he had since she moved into my apartment building.
It pissed me off to see Dante making a move on her on one of the many cameras I’d ordered Chet to set up in the hallways. I wasn’t sure why I cared, but for some reason I felt possessive over the woman. I didn’t like it, but I figured I just needed to fuck her, get it out of my system, and move on. That was normally what I needed when these cravings kicked in. I usually had urges to fuck though, not urges for specific females. It made me decidedly testy. Luca had been the only one who dared to show his face in the last week. My house staff mysteriously vanished every time I walked into a room.
“Sir,” Vince’s voice held surprise and apprehension as he approached me. “It’s good to see you.”
Typically, few did. When I came to ride it was usually early in the morning before many people around, and I was gone before they started lessons for the day. Coming mid-morning and mid-week was very unlike me. I saw Vince blink when he took in my attire, but he said nothing more.
“Thanks, just taking a look around,” I said, trying to keep the gruffness out of my voice. I liked the man. He was the perfect manager and was phenomenal with the horses, but the last thing I wanted was him dogging my heels like a puppy.
“Sure, of course. Just let me know if you need anything,” he said as I strode inside. I nodded, effectively dismissing him, and turned in the opposite direction. I scanned each area thoroughly as I moved through, making sure that everything was clean, the animals were being well cared for, and looking for the current target of my ire.
She didn’t know that I was looking for her, or that I was getting more and more pissed off the longer it was taking to find her. My stables were huge, so it might take some time to track her down. God fucking help her if it did.
Chapter 11
Havoc
Ilaughed softly and patted Winnie’s soft muzzle as she whickered at me and nibbled at my braid. I was currently mucking stalls in the section of the barn that housed the pregnant mares and if I was being honest, it was my favorite area. These girls were so sweet with their growing bellies and their swaying gaits. She nudged me hard in the shoulder with her nose and picked up my braid again, tugging on it.
“Okay, okay, enough of that.” I chuckled as I set the pitchfork I was carrying against the wall. I leaned on the door and scrubbed both hands over her cheeks. She blew out a breath and closed her eyes.
I was so thankful I’d gotten this job. Being around the horses was the only redeeming thing in my life right now. Animals weren’t a replacement for human interaction, but I wasn’t sold on the theory that I actually needed to be around people. I’d tried it a few days ago with Dante and look how that’d turned out. Dante didn’t seem to believe in space, and kept on inserting himself into my life wherever he could no matter how I resisted. He was the kind of man that would have been a good friend, prior to the incident in June of this year. Now? I really needed to weigh the pros and cons of befriending a cop. Especially one who was making it clear he was interested in me even though the feeling wasn’t mutual.
Leaning my head on Winnie’s forehead, I basked in her gentle energy, until she started stamping and snorting. Frowning, I lifted my head and stared at her. The whites of her eyes were showing, the way horses do when a predator is nearby. It made no sense why she’d act this way in the safety of the barn.
I turned around and slammed directly into someone. The scream that tried to claw its way out of my chest strangled there when a large hand gripped my throat as I was pushed roughly against the stall door.
I stared into hazel eyes that I knew so well in a chocolatey brown form. I hadn’t even heard him come in behind me. He wasn’t cutting off my air, but I was so startled I wasn’t trying to scream. He had me pinned between his hard body and the wall.
Dante’s brother snarled at Winnie as she lunged her head forward, ears pinned back, and tried to take a chunk out of him. I felt a perverse sense of pride at the fact that the horse was trying to defend me. That ended when he tugged me away from her stall and ended up pinning me inside the empty one, on the opposite wall from the horse.
What the hell was his malfunction?I put my hands on his chest and tried to shove him away. It was like trying to move a stone pillar. The man growled in my ear, like…literally growled and I froze. His cheek was resting on mine, his mouth near my ear, head tilted down. All I could hear was his harsh breathing.
That huge hand of his had crept back to my throat when I’d tried to move him, and now I was still just in case he was thinking about killing me. I wished desperately for my gun. I used a knife for the men on my list, because I wanted to see them die slowly—suffering. For protection otherwise, I liked my gun. It offered me a different level of protection that meant I didn’t have to go hand-to-hand with big motherfuckers like this one. I didn’t have it with me, though. I hadn’t thought I’d need it here at work.
Was Dante’s brother working for the cartel? Had they found me?I knew nothing about this man, not even his name.Why wasn’t he saying anything?That one time outside my apartment building was the only time I’d seen him, and we hadn’t even spoken. Unease raced down my spine.
