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“Very good.” Donato folded his arms on the table, then paused a moment in consideration. “I have a personal favor to ask. You can say no. It will change nothing.”
“I'm listening.”
“I recently lost an enforcer to a heart attack, one who handled particularly—how should I phrase it?—delicatematters.”
“The kind where someone needs tofeelexactly what they've done wrong?” I asked, knowing where this was going.
“Precisely.” His eyes had been kind, but now they were cold. “I have other men who could take care of this for me, but not the way he could if you follow me. One of the reasons you are feared is because of how you handled those who crossed your family.”
I hesitated. If my sister found out how brutal and ruthless I was, she'd see me as our father. That was something I couldn't handle.
“I'm not looking for someone permanent, but I have something urgent that, quite frankly, I could use your help with.” Donato held up a hand. “It seems you want to get out of this kind of life, and if that's the case, say the word and we'll never speak of it again.”
My blood pumped a little faster. The thirst for violence I'd somehow stuffed down now had me salivating. I'd gone from running baths and reading bedtime stories, like a civilized man, to one who twitched to make someone who deserved it suffer. It should have disturbed me Donato could see my need to serve vigilante justice. He could have had any one of his men handle what had to be done. But once through this initial phase, I was going to flounder. I'd already been restless all day without Gabriel or anything else to focus on.
But they were downstairs in their haven, one I wasn't actually part of, no matter how much I hoped to be. It was very possible I never would be. Holly wasn't going to sway just because I fucked her like no one ever had. What if she didn't let me in? Then what? My sister had her own life, and she wouldn't want me hanging around forever. I didn't want to go back to the way I’d been before, but I didn't know how to be someone else. What Donato was offering had air flowing in and out of my lungs a little easier. It was familiar. Except all the “enforcing” I'd done, I'd had a direct stake in. It was personal. This wouldn't be other than the fact I owed this man a favor. I wanted to be with Holly and Gabriel, but I couldn’t squelch the urges that were ingrained in me. I had to figure out how to have both until I could suppress my violent tendencies. I was being pulled in two directions.
“Tell me what you need. I can take care of it tonight.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Holly
I threwmy pencil on the desk. It bounced and rolled, hitting my mug that was half full of cold coffee. Miss Jacobs had commissioned me to scour through her balance sheets to see if I could find any discrepancies.
Some days, there were over a hundred transactions. EXODUS, the program that housed all of Carter Energy’s financials, was supposed to keep up with everything, but somewhere, there was a disconnect. One big enough that Carter Energy had had to sell to Starlight Petroleum Energy, the company I now worked for.
So far, nothing was off, but I still had Mr. Carter’s reports to go through. I touched my cross necklace. I needed to tell him what I’d done, but he was in Texas with Miss Jacobs making sure Miss Ruby was okay. I shouldn’t have lied by omission, but Drew had put me in a bad position.
No, you put yourself in a bad position.
If I found the error Miss Jacobs had tasked me to, maybe that would make up for what I’d done.
I jumped when the shrill ring of my cell phone pierced the silence. The number at Muriella’s apartment popped up on the screen.
“Hello?” I gripped the phone, pressing it to my face.
“Beauty.”
At the sound of that deep voice, I shifted in my seat.
“Is Gabriel okay?” The school would’ve called me first if something was wrong, wouldn’t they? I tried to remember if I’d filled out my phone number in the paperwork but couldn’t.
“He’s fine. I’m hungry and want to take you to lunch.”
I sagged in my seat as relief swept through me. “It’s ten thirty.” How could only two hours have passed? This day felt like it was never ending.
“I’ll pick you up in thirty minutes.”
“I don’t have time—” Three tones sounded in my ear. “Hello?”
There was no response.
Thirty minutes later,I was outside the SPE building looking for Carlos. I told myself it was because I needed a break from my tedious work and I had to eat, but it was a lie. I’d been asked out since Gabriel had been born, but I’d never once been tempted to say yes. Carlos invited me to lunch, and it was impossible to say no.
He stood outside the Range Rover in gray slacks and a black sweater that stretched across his muscles with one ankle crossed over the other. Those dark eyes were hawkish as he stared at me. He looked . . . lethal.
Yet I ignored his dangerous persona and went straight to him.
