And touching her, fucking touching that soft skin, it'd gone straight to his head. He'd forgotten who he was and what he was doing there, that he was supposed to be picking up the daughter of his boss’s new love interest. It should have been a simple chore, almost beneath him. But that day Raina had shown him exactly how not beneath him she was.
She turned on him in an instant, like a wildcat, fighting for her freedom. He'd been so stunned by her he almost hadn't reacted quickly enough. Of course, she had been no match for him, but the struggle had been sweet. Her slim curves wiggling underneath him, her scent invading his nostrils. The only thing that had stopped him from fucking her into the ground right then and there was the campus security guard who stumbled upon them.
Reflecting back, Mateo was grateful for that interruption. That hadn't been the time, nor the place. But their time was coming soon, very soon.
If he could only find the damn woman. He was getting tired of losing her. He picked up his phone and commanded it to call Giovanni Savino’s number.
Giovanni picked up on the first ring. "Gutierrez," Giovanni said jovially enough. "I've been expecting your call."
"It's after 10." Mateo didn't bother with pleasantries. There would be no point if he had to kill the other man. "Tell me where my woman is."
Since Mateo was being blunt, Giovanni decided to give him the same respect. "Your young Ms. Duncan is no longer in Italy."
Mateo quickly calculated the complexities of this new situation. If Raina was no longer in Italy, then Giovanni no longer had leverage over Mateo. He was essentially unleashing the younger man and inviting him to come and destroy his home. The only way that Giovanni would take such a risk is if he believed he might be able to gain the upper hand. Go on the offensive.
Mateo slid his hand from behind his head and underneath his pillow gripping his gun and pulling it out. "You’ve decided not to honour our agreement," Mateo stated.
“I have warned my son,” Giovanni said, his voice betraying a hint of worry. “He is my blood.”
Mateo stood and reached for his holster which was slung across his leather jacket on the back of the hotel chair. With quick efficient movements he pulled the holster on. He pulled his second gun from the holster. He placed each weapon on the table, strapped his knife to his belt and shoved his taser in his other pocket. Though Mateo was right-handed, he'd spent many years teaching himself to be equally as efficient with both hands. He was an excellent shot with both his right and his left hand. He could gut a man in seconds with either hand. And the taser was just for fun.
"I apologize for coming across as unprofessional," Giovanni said formally. "I don't usually play such games, nor do I condone them. But for the sake of both my son and the young lady I decided to renegotiate terms."
"You let her go." Mateo was relieved.
When Giovanni said that she was no longer in Italy, Mateo had been concerned that Giovanni had done something to her. Perhaps passed her along to his son. Mateo had seen Raina's and Giovanni's interactions and had come to the conclusion that the two had bonded. He was glad that that seemed to be the case.
"Raina reminds me of the daughter I never had but always wanted. Free-spirited, lovely inside and out, sharp as a tack and able to use her intelligence as a weapon. I’ve come to admire her. It seemed a shame to force her into a marriage that she doesn't want."
Mateo was surprised by the other man's assessment of Raina. He wasn't wrong. In fact, he had described her perfectly. But it took perception to see these things in another person. And in Mateo's experience most people weren't perceptive enough to pay attention to their environment, let alone the complexities of the people around them. Raina was young, and impetuous, it would be easy to write her personality off as youthful arrogance. But there was so much more to her than that.
While Giovanni spoke, Mateo prepared his things, packing his bag and making sure every weapon he had was on hand. He sent a quick text to his people letting them know that they were about to be attacked. He sent them coordinates for meeting and told them to scatter and re-converge in an hour. As per Mateo’s long-standing rule, every member of his team texted back with a thumb’s up, telling him they were all alive.
They didn’t question his order. And though they were protective of him, treating him like the boss when they were with Mateo instead of Sotza, he was still head of the security team.
"Well you may have come to understand Raina's personality, I don't believe that you understand what she needs. The more she runs, the more likely she is to get herself into trouble. And next time, I may not be able to make it in time to save her from the Antonios of the world."
Mateo's words must've hit home, because the older man sucked in a deep breath, almost a gasp. He'd been part of the mafia long enough to read between the lines. Mateo blamed both Antonio and Giovanni for what happened to Raina. Raina's departure from Italy opened the door for Mateo to do what he needed to do to ensure that the entire underworld knew that a threat to his woman was a threat to him and Sotza's entire organization.
"My son did a very stupid thing by going after Raina. Regardless of who her family is, I would never condone his actions. He hired her to do a job and then he double-crossed her. I assure you I taught him better." Giovanni sounded exhausted all of a sudden. “He has grown too arrogant for his role as my successor.”
"You’re stalling." The older man was keeping Mateo on the phone and he was doing it for a reason. He was giving Antonio and his men time.
Mateo stood to the side of his door, his guns at the ready.
"As are you," Giovanni said coldly.
It was true. Mateo needed to ensure that everything was in place before he confronted Antonio’s team, the one he would’ve mobilized when his father warned him that Mateo would be coming after him. They were either on their way or here already. Mateo hoped that his own team had managed to leave the hotel, that he'd gotten them the message in time.
Mateo dropped to one knee and reached up to unlock the door. The click of the latch was like the starting shot of a race; within seconds all hell broke loose.
The door smashed open banging into the wall. Two huge men came crashing through the door guns blazing. It pissed Matteo off that they didn't seem to care what the fuck they hit. What if housekeeping had been in the room?
He heard the lamp shatter, the TV explode, and bullets thunking into the furniture and the walls. Fucking unprofessional. If Mateo wasn't planning on killing them, he'd be having a long conversation with them about the etiquette of gunplay.
Mateo lunged to his feet behind them and put a bullet in each of their heads. They both died instantly, hitting the ground in unison. For Mateo, killing was poetry. It had a certain flow to it that appealed to him.
His phone was still on speaker and Giovanni's voice was sharp and agitated. "Antonio, Antonio, mio bambino, are you there?"
Mateo held the phone up to his face as he glanced around the corner and into the hallway. There was no one out there, though he was certain there would men in the building, more for him to kill. "I'm still here," Mateo said, his lip lifting in a sneer. "You can tell your son I'm coming for him."