All I care about is getting this situation under control and fast. If I have guys playing both sides of the fence, it means that one of our enemies has already burrowed into our organization like a fucking infection that will just keep getting worse and worse until I douse it with gasoline and fire. “Where is Dario now?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady.
“I figured you’d want to handle things with him directly. Somewhere other than here,” Ray says in a hushed voice. “Gio will take you to him.”
“Smart move. Do we have any leads? And in case you were wondering, that was a rhetorical question because we’d better have some fucking leads!”
The guys exchange a look.
Bobby clears his throat. “Yeah, um, when I found Zoe—”
“And she’s fine, yeah?” I interject. I’d been told she was unharmed when he got to her, but I want to hear it straight from Bobby that those fuckers didn’t hurt her before he blows me away with any more betrayals from my crew.
“Yes. Just scared shitless.” Bobby rubs the back of his neck. “I took her home and had Berto stay the night with her until we found the guys who snatched her.”
I nod. “Okay. So it was an inside job. Was it the Dominguez Cartel? Those bastards have been waiting for a chance to get us back for fucking up their whole trafficking ring months ago.”
A deadly hit led by my sister-in-law, Heaven.
She has the look of an angel…but the fire of the devil rages deep inside of her.
And damn, she lets that flame roar like wildfire when she needs to.
She’s seriously one of my favorite badasses.
We didn’t always have bad blood with the Dominguez Cartel, though. It wasn’t until Matteo violated an agreement with Dominguez himself that we were put at the top of their hit list. Heaven initiated the ambush on his sex-trafficking ring after his guys tried to pop Matteo.
The day after their wedding.
Those motherfuckers don’t play around.
Ever since Heaven killed Dominguez, I’ve heard that his sons have been working hard to put the pieces of their shattered organization back together.
I always knew it was only a matter of time before they came back to finish what their father started, even if I’m the only one in my family who believes they’re looking for revenge. Matteo always blows it off when I mention that they’re still a threat, but I know it’s real. And the robbery could be just the beginning.
Bobby shakes his head. “It wasn’t the cartel.”
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense,” I mutter. “Who the fuck is responsible?”
“That’s the thing,” Ray interjects. “You’re not gonna like it.”
I rake a hand through my hair. This conversation should have been cut and dry. An exchange of names, torture plans, and body part disposal methods. Period! “Let me ask you this — have I given you any indication that I like a single bit of this? No matter who is responsible? And why do I feel like you guys are dicking me around by dragging things out? This meeting was to deliver information, okay? And you two dipshits were late. So tell me what the fuck I need to hear so I can take action!”
“Ooh. You sound a little tense.” A sugary-sweet voice drawls, jolting me from my next sentence. “You also look pretty heated, so I figured you could use another one of these.”
I stop short, mid-tirade, staring up into Marchella’s captivating eyes. My mind immediately snoozes on the threat I was about to unleash at my guys if they didn’t come up with a name. I momentarily forget that I’m planning to bring holy hell to Dario in a matter of minutes. And the fact that our organization has been infiltrated by Christ only knows who has shifted to the back burner.
All because Marchella just entered my fucking orbit.
Something about this girl makes my brain cells fizzle out. It’s been that way since we were teenagers. It’s dangerous. Very fucking dangerous. She has me completely off my game right now. For all I know, this whole Dario meeting might be a setup. I mean, I could get into the car with my ‘trusted’ driver Tony, and all of a sudden, I become Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, driven out to the middle of the cornfields and beaten with a baseball bat before I’m thrown into a goddamn ditch and buried alive.
Not ideal for a guy who’s the interim ruler of this savage kingdom.
I should be focused, for fuck’s sake!
Anyone could be plotting my death in this very second.
But all my mind allows are looping, X-rated thoughts of this sexy vixen.
Chella lifts an eyebrow and holds up a glass, clinking the ice cubes around. “Was I right? Are you…thirsty? I pride myself on reading my customers and tending to their needs.”
Ray and Bobby just stare at her, their jaws practically hitting the table.
But they don’t hit the floor until she jerks forward and tips the glass so that the liquor pours right into my lap, joined by one single ice cube.
Fuck me.
That cooled me off.
And made me even hotter for her, if that’s possible.
“I’d say the drink’s on me, but…” She shrugs her shoulders with a challenging smile on her face. “Oops. I guess it’s really on you.” She grabs a linen napkin from a nearby table and dabs at the liquid in my lap. It takes me a second to rebound from the sudden shock of cold in my crotch, and when I do, I close my fingers around her wrist to stop her from tending to my groin. When the daggers shoot from her eyes, she hisses into my ear, “I hear you requested me, but they really should have told you how clumsy I am. And how I’m always spilling drinks and plates on my customers.”
“Is that how you think this works? You dump a drink on me, thinking I’ll ask for someone else? You think I’m gonna let you get away that easily?” A mischievous smirk lifts my lips because she has no fucking idea how patient I can be when it comes to her.
“I think that looks like a really expensive outfit, and I’d hate to see it ruined,” she whispers.
“Is that supposed to be a threat?”
“I don’t have time for threats. I’m here to work. This job is important to me. So if this is your way of getting me back for yelling at you before, let’s just say we’re even and I’ll get you someone else—”
“No,” I say. “There won’t be anyone else.”
She furrows her brow. “You’re serious?”
“Deadly,” I reply. “It’s you and only you.”
Her nostrils flare and she folds her arms over her chest. I can tell she has plenty more to say, but like she told me, this job is important to her. She won’t risk it. “Are you a glutton for punishment?”
“We both know you’re not gonna rock the boat with this job. You just told me so yourself. Never show all your cards, babe.”
A flash of annoyance shadows her face when she realizes her bluff is total bullshit.
“If you even try to proposition me, I’ll have the bouncer kick you and your friends out on your asses,” she snips.
“My friends are just enjoying the show. They didn’t do anything,” I reply, goading her. “Don’t project your anger at me on them.”
“Oh, so now you’re a shrink?”
“Trust me, sweetheart, there’s nothing small about me,” I say with a chuckle.