Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
MATTEO
P op, pop, pop
The sound of Gio finishing someone off is like music to my ears. Every so often, there will be some guy who comes along wanting our protection. Which is all fine until said guy thinks his balls are the size of fucking Texas and starts running his mouth to someone he shouldn’t be running his mouth to.
Lesson number one: I don’t like people I don’t fucking know in my business.
So naturally, the next step is to make an example out of this piece of shit.
I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket as I start heading back to my car. “Take care of that,” I call to Gio and Enzo over my shoulder as I take my phone out.
Wren calling
My stomach clenches from the guilt. I knew I should have had a man on her place tonight, but this shit came up unexpectedly, and I needed Gio and Enzo. Plus, I figured after a week of nothing happening, she would be fine. Maybe Alessio is right. I need to stop feeling so guilty about this whole thing. I didn’t ask her to find and help me. She probably put two and two together that the car parked out front was from me. She’s probably just calling for an update.
“Hello, Wren,” I answer, bringing the phone to my ear as I climb into my car. She doesn’t respond. I almost thought the line was dead, but I can hear her breathing. I’m not sure if it’s because my phone switched over to my car or if she just didn’t hear me. “Wren?” I ask again. There’s another pause before I hear a sniffle and a hiccup come through the line.
“You-you said you would take care of it,” Wren chokes out. My stomach is in my throat at hearing the distress in her voice. Hearing her tears.
“What happened?” I bite out harsher than I mean to.
“He came back,” Wren sobs. “He came back.” What little heart I have left breaks at how broken Wren sounds. I’ve let her down, and I’ll never forgive myself for this.
“Where are you?”
“It doesn’t matter. If you really cared, you would have taken care of him like you promised.”
My mouth opens, ready to respond, but before I get the chance, I hear the beep signaling that she hung up.
“Fuck!” I yell as I slam my hand into the steering wheel. Never in my life have I felt like a bigger piece of shit. I don’t even know what happened, but it can’t be good. Just from the few interactions I’ve had with Wren, I can tell she’s feisty, she knows what she wants, and she is so fucking stubborn. That woman on the phone wasn’t Wren. That woman sounded broken. And I did that. I failed her.
I quickly click the phone button on my steering wheel and wait impatiently as the automated voice asks me who I want to call. “Call Cain.”
“This better be fucking good if you’re interrupting a night with my girl,” Cain’s voice sounds through the car.
“I need you to have Wiz trace a number and get me the location now.”
“Give it to me,” Cain responds instantly, my tone letting him know I’m not fucking around.
I rattle off her number, ignoring the fact that I already have it memorized.
“I’ll let you know when he has something,” he replies before disconnecting.
My head slams back into the headrest as I roughly rub my hands down my face, releasing a hard sigh. I’m never on this side of it. The side where you’re left feeling helpless and full of guilt. Rationally, I know I’m not the one who hurt her, but that doesn’t stop this feeling because I could have prevented it. I should have prevented it. I don’t know when this woman got under my skin like this, but she did.
I try calling Wren again, but she sends it to voicemail.
Fuck it.
It’s my fucking fault something happened to her. I knew in my gut I should have called in someone else to park out front. And what the fuck am I supposed to do now? Sit around and hope she decides to call me back? I feel like a fucking idiot waiting around for Cain to get back to me.
I throw the car into drive, peeling out of the dirt drive, and head toward Wren’s area of Ravenna Heights. I doubt she’s gone far. She doesn’t have a car, and as much as that pisses me off, it might actually work in my favor tonight.
I’m about five minutes out when Cain gets back with me. “You better have something for me.”
“It makes sense why you’re so fucking testy right now. It’s always about a girl.” Cain laughs.
“It’s never about a fucking girl, jackass.”
“It is when you’ve met the one worth giving a shit about.” Is he fucking for real right now? I don’t have time to hear about how Evan has changed his life. It’s honestly fucking nauseating how happy those two are.
“Are we really having this conversation right now?”
I can practically hear the asshole smirking through the phone. “She’s at a motel a few blocks from DD’s. You know the one where all the hookers work out of?”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I know it. Thanks.”
“You owe me.”
I grunt before hanging up.
Hang on, Wren. I’m coming.