Chapter 16
Matteo
“You know this house isn’t his, right?” Ian points out. “He’s renting it.”
We went by the cabin, and it was vacant, so we grabbed anything of Daniella’s we’d missed the last time and then burned it to the ground.
We’d found the tablet she had been using and destroyed it in case there was any way of tracking her from it.
Which made me think about her old phone.
I had Eddy run a location on it, but of course, the fucker had covered his tracks, and it’s off.
Eddy canceled her account, and I went by the store to pick her up a new phone and tablet on my account.
And then I made sure her location was on so I could track it.
Afterward, we went to the house they had rented in North Harbor Point to get the rest of her shit.
We have eyes on the house he’s renting in North Harbor Point, but he’s yet to go by there, telling me he has somewhere else he’s using as a safe house.
We did a search for his name in the property database, and nothing came up.
“It’s the principle.” I shrug. “He burned down their family home, so I’m burning down all of his. And don’t worry. The owners will be fully compensated.”
Ian chuckles. “All right, man, let’s do this.”
He goes inside for a few minutes, and when he comes out, the place catches fire.
“Nothing more beautiful,” he says, coming to stand next to me.
“You’re such a pyromaniac.” I laugh. “Let’s go. I need to get home, and I’m sure you have shit to do.”
“Wait.” Finn comes over. “I got something for the occasion. Forgot about it when we burned the other place down.” He grins like the psycho he is as he pulls a bag of marshmallows out of his back pocket. “Love a good bonfire.”
Ian snatches the bag from him and opens it up, popping one into his mouth. “So fucking good.”
“You’re supposed to roast them,” Finn grumbles.
“Oh, sure. Let’s go roast some marshmallows in the arson.” Ian reaches around and smacks Finn on the back of his head. “Dumbass.”
Finn pouts and then perks up. “We’re going to a new club opening in Miami tonight—Club Atlas. You down?”
I consider it for a second, but then I think about the way I’ve been avoiding Daniella and how she’s been at my place alone all day.
“Nah,” I tell him. “Not tonight. I have plans.”
The entire way home, I run through the events of last night in my head. We went from watching a show and eating dinner to me damn near devouring her. And then walking in on her getting herself off. It took everything in me not to go into that room, rip her fingers out of her pants, and take over.
When I’m around her, all the reasons why I need to stay away from her fly out the window. She’s sweet and beautiful, and, fuck, her curves are perfect.
I pull into the garage, grab the boxes I picked up for Dani from the passenger seat, and voice-text my guys to meet me here to bring up all of her stuff.
When I step off the elevator, her eyes meet mine, and she smiles hesitantly, and my gut squeezes because I ran out like a little bitch this morning before she woke up.
“Hey,” she says.
“Hey.”
I walk through the kitchen and into the living room, where she’s lounging on the couch in my shirt and sweats, and hand her two boxes.
“What’s this?” she asks, sitting up. She glances from one box to the other, and then her eyes light up. “You got me a new phone and tablet?” Before I can verbally confirm, she’s off the couch and wrapping her arms around me for a hug. “Thank you, Matteo. This means so much to me.”
“I have more,” I tell her, trying to ignore the way she still smells like a mixture of her and me from her using my body wash and shampoo.
Just as I speak the words, the private elevator dings, and Daniella moves closer to me out of fear. I should push her away, but instead, I wrap my arm around her.
“It’s okay,” I murmur. “It’s my guys, bringing your stuff in.”
“You got my stuff?” she chokes out.
“Everything we could find at the cabin and rental. If there’s anywhere else …”
“No, that’s all of it. Thank you.” She snuggles into my chest. “I can never repay you for everything you’ve done.”
I could think of a few ways, I think, but don’t voice because, fuck, she’s still twelve years younger than me and Lorenzo’s little sister.
“No thanks necessary.” I pull back, already missing her scent.
“Where do you want all this?” Scotty, one of the men who works for me, asks, holding several boxes in his hands.
I glance at Daniella, and she says, “My room, please. I’ll sort through it all later. It’s not like I have anything else to do.” She laughs softly.
“Upstairs, second door on the right,” I tell him.
Two more guys come in with boxes in tow, and I let them know where to go as well.
“Did you add these to my account?” Daniella asks, sitting and opening the phone box.
“No, I put them on mine since I wasn’t sure if Enrique has access to your account. We also canceled your phone and destroyed the tablet.”
“Thank you.”
She’s turning the phone on when several texts come through on my phone. When I click on them and see they’re from Kevin and too damn long for me to decipher, I click play and listen through my earbud.
Kevin: Permits and violations have been handled, and Lucian is free to open back up. We also got confirmation of Enrique using a false identity, so I started the process of getting Daniella Russo’s marriage annulled and got temp POA reverted to her.
“Hey, check this out.”
I turn my phone so she can read the screen, and when she does, tears fill her eyes.
“Matteo,” she breathes. “Thank you!” She pulls me into another torturous hug, forcing me to smell her and feel her and touch her. “I can’t wait to put this nightmare behind me,” she cries softly into my neck. “Thank you.”
“It’s all good,” I tell her, backing up to get some space. “You’re Lorenzo’s sister, and I would do anything for him.”
The words are more of a reminder for me, but she must get the insinuation because her smile drops and she nods in understanding.
I want to correct myself—tell her that the truth is, I would do anything for her—but that’s crazy because she’s only been in my life for a fucking minute.
The feelings she’s stirring within me are insane.
I’d blame it on going through a bit of a dry spell, thanks to being behind bars and then moving her in, but the fact is, the way she has me feeling is more than physical attraction—I crave talking and hanging out with her.
Since I can’t voice-text in front of her, I do my best to send Lucian a text to let him know that the gym is good to open back up. For the most part, my phone autocorrects the words I misspell, but sometimes, it changes them to the wrong words, which is why I prefer to voice-text.
A second later, he texts back.
Lucian: Thank you, Matteo. Don’t forget, you have a fight coming up soon, so I’d better see your ass in the gym to train. You’ve had months to fuck around. Time to get serious again. Diesel is no fucking joke.
I don’t realize I’ve groaned out loud until Dani says, “What’s wrong? Did something happen to my brother?”
“No, my trainer just reminded me that I have a fight coming up that I need to train for. Like I don’t have enough shit going on,” I mutter.
“Meaning me?” Dani asks softly.
“What?” My eyes meet hers. “No, not you.”
She rolls her eyes, and I turn to face her.
“You are not the shit I have going on. What happened with Enrique is only one small piece of the puzzle. There’s bullshit coming at us from all sides, and we’re not sure who’s responsible. It’s my job to protect this family, and I feel like I’m barely keeping us afloat.”
“I don’t know,” she says. “I think you’re doing a good job of keeping me safe.”
The corners of her lips curve into a playful smile, and I internally groan.
“That’s because you’re in this bubble. This morning, the inspector who had been blackmailed to shut down the gym I co-own was blown up in his car after we met.”
Dani’s eyes widen. “Oh my God.”
“Yeah. I love fighting. It keeps me grounded, but the training requires a lot of my time, and right now, I need to be focused on figuring out who is fucking with our family.”
“You don’t think it’s Enrique?”
“I don’t think he has that reach, but I could be wrong. In a way, I hope it’s him because if it’s not, that means we have more than one person coming at us.” I stand and blow out a harsh breath. “All right. I need to get a workout in.”
“Can I join you?” she asks, surprising the hell out of me.
When I quirk a brow, she explains, “When Enrique cornered and beat me and raped me, I’d never felt so helpless in my life. I know, realistically, I don’t stand a chance against a guy like him, but I’d love to learn some moves that would make me feel like I could fight back.”
I step toward her, in awe of her words. Most people would cower and hide after what she’s been through—and nobody would blame them—but here she is, wanting to take back control of her life. And how can I deny her that?
“Sure,” I tell her. “Put on some workout clothes, and I’ll meet you in my gym.”
I should’ve told her no.
Because as I gaze at her from head to toe—with her hair up in a ponytail, exposing her neck; a tight tank top stretched across her tits; and leggings that show off every curve she has—I have no idea how I’m supposed to be close to her without ripping her clothes off and fucking her on my mat.
“Am I dressed okay?” she asks, glancing down at herself self-consciously since I was staring at her for far too long. “This is what I wear when I go jogging.”
“You’re perfect,” I tell her, then flinch when I realize how that sounded. “I mean, you’re dressed perfectly for working out.”
“Okay, cool.” She steps toward me. “So, where do you want me?”
Fuck, if that isn’t a loaded question.