Chapter 24
J ago
The atmosphere was tense, the men shuffling from foot to foot.
“What the goddamn fuck?” I bellowed as soon as I heard the recounting of what had occurred. I’d built a goddamn fortress and I hadn’t been able to protect her.
Yet I hadn’t managed to keep her safe.
What the fuck was wrong with me and my men?
Someone had made a mistake.
That someone would face penance.
I rounded my desk, staring from one man to the other until Genevieve came into the room. As soon as I noticed the ugly mark on her face, my anger flew off the charts. I moved toward her, taking her into my arms.
She pushed away as was to be expected, giving me a pained but haughty look. I could tell by the haunted appearance in her eyes that the near kidnapping had unnerved her. It should have.
“What happened?” I demanded. This had to be about Fassi. I was positive of it.
I’d heard the story twice, which prompted the men to nervously glance back and forth at one another.
“Talk!”
“We got too comfortable,” Benito stated, talking for the rest of them.
“That’s fucking obvious!” I never lost my temper, at least not like this, but I was more enraged than I’d ever been. I raked my hand through my hair, pacing a short distance on the tile floor as I flexed the fingers on my other hand.
“Why don’t you allow me to tell the story?” Genevieve suggested sarcastically.
“Fine. Fine,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
“A soldier broke in through the back and held a gun at me. He had every intention of taking me with him,” Genevieve said stoically.
“You’re sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m certain. He mentioned selling me in my pretty white dress to the highest bidder.” She turned her head toward me. Her arms were folded and her breathing labored.
I slammed my fist on my desk, cursing in Spanish. “You weren’t watching the goddamn back door?”
Another look shared between the men.
“Fucking talk or I’ll put a bullet into every one of your heads. Do you hear me?”
“Calm the fuck down, Jago,” Genevieve said. While there was more anger in her voice, she kept it even, something I obviously couldn’t do. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’re marked.” The bruise remained from the incident before. Now there was another one.
She touched her face and winced. “Does that mean I’d sullied now? Not good enough to marry? Not good enough to parade around as your wife and business partner?”
“Of course that’s not what I mean.” She was exasperating. I felt like a powder keg ready to explode. Genevieve certainly wasn’t helping the situation with her challenging attitude.
“That’s what it sounded like.”
“It’s my fault, Lord Torres.” It took me a few seconds to realize her closest bodyguard and friend had offered the admittance.
“Is that true?” I asked the others.
No one said anything.
“True,” Emiliano said, his face emotionless, but I could smell his instant fear. Good. I wanted him very much afraid of me.
“You should have been inside,” I snarled.
“Yes, sir.”
As I did when I was off the rails, I reacted without thinking, smashing my fist into his face.
He went down and didn’t reach for his weapon. Genevieve flew at me, both her hands curled into fists.
“Goddamn you! You act like you rule the world. You don’t.
Don’t you fucking do that. Do you hear me?
” Before she tried to take a swing, I grabbed both her arms, cocking my head and trying my best to communicate with my eyes.
She knew better than to fly into a rage, but we were both highly emotional.
I took several deep breaths, aware Emiliano had risen to his feet. To his credit, he didn’t attempt to exchange words or to get into a battle.
She jerked from my hold, hissing as she did.
“Damn you. Damn this fucking world you live in. I told him I didn’t want him inside that store.
I forbid him to enter. I witnessed with my own eyes they checked to make certain the back door was locked, which it was.
They were right out front. I could see them through the window.
Still, a man beat you at your own game. You.
Not them. If anyone is to blame, it’s you. ”
Her words hung in the air. I took a deep breath, closing and rubbing my eyes before I did or said anything I’d ultimately regret. “Those becoming too comfortable in their jobs make mistakes.”
“So do those too angry to hear the truth, Jago,” she threw back.
“What truth?”
She took two defiant steps towards me. All I could do was stare at the mark on her face. Her beautiful face. I would kill the motherfucker who’d done this with my bare hands.
“Someone knew I would be at that dress shop today. Either that or the house is being watched, which means someone learned about your hideaway who shouldn’t have. Maybe you need to think about the breach you have in your bank of monstrous men.”
I sucked in my breath. No one had ever challenged me like she had, refusing to back down even in the face of extreme danger.
But she was right.
There was a mole somewhere.
The sudden quiet was strenuous.
A voice within me, riddled with anger, sounded like my father’s. If this had happened on his watch, he would have already put a bullet between Emiliano’s eyes. That was the only type of mercy he’d ever shown.
Kruz walked in at that moment, instantly stopping and observing the situation. “I heard what happened.”
“Moroccan son of a bitch.”
“That confirms they’re in town.” Kruz walked closer.
“This is all about Fassi. I’m positive of it.”
When hearing the Moroccan’s name, he whistled between his teeth. “Then we have a problem on our hands.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. We need to cut him off. He tried once. He’ll try again.”
“True.”
After hissing in my direction, Genevieve moved toward her soldier, touching his arm. Emiliano shrugged it off, but his eyes were watching me.
“What do you want to do?” Kruz asked, intentionally trying to grab my attention.
“Go hunting.”
“Let me give you a piece of advice. You’re not going to like it but hear me out. You have a wedding in two days. You need to stay alive that long. That will send a very loud message, which is what you told me you wanted to do. I’ll have some men blanket the area.”
I thought about his suggestion and nodded as I fisted and flexed both hands. The fury remained. At least Kruz knew when not to push me, which was more than I could say about anyone else, including Navarro.
As well as Genevieve.
She was constantly pushing me, hoping to gain more control. That would need to stop. My father would remind me there was no place for compassion or anyone daring to defy my commands. He’d provided brutal lessons so I’d never forget.
But he was right. Fassi wanted me to lash out as my reputation suggested. I couldn’t allow that to happen.
“Benito. Gather the top men. We leave in thirty minutes.”
“Yes, sir.”
After giving me another quick glance that highlighted his concern, Kruz headed toward the door, motioning the other men to follow him.
He knew when I needed silence and time to reflect.
He also realized when I was at the point of losing my temper in a way that mistakes and poor decisions could be made. I couldn’t allow that to happen.
Even after all these years, the men feared me and they had every right. I was dangerous, reckless, and considered a threat to anyone who crossed me.
Genevieve said nothing else, but I could tell by the way she and Emiliano were studying each other that they had a perfected method of silent communication. It shouldn’t make me jealous, but it did.
Fuck this.
“Kruz. Wait.”
Kruz waited at the entrance while I approached. Genevieve watched me intently. “We could have a mole in our ranks. I don’t want anyone knowing about the location of the wedding or the reception who shouldn’t.”
“We’ll need expansive security.”
“Then choose wisely. They want what doesn’t belong to them.”
He thought about what I was saying. “Of course.” He knew how to check to ensure there wasn’t a traitor in our midst. “But how do you want to handle the situation?”
The situation. As if the answer was easy or a suitable recourse.
I thought about everything both Genevieve and I had to lose.
My typical tactics wouldn’t work in such a delicate situation.
“We continue fighting but do so without unnecessary violence. We discover their resources. We crack an opening in their defenses and create uncertainty in their ranks. We disturb their flow, so they question their methods of operation. In other words, we maintain patience.”
“Since when have you ever utilized patience, Lord Torres?”
I gritted my teeth. “Since there’s more to lose. Don’t fail me, Kruz.”
My dictator eyed me cautiously. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Genevieve turned her head but said nothing.
After offering her a quiet nod, Kruz left the room, leaving me alone with Genevieve.
It was at that moment I realized with extreme clarity that my father had been right. There was no place in my world for relationships. Love was dangerous. And men like me didn’t deserve happy endings.