Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Sable
“The women they fall in love with tend to pay the price, and death isn’t always the worst of it.”
Angela’s warning blared in my ears as the frigid sleet picked up in intensity. Why did Diego have to ruin tonight? Why couldn’t he leave us alone?
I didn’t mean to interfere in Milo’s business, but when he reached for his gun, my instincts kicked in. Something told me to stop him before it was too late. The only one who might end up regretting anything tonight was me.
“Sable.” Ax moved me away from Milo and placed his strong arm around my shivering body. “Stay out of it.”
“Do you always allow Sable to stop you from taking care of business? Or does she just have a soft spot for me?” Diego asked Milo. “Either way, I find it fascinating.”
The evidence in my mistake was more obvious than it was a few minutes ago. When Diego taunted Milo, I shouldn’t have interfered, but my desire to shelter Milo was as strong as his was to protect me.
“I’m going to kill you,” Milo threatened.
“Not without your daddy's permission, and I know you don’t have that.” Diego looked at me as if I were some sort of prize to be won. “You found your way back to Milo. What a shame. I had hoped there would be a future for you and I.”
“You must have a death wish,” Milo said. “That’s the only explanation for why you would approach me.”
“We all have a breaking point.” Diego adjusted the collar on his coat. “Once I hit mine, you’re going to wish you had negotiated with me.”
“In a negotiation, one side needs something from the other,” Milo said. “There is nothing I need from you. My family holds all the cards, so if I were you, I’d get the fuck out of this city.”
“Maybe you don’t need something from me tonight. But eventually you will.”
This conversation left me with an unsettled commotion deep within my soul. Milo’s tough exterior didn’t crack, but I sensed that Diego had gotten to him.
“You keep threatening my family because that’s all they are.”
Milo stepped forward, breaking the barrier between him and his guards. That left him vulnerable for a shot to his chest. I couldn’t stop my mind from imagining him being shot in front of me, leaving me helpless.
“Threats,” Milo said. “You’re not coming for me or my family, because if you were, you would have done it by now.”
Milo’s cold demeanor frightened me. Nothing about this encounter sat well with me. The altercation marked the beginning of something catastrophic heading our way. And I had landed myself in the middle of it.
“I promise you,” Milo said, “When I strike, it won’t be a threat. One of us won’t be standing.”
“If you’re finished.” Diego tilted his neck to the side as if he was cracking it. “I have a message for your father.”
“We’re not discussing business on the street.”
“You don’t have to discuss anything,” Diego said. “You just have to hear what I have to say for the sake of your family.”
“Ax,” Milo said. “Take Sable to the car.”
“No, I want…” I said, but my words trailed off. When Milo snapped his head in my direction, his death-glare expression almost knocked me to my knees. Not only had I managed to get myself in between two powerful and deadly men, but I feared I was the target of Milo’s impending wrath.
“Come on." Ax clasped his arm in mine. “Take it slow. I don’t want you to slip.”
“Bye, Sable.” Diego waved as we walked past him. “I’ll see you around.”
“Ignore him.” Ax navigated us across the wet pavement. “He’s trying to get to Milo.”
“You should stay with Milo,” I said. “He needs you.”
“No.” Ax placed his hand on my back and led me to the car. “You’re my responsibility. I should have removed you from the situation immediately.”
“Before I stopped Milo from shooting someone in the middle of the street?” It’s a good thing I was there, or else Milo would be handcuffed and in the back of a police car.
“Milo isn’t that impulsive, but I will admit, I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had shot Medina right then and there.”
“That would have been stupid.” I turned and watched as Milo and Diego argued. “Why would Diego approach him?”
“He’s sending a message that he’s not afraid of the Accettis.”
“Isn’t that troublesome?” Why wouldn’t Diego be intimidated by the Accettis? Why did he think he had the right to come into their territory and traffic people? Helpless women? “Shouldn’t he be afraid of them? Isn’t Nico known for showing no mercy?”
“Why don’t we let Nico, Marchello, and Milo handle this?” Ax helped me step off the curb and made sure to hold me tight so I didn’t slip on my way to the car. “Milo wouldn’t want you to worry or get involved.”
“I am worried.” I couldn’t wrap my head around any of this. “Ever since I ran into Diego that night at the club, I don’t know, I’ve had a weird feeling.”
“What kind of feeling?”
“I can’t explain it.” It was probably nothing, but Diego had no morals. He was a sexual predator who hurt women for money. “He’s an evil person in an expensive suit.”
“Sable.” Ax rested his hand on the door of the SUV. “You don’t have to worry about Medina. I’m here to protect you. Milo would never let anything bad happen to you.”
“I know, but it’s just when he said…” No one will be left unscathed. Milo can’t keep you safe forever. Men like me are inevitable in his world. It was difficult not to heed that warning because it was personal.
“Sable, what’s on your mind?” Ax touched my shoulder. “What are you thinking? If you feel off, even if you can’t substantiate it, I need to know. I can protect you better when I have all the information necessary to do it.”
“It’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Diego was just trying to knock Milo off balance. I trust that the both of you can keep me safe.”
“Get in the fucking car!” Milo startled me when he yanked open the door. “It’s ridiculous you’re standing in the street in this weather.” He pushed Ax away from me. “What the hell are you thinking letting her stand out here exposed to the elements and who the fuck knows what else?”
“You’re right,” Ax said. “I know better.”
I hated that Ax had to take the blame for me. Milo was always fair with his men, but when it came to protecting me, all bets were off.
“Apparently, she doesn’t.” Milo nodded at me. “Get in.”
“Milo, I…it was my fault we’re standing out here.” I climbed into the car, shivering and wet. “Don’t blame Ax.”
“I can blame you both,” Milo said. “Doesn’t anyone have any sense tonight?”
It was probably best if I treated that as a rhetorical question.
Milo joined me in the backseat as Josh got in the driver’s side and Ax sat in the passenger seat. The other team of men followed behind us in another SUV. Even with all the precautions and plans in place, Diego still managed to walk right up to us. That had to agitate Milo.
“Where’s Diego?” I asked.
“Medina left,” he growled between gritted teeth. “He never should have gotten that close to us.”
“I’m sorry,” Josh said. “We patrolled the streets surrounding the restaurant all night and there was no sign of him.”
“I don’t want excuses.” Milo raised his voice. “Call ahead and make sure the penthouse is secure. I must have some competent people on my payroll somewhere, right?”
Obviously, Josh and Ax got the rhetorical memo too. No one dared to challenge Milo.
I inched closer to him and rested my hand on top of his, trying to offer him some comfort. Josh and Ax made phone calls to the security team at the penthouse as Milo seethed with fury. I swore I could feel the rage emitting from his pores.
Was he mad at Ax, Josh, or Diego? Maybe he was furious with himself for thinking he failed to keep me safe. There wasn’t anything he could have done.
“Milo.” I squeezed his hand. “We’re fine. Nothing happened.”
“Don’t.” He let go of my hand and held up his, but he didn’t look at me. “I can’t do this right now. The best thing you can do for me is to stay quiet.”
“Okay,” I whispered as I caught Ax giving me a look of pity in the rearview mirror.
Where was all of Milo’s anger directed? Squarely in my direction.
Thankfully, the quiet, tension-filled ride to the penthouse only lasted ten minutes. Despite the hazardous conditions, Josh understood the assignment and got us there without delay.
Milo stayed true to his words when he said he didn’t want to talk.
He hadn’t uttered anything to me in the elevator, and now nothing since we were in the penthouse.
This wasn’t how I had imagined our first Valentine’s Day going.
I pictured more hearts and flowers and less gangsters and guns.
Fall in love with a mob boss and find out.
When he headed upstairs, leaving me in the living room to remove my jacket and take off my heels, I pondered sleeping on the couch. He didn’t appear to be in a forgiving mood.
But why did he have to forgive me? I didn’t send Diego after him. It wasn’t my fault the water main broke. Okay, so maybe I did intervene during a pivotal moment. But still, I didn’t deserve all of his anger.
I’m not sleeping on the couch!
I hustled up the stairs and hurried to the master bedroom. My heart pounded hard, rattling my ribcage. I lost my breath somewhere at the end of the hallway, but I wasn’t backing down.
As I reached the bedroom, my confidence wavered. Did I have a defense? Did it matter? We should be able to discuss this like adults.
I shoved open the door and found Milo sitting by the window, drink in hand, and most of his clothes off.
The only article of clothing left were his pants, and they were unbuttoned.
He brought his glass to his mouth with the precision of a surgeon holding a scalpel, concentrating on the rim and nothing else.
Not even me.
I couldn’t determine if the tremble in my legs originated from my damp hair or if it was from the fear his mood drew from me. How could we have been so playful and focused on one another an hour ago?
During dinner, it was the two of us. In that private room, nothing else mattered.
We had the whole night ahead of us. There were memories to be made.
Once we stepped outside, there was another story to be told.
All bets were off when we were greeted by guards who carried guns and waited for a bulletproof SUV to retrieve us and take us to a heavily-guarded penthouse.
We made memories on our first February fourteenth together.
Just not the ones I cared to think about in a few years.
The arrival of an enemy ripped down the facade of a well-planned evening full of love and lust, leaving us with the reality of who Milo was, and what our lives would always be like.
That truth should have been enough to make me put on my beat-up sneakers and worn hoodie and flee to parts unknown. But when he gazed up from the glass and stared so deep into my soul, the real honesty took over. I couldn’t exist without him. I had no desire to.
That was the truth of our story. The belief that was intertwined between the two of us, never allowing me to know where I ended and where he began.
Milo was it, and I would fight him every step of the way until he stopped retreating and trying to shut me out.
He didn’t deserve the silence or the space.
Not now. Not when I was right here and could help him deal with his inner struggles.
The demons from his past that were cemented in his brain and wouldn’t release him.
It was time those demons met me.
“What?” He finally spoke. “Was humiliating me on the street not enough? Do you want to emasculate me some more?”
Unfortunately for me, whatever plagued him was no match for the bombs of destruction Milo could drop on me if I didn’t get this right. Maybe sleeping on the couch was the better option.