Chapter 23 Andre
ANDRE
Sofia passed out. I’d fucked her brains out, it seemed, which wasn’t conducive to getting a damn answer from her.
Seeing her had triggered me to a new and primitive level of anger, though.
When I witnessed her belonging here with me, tempting me always and just fitting in with me like we were born to match up, I loathed the slight idea of her betraying me.
As I felt her respond to my wicked touch, sensual and submissive as she always was, I grew more furious about the possibility that she could want to harm me.
To deceive me.
I sat next to her, watching her sleep, and damned these mixed feelings.
Right now, or very soon, the security specialists we employed would rake through my building and find the bug.
It had to be a recording device. Something hidden and snuck in that would have enabled an enemy to listen in on my conversations.
That was the only thing that would make sense in terms of someone discovering the details about my meeting with the Rossis.
Because it hadn’t been written down and shared via email or text, because the only things mentioned about it were in a short conversation Oleg and I had as we walked through the house one day.
It was likely that a listening device had been left here somehow.
Despite the security measures in place. Despite the guards and checks on everything that showed up here, something had gotten in.
Or someone?
I exhaled a long breath at Sofia sleeping next to me.
I didn’t want to think of her so badly.
I didn’t want to consider something so awful of her.
But this wasn’t a time to think with my dick. This wasn’t a time to be duped by a woman and led by my cock. Too many things added up against her, and it was past time that I did my due diligence and made sure she wasn’t a threat in my home.
Would’ve been smart to know I could trust her before I fucked her, but hey. I’m only human, right?
I scowled at myself as I got up and showered again, then pulled some clothes on.
Before I got into bed with Sofia to rehearse how I’d ask her again, more clearly, if she had any ulterior motives with me or my family in the morning, I glanced at my phone and saw that my father was asking me to come talk to him.
Sure. Of course.
I bit back a groan and headed to his building.
Asking Sofia if she was spying was a risk.
If she was, I’d tipped her off now. Yet, I wasn’t worried about her leaving.
If she tried to, the guards would stop her.
And then, I’d have even more doubts and suspicions about her that she’d have to answer to me with more than a feeble shake of her head in the throes of an intense fuck.
My father was in his study when I arrived. Also wearing casual clothes, like he’d just gotten out of bed, he watched me enter and take a seat.
I sighed, letting the back of my head fall onto the cushion of the chair.
“Oleg told me that we’re dealing with another mole.”
Anger lit a fire inside me. Goddammit! “He shouldn’t have done that.”
“Are you trying to keep shit from me now?” he asked.
“No. I was going to talk to you. He shouldn’t have gone over my head and talked to you about it.”
He huffed. “Funny. He said he worried about that very thing. But he also admitted he was concerned that you were so addicted to this maid, this ‘assistant’ of yours, that you wouldn’t speak up at all.”
I rubbed my jaw, wanting to scream. If I did, I’d wake Owen, and that wasn’t fair to any of us. “She’s not my maid. She’s not my assistant. And she has a name,” I said evenly. “Sofia is an important person in my life.”
“Right now?”
I scowled at him. “Are you asking me if I’m serious about her?”
He shrugged. “It seems imperative to make sure she’s not a fucking spy before you think you’re in love with her, don’t you think?”
Love felt like an awfully dangerous word.
It didn’t often linger in my vocabulary, probably because my mother took off and wanted nothing to do with me for my whole life.
My father stayed. He’d raised me, but it had taken me a long time to understand that his bringing me into the business and training me to be his right-hand man was his style of showing love.
Brusque and focused on business and power, he’d raised me not to be a soft, pampered son, but as a soldier and warrior he’d see as a partner in arms.
I wasn’t sure if I’d know what love was if it smacked me in the face. There was no denying that something strong was affecting my view of Sofia. For now, I was content to let it be. For us to get to know each other and grow closer with her submitting to me.
She had trust issues. She was guarded, too stubborn and sassy and independent.
I happened to admire those traits, oddly, but I wasn’t any easier to work with, either.
“I will admit that she has become my weakness,” I said seriously and slowly, without any heat. It was a statement. A fact I could share with him and no one else because he knew me so well. “I am obsessed with keeping her because she completes me like no one else ever has.”
“Fine, but—”
I held up my hand to cut him off. Not many could get away with that, but I was his son. His friend. His backup.
His soldier.
“I will not admit to any danger in keeping her in my life.” Yet.
“I am also not trying to avoid the possibility that some things don’t add up with her.
They’re combing my building now to find the bug, and once that’s located, we will investigate it further.
” I looked at him with all sincerity. “I don’t think she would betray me.
I’m not saying that because I want her. But because I truly have done my job.
Emilio was taken out. Yusef is gone. They were spies. Moles. And they are gone.”
“I understand that. But details about your meeting with the Rossis were leaked somehow. So if it’s not Sofia, then it’s someone else and they will pay.”
I nodded, taking that as a compromise, even though it really wasn’t. It almost seemed like the start of a calm understanding, though.
“I am concerned, though, because it seems that Sofia might have connections.”
I furrowed my brow at him. “How? With who? Her parents are dead and she has a sick cousin.” I shook my head. “She’s sensitive about money. Are you suggesting she’s got debt with someone? Was promised to someone?”
He shrugged. “Claire mentioned something to me and it’s been nagging me.”
“Claire?”
“Yes. She was talking with her about a treatment that’s on the black market. When she asked Sofia about where she’d even heard of it, she got the impression that Sofia clammed up. That she could have connections with perhaps another family.”
“A treatment for her cousin?” I asked, worrying on her behalf all over again. That was who Sofia was. Caring. Compassionate. A bleeding heart who didn’t want anyone to suffer. How could someone that altruistic want to deceive me?
“It sounds like.” He sat back and sighed, looking more tired than before.
“It’s nothing concrete to go on, but it’s something to consider.
” His serious gaze bore into my soul. “If she’s…
” He rolled his eyes, never fond of talking about sappy shit.
“‘The one’”—he made air quotes and smirked—“for you, then fine. She’s ‘the one.’ Many men were skeptical when I wanted to marry Claire. You remember.”
I nodded.
“But she completed me, like you claim Sofia does you. If you’re this far in for her, if she matters this much, I’ll be furious to see you have to lose her. If you find out she is connected, and perhaps with a family or group we cannot and will not allow any hint of an alliance with…”
Then I’d have to give her up.
“I understand,” I stated coldly, numbly.
It would be over.
Family and duty over… love?
I licked my lips and resisted the painful beats of my heart in my chest. Every thump of my pulse was one more crack against it, chipping it further apart until it’d end up in pieces no one could gather and repair.