24. Zayn
CHAPTER 24
ZAYN
After the two of us had looked through more of the folder, Rye left with the flash drive to do more digging. We’d said what we needed to say, and I already knew my next move.
I wanted to go upstairs and check on Isla, but I couldn’t, not yet.
Instead, I walked into the small office tucked into the corner of the house—the one without an internet connection and no digital footprint. The one with a box of burner phones and a separate black notebook locked in the drawer beneath it.
I flipped to a page marked with only a symbol. A triangle inside a circle.
Valerio Ferraro’s world. The old guard. The kind of men who shook hands with diplomats and ordered hits in the same hour.
I picked up the phone and dialed. Two rings, then silence.
A beat later, a man said, “Go ahead.”
“I need a meeting.”
“Under what name? ”
“McCabe.”
There was a pause. I heard nothing and then “Time and location will be sent. Don’t be late.”
The line went dead.
One problem down; now to handle the one closer to home. I climbed the stairs, listening for sounds of Isla in the main bathroom. I paused outside the door but then headed straight to the bedroom she was using. Our bedroom? I didn’t examine that too closely. I had the master bedroom in the house; I just hadn’t slept in it since Isla stayed the night. We needed to discuss making this more permanent.
She sat at the dressing table, brushing her hair. The blow-dryer was plugged in, and I could tell she wasn’t that long out of the bath. She looked up as I leaned against the door frame. Her smile was instant and welcoming, and she probably had no idea how seeing her quick smile eased the tension within me.
“How long have I been here?” she asked, using a dropper to apply a few drops of facial oil into her palm. She rubbed her hands together and then smoothed them over her face. “That jacuzzi was…amazing.” Turning back to the mirror, she smoothed her eyebrows and stood up, approaching me. “You okay? Has Rye left?”
“I’m fine.” I reached for her, and she willingly came into my arms. “He’s gone. He took the drive with him.”
Isla’s eyes clouded for a moment before she patted my chest. “You can’t stay tonight, take the night off? Can you?” she asked softly.
I shook my head. “No, I need to go to work.” I traced my finger along the curve of her cheek. “I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing.”
“Um…” She pretended to think about it. “My best friend used me. He betrayed you. He has a gambling problem. Or ma ybe he doesn’t. I'm not sure because he appears to be a very good liar.” She puffed out her cheeks. “You’re in danger. I might be in danger. But I had the most relaxing bath, and for some unknown reason, Rye called me Barnie?”
The last comment made me laugh.
Isla gazed at me with a quizzical expression. “Why is that funny? Who is Barnie? The dinosaur?”
I laughed harder.
She stepped out of my hold, hands on her hips as she watched me with narrowed eyes. “Zayn?” She crossed her arms. “Do I need to kick his ass?”
And I was done.
I tried to stop her as she stalked past me into the bedroom, but she sidestepped me while I laughed. And laughed. Had I lost it? Maybe, but fuck, it felt good to let go. When I regained my control, Isla was watching me with amusement.
“I tried to be mad at you,” she said. “But I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh like that.” The look in her eye was thoughtful. “I know it’s going to be bad why he’s calling me that, so I don’t think I want to find out. But I also don’t care because you looked so…free.” She smiled gently. “I like seeing you like that.” Her smile faded. “I don’t think it happens often.”
That sobered me. “I laugh more than I probably should,” I admitted sheepishly. “You know, for someone in my line of work.”
Isla’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “It shouldn’t surprise me,” she said softly. “That you feel comfortable in your life. Your lifestyle.”
“Are you?” I asked her. “Are you comfortable with your life?”
Her expression was contemplative as she thought about it. “I don’t know,” she eventually said. “I think so. I’ve tried to stand on my own. I left my job and started at The Grand,” she said, sitting at the edge of the bed. “I never saw that coming. It’s not something I would have thought I would do. There’s less…job security.”
“That worries you?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t think it does. I wanted it. The freedom.” She looked down at her hands and then back at me. “I blame you,” she said coyly. “That whole gala incident—God, I was so angry.” I didn’t move, and neither did she. “But do you know what it taught me? I can only control what I can control. Did I know Lyndsey was going to leave the agency as soon as she had a successful event at Elixir?” Isla scoffed. “Of course, I did. Did I know Rye was watching and waiting for me to fail? Yes.” She pushed her hair back. I watched her rise to her feet and cross the thick carpet to stop in front of me. “Did I know you were going to come in and completely wreck my life? Yes.”
I let my head dip, resting my forehead against hers, filling me with a sense of peace and contentment. Her hand clasped the back of my neck, her thumb rubbing soothing circles on my skin.
“Do I say sorry?” I asked softly, my eyes closed as I breathed her in.
“No.” Her voice was low. “Never apologize for us.”
Her lips parted as they met mine, and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close, loving the feel of her melting into my body. Isla’s fingers curled into my hair as she pulled me down to meet her, our mouths fused together. Her tongue stroked mine as I kissed her deeply. My hands ran down her back and over the curve of her ass, moving up and then sliding under the waistband of her pajama pants.
“I just got clean,” Isla protested as I lifted her off the ground and carried her a few steps to the bed .
“Plenty of hot water,” I murmured against the curve of her neck. “I think you’ve missed a spot.” I laid her on the bed, tugging off her pants and gently spreading her legs.
“Really?” Isla arched an eyebrow as she looked down at me, a knowing smirk lifting the corner of her lip. “Where?”
I pushed her legs farther apart, lifting her ass and getting her into a position I liked. I stroked through her wetness. “Here, baby.” Whatever she was going to say was lost when I took a taste of her. I would never get sick of eating this pussy. She tasted like the sweetest candy.
“Zayn…” Her breathless sound of my name was filled with approval, encouraging me to give her everything she needed.
Each swipe of my tongue was a promise.
A promise I would never let her down.
I ran my tongue over her clit and smiled when her hands dug into my hair, pulling me in deeper. Her back arched, and her hips started rocking.
“Right there,” she murmured as her body moved in rhythm to the strokes of my tongue. I slid two fingers into her, curling upward, finding that hidden spot, and her groan of heavy lust as I fucked her with my mouth made my cock harder than a rock. She came hard, her sweetness coating my tongue, and I wanted to lick every drop out of her, but her hands were tugging at my shirt.
“Inside… I need it… You, inside me, now.”
I undressed quickly, and then I was pushing into her, filling her, her slick pussy gripping me as I fucked her. Our kiss was frantic, Isla not caring that she was tasting herself, and I met her urgent need with my own. The taste of her was driving me wild, and her moan against my lips only made me fuck her harder. I felt her squirm beneath me, knowing she was getting close as I stroked her higher and higher. I felt her pussy squeeze me as Isla cried out in pleasure. I didn’t change my pace, and when she opened her eyes, desire heavy in her stare, she commanded me.
“On your back.”
She settled over me, sliding down my cock in a slow heady move that took my breath away. My hands gripped her thighs as she began to move. She started riding me, grinding down as she worked my cock.
She looked like a goddess as she rode me. Her hair spilled over her shoulders, and her eyes were heavy as her teeth pulled at her bottom lip. Her hips shifted slightly, and I must have hit the right angle as I watched her head tip back, her mouth releasing an appreciative groan. The pace she set was torture. I wanted to throw her on her back and fuck into her with a wildness I only felt when I was with her. But watching her take her pleasure was almost as intoxicating.
Isla grabbed my shoulders, and I rose to meet her. She pulled off me, almost losing me, and then dropped her hips down on me hard, and I was sure I was going to explode.
“Is…”
“I know, baby,” she whispered as she did it again. “It’s so good…” She started bouncing on my lap, sliding up and down my cock in earnest.
I lost it. I grabbed her hips, moving her with my need. Isla’s moan filled the room, and my head tipped back as I felt the tight coil tingling at the base of my cock. I rolled her, ignoring her startled gasp, and I fucked her hard. Punishingly hard, gripping on to her hips, knowing I’d bruise her. Her mouth was at my neck, her teeth nipping at my skin, her fingers digging into my shoulders.
“Holy fuck…” Isla screamed her release as I roared mine.
We lay entwined, panting, eyes closed, as we recovered from the intensity of the shared orgasm. I let myself sink into her for a moment, then rolled to the side, pulling her with me, her head on my chest. I pushed the damp strands of hair off her face as we lay in the aftermath of sex.
“I definitely need a shower,” Isla murmured, her lips moving over my skin in a soft kiss.
I laughed, and she gazed up at me, delight and warmth in her eyes. “I think I need to join you,” I told her, kissing the top of her head. I disentangled myself from her and got out of bed. I looked at the disheveled mess that was Isla as she lay in my bed, and I felt a primal satisfaction. “Or you stay here. If you come in with me, I might not leave tonight.”
She didn’t hide the look in her eye that told me she would be happy with that result.
The chime of a message on my phone drew my attention away from her.
“Duty calls,” Isla murmured, pulling the sheet over her nakedness and rolling onto her side, her hand propping up her head as she watched me. “You go first,” she said. “I don’t think my legs work right now.”
I hesitated. I should check the message. I knew what it was: the time of the meeting I had requested. I needed to look.
Instead, I uncovered my woman and brought her to the bathroom. “I’m with you right now.” I showered kisses over her face. “Work can wait.”
Could it? I wasn’t sure, but what I did know was that Isla came first.
The warehouse was cold and dimly lit. It was the kind of place designed to feel casual enough for a conversation yet dangerous enough to remind you who held the cards .
Why were the warehouses always half empty? Was it in some “How to Be a Bad Guy” manual?
I walked in alone.
Rye waited outside by the car, armed and pissed he couldn’t come in. But he didn’t stop me.
I needed him outside. I needed him to be separate for this. As separate as he could be. I needed this to be mine. I needed to let Rye see that I was still the same, and then he could stop fucking doubting me.
The man waiting was well known to me.
“Angelo,” I greeted him.
He was one of Valerio’s oldest lieutenants—but smarter, meaner, and far more loyal than some of his others. Angelo was the kind of man who smiled with his teeth and listened with half a mind on how he might kill you.
He leaned against the table, staring at his phone. He turned to me as I entered, gesturing towards the table. Two chairs. No visible weapons. I wasn’t a fool. You didn’t bring a gun to this conversation.
“McCabe.” He nodded. “I didn’t expect to see you like this.” He examined me, cold and clinical. “You’ve been quiet lately.”
“Not quiet. Focused.”
He grinned. “Staying focused can get you killed in this business. You’ve got to stay loose. Relaxed.”
I’d seen his idea of cutting loose, but it wasn’t in the same league as my own idea of being relaxed.
“Speaking of loose…I have a loose end,” I told him. It was clear and concise. “Delaney thinks he has one over me.” I hated that I had to say this. “And he has leverage.”
Angelo’s gaze sharpened. “Leverage?”
“Files, receipts. Trussed-up ledgers.” I didn’t back down from the man's stare across from me. “I received a copy from a…an acquaintance. There could be more.”
“This bothers Mr. Ferraro how?”
“Only Pyramid is mentioned, along with one other.”
Angelo shot me a look of disgust. “You have a ledger of business transactions?”
I heard the contempt. I deserved it. This was a careless mistake—one I hadn’t known I was making. Julian’s knife of betrayal plunged a little deeper into my back.
“I need”—I noted the look Angelo gave me—“I would appreciate assistance in resolving this problem.”
Angelo remained still as he watched me. “You mentioned one other. Who?”
I was as unmoving as he was, leveling my gaze at him. “There’s a girl.”
That captured his attention. One brow arched. “Ah. I see.” He tsked. “A woman always complicates things.”
“I want the word out and understood that she is not to be touched, watched, leveraged or even fucking mentioned in a conversation.”
Angelo tilted his head as he watched me. “I assume she already has been?”
“Delayney made a mistake.” My voice was flat, cold, and deadly. “I don’t let mistakes live.”
He offered a slow, contemplative smile. “You’re standing up to claim her?”
The words struck like a blade to the ribs—because that’s precisely what this was. Outdated bullshit that still governed the world I lived in.
Blood. Claims. Agreements.
“I’m making it clear”—I leaned in slightly—“she’s mine . And anyone who forgets that will pay.”
A beat of silence .
Angelo’s expression hardened slightly. “Understood.”
He poured himself a drink and raised it in my direction. “You’ve got nerve, McCabe. A ledger? Copies of information that could harm my employer. And a woman?” He licked his teeth. “If she’s your weak spot, you'd better lock that shit down.”
“She’s not a weak spot. But I am here to lock it down.”
Angelo downed his straight vodka in one gulp. “I’ll talk to the boss,” he said. “Tell me what you’re bringing to the table for these...transgressions.”
“Fifty million.”
Angelo’s eyes gleamed with what appeared to be approval. “And?”
“All traces of the ledger will be removed. I’ll take over Delaney’s loan shark business, giving a fifteen percent cut to Ferraro. I will get Delaney’s business under control, and when it’s ready to be off-loaded, I will find the best replacement.”
“And if Mr. Ferraro says you are best placed to keep it?”
“I will respectfully decline.”
Angelo smiled. “I’ll take it to the table.”
I nodded and left the warehouse. I walked back to the car with Rye watching me closely but saying nothing as I got in.
He drove us back to Gracemont, and only after the outskirts of Chicago were far behind us did he turn to me. “Are you going to keep me hanging like a fish on a fucking hook?”
“I requested assistance to resolve the leverage issue.” I gazed out the window. “I made my offer, and he’s presenting it at the table.”
“And?”
“I told them that Isla is off-limits. ”
Rye muttered a curse under his breath. “And what did he say?”
“Much of what you say—she’s a weak spot.”
Rye grunted but said nothing more. I didn’t either because I already knew.
She wasn’t my weak spot.
She was my line in the sand.