Chapter 17 #3
Something heavy slams into my gut, while my brain and heart wrap his words around them, turning them over and over.
I tilt up my chin. “That’s never going to happen. I will never get married. Especially to you.”
He doesn’t realize how serious I am. He has no idea what I’ve been through. Everything changed for me when I was seventeen, and that included my future. I’ve accepted that. And I’m not going to let some guy make me believe otherwise.
“We’ll see about that.” His thumb runs across my lips, his eyes following its path, teeth clenching as they do.
He pushes himself off of me and struts toward the door leading into the bathroom. “Go tend to your sister. I’ll see myself out once you’re gone.”
“Don’t go looking through my panty drawer.” I pop a brow while pulling up my pants and securing them.
“Why?” He runs a palm over my ivory dresser. “Afraid I’ll find another toy I can fuck you with?”
My eyes turn to slits. “I absolutely despise you.”
Humor lines his features. “But you kinda like me too.”
Unfortunately.
GIO
Once she’s gone, I look around her bedroom, everything neat and tidy and far too white to ever belong to someone as intense as Red.
Even knowing her name, I can’t seem to call her anything but that. She’s my Red. My goddess of fire and ice. And she’s definitely got that ice queen thing happening, but fuck, does it make me hard.
That’s okay, though. I’ll take my time thawing her heart until it softens and lets me in.
I lower on her mattress, sitting on top of the white comforter perfectly tucked around the corners.
A photo frame rests in the middle of her ivory nightstand. Lifting it up, I see what looks to be a younger Red—early teens maybe—and a woman who looks more like Eriu.
Is that their mother? I know about her death.
It was what continued the years-long war between the Irish and the Russians.
I don’t know what started it. No one truly does.
But whatever it was, was bad enough for Sergey Marinov, the Russian Pakhan at the time, to kidnap Patrick’s wife and burn her alive.
Patrick, in turn, killed one of Sergey’s sons as revenge. And the war had continued…until his other sons called a truce. So many lives had been lost by that point.
But I have no doubt that Sergey was the one who started it all. He’s always been insane. Unhinged and diabolical.
He’s been gone for years now. He’s probably in his late sixties. Rumor is he fled to Russia. That his sons banished him. Maybe he’s dead by now.
I wonder how Red handled her mother’s death. Must not have been easy. I’d imagine a girl and her mom to be close, and losing her when she was so young probably caused her a lot of grief. The need to hold her in my arms becomes ravaging.
I drop the photo back and open the single drawer, hoping to discover something that lets me know her more. But when I see what’s inside, a huge grin spreads over my mouth.
Definitely didn’t expect that. But when a man gets a gift like this, he doesn’t take it for granted.
I pick up her cell phone and press the side button, checking if it’s locked. Sure enough, it is. But when your best friend owns the company that created her cell phone, unlocking it won’t be that difficult.
Removing my own phone from my pocket, I call Grant. Only takes two rings for him to answer.
“Yes, Gio? What can I do for you today?”
“Shut up. I need you to unlock a phone.”
“Excuse me? That would be a violation of privacy. Not to mention the amount of laws I’d be breaking.” His tone is filled with mirth. He lives for this kind of shit.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m texting you the serial number. It’s one of yours.”
I lay her phone beside me, and quickly type it out and send it.
“Whose phone am I hacking?”
“Hers.”
Seconds of silence fill the line.
“The woman you’ve been pining over?” His voice grows incredulous.
“One and the same.”
“How did you manage that?” I hear him typing on his laptop.
“Long story. I’ll fill you in later. Right now, I need into her phone because if she comes back and finds me, she’s going to stab me to death.”
He chuckles. “You’d probably deserve it.”
“Yeah, I’d be careful if I were you,” I tell him. “If she finds out you helped, you’re probably next.”
He lets out another laugh. “Okay, check her phone now. I deactivated the pin code. She’ll have to put in a new one, so she’ll know someone messed with it.”
I grin. “Don’t care if she does by that point. Thanks. Talk soon.”
“Yeah.” I end the call and place my phone on her bed.
Her cell back in my palm, I open her phone, finding a screensaver of her mom and her.
My chest instantly tightens, my finger running down her young face, feeling sorry for that girl, for the woman she is now.
Michael’s name pops across my phone screen, telling me we’re leaving in five. But I’ve already programmed my number into her cell. I text myself from her phone so that I have her number too.
I quickly shoot her off a message before leaving the phone exactly where I found it.
I’d pay a shit ton of money just to see the look on her face when she finds it.