Chapter 8
Lorenzo
“She just passed out,” I say out loud, glancing at Vanessa.
One minute, she was freaking out, and the next, she went quiet. If it wasn’t for her chest rising and falling, I’d assume she had a heart attack and died.
“You need to take her to your place,” Dani says over Bluetooth after obviously listening to Matteo’s and my conversation. “I know you’re upset with her—and rightfully so—but you’ll never forgive yourself if—”
“Yeah, I know.” I might hate what she did, but I’d never let a woman be put in harm’s way.
“I’ll meet you at your place as soon as I bring Dani home,” Matteo says. “Should I bring Leo with me?”
“Not yet.” I sigh.
I was looking forward to spending the afternoon with my son, but the last thing I want is him being caught in the middle of this shitstorm.
He’s too young to understand most of what’s going on, but I don’t know what’s going to go down when we get to my condo.
At least at Dani and Matteo’s place, I know he’s safe.
We hang up, and I drive home, pulling into the private underground garage.
Since Vanessa still hasn’t woken up, I leave my luggage in my trunk and carry her into the elevator and up to my condo, which is on the tenth floor.
Since I own the building, I kept the top two floors for myself and built a badass five-thousand-square-foot penthouse.
My plan was always to meet a woman, get married, and raise a family here since I love living downtown. I haven’t met the right woman yet, but at least I have more than enough space for me and Leo.
I’ve only just laid Vanessa on the couch when my phone buzzes with a call from my doorman.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Mr. Russo,” Geoff says. “Mr. Vanderbilt is here to see you. He says he’s here on official business, and he’s demanding I let him up.”
“He’s full of shit.” I scoff. “Don’t let him anywhere near that elevator. I’ll be right down.”
I hang up, take one last glance at Vanessa, who’s still passed out, and head to the elevator.
After the shit she pulled, I want to throw her ass to the wolves and wipe my hands clean of her.
I have enough going on between running Russo Property Group, raising my son on my own, and dealing with the psycho bitch, Leysa Santiago, who’s coming after everyone, including my sister since she’s married to Matteo.
But my bleeding fucking heart won’t let me do it. Matteo always makes fun of me for being too nice, and I hate that he’s right. But at thirty-six years old, I’m not changing who I am.
The door is barely open when Eric is stalking toward me and getting in my face. “Where is she?” he demands.
“Who?” I play stupid.
“My stepdaughter! My men told me she’s here. Where is she?”
“None of your fucking business,” I say calmly.
“If you don’t bring her down here right now—”
“You’ll do what?” I bark out a laugh.
Not many people piss me off, but Eric has been trying to fuck with us and our businesses since he was elected mayor. And I can put up with a lot of shit, but when you fuck with my family or my businesses, I draw the line.
“I’ll—”
“You’ll back the fuck up,” Matteo says, stepping between Eric and me with a gun pointed at the mayor’s forehead.
“The deal has already been made,” the mayor whines, sweat dotting his forehead. “Please, I just need my stepdaughter, and I’ll leave.”
“Oh, is that all you need?” Matteo mocks, glancing at Geoff. “I’m going to need you to leave. Don’t want to force you to witness anything you’ll have to lie about later.”
Geoff nods and rushes out, knowing exactly who Matteo is.
Two of Matteo’s men close the lobby door and then stand in front of it—one remaining inside while the other stands outside—so nobody can get in or out.
Another one presses a button on the elevator, probably shutting it down so nobody can use it, and another one goes to the side entrance to block it.
“You’re going to regret this!” Eric barks.
“I don’t think I will.” Matteo shrugs. “Now, if you want your stepdaughter, you’re going to have to tell us why … and I suggest you go with the truth because if I catch you lying, I’m going to put a bullet in your brain and end this conversation.”
Since the mayor is focused on Matteo, I slip my phone out and press record so we’ll have evidence of this conversation in case we need it later.
“Santiago,” Eric breathes, shaking like a leaf.
“He donated to my campaign. But even with the millions he contributed, I wasn’t going to win.
Paul was the town favorite, especially since his father had been the previous mayor.
So, Santiago took him out in exchange for me agreeing to push you and your brother out of town. ”
We always suspected that the car accident Paul Astor Jr. was in mere weeks before the election wasn’t an accident, but we could never prove it.
Matteo tsks. “That was a stupid thing to promise, and we already know all this.”
“When I couldn’t come through, he told me I’d need to pay back the money he gave me, but I don’t have it,” he cries.
“You should be one of the spokespeople for the don’t gamble ads,” Matteo smarts, making me chuckle and the mayor glare.
“I’m not playing games with you!” the mayor hisses.
“That’s probably for the best.” Matteo presses the gun harder into his forehead, and the mayor whimpers. “Seeing as you suck at playing them, hence the debt you’ve accumulated and the precarious position you’ve put yourself and your family in.”
“Please,” Eric pleads, changing his tone. “He’s coming after my family. You already know they tried to go after Nicole.”
“And Vanessa isn’t your family?” I ask, curious about the woman who’s currently passed out on my couch.
The mayor grimaces. “Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices. She’s a virgin—” He glares my way. “At least, she was. And Santiago said he’d accept her and wipe my debt clean.”
What a piece of shit. A man like him doesn’t deserve to be the mayor of this town. He claims to be a religious family man, sitting in the front pew of the church every Sunday, yet he’s willing to give his stepdaughter to a psycho bitch.
Speaking of which … he keeps referring to Santiago as a him, which means he either knows who she is and doesn’t want us to know, or he still thinks she’s a he. I note to mention that to Matteo once we’re alone.
But for now …
“Vanessa isn’t going anywhere with you,” I say, shocking the hell out of myself. I might be pissed at what she did, but I’m not letting her get trafficked.
“Don’t be stupid!” the mayor barks. “He’s going to kill us. The deal was made, and when he finds out you have her, he’s going to kill you too. You’ve seen what he’s capable of. He’s a psychopath who lives to fuck with people. He’s not going to stop until he gets her or kills us all.”
“Then you’d better figure out how to pay back your debt quickly.” I smirk. “Because she’s married to me, and I’m not giving her back. Besides, like you said”—I lean in and waggle my brows—“she’s no longer a virgin.”
Eric growls and opens his mouth to argue, but Matteo shoves the barrel of his gun into his mouth, shutting him up.
“Walk the fuck away, Mr. Mayor. Now.”
Matteo shoves the gun further into his mouth, and Eric coughs and splutters, drool dripping down the sides of his lips as Matteo chokes him with the gun.
When he removes it, Eric sucks in a harsh breath, and Matteo nods toward one of his men, silently telling him to take him away.
“Please!” the mayor cries as he’s dragged out of the lobby. “He’s going to come after all of us! Just give her to me, and I’ll lie, say she’s still a virgin. He’ll never know.”
Once he’s gone, Matteo puts his gun away, and I pull out my phone.
“I recorded the conversation.”
Matteo’s brow hits his forehead. “All of it?”
“Yep. Everything, including him admitting that he was aware of Paul being injured so he could be elected.”
“Good work, Russo.” Matteo raises his fist, and we bump knuckles. “Send it to me, and I’ll see how Dominick wants to handle the mayor. We’ve kept that asshole alive long enough. He doesn’t know anything we don’t know. Hell, he still thinks Santiago is a man.”
Of course he caught on to that. Matteo doesn’t miss shit.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to you killing him,” a feminine voice says.
We turn around and find Vanessa standing in the corner, next to Matteo’s guy. She must’ve come down the stairs when the elevator didn’t work, thanks to Matteo’s guy shutting it down.
“Thank you for that,” she says, stepping closer to us.
Her arms are wrapped around her waist, and black circles are noticeable under her eyes. I want to feel for her—and to a certain extent, I do. But how she handled it was fucked up, and I can’t move past that.
“Do you think if I leave, he’ll follow me?” she asks, glancing out the door.
“You probably shouldn’t chance it,” Matteo tells her.
She nods in understanding and sighs, and I internally groan, knowing as much as I want to kick her ass to the curb, I can’t do that.
“Look,” I say to her. “You can stay with me until this shit is handled. But you are not to go anywhere near me or my son. You can stay in the guest room, and once Matteo says it’s safe, you gotta go.”
She swallows thickly. “How long do you think it’s going to take?”
I snort out an incredulous laugh. “How about a thank-you?”
“It’s not that I’m not thankful,” she says, backtracking. “I am. Obviously, I don’t want to be trafficked by this crazy Santiago person. But I’m in college, and classes start back up soon, and if I don’t show up, it’ll set me back an entire semester, and I’ll lose my scholarship.”
Jesus fuck, she’s still in college … because she’s only twenty-one.
“It’s going to take longer than a week,” Matteo says. “Even if Eric doesn’t come after you, Santiago will. You’ve been given to that psycho bitch by your stepdad, and something tells me Santiago won’t take kindly to him going back on his deal, which means she’ll be coming after you out of spite.”
“She?” Vanessa’s brow quirks in confusion.
“Leysa Santiago,” Matteo explains, “is a psycho bitch, who, based on her trying to buy you, has followed in her grandfather’s footsteps and is trafficking women.
We’re trying to locate her, but until we do, nobody is safe.
She’s unpredictable and a loose cannon. I’m hoping to find this bitch soon, but it could take days, weeks, or months. ”
“Great,” Vanessa groans. “There goes my scholarship … and my job.” She throws her arms up in frustration. “All of this because my mother had to bag the most prominent man in Harbor Point, which is kind of ironic since she thought he was rich, yet she agreed to sell me because he’s in debt.”
She glances from Matteo to me. “I appreciate you letting me crash at your place, and I’m sorry for everything. But I need to ask you a favor.”
The reminder of what she did has my jaw grinding. She might be in a shitty situation, but she still drugged and tricked me into marrying and having sex with her.
“What?” I deadpan.
“I need to get my stuff from the dock. Hopefully, nobody stole it. It has my laptop and medications …” She sighs. “And I have stuff at Eric’s house and at my apartment on campus in Seattle.”
“I’ll have my men handle the dock and Eric’s house,” Matteo says, then glances at me.
“I’ll hire someone to pack her shit and bring it here,” I add, wondering what the hell I’m getting myself into.