Chapter 26 Enzo
ENZO
“Lorenzo?” Jade, my assistant, popped her head into my office and batted her lashes at me.
“What?” I grumbled, not looking up from my work on the computer.
I’d been spending more time at the office lately because it beat the fuck out of being at home and dealing with Cole’s continuous meltdowns.
Jade had been trying to irritate the fuck out of me today by constantly coming in to interrupt me.
Cole thought she had a thing for me, but I had no interest in entertaining her, despite the odd moment I’d had with her a few weeks ago in my office.
She was hot, but I had more important things to deal with, like keeping Cole sane.
“You have a phone call from Mr. Scott. He says it’s urgent.”
I sighed and nodded. She hesitated like she wanted to say more, but I waved her off, and she left. I hadn’t taken his calls today because I knew what he’d be screaming at me.
He wasn’t taking Rosalie’s marriage well, and whenever a new story would drop, he’d lose it a little bit more.
E seemed to be doing the best, which I found surprising but figured it had to do with this Emily chick he kept talking about.
I grabbed my phone and looked at all the missed calls. Fucking seventeen. Sighing, I called him back. He answered on the first ring.
“Look at the news, motherfucker!” he shouted as a greeting.
“Cole, we’ve been over this. Rosalie is married now—”
“It’s YOU! You’re the fucking news! I-I don’t know how it happened. My fucking hard drive is gone. It’s gone, man. The one I kept everything important on? It. Is. Fucking. Gone.”
I frowned, turned back to my computer, and typed my name into the search bar.
“What the fuck?” I choked out, seeing the image of Rosalie and me together in bed. One of our videos. Someone had our fucking videos.
“Yeah. Answer your fucking phone, dickweed.” My office door burst open, and he stormed in, disconnecting our call.
“The fucking press is all over downstairs. They want to talk to you. You’re the lucky bastard who has fucked Bishop.
I had to walk two fucking blocks because of all the press outside and nowhere to fucking park. Are you goddamn oblivious?”
“I’m working,” I mumbled, getting to my feet and going to the floor-to-ceiling windows to stare outside. Cole was right. The place was surrounded. It must have been what Jade wanted to tell me earlier in the day when I told her to fuck off.
My phone buzzed, and I stared down at the name.
“It’s Church,” I murmured, looking to Cole.
“Fucking answer it,” he said, coming to stand next to me. “Tell that prick I want to talk to Rosalie.”
“Stop. Let me deal with this.” I tapped Church’s name. “Hello?”
“Lorenzo, we need to talk, motherfucker. Did you do it?”
“I didn’t release those videos,” I said immediately. “I would never do that to her. It wasn’t me. Cole kept them on a hard drive at our old place. In storage. He said they’re missing.”
There was scuffling on Church’s end, and my heart jumped into my throat as I heard Rosalie.
“If I find out you had anything to fucking do with this, then our deal is off, and it’s war. Do you understand me? There will be no place you can run and hide from me. No fucking renegotiation. Nothing. Just death.” Church’s words came out clipped and filled with venom.
So he’d clearly gotten my message about renegotiating the contract with Cole and me.
“I didn’t do it,” I snarled back.
More noises sounded out.
“Stop,” Dante snapped. “Rosalie. Stop.”
“Let me talk to her,” I said urgently. “Fuck, Church. Let me talk to her. Let me—”
“Stop. Rosalie. Fucking stop,” Church shouted, the noises continuing. I had no idea what sort of relationship Rosalie and Dante had with one another, but by the sounds of it, they didn’t put up with either one’s shit.
“De Luca, I’m sending men to you. You’d better answer your door when they show up.”
“Let me talk to Rosalie. Dante, please—”
“One hour, or I’ll kill you myself.” Dante disconnected. I stood staring down at my phone for a moment.
“What did he say?” Cole demanded. “Is she OK?”
“Text E. We need to get home. He’s sending men to our place to get us. If we don’t show, he’ll start a war.”
“Son of a bitch,” Cole swore, following me out of my office.
“Outside is bad—” Jade started in.
“It’s fine,” I snapped at her. “Call the fucking cops and tell them to move this shit off the property.”
She stared at me with wide eyes.
“Now!” I shouted.
She jumped into action and grabbed the phone as I stormed to my private elevator with Cole. I put my key in to take us to the underground garage, where I knew we could escape with minimal issues.
We got into my Escalade, and I wheeled us up to the exit. There were a few reporters waiting outside, but far fewer than I’d have had to deal with if I’d gone out the front doors.
“Mr. De Luca! Mr. De Luca! Can you tell us about your relationship with Bishop?”
“Is it true she’s been having an affair with you?”
“Mr. De Luca! Please, just one comment.”
I drove past them without slowing down and got onto the road, the assholes disappearing behind us.
“What’s the plan?” Cole asked, his voice shaking.
“Meet with the watchers and try not to get killed,” I muttered. “If we do that, then we can go to step two in figuring out how the fuck our shit was broken into.” I paused. “How many people do you have coming in and out of the house during your remodel?”
“Several,” he muttered. “I’m always there when they are, though. I watch all of them. No one has ever gone out of my sight.”
I nodded. Cole was good about stuff like that, but someone had definitely gotten in, and we needed to figure out how. I didn’t have the cameras there anymore, telling myself I didn’t give a fuck, and if it burned, it burned.
“What about Rosalie? Shouldn’t we reach out?” Cole asked.
“That’s the last fucking thing we do,” I snapped at him.
“She’s dealing with this shit. I don’t give a fuck if my dick is all over the internet, but I goddamn care about her body being put on display.
If we reach out, it’ll look like it’s something recent.
I don’t want that for her. She’s fucking married.
I don’t want to ruin the good things she has going for herself. ”
“I think we should reach out and tear it to the ground. Fuck Ass Hat! Fuck their marriage—”
“If you loved her as much as you claim to, you’d not be plotting to ruin her fucking life!
” I shouted and slammed my hands on the steering wheel.
“Do you even fucking hear yourself, Cole? Huh? She is not our girl anymore. She. Is. Fucking. MARRIED. To another man. Not ours. Never ours again. Get it through your thick fucking head that it’s over!
Let that shit rest in peace right next to Fox’s dead body! ”
Cole said nothing, his chest heaving as he stared out the window. I hated to yell at him, but this shit was getting old, and I was tired. I hurt too, but fucking hell. We had to let go. The chances of Church changing the contract now were looking slim.
We rode in silence the entire way back to our high-rise. Once home, we went inside to find E already waiting for us.
“We have a meeting,” I said, confirming what Cole had already sent to him via text.
E nodded tightly, but I noticed the twitch of his hands. He hadn’t been back to the underground since we’d rescued him all those years ago.
“Laz is with Anna and Harold. I told them to keep him if we don’t come home. They have instructions to reach out to my parents.” He smoothed down his shirt before grabbing his jacket. I noted he already had his gun.
I swallowed hard, knowing E wasn’t one to lie down and die these days. I worried how he’d react if we had to return to the place that took so much from all of us.
“You might not have to go if they decide to take us,” I said. Church typically left E out of all the shit related to the underground. E never really said much about Church, but I figured there was something there I didn’t know about, and I never pushed it.
E said nothing, his gaze fixed on the door. Cole was whispering to him, no doubt telling him to play it cool. E was less than cool these days. More like a silent storm that would tear down your house.
The bell rang at the door.
I pulled open the door to see two of the watchers, or ghosts, as they preferred to be called when dealing with underground business.
“Malachi,” I said, eyeing the tattooed monster in front of me. Church’s brother. “Sinclair.”
Malachi pushed past me, Sinclair following him into the living room.
I sighed, irritated that they had just come inside, but perhaps we could do this here without the need to be seen in the underground.
I followed them deeper in our space and watched as they slowly took in their surroundings.
“I didn’t send those videos,” I started.
Malachi held his hand up. “Quiet.”
I ground my teeth as he went to my favorite chair and flopped down into it, kicking his boots onto my coffee table.
The guy was a beast. Tall. Muscular. Tatted from head to toe and clad in leather.
Sinclair wasn’t far behind in that respect.
They looked like two guys who could fuck your world up, and I knew they possessed the ability to.
The watchers—ghosts—didn’t fuck around. Many people lost their lives dealing with these guys.
Sinclair moved to our mantle and picked up a picture of Riot and stared down at it for a moment.
“I would prefer we get this over with,” I said tightly as Cole and E took up residence on the couch while I stood.
“Yes, well, imagine how my sweet sister feels,” Malachi said. “She’s pretty upset. I spoke to her just before coming in here. Promised to make it right on her behalf.”
I swallowed. “I didn’t realize you had any sort of relationship with her.”
“Well, I have more of one with her than you do.” He smiled at me, which only pissed me off more. At this rate, I’d rather be dealing with Asylum.