CHAPTER SIXTEEN #2
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I immediately chastised myself. I trusted my savage. Even so, he would pay for this. I closed my phone and went to my bedroom, the one I shared with him.
I opened my closet and got dressed in my all-black tactical gear, sliding daggers into the side slits of my boots and checking my guns before sliding them into my holster. Stefano DeLuca was about to make me act out of character.
I was not the jealous type. But no bitch was allowed to touch him until I said we were over. And while I was pretty sure he'd already set her straight, I needed to see it for myself. I also needed him to know that a hoe like that shouldn't have been able to get that close to him in the first place.
Never let the enemy get close enough to touch you. That applied to any and all situations. He was worried about me getting into trouble. He needed to worry about his own safety because he was treading into dangerous territory.
He'd be ready to kill a motherfucker if the roles were reversed. Therefore, he couldn’t get mad at me for wanting to do the same thing. As soon as I exited the house, I found guards waiting for me.
"Mr. DeLuca said you're not to go anywhere alone," Dante told me.
"Don't try to stop me from leaving. I'm heading out to look for your boss. You can follow me. But you can’t get involved. This is between Stefano and me. Got it?"
"Yes, ma’am," Dante agreed, bowing his head.
Getting into my car, I headed to the Club with a security team following from a distance.
"Stefano, oh, Stefano," I muttered as I drove. "Are we going to be the death of each other?"
I guess we would soon find out.
***
STEFANO
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, the coppery taste of blood on my tongue as it dripped from my lip. My fourth opponent of the night stood across from me, swaying slightly, chest heaving as sweat poured down his face.
He’d managed to land one solid hit, a lucky shot that had clipped me when my thoughts had drifted to Sienna. It would be his last lucky shot of the night. A low murmur rolled through the crowd.
I tuned it out and focused on the man in front of me, on the way his shoulders tensed. He swayed again, and honestly, I was surprised he was still standing. The one before him had looked the same.
They all did after a while. To me, they were just punching bags I could use to vent my rage, my fear, my guilt. The announcer’s voice boomed loudly over the speakers, drowning out the noise from the crowd.
“This fight is almost over. Unexpectedly, it won’t be the last fight of the night. It looks like we’ve got a new challenger who’ll be stepping into the ring next, folks. So remain seated after this fight ends. We’re not done yet.”
I didn’t look away from my opponent. Whoever this new challenger was, I’d get to them after I finished this one. They’d have to wait their turn for the beating I was handing out tonight.
“Next up, we’ll have The Silencer.”
For half a second, my thoughts stalled. The Silencer. It couldn’t be her. My jaw clenched as I forced that thought down, shoving it aside. It couldn’t be her. It had to be someone else calling themself The Silencer.
My Sienna was at home. In bed. Sleeping. A roar snapped my attention back to my fight as my opponent lunged for me, his fist flying toward my face. He’d seen my momentary distraction and decided to capitalize on it. Smart move.
I didn’t dodge it. I moved forward, stepping into him instead of away, my hand shooting out to wrap around his throat. I squeezed. Hard. His momentum died instantly as I lifted him off his feet and slammed him down onto the mat.
The impact seemed to echo through the space as the crowd erupted. I didn’t stop there. My fist came down onto his face. Once. Twice. Three times. Each hit landed harder than the last as something dark and ugly twisted inside my chest.
Like Sienna, this bastard had rushed into danger, swinging wildly, leaving himself open. Like her, he was reckless. My fist slammed into his face again, his head snapping to the side as blood splattered across my knuckles.
The warm wetness should have made me pause, should have reminded me that I was here to fight, not to kill. But all I could think about was Sienna. I shuddered to think of what could’ve happened to her if that warehouse had been filled with Daniel Abeli’s men.
She’d put herself in danger. Again. I slammed my fist into the man’s face again, picturing the scum who’d been at the warehouse with Sienna. I punched him again as I recalled how disheveled she’d looked when I’d found her.
In my mind, I could still clearly see the cuts on her skin, the way she’d brushed them off like they didn’t matter, like it was nothing. Another hit. How could it be nothing? Her being hurt was everything.
Yet, when I got upset about it, she looked at me like I was the one who was crazy. My jaw tightened as I drove my fist down again. She was the crazy one. Her crazy ass was driving me crazy. I’d been perfectly sane before I met her.
I’d been in control. I hadn’t felt this... this overwhelming fear that threatened to consume me every time she was out of my sight. The man beneath me tried to bring his arms up, tried to block, but it didn’t matter.
I barely felt it as my fists kept moving, the world around me fading until there was nothing but the impact of bone against bone and the rage pounding through my veins. My mind flashed back to my nightmares of Sienna being hurt right before my eyes.
Of her calling my name as some faceless enemy dragged her away. Of her blood on my hands, her life force draining away while I stood helpless, unable to save her. I punched faster, harder, spiraling deeper into that dark place where logic couldn’t reach me.
A place where all that existed was the primal need to hurt something, to make something feel the pain that was eating me alive from the inside out. Someone grabbed me. I didn’t register it at first.
Didn’t register the hands pulling at my shoulders, the voices shouting over the roar of the crowd. It wasn’t until my arm was yanked back hard that I finally stilled, my chest rising and falling as I blinked, the haze lifting just enough for the scene in front of me to come back into focus.
The man beneath me wasn’t moving. Blood covered his face, pooling beneath his head as his body went slack. Hands were on me, dragging me back as others rushed in, lifting him off the mat and carrying him away. The crowd was going wild.
Cheers. Shouts.
The sound of my name being chanted.
The Silent Beast is back. The Silent Beast is back.
I wanted to shake my head. I wasn’t back. I shouldn’t even be here. This wasn’t who I wanted to be anymore. I needed to be at home. With her. I needed to be the man she deserved, not this... this monster who lost control at the slightest provocation.
I inhaled deeply, my pulse still pounding, my hands flexing at my sides as I tried to come back to myself. As I tried to find that calm center I’d always prided myself on maintaining, even in the midst of chaos. Then my eyes lifted and landed on someone across from me.
Everything inside me went still.