Chapter 12 #2
“Don’t test me, Torcello.” I end the call before I lose control and flat out call for an open war.
He’ll pay, but it won’t be obvious. I know he has business dealings with major players when it comes to high-class escorts from the books I’d recovered, but I never expected them to be forced.
It’s clear what their intentions were for Angel, and that’s not going to happen.
I summon Matteo to my office. “Triple the security on the house. I don’t give a fuck what anyone says. Everything goes through me when it comes to Angel and her brother. Everything. She doesn’t leave the condo at all. Understood? I can’t take any chances.”
“What’s going on, Boss?”
“Torcello wants her, and we’re not going to let that happen.”
“Damn, okay. Should we add extra patrols around the area?”
“Yes. How is everyone’s property looking?”
“So far so good, Boss. No new eyes.”
“That’s good. Let’s keep it that way.” God, I want Torcello’s head on a fucking silver platter.
No, I just want him dead and buried. He has to pay.
His words alone are going to get him done and dusted.
He wants my woman to be a worker in his whorehouse.
I know the services he offers. We all know, but I had no idea that he was throwing my woman in as an option.
Has Georgie picked women from my office before? I really need my employee list. Are there other women missing? Has Fields lured others? Was this May woman another victim, or an accomplice? I have no idea, but I need to know fast.
I exit my office, and there she is. All I want to do is encase her in protective…I don’t fucking know, something…glass. I have to shield her from that bastard, from anything that might harm her, but I know it isn’t smart to cage her.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No, why?”
“You look angry.”
“No, but we need to talk.”
“Now that I don’t like. It’s never a good thing when someone says that.”
“It’s not, Amore.”
“Please tell me something didn’t happen to my brother.”
“Your brother is fine. Being annoying, but fine.”
“When can I see him?”
“Christmas, like I promised, when we get married, but there is something else.”
“Oh.” I take her hand and sit her down on the sofa.
“Please tell me what’s wrong. Is he going to jail?”
“No, baby.”
“I can’t see anything else that would bother me…except my house.” Her mouth falls open. “Oh, no. Oh, no.”
“Someone broke in, and it looks like they wrecked the place.”
“What? They robbed me?”
“I don’t know. Sammy went over there to meet the maid who was going to clean, and the door was busted open.”
“I need to know.”
“I want to take you, but I believe it’s too dangerous.”
“Too dangerous? You don’t think local people knew we weren’t there, do you?”
“No. Out of all the houses, yours is in the middle of the block. You were gone for a day, and it wasn’t planned. Someone would have had to know that you weren’t there. Besides, I went there the day before.”
“So it was Tony?”
“Probably, or someone he sent to do his dirty work. He’s not willing to get caught in the act.”
“I need to know what was taken or what was ruined.”
“We can go now, but you have to do everything I say. Remember, you follow my lead and stay close to me. Understood?”
“Of course. You’re the boss.”
“Look, I’m being serious. I took what Fields wanted, and he’s pissed about it. There’s no telling how far he’ll take it.”
“Then you better be careful.” She pokes me in the chest, and my heart fucking does a double back flip. She might not love me, but she actually cares enough about me to worry if something happens to me, and that’s fucking all I need to take down mountains.
“That’s what my men are there for.” I press my lips to hers briefly, needing to just get a taste of her. I take her hand and help her to her feet. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. You’re being too nice to me.”
“You’re about to be my wife, Angel. My beautiful Christmas bride. I don’t think there’s any reason I shouldn’t be nice to you.”
She always looks shocked when I mention the wife thing. “Come on, get ready so we can get going.”
She speeds through getting dressed, and by the time she comes out of the bedroom, I’ve spoken to my men, who had to leave because the neighbor called the police. Unfortunately, they were armed and didn’t want to cause a scene, so they called me. The door was obviously broken and they had questions.
We are in the vehicle two minutes later. I pull her small clutch out of my coat and hand it over. “Here is your purse; I’m sure you’ve been aching to have this back.”
“Of course my phone isn’t in there.”
“Check.” She opens it, and it’s in there. Pressing the power button, it’s full.
“You charged it?” I nod. She kisses my cheek. “You’re full of surprises.”
“You mean I’m not a total bastard?”
“Yes.” I chuckle as Marco drives us through the city traffic. She looks at it, and there are about twenty voicemails and text messages, but she just scrolls through it and then tucks it away.
“You don’t want to respond or anything?”
“Why bother? I want nothing to do with Fields, and there aren’t any messages from anyone else. Did you already see these?” she asks. I will tell her the truth, but I can’t yet. I cloned her phone and I can see everything on there, but for now, I’ll keep that to myself.
“No, but I’m giving you the choice.” She raises her brow, not believing me.
My phone rings when we’re nearly there, and it’s Sammy. “What’s up?”
“The cops are bothering us.”
“Well, tell them to mind their fucking business.”
“They said they received a call about a break-in last night, so they’re here to take the report.”
“What the fuck? A bit late, no? Tell them fuckers that we don’t know who broke in, but the owner is on her way right now.”
“She’s on the phone,” Sammy says to the cops.
I hand her the phone. “Hello, Officer, I’m on my way now to inspect the house. I’m about two blocks away.”
“Fine, ma’am. We’ll wait for you before we enter. Have you made an incident report yet?”
I nod to her and then she says, “I wasn’t the one who found it.
The maid did. She had to handle another cleaning job, so I’m sure the cops would have taken it down, or maybe you should talk to the neighbors who called it in, the first time.
” Damn, my bride is a much better liar than I give her credit for. It concerns and excites me.
We pull up front, and then my men open the door to help her out. “Mrs. D’Antonio.” The cops exit their vehicle, and I recognize one from the courthouse.
He looks at me with surprise. “Wait, you are connected to this home?”
“Hello, I’m the owner of this house,” Angel says, interrupting any conversation.
“Do you have your identification?” he asks. She goes in her purse, taking off her gloves to dig inside the tiny bag. Damn it, it’s too cold and windy for this shit. I surround her in an attempt to block the wind.
“Sorry, it’s freezing out here.” She manages to pull out her wallet with shaking hands, fingertips cold. “Here you go.”
She hands it to the officer, who almost loses the driver’s license to a swift breeze. “Whoa.” He has proof that, in fact, this is her home.
Their radio goes off about a major accident nearby that requires them to report to the Bridgeport neighborhood. “Sorry, we can send over a forensics team, but the city isn’t going to want to spend their resources on a tainted scene.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I grunt. I don’t have any intention of involving the cops any more than they already are. Fields is going to pay with his life, and Torcello will die slowly and at my hand. “We’re not filing another report.”
“Very well. Please let us know if there is anything we can do. We’ll be patrolling the area, but we’re pretty busy with several accidents.
” We wait for them to drive away, and I bundle Angel up.
Sammy enters first to examine the house to ensure no one else is waiting inside.
He sends a message that it’s all clear and that there’s something we need to see in her bedroom.
We’re just about to go up the steps when there is a loud boom and then another, followed by flames.
We both fall back into the snow, and my men are all around us.
“Fucking hell, Angel.” I’m crowding her, looking around to see how hurt she is, but she sits up in the snow, swaying dizzily.
“Luca, my home. Luca.” The cops rush back with their sirens on.
I rush my woman to our vehicle, and Marco takes the driver’s seat. My men check on Sammy, but it’s too late. The house has already collapsed on itself. If he’s still in her room, he didn’t make it out. Damn it. If we’d been any closer, we would be dead. Torcello played us.
The cops notify us that there are remains in the building that are obviously too burned to identify, but we all saw him go inside. He’s gone. That bastard and his men are going to pay for what they did to Sammy.
We spend an hour with a flood of firefighters, cops, and detectives, and finally they let us leave.
The entire time, all I can do is stare at Angel’s face and see how fucking broken and sad she looks.
She has lost so much, and it’s unbearable.
I want them all to be dead, and I’ll have my revenge.
My poor girl is devastated, and I brought this world upon her.
If she hadn’t worked for my shady company, they wouldn’t have targeted her.
“Thank you, Officers.”
“I’m so sorry, Angel.” He killed one of my oldest associates, and I want to destroy the bastard.
There’s no way Angel is safe here in the city.
I have to take her back to the estate. Nothing in my mission has changed, but I have to get my head on straight.
I’ve been so fucking focused on Angel that I’ve lost the demonic fucking concentration I had, and Torcello easily used it against me.
“How am I going to tell Noah?” she mutters, shaking her head through the haze of her pain and sadness.
“We’re not.” She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “At least, not yet. He’s already resistant and ready to bolt. If he knows about the fire, he’ll be more defiant.” Or depressed, just like my pretty fiancée.
When I take her home, she goes into the bedroom and washes up, refusing to say another word to me, which I’m going to see as a good thing. I have way too much to lose to allow that to happen again. My obsession with Angel has to come second to everything else.