Chapter 13
Meeting with Elio went about as well as I could have hoped. He’s willing to help. He already put the word out to his guys about Jade, but with no leads or ideas of who we’re dealing with, he can’t do much else.
“Brothera, we will find her.” He assures me, standing in front of my desk where he’s spent the last hour pacing as we went over every possible detail of what happened the night Jade disappeared.
I know he believes what he’s saying. He’s so used to getting his way that it’s probably hard for him to imagine a time when he doesn’t. But he can’t know that for sure, and my concern seems to grow with every second she remains missing.
“Let’s go to your boys and see if they have any new information to add to this before I leave,” he tells me, and all I can do is nod. It’s a good idea, one I probably should have had myself, but my head just isn’t in it right now.
“I’ll send you the address.”
I grab my phone off my desk as he heads out, leaving me to grab things before I follow him, sending him the address as I go.
I have a few messages from the guys, but no missed calls.
If they’d found something worth it, I know they would have blown me up.
Hell, they probably would have come down here to share, so I ignore the messages for now, heading after Elio.
“Piccolo Guerriero. Psicopatico.” Elio’s voice carries down the hall to me as I move toward the exit, and I pick up my pace.
I don’t understand most of what he says when he speaks Italian, but I know Psicopatico is what he calls Zander.
They haven’t had many interactions, but he heard enough about him that he’s called him that from the moment he saw him.
Given the state Zander’s been in lately, he’s the last person I want alone with Elio.
Anyone who isn’t us is a person of interest to Zander, and while Elio has been around for a long time, we keep his presence well hidden.
“Luciano?”
The rest of the hall passes in a blur, my feet pounding against the floor as I rush to the exit. The door sits ajar, propped open, and I see Elio just outside, his back to me. I spot Zander over his shoulder with a smile on his face.
That should have been my first clue.
“What brings you here? Miss me, bellissima?” Elio teases, his accent rolling as he lays on his usual charm with the ladies. He’s always been a terrible ladies' man.
I slow a few paces behind him, no longer feeling the need to rush. Clearly, Zander is doing better based on his smile, and if Elio is flirting, that’s always a good sign.
“Flattery will get you nowhere. I’m here to collect my men. What, might I ask, are you doing here? Last I checked, we don’t sell what you're looking for.”
Her voice rings strong with a hint of amusement and hits me harder than a bullet. I can’t see her, but I‘d know that voice anywhere.
I shoulder past Elio, unable to so much as apologize as I catch him off guard in my haste.
The second my eyes find her, it’s like a weight’s been lifted.
Like I’m breathing for the first time in days.
Her eyes lock on mine, and I watch as her hard mask melts away, a smile turning her features from the brutal leader to the beautiful woman I’ve loved for so long.
She’s out of Zander's arms in a second, running toward me. My arms open for her as I scoop her up, pulling her close. My body knows I need her, crave her.
Her legs wrap around my waist as I crush her to my chest, her hands fisting into the leather of my jacket, pulling me to her just as desperately as I am her.
“Fuck, Killer.”
My voice is low and raw with emotion, but I couldn’t care less right now, too concerned with the woman in my arms to give a shit about anyone around us. Let them watch. If anyone has a problem, I’ll remove their eyes and solve it for them.
I bury my head in her hair, breathing her in. She smells of cheap shampoo, like the kind we used to use in hotel bathrooms back before Vengeance. A hint of her usual pomegranate scent remains, and it settles something inside of me that shattered when she disappeared.
We stay like that for what feels like forever, and yet somehow nowhere near long enough before she eventually pulls back, forcing me to do the same.
Her eyes shine with the smile on her face, and I can’t help but smile back.
I have about a hundred different emotions playing through me right now, but none of them matter.
She’s here, safe in my arms, where she belongs. We can deal with the rest of it later.
“I’m going to put a fucking tracker in your ass,” I tell her, only half joking.
She throws her head back and laughs, and I devour her with my eyes.
Jade and I have been through some shit in our lives.
Neither of us has ever really known what safety is.
We take risks daily, knowing what we do is dangerous but necessary, but this was different.
This was the first time I was honest to God worried she wouldn’t come back, and that fear had been eating at something inside of me.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Daddy,” she says, wiggling her brows at me. “And maybe try being more original.”
Jade and Zander both bark a laugh at that, and I feel I’m missing something but don’t care to ask.
I attempt to glare at her, but I just can’t manage it.
After a minute, she hops down out of my arms, and it takes everything I’ve got not to snatch her back up again.
I have so much I want to say to her; I want to beg her never to leave like that again, but I can’t make the words come out.
I can’t ask her not to be who she is, to give up on this dream we share.
Understanding shines in her eyes as she watches me, and I know she gets it.
She’s always understood me; for a long time, she was the only one who could.
She turns back to Zander and Elio, who watch us.
Zander, with a smile on his face that I haven’t seen since Jade disappeared.
While Elio looks perplexed, I realize how strange this all must seem to him.
“You look different without the mask, Elio,” Jade says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “Or should I call you Luciano?” she teases, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been more lost than I am at this moment.
Elio seems to follow seamlessly, though, as he chuckles, bowing his head in a greeting he reserves for only those he respects.
“Piccolo guerriero and little domatore di bestie, one and the same. I should have known.”
He shakes his head, but his smile lets me know how amused he is.
If I weren’t so utterly lost, it might be funny to see him like this.
Elio is always the one who knows the most in the room.
It’s his job, and anything less can get him killed.
We have that in common, but he’s been in this since he was a child, and his empire is a lot bigger than just the city of Chicago.
“I stand by my earlier assessment, though bellissima indeed. Though Capo might be a more fitting name,” he says, looking her over from head to toe, making me itch to pull her away from his roaming eyes.
I don’t because she would have my ass if I dared, but it doesn’t stop the urge.
“Gurriero Capo,” he says, nodding to himself as if satisfied.
“What?” Zander asks before I can, sounding every bit as jealous as I feel, but saving me from having to be the one to voice it.
“Warrior boss,” Jade says, and we all turn to her.
“You speak Italian? What other secrets do you hide, bellissima?” Elio asks, giving her a blinding smile that usually has girls falling over themselves to get to him.
“A bit. A friend of mine taught me some a few years back,” Jade says with a smile, batting her eyes, making herself look innocent in a way I know she’s not.
She’s baiting him.
I step to the side, sliding up next to Zander, who looks ready to rip them away from each other. It’s so easy to forget that he doesn’t know this side of her. None of them do.
He’s in for a treat. I just need to ensure he doesn’t lose his cool before then.
Jade takes a step toward Elio, and he pulls himself to his full height, smoothing back his already perfectly styled hair; he smiles down at her. Jade is the best because she knows how to get to people. She knows what makes them tick, and it would appear Elio is no different.
Jade stops before him, reaching out to run a hand slowly down his tie, looking up at him through her lashes.
“I have a lot of secrets, Elio, but you know that, don’t you?” she asks, her voice sugar-sweet, and I know what's coming, but Elio doesn’t.
If he did, he wouldn’t look so damn proud of himself.
“Sì.”
She moves in the blink of an eye, wrapping his tie tight around her hand and yanking him down so they’re eye to eye.
“Good, then you know if I ever see you at an auction again…” She leans in close, her voice dropping low, no longer sweet.
Instead, she sounds every bit the leader of Vengeance, the killer I named her for.
Dark, deadly, and oh so fucking hot.
“Vedremo quanto sono bello dipinto nel sangue,” she hisses, brushing her lips to his cheek before pushing him away from her hard enough that he stumbles as she turns away. She looks at Zander and me with a smile that lights up the night around her.
“Let’s go home, boys,” she says before skipping through the dark lot toward our spots.
“What the fuck just happened?” Zander asks, looking from Jade back to me as if I have any idea.
Other than the obvious, I’m as lost as he is. I can bet whatever she just said wasn’t nice, but I don’t speak a lick of Italian.
“Gurriero Capo was simply warning me that if she saw me at another auction, she would kill me. Slowly, I would wager,” Elio says as he fixes his tie. His stare set on the space Jade had disappeared. His gaze filled with admiration and respect, something I’ve rarely seen him show for many people.
“I see why you love her,” he says, facing us. I’m not sure if he’s talking to Zander or me, but I guess it doesn’t really matter, considering it’s true either way. “I’d like to join you and see if I might lend a hand.”
“Fuck no!”
Zander shouts before I can answer, stepping toward Elio as if he intends to harm him.
I have no doubt he would try, but I’m not sure who would win, and honestly, we can’t handle another enemy right now—especially one like Elio.
I reach out, snagging Zander’s arm and holding him back as Elio raises his hands in a show of surrender.
“I have no intention of trying to steal your woman. From the looks of it, she already has her hands full,” Elio tells us with a smirk as if he thinks he knows something. He doesn't know the half of it.
“Oh yeah, if that’s the case, what the fuck was all that?” Zander says, waving his arm around like a crazy person.
“I was simply testing her,” Elio says, the smile melting from his face as he turns to address me.
“I owe Jade a great deal more than I can ever repay, so I would like to see if I might be of any help to her. I have a feeling she wasn’t missing because she decided to take a break from the raging testosterone. Though it would be understandable.”
His eyes dart toward Zander, who doesn’t seem to understand that Elio was attempting to insult him, but that’s probably a good thing. If he thinks this is bad, wait till he sees her with the rest of them.
What could Elio possibly owe Jade for that makes him so eager to help her? Before I can ask, the sound of a motorcycle firing up across the lot pulls my attention, and I know, without seeing her, it's Jade.
“Who the fuck…?” Zander trails off, shaking out of my hold and rushing off toward the sound, and I can’t help but shake my head as I watch him go.
I didn’t think she could still ride, but clearly, I was mistaken.
Zander’s going to lose his fucking mind when he sees her on a bike.
The thought is enough for my mind to imagine it, and I can’t say I mind.
Jade looks good no matter what she does, but something tells me it won’t be the same as when I taught her to ride.
She’s not the same anymore. She’s all grown up, a woman, a fucking goddess of death, and she’s finally mine.
“I sent you the address already. We’ll meet you there,” I tell Elio as I pass him, headed toward Jade and Zander. He grunts his acknowledgment, but I hardly hear it, too focused on the thought of Jade on a bike again.
The thought is more appealing than it has any right to be. My mind runs wild, picturing her on the bike, on my bike, naked…
Shit.
I pick up the pace, sprinting across the lot to find them.
I know that if my mind went there, Zander’s will as well, and he has a lot less self-control than I do.
My imagination is already running wild, which is why I blame it for the very vivid picture it paints for me of Zander fucking Jade on my bike.
My dick jumps to attention, clearly not caring that someone else fucking her on my motorcycle should piss me off.
Whatever we're going to talk about needs to be handled quickly, because I’ve missed Jade in more ways than one, and I can’t wait to have her again.