Chapter 13
thirteen
. . .
By the time Alessia disappeared into the building, the night had settled into a suffocating quiet.
The lobby lights flickered once before stabilizing, casting long, distorted shapes across the marble floor.
One of my men guided her through the door, his hand hovering near his holster, but she didn’t look back.
Walking stiffly, she favored her left side.
Pride or perhaps embarrassment prevented her from telling me exactly where it hurt but she’d tell Rayden when he visited, of that I was certain, they’d become good friends.
Regardless, I knew she was shaken, more from the red eyes, her terrified reaction to them more than the actual fight, said as much. I’d seen them firsthand, so I understood her shock.
I waited until the elevator doors swallowed them before turning back to the car. The engine roared to life, a harsh sound in the stillness, but it didn’t drown the echo of Alessia’s words in my head.
“She said she was watching you, protecting you…”
Protecting me from what?
I merged into traffic, the city lights blurring into streaks of neon and gold. The windows were open to a crack, letting in the smell of rain and exhaust, but the air inside the car felt heavy.
The first time the idea of a stalker surfaced, I figured it was a rival family testing my perimeter. Then I thought it was a hunter looking for a bounty. After tonight and the attack on the cartel scum, I accepted something far more dangerous lived in my shadow.
My curiosity had escalated.
I pulled into the underground garage of my building and killed the engine.
The silence rushed back in, instant and absolute.
I sat there for a moment, listening to the tick of the cooling metal, feeling the weight of the gun beneath my jacket.
With Duke under my brother’s care since my incident, I should’ve called security, had my penthouse swept before stepping inside.
Instead, I walked through the lobby with a nod to the concierge, took the private elevator to the top floor, and stepped into the apartment.
The darkness was waiting for me, a subtle shift in the air the moment I crossed the threshold.
Without turning the lights on, I moved through the living room, my steps silent on the hardwood, and slid the glass door to the balcony open.
The wind hit my face, cool and damp, carrying the taste of the river.
Nearing the railing, I rested my hands on the cold steel, looking out over the skyline.
The city hummed below me, oblivious to the predator standing in its shadow.
“I know you’re there,” I said calmly, a few minutes later.
Nothing moved. No sound betrayed her. But I sensed the change in the silence behind me. It grew denser, focused. She was perched somewhere in the blind spot above the doorframe, or maybe on the ledge under the railing, close enough to hear my heartbeat.
“Somehow, you’re everywhere and you’ve proven how dangerous you are.
Regardless, I have no idea what your end game is.
But Alessia is family,” I continued without turning around.
“She’s just a kid who was dealt a wrong hand and ended up as my brother’s wife.
” A sudden movement suggested she didn’t like that.
“He’s not a pervert, he did it to save her from her abusive father.
Lorenzo’s never touched her, neither did I.
What we did was protect her, gave her freedom to choose, trained her to fight for her rights. ”
A shadow shifted on my far left, barely noticeable if you weren’t paying attention. And even though my back was to her, I knew she was watching my every breath.
“I don’t know what or who you are and strangely, not even one of the best hackers in the world can fathom you,” I confessed.
“A threat. A guardian angel. A ghost.” My rings tapped the metal railing, and I turned my head slightly, just enough to let her see the sharp line of my jaw, my profile, my certainty.
“But Alessia is family. Blood doesn’t matter in my world, loyalty does.
You could have killed her tonight, and you didn’t because you wanted me to know you were close. Now I do.”
The wind picked up, whipping my jacket against my back, but the cold didn’t reach me. I felt her attention like a physical weight between my shoulder blades.
“She isn’t what you think she is to me,” I explained, the honesty a strange taste on my tongue.
“There’s nothing there. No romance. No weakness.
No promises. She’s a soldier, nothing more.
” I let the statement hang there, suspended in the dark, a mere clarification.
If this was a game of territory, I needed her to know the boundaries.
Silence persisted.
“If you come for me.” My voice dropped an octave. “You come just for me. But if you touch her again, I won’t hunt you.” I paused, letting the implication settle. “I’ll erase you.”
For a second, I thought she might strike. I welcomed it, wanting to feel the speed of her strength, curious if the fire in my gut was matched by the steel in her hand. A beat. Then another.
“I don’t care that you’ve deleted women I’ve fucked in the past, however, if you want to protect me, then stop.” Two fucking years I’d remained celibate to prevent becoming a viable suspect until that night at the cemetery with the woman I was now certain was my stalker.
The air shifted, just enough to tell me she heard every syllable. I let the silence stretch. Let her feel my certainty. Let her wonder what place she held if Alessia didn’t occupy that space. “Are you ever going to tell me who you are?” Silence. “Or what you want?”
Slowly, I turned around. Empty except for the stir of air remained, the wind and the city lights. I smiled anyway, the earlier pressure on my shoulders vanishing as suddenly as it had arrived.
I stayed there for a while, smoking until I headed inside, leaving the doors open, certain she’d return. Joey and Tony stood guard at the main door. “What the fuck are you two doing?” I hadn’t even heard them come in.
“Boss’s orders, sir,” Joey said.
I scoffed. “Well, if you want to stay, then stand the fuck outside or sit in the apartment across from me. Keys are on the counter.” The penthouse suite while massive was divided into two separate apartments, more for safety that occupancy
They looked at each for then at me and nodded.
I left them there and headed for the bathroom, craving a hot shower the warehouse hadn’t provided.
My phone rang.
“Renz?” I placed the phone on the vanity, putting the call on speaker.
“Duke’s gone.”
I paused with my tank half off and glared at my phone. “What the fuck do you mean Duke’s gone?”
“Rayden brought him back from a run, and after we showered, he went to feed him, he wasn’t there. We searched the building, can’t find him.”
“The fuck.” Growling, I pulled my shirt back on and picked up my phone. “Duke’s chipped, give me a sec.” I checked the tracking app and frowned, my blood past midline to boil. “What the fuck.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Duke’s not on the radar and unless it’s cut out of him, that’s not possible.”
“I sent the men out to look for him. You want me to fetch you?”
Cursing, I dragged a hand through my hair and just as I turned to walk out the bathroom, my phone pinged. “Hang on.”
I opened the message and gaped at the photo. Katana with the yin-yang mask and red eyes, sat on a leather chair; her sword held loosely in one hand with Duke at her heel and his head on her lap.
“Remo?” my brother called out the same time another message came through, this time a text.
Unknown: Threats don’t work on ghosts, Remo. But I do like proofs of concept. Your brother’s security is weak. I’m not. Duke’s safe.
“Fuck.” The word tore out of me before I could stop it, my grip tightening on the phone until the plastic whined. “She was in your apartment, Renz.”
A beat of silence. Then, cold and controlled, “who?”
“My stalker. She has Duke.”
The line went quiet. I could picture him in his study, the amber liquor untouched in his glass, his eyes going flat and dangerous. When he spoke again, his voice was low, deadly. “How the fuck did she get past security with a hundred and twenty pounds of muscle that doesn’t exactly whisper?”
I didn’t have an answer. That was the point. “She didn’t fight them,” I said slowly, the realization settling like ice in my gut. “She didn’t trip alarms. She just walked in. Took a photo on your leather chair, took him and left.” Incredulous laughter filled my bathroom.
Another pause. Longer this time. I could hear the unspoken question hanging between us. Who the fuck was this woman?
“Send me the photo,” Lorenzo said finally, his tone shifting from brother to Don. “Every detail. And Remo?”
“Yeah.”
“If she’s intent on playing this game.” I heard the promise in his voice, the violence coiled underneath. “Tell her she just made herself the only prey worth hunting.” The line went dead.
I looked down at the photo gain, shaking my head. Clearly, I underestimated her. Turning, I undressed, needing that shower.