Dante
I stare at the live feed from my hidden cameras in Luna’s apartment as she reads my message. “God, he knows me too well already,” she says, as she pockets her phone. I smirk, watching her flustered face turn a shade of the prettiest pink.
I roll my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. “They have a picture of my side profile, and that’s it. I gave them an alias. They have nothing to go on to find me.”
I stand, looming over Alex’s desk, getting in his face.
“I’m a fucking psycho if you haven’t noticed.
You can look away all you want, but you know who I am, who I really am.
I–I love her, Alex. I shouldn’t love her, and I should let her go, but I can’t.
I’m a selfish bastard, and you can hate me all you want for it, but I won’t change my mind.
I will kill them all if I have to, just give me the names and locations. ”
Alex shakes his head, “You would put a bounty on her head greater than you could afford. It would destroy you if she were hurt because of the lives we live.”
“It doesn’t matter, they will never be able to touch her,” I say, mimicking his head shake.
Alex scoffs, “Love has made you stupid, brother. I’ll send out two men to watch over her apartment while you clean up your fucking mess.
You need to lay low; vanishing this weekend helped your case, but you need to become a ghost. They are hacking cameras around the city looking for your bike, my guy on the inside said you pissed them off by taking the fifty grand pot.
They are looking to ‘teach you a lesson’, so they don’t know the real reason you were there in the first place, which helps us, but my guy has been sent out to collect the money.
” Alex pauses, letting out a heavy exhale.
“I didn’t want to tell you this over the phone, but you didn’t cover your neck tattoos completely.
They have specific descriptors of you, the snake on the side of your neck, and the tip of the wolf’s ears.
You can’t be seen in public with her now, Dante.
It’s all so much more complicated.” I swallow hard, processing Alex’s words.
I fucked up. Bad. “I told you those tattoos were a stupid idea,” Alex says, sucking his teeth.
I let out a heavy sigh, slumping back down into the leather chair. “What do you need me to do?”
“Lay low, give the money you stole from them to my guy at a disclosed location in a few days, and it should go away. Do anything to sabotage this, Dante, and I won’t help you again. I’m doing this for her, not you, so if you love her like you say you do, don’t fuck this up.”
“If Luna is hurt in any way, I won’t promise that I won’t go after them, but I won’t involve you; you’ve made that very clear.” I push up from the chair and leave Alex’s office without another word. My rage sits simmering under my skin, and I need to get out of here before I explode.
I need to keep my mind busy for the next several days without Luna. If I want to keep her safe, I have to take this seriously and do everything the right way.
Alex is right about one thing: love has made me stupid.
I get in my car, speeding off to head to a hotel for the night. My phone dings with a message; I switch lanes and pull it out of my pocket.
“Holy fuck!” I swerve, missing the car next to me.
The message I received is from Luna, she’s wearing my mask I gave her, she’s in a black babydoll nighty with a pink and purple dildo sticking out of her pussy.
Luna’s lying on her back on her bed, propped up on her elbow, as the other hand works the dildo in her pussy.
The message she sent with the picture says, ‘Thinking of you.’
I blow out a heavy breath, trying to concentrate on the road, when my phone starts ringing. It’s an unknown number, but I pick it up anyway. “Hello?”
“Hey, James! It’s Billy. I got your message about looking for a new house. I just had a house come on the market that fits most of your criteria. I can get you set up with a tour tomorrow?”
“Perfect. Send me the details, and I’ll look over them tonight.”
“Alright, I’ll send it on over. Have a good rest of your evening, sir.” He hangs up the phone, and I’m left looking at the picture Luna sent me.
Talk about divine timing, you’re meant to be mine, Luna. I’m meant to keep you safe.
It’s finally Wednesday, and I’m meeting Alex’s spy to do the handoff.
It’s late in the afternoon, and the hand-off is taking place at the docks up north in the Costanza territory.
Alex said it was better to meet on their turf as a sign of respect.
I don’t give a fuck about respecting these mother fuckers, but if it keeps my angel safe, I’ll do it.
A white van pulls up, and a man jumps out of the driver's seat. “You, James?”
I nod, and the man knocks on the van twice. My senses are immediately heightened, and my hand itches for the gun I have hidden under my pant leg.
Another door opens and closes, and from around the passenger's side, Greg steps out. My darkness thrums alive upon seeing him, and it begs me to take him.
He’s just one guy, and he’s hurt Luna so much.
Alex’s warning from the other night comes to mind, stopping me from taking a step forward: “Do anything to sabotage this, Dante, and I won’t help you again.”
“I believe you have something of mine,” Greg says, and it takes everything in me not to lunge forward and take his life.
I know he doesn’t know who I am or that Luna is mine, but I know he put his hands on her, giving her the fear I’ve been slowly taking from her.
Luna has nightmares of him still; she wakes up screaming sometimes, thinking she’s still with him, and that everything has been a dream.
It guts me every time I hear her scream, when I can’t protect her from her memories—but Greg’s neck looks awfully snappable right now.
I pull the check from my jacket pocket and hold it out to him. I have my shades on, so he can’t see the murderous glare I’m giving him, but I can see his eyes, and I can see he’s suspicious of me.
Greg snatches the check out of my hand. “I hope we don’t have another run-in, but something tells me we will.”
Greg starts to turn away, and I can’t stop myself, “As do I.” He turns back to me, giving me a sarcastic smile, and gets back in the van.
I get in my rental car, dropping it off at the nearest Hertz, and hightail it back to my apartment to pick up my bike and make it back to Luna’s on time.
She’ll forgive me for being late after I fuck her senseless. My angel is always so forgiving.