29. Amorette
AMORETTE
T he day was a waste. An absolute waste. All the brothers went to their own rooms to stew, and I wandered the penthouse.
I knocked on Lafe’s door at one point to check on him. He opened it but refused to let me in. He said he was working on something and he’d be down later. But he seemed off. Wired.
My stomach started to growl when the sun was setting, and I searched the kitchen for something to make for dinner. The guys would need to eat, too, unless they stashed food I wasn’t aware of in their rooms.
I found some bacon in the freezer and stuck it in some hot water in the sink to thaw out. It looked like we’d be having breakfast for dinner, given the ingredients Matías had on hand.
All day, I’d racked my brain for ways to stop Vicente, with no luck.
I wanted him dead. He couldn’t hurt anyone if he were dead.
Then I got queasy. Would the brothers struggle with his death?
I didn’t think so, but he was their father.
Could one of them actually kill him? I couldn’t imagine the trauma that would settle on their shoulders to kill a parent, loved or not.
Parents were still parents in the subconscious, and that was still asking too much.
We could help the Dirty Dogs. Matías already had an in with them. It wouldn’t take much to set them up for a takeover, right? Then what kind of danger would we be in with a new group at the top? They couldn’t be any better if they assaulted girls.
I paused and focused on my breathing. Just thinking about that party raised my blood pressure. Damn. I had to stop that. Focus on the now. How were we going to stop Vicente from being a problem?
A soft knock came from the front door. Shit, someone had come up the elevator.
All the calm I’d managed to gain in the last few minutes fled. Matías wouldn’t be knocking. But Vicente wouldn’t either. I glanced at the knife next to the cutting board where I’d been chopping up a tomato.
No one else in the penthouse heard. The stairs were quiet.
Another round of knocking.
I sucked in a deep breath. Answer the door myself or get one of the others?
One of the brothers needed to answer the door. If I did it, I could land myself in another kidnapping situation. I would be everything Andre and Parker had told me I was. A liability. A stupid one.
I raced up the stairs and knocked on the first door.
Parker appeared, and he smirked. Dressed in a muscle tank and jeans, he was what most women would drool over.
But me? I could appreciate his beauty, and he wasn’t as cold as I’d first thought, but he was still dangerous.
More dangerous than Grey or Andre. He was loud about how he flaunted breaking the rules.
Parker was a walking death sentence.
“Come to your senses, Little Love?” His gaze trailed down my body, leaving a burning heat in its wake.
“No. There’s someone at the door.”
The smirk fell, and he pushed past me. “Get downstairs, you fuckers!” he called toward the other rooms. He took the stairs two at a time. When he was close to the door, he pulled a gun out of a holster I hadn’t even noticed. I skidded to a halt.
What the hell? I was oblivious, and that never felt more scary.
He released the safety, checked the peephole that I also missed, and cursed.
Placing the safety back on, he holstered the gun and threw open the door. “Mia,” he greeted. Yet it wasn’t a kind greeting. It was a frigid tone wrapped around his best friend’s name.
“Parker, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you,” Mia said, sounding exasperated. “I had to resort to calling Valentina to track you down.”
“I know Matías isn’t here. You might as well let us in.” Valentina. She sounded just as snotty and entitled as when I’d met her.
Reluctantly, Parker stepped back to let both women inside. Mia was first. When her gaze landed on me, they stopped on my bare legs, and her lips curled. “Lovely seeing you again, Amorette.”
Valentina stepped through once Mia moved out of the way. She had eyes for me too, but where Mia’s attention made me want to cover up, Valentina’s made me want to freeze. They were both predators but in very different ways.
“My dear, what a pleasure to see you. Parker, can you fetch us a drink? Maybe the girls can have a chat in the living room.” Valentina breezed by me, her expensive floral perfume lingering in the air.
“In a minute. I need to talk to Parker.” Mia touched Parker’s side, letting her fingers rest there like they were familiar.
Parker glanced down, then sneered at Mia. “What makes you think I want to talk to you? I’ve been busy with my own shit. I’ll call you when I’m ready. You don’t fucking force it.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “I’ve still been working on…” She glanced at me. “I’ve still been working. I needed to give you an update.”
He gripped her hand, and she gasped as he squeezed her fingers. “I don’t know if you remember, Mia, but I don’t take kindly to anyone managing my life or trying to force me to do…anything. I wouldn’t try it if I were you.” He tossed her hand away from him.
When he moved toward me, I knew he was going to touch me. It was in his eyes. And I was weak for wanting to let him.
Stopping right in front of me, he turned me around, then used a gentle hand on my back to propel me forward. I let out a breath. This wasn’t bad. It wasn’t the claim I expected, and I was glad. I didn’t want him to do that. This was just a weak moment, because Parker was still who he was.
“Go upstairs and get the others,” he said close to my ear. “I’ll get them settled. Have Andre text Matías.”
I followed his orders, ready to leave the downstairs. Something felt off. I didn’t believe either woman was there to hurt us, but I didn’t trust them. Not right then, with everything that had happened recently.
Upstairs, Andre was coming out of his room.
I glanced behind me, then stepped close enough so he could hear me whisper.
“Valentina and Mia are downstairs. Mia was tracking Parker down, and Valentina brought her here. Parker said you all should come down.” I sucked in a breath.
“He said you should also let Matías know.”
“Fuck, okay,” he whispered back as Grey and Lafe came out of their rooms. Andre stepped back into his bedroom.
I shared the same message with them. Grey’s green eyes were frosty as he stared down the stairs like he could see exactly what Valentina and Mia were doing.
What kind of friend was Mia to chase Parker down like this? Was this normal? Or acceptable actions of a friend? Knowing the brothers, I would think not.
“Matías is walking in right now. He’s not happy.”
If Parker were up here, he would have been giddy at the idea his other two siblings were about to fight. But he wasn’t, and Andre and Grey were somber. Lafe was antsy.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Matías’ voice could be heard loud and clear from the stairs. I walked faster, getting ahead of the others to see what was happening.
“Hello to you, too. Mia asked where she could find Parker. She’s heard about the unfortunate events lately and was concerned. I didn’t think you would care.”
I turned the corner to the office just in time to see Valentina wave a hand. She wasn’t concerned.
But Matías, he was pissed. His dark skin was red in anger, and his hands were in tight fists braced on the desk.
“No, that’s not good enough. You’ve never even been here yourself. Try again.”
Parker was propped up in the corner, watching the exchange with mild amusement. Mia kept trying to get his attention, but he refused to look at her.
“Oh, please. Just because I brought Parker’s little fuck buddy here, doesn’t mean I want to step on your toes. We both know you’re the child who can do no wrong.” She scoffed, and it wasn’t pretty.
Matías’ face darkened even more. “Is there a reason you’ve come here? I don’t buy that bullshit excuse.”
Valentina smoothed her skirt down her thighs. “Mia called in a favor. I can’t refuse a past lover. Not one who pleased me so much.”
Parker pushed away from the wall and straightened. When he turned to face Mia, I wanted to shrink on her behalf. His anger and disappointment sliced through the room. “Is that true?”
“Parker—” She tried to explain, but the guilty look in her eyes said it was true.
“Is. It. True.” he gritted out.
“It was just sex.”
“Grey was enough. But this?” He shook his head. It didn’t feel like an argument between friends. This felt like a lover’s quarrel, but he’d said he never slept with her. “Get out.”
“Parker—”
“I said—Get out.”
She jerked with each word that fell from his mouth. Her face set in obstinance. “Fine. I’ll leave, but I have the information you need. You’ll call me when you’ve lost one of your brothers.”
Mia stormed away, checking Andre’s shoulder on the way out.
Valentina grinned. “I didn’t realize that would be so entertaining. You know you’re just setting Mia up to need a shoulder to cry on,” she said to Parker.
His teeth rhythmically clenched as he watched the door where Mia disappeared. He shrugged his shoulders back and rolled his head from side to side. “I don’t care. Fuck her brains out, but don’t bring her back here again.”
“Oh, are you going to be staying here with Matías for very long?” She gave her full sibling a side-long glance.
Matías still hadn’t calmed down from a few minutes ago. He seemed trapped in his anger, unable to let it go. “You can leave too.”
Valentina leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “When are you going to understand, no matter how much power you have, you’ll never be able to order me around. I came here with the intention of doing Mia a favor. Nothing more.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be going to the party with Vicente?” Matías looked down his nose at Valentina.
“You mean to my own birthday party? Yes. I’m going. You know, the more you want me to leave, the more I’m going to stay. Just to spite you. Vicente may be able to give me orders, but not you.”
“Not yet,” Matías corrected.
Valentia bared her teeth in a vicious smile. “Not ever. I don’t care what you’re the boss of.” She stood. “This was a complete waste of my time. Amusing but pointless. Like most of our encounters.”
Grey and Lafe moved out of the way so she could pass.
“Do you need to lock the door?” I asked Matías. Just because his house was safe from Vicente didn’t mean it was actually safe. The most important thing I learned during my time with the brothers was that nothing was absolute, and I questioned everything.
“No. They automatically lock when they shut.” Matías took his seat at the desk and dropped his head in his hands. “This is a clusterfuck.”
“What happened at the mansion?” Andre was all business, ready to discuss what he’d been dying to discuss all day.
My mind, however, was whirling in a very different direction.
“Camera footage caught two servants placing the bomb. Both are nowhere to be found. Vicente is on a rampage. When I left, he was fucking his way through the Gallery, and Maikel had just arrived.”
“It was the movement,” Lafe said quietly as he approached the desk.
Matías looked up, confusion stamped all over him. “The what?”
“There’s an underground movement that’s been plotting Vicente’s demise. I’ve been messaging Ricco—the man who approached me last night—to see exactly what they could do. He said he’d show me proof that they were a serious group…” Lafe trailed off.
“That worked out well,” Andre snarked as he paced around the floor.
“They not only didn’t kill Vicente, they didn’t even leave a scratch on him other than his pride.
If I were you, I’d distance myself from that group.
Because of today, they made it ten times harder for any other attacks.
” Matías crossed his ankles and moved his gaze between the brothers before settling on me.
Grey and Lafe stiffened, but Andre and Parker either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“He didn’t say today was his organization, but it makes sense.”
“Valentina’s party is tonight?” I asked, changing the subject. All eyes turned to me, but I was too focused to care.
“Yes…It was supposed to be at the mansion, but now it’s at one of his associate’s houses. Which is still considerably a mansion.”
This was it; this could be our chance. I pressed two fingers to my lips as I thought out the logistics. “We should all go. If we all go with you, Matías, we’ll be untouchable, right?”
Matías tilted his head. “In theory. I can’t promise anything. If any of you anger him, my protection means nothing.” He glanced between Grey and Parker. Grey didn’t react at all. Parker smirked, but it was missing his usual excitement.
“We should go.” I turned to Andre. As much as he was trying to get all his brothers to actively participate in taking Vicente down, this would be his decision.
They would listen to him. “If Vicente sees you all with Matías, it will buy us some time. He’ll believe that you’re letting him into your circle, therefore becoming part of his circle. This could work.”
It had to.
Andre narrowed his eyes, then darted a look around the room. “Matías. You know where the party is and how Vicente’s mind works. Maybe better than we do. What do you think?”
A lightness tapped into my chest. Andre was including Matías without any bluster or animosity. When I turned to him, he seemed just as taken aback.
Clearing his throat, he tugged at his collar. “I think it could work. It’s worth a shot if you all are willing to play the game. But you have to understand that who I am there is not who I really am. I know it’s the same for you four.”
Grey nodded. “We understand.”
“Then we’re going?” I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling. It was strange. I knew tonight was going to stain my soul even more, and yet, I was excited to move to a place where I didn’t have to worry about Grace or the brothers. I needed that safety more than I needed my morals.
That was liberating. And scary.
In some ways, I was losing who I was, but in others, this was who I’d always been.
“I guess we’re going to another party…” Andre shook his head.