CHAPTER 15 - RED
CHAPTER
Red
“ K EEP YOUR ARMS around my neck,” I mutter, clearing the last few steps. Arianna is now conscious after hitting the deck, but she’s far from all right.
My whole body thrums with anger. My knuckles are bleeding, and I think I’ve knocked one of Liam’s teeth out. I should have beaten him to a pulp and left him down there with that dead cunt, Bristoni.
Carrying Arianna into the bedroom, I kick the door shut and lay her on the bed. She’s as light as a feather, and if it wasn’t for this completely fucked up scenario, I’d question why having her cling to me feels so natural. I’d also question why the surging need to protect her is so strong.
But regardless of the situation, I am questioning these things. It isn’t natural. I shouldn’t want to help or protect an enemy. Arianna is an enemy, and that’s why I’m rescinding my protection. I’m retracting my plan to keep her here. I’ll screw her family and the Bristonis without that.
Depositing her on the bed, I bend over her, my mouth inches away from hers as I gently untangle her arms from around my neck. I’m trying my hardest to ignore her eyes searching mine, but, Jesus Christ, I could just kiss her and be done with it. Get the urge out of my head once and for all.
The pull to do just that crushes me. It’s so strong to follow what my body and soul needs that I barely take in anything else in the room. I could be in the middle of a packed tube station and all I would see is her.
No! I am better than this. I have the utmost control - more than anyone else I know, so what the fuck am I thinking? I will leave now. She is safe. Safe from my brother .
I pull away and straighten up, my jaw clenching as my internal rage builds.
“Did I get them?” Arianna gasps. “The rings? Did I get them out? I shouldn’t have put them there in the first place, I...”
“I don’t know,” I mutter. And I don’t. The moment I entered the cellar, all I saw was Liam’s hand around the nape of Arianna’s neck, holding her down like an animal.
I didn’t take notice of the rings or the moldering corpse.
I didn’t take the opportunity to feast my eyes on Arianna’s exposed flesh where my fucking brother had yanked her skirt up around her waist either. All I focused on was his hands on her.
And my sanity went bang.
Arianna looks at me in a way I can’t explain. She’s frightened, although she pretends not to be, but she’s also devoid, like she’s to blame that my brother was about to...
Without thinking, I brush a smudge of mascara from her cheek, but when she flinches, I retract my hand.
How the fuck did that wanker lying dead on my cellar floor treat her? And what would have happened had I not been informed my brothers had taken her to the cellar?
Adrenaline pounds as something primal surges within me. I want to kill Liam and Oscar for this. While Arianna is under my roof, she belongs to me. I am duty-bound to protect her.
Was it seeing her husband’s dead body that made her cry? Was it being forced to retrieve those fucking rings or was it Liam treating her like a whore? Perhaps it was all of these things?
A small growl rumbles from the back of my throat. “You shouldn’t have been instructed to find those rings. Nor should you have been taken to the cellar. It was not my order.”
“You... you hit your brother,” she says. “You shouldn’t have. I’m not worth losing family over.”
She’s desperate for me not to hear the slight whimper of fear in her voice, but I can hear it. Her acting isn’t that good. “I find Liam pawing you and you think I shouldn’t hit him? I don’t know what you think I am, but I don’t take kindly to women being touched against their will!”
Arianna says nothing, just stares at me. Did she not understand? “No man in his right mind would stand by and...” I steel my jaw. “I’ll deal with my brothers. I can assure you nothing like that will happen again.”
But I don’t need to worry because she’ll be shipped out of here tomorrow. When shall I tell her that plans have changed and she can no longer remain? Even here , it seems she is not safe.
“Thank you, but I don’t need you to protect me. I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself.”
Rolling my eyes, I pull back and move away.
Ever bolshie, even in this situation. No matter - I’ll let her play her own little game.
For tonight, at least. I can’t discuss this now.
I have to deal with Liam. I’m too fired up to even look at him right now, but he needs to be brought to task.
I’ll let Arianna know plans have changed tomorrow just before she is taken away, and then she’ll have what she says she wants: she will no longer have my protection.
I move towards the door and then turn back, eyeing her coldly. “A server from the casino will bring food and drink up for you.”
Walking away before Arianna has the chance to start a futile argument, I enter the corridor containing the offices and immediately recognize Liam’s voice. After what he’s just done, I trust myself to be nowhere near him, but I have no choice but to deal with him.
About to burst in demanding to know what the hell he was playing at, I refrain, the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention. Pressing myself against the door, I tune my ears into the conversation within the room.
“I’m telling you, he’s lost the plot. Have you seen the state of my face?”
My jaw clenches. The cheeky bastard! Lost the plot, have I? Liam needs to learn that he can’t go around groping women under my banner. This is my firm; my casino. And more to the point, until tomorrow, Arianna is my responsibility and belongs to me .
I then hear Del speak, but I’m too busy ranting about Liam in my own head to catch it. Concentrate !
“I don’t care what you say, I’m not having it. If Red doesn’t get that tart out of here, then me and Oscar will deal with her ourselves. We won’t accept her presence, no matter the excuse or reason.”
My hands clench into fists. Liam will do what ?
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Del says. “If you...”
“Red’s fucked things up! No one would sanction this bullshit!” Liam rages.
“We’ve got to do something to stop this, Del. Thanks to that whore, we’re already earmarked for retaliation.”
I don’t believe this! Oscar is there too? I know Liam expects life to be one long holiday camp of fucking and drinking half the time, but I gave Oscar more credit. It seems I shouldn’t have.
“Ah, come on, let’s be honest,” Liam continues.
“We all know our brother hasn’t been quite right since he drove Lorna over the edge, but why get sanctimonious about me copping a feel?
Why the fuck shouldn’t I? The Galavatore bird is one hot chick and regardless of Red’s attempt at playing ‘knight in shining armor’, I’ll have my go with her before she’s thrown into landfill. ”
My teeth clamp so tightly, I expect them to snap.
If only they knew I was nothing to do with Lorna’s suicide, but everything to do with her murder.
I want to storm in and tell them the bare facts: that I fucking killed her and why .
I want to tell them Lorna arranged our parents’ murder and used her connection to me in order to do it.
I want them to know that I’m 99% sure she was on Galvatore and Bristoni’s joint payroll.
But my brothers are too unhinged to learn of this without reacting in a way to make our father’s hard work pointless.
I have kept this secret and shouldered the blame for a completely different reason and will continue to do so until everything is in place to raze both those fuckers and their firms to the ground, with no one left standing.
We’re not there yet, but now we have no choice but to be because of Arianna being under my bastard roof and the problems that brings.
My rage has now passed the level of steaming into the room and finishing what I started on Liam’s face. I’m in the white zone, which is much worse and a ton more dangerous.
Yanking the door handle, I walk in, my outwardly calm demeanor showing everyone that I’m not pleased. They know I’m never this calm unless I’m about to blow.
I show no outward surprise to see Steve also present.
It seems the disagreement over my decision to give Arianna protection is more widespread than I believed.
I do, however, see the flash of surprise and a tiny hint of fear on Liam’s face.
I also notice the damage I’ve made and think I’m right about him missing a tooth. ..
My ears ring with the screaming tumult of thoughts inside my brain as I look at each and every one of the men. “It’s a shame you’re all so vehemently against my decisions.”
“Red! We didn’t expect you... erm...”
I hold up my hand for silence. “I am speaking, no one else and I’ve heard enough.” My glare rests on Liam. “I’ll get straight to the point. After the way you behaved today, you are no longer welcome here. ”
Liam blinks, his smashed-up mouth curling into a sneer. “I was only doing what anyone would do. The bitch was askin...”
“You think I’m joking?” Walking further into the room, I lean against the wall and inspect my fingernails. “You think I won’t cut you out of my life and the firm? Well, I fucking will and I have . You do not lay your hands like that on a woman.”
It hurts me to say it, but Liam must learn.
“As for my decision to offer Arianna protection, she is leaving tomorrow morning. I had already decided that’s the best thing for the firm under the circumstances.
You got your own way, so what you did in that fucking cellar was for nothing and regardless, does not excuse it! ”
I give Steve the nod. He knows what I’m asking, and yes, I’m putting him in an awkward position, but that can’t be helped.
Liam’s sneer dissolves as Steve’s huge frame rises from the chair, realizing what it signifies. He pushes himself further back into the chair like it will prevent him from being forcibly ejected from the premises. “You can’t be fucking serious?”
“Deadly serious,” I snarl. “Threatening to go behind my back, overturn my decisions and call your own shots amounts to traitorous shit. And wanting to rape a woman under my fucking roof is another! You’re just lucky I haven’t already killed you!”
“For fuck’s sake!” Liam jerks out of Steve’s grip, but there’s no point. He can’t win. Steve is one of the few people who could overpower me, and that’s saying something. “You’re acting like you give a toss about the bitch! She’s a fucking Galvatore!”
“I know exactly what she is!” I scream. It’s all that’s been on my mind since she entered this fucking place.
“Red, don’t do this!” Oscar stands up. “Don’t take the enemy’s side over your own brother!”
“This is about protecting my fucking firm, nothing else!” I bark, fury igniting. “You talk about enemies? It seems like I have plenty here. You’re a gnat’s knacker away from joining your brother, Oscar, so if I were you, I’d shut the fuck up!”
My chin jerks in Steve’s direction, giving him the irrevocable instruction to get my brother out of here before my calm exterior cracks further and I smash Liam’s skull open. I don’t want to do that because he’s my brother, but I’ll not have people in the fold who aren’t on my page.
As Steve drags Liam from the chair, his feet scuffle in a pointless attempt to remain in contact with the floor. “You’ve gone fucking mad! ”
I push into Liam’s face. “If I hear one more word from you, I’ll come for you and kill you.”
“Red, please !” Liam yells, seeing sense as he’s dragged towards the door. “Things got out of hand. I got carried away. I...”
“If you even so much as look at Arianna or another woman like that again, I will personally hunt you down and remove you!”
Oscar grabs my arm. “Where will he go?”
“Not my problem,” I hiss, shaking off his grip. “I don’t give a toss as long as it isn’t here!”
I can hear Liam yelling for some time as Steve pulls him down the corridor with Oscar following, to the fire exit.
Feeling drained, I drop into a vacated chair and scrape my fingers through my hair, freeing it from the band to fall around my shoulders. I say nothing, even though Del expects me to. The silence is heavy and crushing.
“Fuck!” Del eventually hisses.
“It had to be done,” I say hollowly. That it did, but it makes me feel no less gutted that I’ve had my brother ejected from the firm; gutted that he’d even think of attempting to override me; and gutted that he’d lay his unwanted hands on a woman.
That woman especially.
It angers me that Arianna has somehow governed the ability to fire my rage to this extent. I don’t allow anyone to do that, so why her? I don’t know, nor do I appreciate it. But none of that changes the base facts: Liam was out of order and had to be dealt with.
That’s what I’m telling myself, and I’m sticking to it.
“I will not have anyone undermine me!” I fix my glare on Del. My feelings about this joint disapproval of how I’m doing things, goes for him as well. I knew Del disagreed with my decisions, but enough to go against me? “I won’t have anyone here who doesn’t back my orders.”
“You already know I think that woman being here is a bad idea.” Del shrugs. “But from what you’ve just said, she’s going. Either way, I don’t have to like it. You’re the boss, as well as my friend, so I’ll always back you. You know that.”
I nod. I did know that - well, I thought I did, but I’m beginning to wonder.
“Liam will remain removed until he’s had a rethink.
” I roll my shoulders to ease the tension in my neck.
“There’s few people I extend the option of a second chance to, but I’m telling you now that if he doesn’t genuinely accept his attitude needs rebooting, then brother or not, his removal will be permanent! ”
Del’s mouth fixes into a thin line. “The question now is how to keep that he’s been slung out under wraps.”
“I’ve already thought about that. Steve knows to keep an eye on Liam and make sure he doesn’t play his face.
” I glance in the door’s direction. I can no longer hear my brother’s protestations, which means he’s out of the building.
“But I meant what I said. If Liam sees the error of his ways, I’ll accept him back.
If he doesn’t, then I’ll face that prospect and what it means at that point. ”
Now, if it hasn’t happened already, I need to ensure the body lying in my cellar goes in the incinerator. It’s Edoardo Bristoni’s problem to explain that he has no son to bury.
And that’s the only silver lining in this shitheap of a day.