Chapter 15
15
Carlo
M y fuckin’ brother.
“Honest to Christ, your timing is impeccable as usual.” I tucked myself back into my pants. Just like Nick was currently doing on the other couch.
“After you put your dicks away, we need to talk.” He scowled at me, and then at Nick. “I’ll wait in your office,” he said to me, but not before taking an eyeful in of the women.
“Yeah.” I dismissed him. He gave me one last glare before he spun on his heel and walked out.
I gave Eve a quick kiss and stood. Nick was already up, leaning over to Giselle. “Sorry. He’s an ass,” Nick said to Giselle. Then he placed a kiss on her lips.
Nick and I walked out of the room and into the hall. “Do you have any idea what this is about?” I asked Nick as we strode to my office.
“Not a clue. Hopefully, it’s good news,” he added.
I turned my head. “I doubt it. He didn’t look pleased.”
Nick chuckled and shook his head. “He missed out on fucking Giselle and Eve. Can you blame him?”
I slapped my best friend on the back and ushered him into my office. “I guess not.”
Stefan stood in my office. He gazed out the window, his arms crossed. After I shut the door, he turned to us. “We lost him.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What the fuck do you mean, we lost him?”
Stefan turned around fully and stared at us. “I mean—” he cleared his throat and set his hands on his hips, “we lost sight of Sergio.”
I took a few steps closer to my brother. “We had eyes on him. A shit ton of fucking eyes.” I glared at him, ready to tear his goddamn head off.
He gave me a blank stare. “He’s gone. Disappeared into thin fuckin’ air. Nobody saw a thing.”
My blood pressure rose so high I thought my head might just explode. “How the fuck,” I set my hands on my hips now, “did you fuckups lose that asshole?”
Stefan took a deep breath and retreated back to the window. “How the hell should I know? They had a definite lock on him. Other than to get food, or entice more young women, he hadn’t left his house in weeks. And now he’s gone. They’re sure of it.”
I started walking toward Stefan. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do once I got there, but I’d figure it out.
Nick stepped between us, his hand in the middle of my chest. “Then we’ll find him again. In the meantime, we’re here with Giselle and Dani.”
Now I wanted to rip Nick’s head off. “In the meantime? In the fuckin’ meantime.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I’m sleeping beside a woman who’s got such fucked up dreams, her head’s never going to be right again. Do you want me to go in there and tell her that the cause of her nightmares is wandering around? And we don’t know where the fuck he is?”
Nick let out a long sigh and shoved his hand into my chest. Harder this time. “To be clear,” he said in his typical calm voice, “Sergio was always wandering around free. Giselle knows that. What she doesn’t know is that we found him. There’s nothing you need to say to her right now. Until he’s no longer breathing, that is.”
He was right. As usual.
Giselle and I had skirted the issue of Sergio so far.
She hadn’t gone into detail about what happened. And I sure as fuck hadn’t asked. She had her counselor for that.
And if she really wanted me to know the hell she’d been through, she’d have told me by now.
The best thing to do was kill the fucking bastard and serve his head up on a platter to Giselle. But losing our eyes on him was going to make that even harder now.
“Fuck,” I muttered and turned around. “Shit like this shouldn’t happen!” I yelled and picked up a glass paperweight from my desk.
And threw it against the wall. It shattered into a billion pieces. Just like my woman had been when I’d found her four months ago in Italy.
Christ.
I’d never seen anyone that broken in my entire fucking life.
And I was just now starting to glue all those pieces back together. It might take the rest of my life, but I’d wait. And work every day to make sure she was whole again.
Stefan moved away from the window. “Look, Asher’s tracking him down. I made him the lead on this.”
My eyebrows rose in question—and my brother knew what I was going to say before I opened my mouth. “I know he’s young. But that kid has skills guys twice his age don’t have. That shit isn’t learned, and you know that just as well as I do. The kind of instinct Asher has is born inside of him. He’s our best bet on finding Sergio.”
Christ.
I wanted to yell. I wanted to scream.
I wanted to pound someone’s head into the ground for this.
“Stefan’s right,” Nick said with a quick nod. “Asher’s the best man for the job. I have no doubt he’ll find that bastard.”
I walked over to the small bar cabinet on the other side of the room and poured myself a whiskey. After I tossed it back and enjoyed the burn, I wandered over to my desk and leaned on it. “This shit has to end. I’m tired of being a prisoner in my own fucking home.”
Nick walked over and gave me a sharp pat on the arm. “We’re not leaving until Sergio’s found and killed. You know that,” he reassured me.
And I did know that. It was the smartest idea. Having security here and at Nick’s place made it too easy to divide and conquer.
If Sergio’s idiots weren’t stalking Giselle, they’d turn around and get to her through Eve.
He’d already killed one of Giselle’s friends.
Amelia.
Nothing would stop him from making a move to do the same to Eve.
Or the kids.
So, we’d decided early on that Nick and Eve—and their kids—should move in until Sergio was eradicated.
That way, Giselle had all of us under one roof. And we had everyone in one spot instead of two.
“It didn’t look much like a prison ten minutes ago,” Stefan sneered at me. “Looked like you two—you four—were having the time of your fucking lives.”
I held my tongue and balled my hands into fists.
“Is there something you want to say? Brother?” I spat out, ready to get into it with him. If he wanted to do this now, then so be it.
Neither of us had addressed the fight we’d had over a year ago.
The one that left him flat out at the bottom of my staircase.
What did the fucker think I was going to do after catching him fucking Giselle?
Stefan’s eyes darted to me. “No, Brother,” he snarled, emphasizing the last word. “What would I possibly have to say to you?” His gaze narrowed, and I could tell he was ready to snap.
Just like I was.
“This is not the time for you assholes to get into the grudge you’re holding against each other.” Nick stood between us, his arms out. “Right now, we need to concentrate on Sergio. And keeping our women safe.”
I saw Stefan inhale deeply, obviously trying to calm himself. “I don’t have any women in the game.”
Nick’s hands shot to his hips, and he turned fully to him. “Bullshit. You love Eve and Giselle. And all our kids. Don’t fuck around and play the poor me card.”
I wanted to laugh, but I knew that would just inflame Stefan even more.
“None of them are mine, Nick. Not anymore. You know that just as well as I do.”
I stepped beside Nick. “And why’s that? Maybe because Giselle found you fucking the nanny on her couch?” I reminded him, in case he’d forgotten. It sure as fuck wasn’t something Giselle would ever forget.
“Giselle forgave me for that. And she fucked me to prove it.”
That was it. I’d had enough.
I grabbed my brother by the throat and backed him up against the bookcase behind him with a thump. “You fucking asshole. I should have killed you that day.”
Nick pulled on my arms, trying to force them back. “This isn’t helpful. We can’t lose our goddamn focus. Not now. Let him go, Carlo. For fuck’s sake.” We all shoved and pushed each other until I finally let go.
Stefan gasped for air as his hands shot right to his neck. “Fuck you, Carlo!” he yelled at me. “Fuck you!” He walked by us, hitting his shoulder against my body as he went.
Nick’s hand reached out and caught his arm. “Stefan, stop. We need to discuss our next move. And we can’t do that if you aren’t here.”
Stefan’s head spun around. “It doesn’t seem like you need me for much around here. I’m leaving. Call me and let me know what you decide to do.”
And with that, my only brother stormed out of the room. Leaving more angry than when he’d arrived.