Chapter 15 Vaughn
VAUGHN
“You’re sure you want to do this?”
I caught Grayson’s gaze in the mirror behind the bar as I scanned the dining room, waiting for my guest to arrive.
I’d called Riccardo Mancini’s office requesting a meeting as soon as possible to discuss a potential business deal.
The one way I knew I could get that greedy cocksucker to drop everything and come running.
He wasn’t someone who could easily forget being turned down on what he wanted, and he had wanted my casino for years.
Dangling a carrot just out of reach was the only way I could think of to draw him out.
“Somebody’s got to do something,” I huffed. “I can’t have Nova living with me forever, afraid to go anywhere.” Driving me wild, consuming my every damn thought.
“She’s your wife, isn’t she?” He caught my withering stare in the mirror and chuckled. “Sorry. You know I had to. How long does it take to process an annulment, anyway?”
“Not much longer. My lawyer assures me we’re in the home stretch.
It’s just a matter of finalizing the paperwork and having us both sign.
” Strange, but the idea left a vaguely bitter taste in my mouth.
It was how things needed to be, for sure, because there was no way we worked in real life.
She was too young, for one thing, and I didn’t have time for a wife or even a steady girlfriend. It was too much commitment.
“You know, I’m here, having your back.” Yes, he was there, along with a handful of his guys.
They were spread out through the dining room, eating lunch, blending in.
What was I expecting from Riccardo? I didn’t know, and that was the problem.
I didn’t want to give the bastard the benefit of the doubt, not for a minute. He was capable of anything.
“Word is he’s in with the Russian mob.” Grayson’s mouth barely moved as he murmured.
“According to my intel sources, he’s in deep.
They’ve been doing this for many years. Then it’s likely that as soon as Nova graduated high school and was out of town, he ramped things up, but he’d already been using these guys’ connections to bring girls over to…
well, entertain his high rollers,” he concluded with a growl.
“No surprise there. The slimy bastard.” As the words left my mouth, the slimy bastard himself walked into one of the restaurants on the ground floor of my building.
I watched, my blood heating as he glanced around, sizing the place up, clearly underwhelmed.
He ran a hand over his bald head, his pinky ring gleaming.
This was the father Nova still loved, a guy who had been peddling flesh for the Russian mob for years.
“That’s my cue.” I stood, turned around, and did my best not to openly snarl as I approached the man. Behind him stood a tall, wary, black-eyed man who could only be Nico. We had never been introduced, but one look at his stone-cold expression told me he could be no one else.
“Mr. Mancini.” I outstretched a hand, shaking Riccardo’s firmly before motioning to a corner table with my other hand. The old fuck tried to squeeze it like that would intimidate me. “Please. Join me. Thank you so much for taking the time.”
“I knew you would call eventually.” His indulgent laughter left me grinding my molars, but I managed to take a seat across from him without showing my revulsion.
Nico waited near the door, hands folded behind his back.
Am I supposed to be impressed or intimidated?
A glance at Grayson revealed his cautious gaze fixed on the mirror, watching the prick without turning around.
That allowed me to turn my attention to the man across from me. This meeting was a Hail Mary pass if ever there was one. A last-ditch effort to spare Nova since she still couldn’t sleep, much less go home, while the fucker at the door was capable of anything.
“There is a very serious matter I would like to discuss with you, sir,” I began. That’s right, kiss his ass a little, wear him down. “Though it’s not about my casino.”
His smile slipped, suspicion turning it into a frown. “Then what’s this about? What, you want to go into business together?” He punctuated that question with a soft snort like the very idea was laughable.
My hands tightened into fists under the table. He was already testing me. “No, sir. I wouldn’t dream of it.”
A sour look washed over his face when he picked up on my sarcasm. “Then what is it? Why are you wasting my time?” Already combative, I would have to proceed with caution.
“I’m a friend of your daughter.”
His shoulders fell inside his dark suit. For a man his age, he was surprisingly fit, though the way his color changed hinted at blood pressure issues. “Nova? What are you doing with Nova?”
“We’re friends, that’s all.” We wouldn’t be married for much longer. I didn’t need him to threaten breaking my kneecaps for putting a hand on her. “And it’s beside the point. It’s not for me to say anything about what’s going on between the two of you. That’s not what I’m interested in.”
Shifting in his chair, he asked, “Exactly what are you interested in?”
“Protecting her.”
“From whom?” When I stared blankly at him, he growled. “From whom, I said?”
“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? We both know who she needs protection from.
That rabid dog you have guarding you has already hurt her…
threatened her. He’s had her followed. She’s scared out of her mind.
Your own daughter,” I muttered, revulsion building with every word.
“I brought you here so I could tell you face-to-face that she is, as of this moment, under my protection. You or your errand boy come for her, we’re going to have a problem. Am I making myself clear?”
His response was a slow, soft clap. “Well said. You know, I always figured you would be better at this job than your old man,” he concluded with what my surprise sounded like approval.
“He had a head for business, but he never had the stomach for what really needs to be done in this town. But you were getting your hands dirty from a young age, weren’t you?
You have that instinct. You’ve got some fire in your soul. ”
“I’m not particularly interested in what you think about my soul or any other part of me,” I shot back as if I needed his approval. “What interests me is you knowing I mean every word. You have resources at your disposal? So do I. If anything happens to her, I’m going to take it personally.”
His jaw ticked beneath tanned skin. “You would go to war over her?”
“Did I say I would go to war? Or is that you putting words in my mouth?” I asked as pleasantly as I could. “I have no interest in war, Mr. Mancini. What I want is peace. Peace for her. Don’t make her a casualty of what you have gotten into.”
How did he find the nerve to sit up straighter, almost gasping in outrage? “You don’t know the first thing—”
“Are we really going to do this?” I asked. “I know a lot about what you’re into, sir. Frankly, my skin crawls at our proximity. But again, that’s not my business. Your daughter, however, is.”
It was uncanny, the way his brown eyes narrowed like he was trying to pry into my skull. I’d caught him completely unaware of all of this. He was still fighting to catch up. “What is she to you, really?” he asked, sly now, suspicious.
“Don’t worry about that,” I snapped. “Do I have your word? Because if I don’t…” I added, leaning in, lowering my voice further, “… I will make life very uncomfortable for you. Maybe even more uncomfortable than your friends in Russia would if you disappointed them. Understand me?”
“What are you talking about?” he scoffed, overplaying his hand, overreacting. Not like I didn’t know I was right, but if I hadn’t, his reaction would have confirmed it.
“Like I said, I have resources too.” I lifted a shoulder, enjoying the way he sputtered. “I think I’ve made the terms clear. Give me your word she’s safe, that none of this blows back on her, and life will…” I titled my head, “… go on.”
He reached for the water glass in front of him, gulping some of it down. Stalling. “Who the hell do you think you are? She is my daughter,” he grunted out.
“Yet here I am, having to ask her father not to hurt her. Which one of us has the moral high ground here?” I sipped my water, trying to cool myself down, but it would’ve taken the entire ice cap to begin the job.
Scoffing, he said, “Little boys like you shouldn’t get involved in big situations like this.”
That was the best he could come up with? I noticed he hadn’t bothered denying anything. “I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a little boy, then.”
Holding up a finger, he muttered, “I’m going to warn you one time and one time only. You stay out of my business. And you stay the hell away from my daughter.”
“She is my business now.” I didn’t want to do this. It was my trump card to be used only if he decided to be a hard ass. “And she’s my wife.”
The mute surprise that passed over his face was satisfying as hell. I could smile genuinely before adding, “Dad.”
Vibrating with barely contained anger, he whispered, “She is not.”
“I assure you she is. To have and to hold. One of those crazy things that happens in this town sometimes,” I added with a blithe shrug while color flooded his cheeks again.
“Feel free to have one of your guys look into it. I’m sure you can pull strings, find the record.
” I left out the part where I was pursuing an annulment.
“Once again. Stay away from her, keep your business to yourself, and we’ll have no problems.”
When he hesitated, I added, “Or should I give the authorities a tip about what goes on in the service lot of your building? How many girls did you transport last time? I wasn’t able to get an accurate headcount.”
His attempt at a disdainful laugh was downright pitiful. The man was shaking in his loafers. “You don’t think a man who’s spent his entire life in this town knows a bluff when he sees it?”
“Am I bluffing?” I locked eyes with him, unblinking, daring him to challenge me. “Do you really think I am?”
He was shaking by the time he stood, glaring down at me in a way that made me glad there were no knives on the table. Why bother with place settings when I knew we wouldn’t be eating? “You’re going to regret this,” he warned, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a snarl.
“Is that any way to talk to your son-in-law?”
Bullseye. His face went dark red before he spat, “Fuck you, kid.”
I stood as he stormed from the table, ignoring Nico’s quiet questions in favor of walking past him and out of the restaurant.
The disgusting prick looked to me for answers, only the ticking of his jaw giving away anything he might be feeling or thinking.
Come on, fucker. Give me an excuse. I stared at him and saw in my mind the ugly purple bruise ringing Nova’s arm.
The way she wept, her nightmares. I only needed one reason to end him.
It had been a long time since that impulse clawed at me, but now that it surged forward, I had to hold myself back from hurting him.
It was for the best he followed his master, at which point Grayson got up from the bar and joined me. As he did, I reached into my jacket’s inner pocket and pulled out my phone, stopping the recording of our conversation. “I take it that didn’t go very well?” he asked, gazing toward the door.
“About as well as I expected,” I told him. “He knows everything. He knows I have him by the balls. But of course, he wouldn’t admit it.”
“Where are you going?” he asked when I headed for the door, following close on my heels. “Tell me you’re not going after him.”
“I’m not going after him.” I wasn’t, either. Chasing Riccardo was the furthest thing from my mind. I had to be with her. I needed to prove to myself she was safe.
Riccardo’s words replayed in my head during the drive home, the anger behind them. The outrage. He wasn’t a man accustomed to being told what to do.
We had that in common.
We had Nova in common too.
Nova, who was waiting for me.
My hands tightened around the wheel, a sense of urgency flooding my veins. I had to get to her. Announcing the marriage had done something to me, like flipping a switch, flooding my brain with light. She was mine to protect. Mine.
And I meant every word of my threats.
We would have a serious problem if he didn’t call off the dogs and leave her the hell alone. He was out of his mind if he thought he would get away with what he was doing, though. I had promised to keep out of it. I never made any promises on Nova’s behalf.
I was only a few blocks from home when my phone rang, the sound filling the car’s interior. I answered through the Bluetooth, noting the unknown number. “Yes?”
After a moment of silence, a voice I’d recently heard assaulted my ears again. “Have it your way,” Riccardo muttered. Was that grudging defeat in his voice? Had he come to his senses?
“I’m glad we can see eye-to-eye on this. It will make Nova happy to know she won’t have anyone following her around anymore,” I added. One last message.
“Yes, of course. Now you leave this alone,” he warned. The fucker needed the last word.
“You won’t have any trouble from me.” Rather than sit through more of him, I ended the call, pulling into my courtyard moments later. His timing couldn’t have been better. A feeling of triumph swelled in me as I jogged up the front steps, almost rushing into the house.
Nova was in the kitchen, seated at the counter with her laptop open in front of her.
“I wasn’t expecting you this early,” she told me, her eyes widening as I marched her way.
I’d met, fucked, and forgotten couture-clad women who were nothing compared to the woman in front of me.
Nothing had ever been as blisteringly hot as her loose T-shirt and leggings, which I planned to remove with my teeth.
“I forgot something this morning.” Turning her in place, I took her face in my hands and lowered my head, covering her mouth.
Claiming it. Claiming her. Sinking my hands into her thick, dark hair, soaking in the floral scent, my dick hardened to the sound of her sighs while our tongues slid against each other’s.
How am I supposed to walk away when this feels so damn right?
Once I let her up for air, she blinked hard, fanning herself. “What was that all about?” she asked with a breathless laugh. “Don’t tell me you came all the way home for that.”
She called my place home, and that thought squeezed my chest.
“Come on, now.” Taking her by the waist, I lifted her off the stool and set her on the counter. Her legs wrapped around me as I growled. “You should know me better than that.”
Her knowing grin told me she did, and she loved it.