Chapter 52 #3
“Dario!” she shrieked, clutching her throat.
He lunged forward and grabbed the front of my shirt, flinging me into the door. Because I still wasn’t a hundred percent healed and his movements caught me off guard, I didn’t have time to react, and pain exploded in my lower gut.
“Ah, shit,” I croaked, an arm folding over the wounds as I hissed.
“You will not continue with this grotesque display of fornication. You will not disgrace my name, goddammit!” he bellowed. “You have no clue just how dispensable you are.”
Ice hit my veins and I choked on an inhale, gawking. Did he just threaten to kill me if I didn’t do what he said?
The front door swung open and Tyler bounded onto the porch, immediately throwing his arm out to catch my balance. Dad abruptly let me go, took a step backward, and smoothed the front of his suit jacket, tugging his tie.
“We got a problem out here?” he shouted, gently shoving me behind him to stand between us.
“You know there’s cameras out here, motherfucker, right?
Everything you’re saying and doing is being streamed straight to the Cloud, so there ain’t no erasing footage.
Who the courts gonna believe, you or their lying eyes? ”
“You have no idea who you’re talking to, young man.”
“Oh, I do,” he snorted, his head bobbing. “And I don’t give two shits about who you think you are. See, I may not be all important mafia,” he mocked, wiggling his fingers.
They both gasped, staring at him in astonishment.
“But I am a global icon, so if anything happened to me, it ain’t like it can be just swept under the rug. You will be blown up in the spotlight if even one hair on my body is hurt.”
“Oh, my god, you’re Tyler Warren,” she whispered, her sight raking him head to toe and back.
“That’s right. You saw how ape shit the media went last month when I disappeared. You really think you can do something to me and get away with it? You fuck with me, you fuck with my family. Dario’s family. You didn’t want him, we did. Your trash, our treasure. Fuck off.”
Dumbfounded, I stared at his profile, unable to breathe or think properly.
“I said get!” he barked, pointing out at their fancy rental car parked in the drive.
Snorting when they continued to stand there, he pulled out his cellphone, activated the screen, and made a call.
Staring into my dad’s eyes, he grumbled, “Hey, Uncle John? You got my password to my Cloud account? Yeah, good. I need you to look up the security footage for the Alabama house for the last half hour, download it, and send it out to every goddamn new station you can think—”
“We’ll leave,” he barked, his focus bouncing back and forth between us.
“Hang on, Uncle John.” He lowered the phone to his chest and lifted his chin. “We’re done here, man. You and your wife need to leave.”
Throwing one more vicious sneer my way, he turned, placed the palm of his hand to the small of her back, and guided her off the porch, along the walkway, to the sedan. They got into the luxury car, started the engine, and made a u-turn, heading down the drive to disappear into the woods.
I continued to ogle Tyler, completely shocked at his display of protection.
Did he seriously just jump into my family drama, face the mafia head on, and risk his life for mine?
Was he crazy? He just got Violetta back!
Why would he jeopardize everything…for me?
The man who permanently crippled him as a teenager.
When the BMW disappeared, he turned around and pocketed the phone, jutting his chin.
At my curious stare, he snorted and flipped a dismissive wrist. “I didn’t call no one.
I don’t even have this shit synced with my Cloud account.
” He snorted and motioned me inside. “Though I’m gonna go in there right now and upload everything, just in case.
Hey, man. You okay? You look like you saw a ghost.” His eyelids rounded and he looked around.
“Ah, shit. Is Mary back? Where the fuck are her hands? You know what, I don’t wanna know, don’t tell. ”
I swallowed the knot in my throat and stiffly shook my head. “N-No. I’m…fine.”
He flashed a smile and patted the back of my shoulder. “You sure?”
My head bobbed awkwardly.
He winked and motioned toward the deck. “Okay. I’m gonna head back out and fire up the grill. Just got a text from Vin that they’re on their way back. You need anything?”
Again, I shook my head, clamping my mouth shut.
“All right. You need anything, just holler.” He jogged for the deck and closed the door, going to the outdoor kitchen.
Very slowly, I walked over to the sofa and sank into the cushions, my elbows on my knees.
My palms together over my mouth and nose, I took slow, steady breaths to compose the jitters inside.
My parents would rather me be dead than marry a man, and Tyler Warren came to my rescue. What fucking universe was I living in?
One thing for sure, it was probably time I stopped calling him “bitch.” The man had balls of steel and more loyalty than I ever gave him credit for.