Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Aknock at the door has me getting up and looking over at Aurora, who is blinking her eyes open. “Tell them to go away,” she says.
“Sure thing, SB,” I reply, making my way to the door.
“Sir, there is a package here for your wife.” The bellman hands me a box with the name Rose written across the top.
“Thanks.” I take the box straight out to the balcony, ready to throw the fucking thing in the ocean when Aurora stops me.
“What is it?” she asks.
“No idea, but who would be sending Rose a gift box?”
“Dante.” Aurora smiles and takes the package from my hands.
“Wait! Don’t open that!” I tell her right as she tears off the lid.
“Why? It’s from my cousin,” she says, pulling out a piece of paper.
“Rose, hope you’re not watching too many repeats of Sleeping Beauty!
Enjoy your holiday. Here’s a phone. I’ve put all the cousins’ numbers in it, minus my sister’s because, well, she has a habit of telling Nonna too much.
But you already know that. Call me if you need anything.
There’re a few other things you might need included as well.
Oh, and tell that boyfriend of yours I made sure this phone can’t be traced by ANYONE,” Aurora reads the note aloud.
She then pulls out a phone, two passports, and three credit cards.
I roll my eyes. Show off.
“You won’t need those,” I tell her.
“I know,” she says, pocketing all of it anyway.
I want to throw the fucking phone in the water. I don’t, though. She trusts the fucker. I have to trust her instincts.
“I’m going to try to call Patty again. Why don’t you call your cousin and thank him.” I kiss the top of her head and walk back inside.
Fucking Dante. Out of everyone, I think I hate him the most. It’s unfortunate that Aurora seems fond of him.
I open my laptop, sit on the bed, and put the call through to Patty.
“Where the fuck have you been?” I yell at my computer screen when he finally picks up.
“Busy. It ain’t easy dodging everyone asking about your whereabouts, boss,” he says.
“What you find?” I ask, ignoring the unspoken question. He doesn’t need to know where I am. No one does.
“You’re not going to like it.” Patty sighs.
“What?” I growl out, frustrated that I have to even ask again.
“Your old man was selling a weapon to the Albanians. The deal is supposed to take place in a couple of weeks and they’re reaching out trying to gage if you are going to uphold it.”
“What’s the deal worth?”
“Twenty-five mil,” Patty says.
“Okay, and what are we supposed to be giving them?” I don’t see why this is something I needed to know about. We do weapons deals with all sorts of organizations.
“It’s what your father was selling them. I haven’t found out where the fuck he hid it, but you’re going to want to find it before anyone else does,” Patty tells me.
“What is it?”
“It’s a biological weapon, designed to attack a certain kind of DNA. Whoever carries that DNA, well, the virus is said to trigger heart failure, aneurysms, shit you won’t survive.”
“What DNA?” I press him.
“It attacks the Valentino gene pool, Connor. Your father took blood from Aurora to make sure it worked how it was intended to work,” Patty says.
What the fuck did I just hear? No. There is not a virus out there that attacks the Valentino gene. What the fuck was my father thinking?
“Where the fuck is this shit?” I yell as I jump from the bed and start pacing up and down the small living area.
Aurora walks in from the balcony and stares at me. “What’s wrong?”
I can’t tell her this. There is no way I can keep her calm and hidden away—safe—if she knows there is a weapon out in the world somewhere that is designed to wipe out her entire fucking family.
Fuck.
“I’m working on locating it. It’s in Dublin. That’s all I know.” He sighs again. “I’m combing through every building your father owned… Well, I guess you own now. I’ve got to do this quietly, Connor. If the others find out, they’ll make sure this deal goes through.”
“What deal? What is he looking for, Connor?” Aurora asks me.
“I’m coming back.” I close the laptop, toss it on the bed, and turn back to my wife. “We need to go back to Dublin.”
“Why? What’s going on?” She starts moving around the room, picking shit up, and dumping it onto the bed in a pile.
“Patty can’t do this alone. I shouldn’t have left him there alone. I need to go back, wipe the fucking bastards out so we can move on.” I hate lying to her, but this isn’t me lying. This is me protecting her from herself. And I swore I’d protect her from anything and everything.
“Okay. Whatever it is, we can do this,” Aurora says.
The thought of sending her back to New York while I stay in Dublin and figure this shit out crosses my mind. But I’m a selfish bastard and can’t stand the idea of being away from her.
“I’m sorry this is happening. You need to know I’d never do anything to hurt you.” I wrap my arms around her.
“I know,” she says. “Connor, what did Patty tell you?”
“There’s a deal my father made with the Albanians. I need to make sure it doesn’t happen,” I admit.
“What’s the deal?”
“Some weapon,” I tell her cryptically. “I’m not dealing with the Albanians though, so I’m going to stop it from going through.”
“Why?”
“Aurora, the Albanians are working against your family, so why the fuck would I deal with them?”
“But they’re not working against yours.” She shrugs.
“You are my family.” I was raised to put the organization above anyone else, but that’s not ever going to happen when it comes to this woman. She is the reason I’m fighting so fucking hard to beat the odds against us.
“And you’re mine,” Aurora says. “Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it.”
“I’m going to coordinate a flight out of here,” I tell her.
“Connor?”
“Yeah?”
“We don’t have bags. What do you want me to do with all this stuff?” she asks, looking at the pile of shit she just threw on the bed.
“Leave it,” I say as I grab my laptop and book a jet under our aliases. Then I send Patty a message.
Me: Flying back.
I hold out a hand to Aurora. “You ready?”
“To leave paradise? No. But let’s do it.” She smiles at me.
“I’ll bring you back,” I promise her as we walk out of the villa.
I booked a larger jet this time. I wanted to make sure there was a bedroom. We’re about to land and had to take our seats again after using that bedroom.
“Connor, we need to find another doctor. Get your results from Dr. Morgan and follow through with everything she was telling us,” Aurora says. “Oh, maybe there are specialists in Dublin. I’m going to look it up. I’ll find someone.” She pulls that fucking phone Dante gave her out of her pocket.
“Princess, we’re in the air. That’s not going to work,” I tell her.
“There’s Wi-Fi.” She looks at me like I’m stupid, and I laugh.
“You can’t log into the Wi-Fi. You need to wait until we land. The security program your cousin used needs cellular data, not Wi-Fi.”
“Oh, okay. Well, when we land, I will find you a doctor who can deal with this fucking Irish thing you have.”
“Maybe try to hide your disdain for the Irish while we’re in Ireland, babe. You are supposed to be their queen, after all.”
“I’m your queen. I don’t give two shits about anyone else.” She looks at me. “But I don’t dislike the Irish. I happen to have a craving for Irish sausage right now.”
“Fucking hell.” I look back towards the bedroom. The jet is about to land. She needs to be buckled in. That doesn’t mean I can’t fulfill her needs, though.
“Spread your thighs for me,” I tell her.
“Seriously? Here?” she asks as her legs open wider.
I happen to know she’s not wearing panties under her skirt, because I’ve got them in my back pocket already. My hand lands on her knee and starts upwards, to the promised land. “I love how smooth your skin always is.”
“It’s called shaving. You should try it sometime.” Aurora rubs a palm over the stubble on my jaw. “Actually, I’m kind of digging the five o’clock shadow thing on you.”
My hand slides between her wet lips and I press down on her clit. I circle it before moving towards her opening and shoving two fingers in as far as I can get them.