20. Vegarro “Vega” Moretti
VEGARRO “VEGA” MORETTI
Two weeks later, Sonnet sat at the island with a book open in front of her while I cooked.
She had one elbow on the counter, her chin resting in her palm, and those glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose.
Every now and then, her eyes went from the page to the skillet, making me feel like I was being graded.
“Don’t judge my food,” I warned.
Her eyes lifted, innocent as hell. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t have to. Your eyes are saying it all.”
“I’m simply observing.” She smiled and looked back at her book. That smile still did too much to me.
After Roman’s men found the general area of the last house, I moved her to my personal residence. This property sat farther out, tucked behind private land, shell companies, trusts, and enough paperwork that kept my name from anywhere near it. If Roman found this one, Roman was the CIA.
My leg still hurt like a bitch. Each time I put pressure on it, pain shot through my thigh. I kept my stance wider than usual and favored the other leg. The hood doctor had cleaned the wound and wrapped it up. My leg hurt like a motherfucka every time I tried to do regular shit, though.
Since the shootout, all of us had been moving different. We had enhanced security. We changed our routes daily. All of us were being way more careful. I hated that choosing to keep Sonnet safe had brought Roman’s attention to everybody I loved. But I didn’t regret saving Sonnet.
The unlocked doors had changed everything between us.
Or maybe it was the fact that she had seen Roman’s intentions with her own eyes.
Getting chased by his men had made the threat real in a way my words never could.
Since then, she didn’t look at me like I was the worst human being in the world anymore.
I no longer felt like I had to lock the door from the inside. She wandered through the house freely. She read and played her logic games in the backyard. She criticized my music like she paid bills there and stole my side of the bed every time we watched movies in my room.
I let her.
I had also stopped seeing other women. I didn’t even realize I had.
I just stopped feeling tempted by attention that used to be convenient.
Sonnet satisfied something more intimate than sex.
Her presence filled the house. Her voice filled spaces I hadn’t realized were empty.
Her questions made simple things feel interesting because she never accepted the surface of anything.
Her smart mouth kept me entertained, even when she was using it to challenge me.
Her soft humming followed her around the kitchen whenever she cooked, making the house feel less empty.
She comfortably curled her feet beneath her whenever she read, claiming every chair, couch, and quiet corner like it was made for her.
It was dangerous how much I liked simply having her near me.
I turned down the heat beneath the skillet and looked over.
She was staring at me, at my face.
“What?”
She blinked like she hadn’t realized I caught her. “Nothing.”
“You been staring for a minute.”
“I was updating my mental suspect description.”
I leaned back against the counter. “Yeah? What details you planning to include?”
Her gaze moved over my face, too slowly to be innocent. “Arrogant. Controlling. Inconveniently attractive. Too many freckles to be a scary kidnapper.”
My mouth almost curved into a smile. “Inconveniently?”
“Extremely inconveniently.”
The mood between us changed. It did that a lot now.
One look would last too long. One joke would settle into silence.
One accidental touch in the hallway would make both of us pause.
I knew she felt it because her breathing changed whenever I got too close.
Mine did too, but I had better practice hiding it.
She closed her book, but her eyes stayed on me. “I need air, Vega.”
I glanced toward the kitchen windows. “There’s a whole backyard.”
“I’ve been locked up for a month and only getting backyard air like a house dog.”
“You’re not locked up anymore.”
Her expression softened because she knew it was true, technically. Then it hardened again because technically didn’t erase everything.
“I know we have to be safe,” she said. “I know Roman is out there. I’m not trying to be stupid. But I’m dying to see other humans.” She gestured toward my face. “Your face is really nice to look at, but I need to see other people.”
“Nice to look at?”
“That’s what you heard?”
“That’s what I chose to focus on.”
She rolled her eyes. “I need to get out of the house.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed, frustrated. “I don’t usually do clubs. I like bookstores, museums, coffee shops, planetariums, escape rooms, little weird exhibits. Nerdy things.”
Smiling, I replied, “That tracks.”
“Don’t judge me,” she whined.
“I’m not judging. I think it’s… cute.”
She blushed, then looked away. “I rarely go to clubs or bars, but at this point, I’ll go if that’s the only option. I just need to feel like I’m not disappearing in here.”
That took the humor out of me. I understood that feeling even if I hated the risk.
I turned off the stove and faced her fully. “We have to be careful.”
“I know.”
“Roman’s not guessing anymore. He knows I have you. He knows I know what you saw. Anywhere public is a risk.”
“I know,” she ensured me again.
I watched her eyes, the longing there, the exhaustion, the need to feel normal.
I gave in, “All right”
Her eyes brightened. “All right?”
“I’ll take you out for fresh air, and I know the safest place.”
She sat up straighter. “Where?”
“You’ll see.”
“That sounds suspicious.”
“Everything sounds suspicious to you.”
“I was kidnapped,” she reminded me with a shrug.
“You ever gonna stop using that against me?”
“No.”
I chuckled. “Fair.”
She laughed, and the sound moved through me like a hand down my chest. I wanted her so badly it made me still.
She must’ve seen something change in my face because her laughter faded. Her lips parted slightly, and her fingers tightened around the edge of her book.
I could’ve crossed the kitchen in four steps. She would’ve let me.
That was the problem.
That was always the problem.
My phone rang before either of us moved.
Seeing it was Wise, I answered, while keeping my eyes on Sonnet. “What’s up?”
“It finally happened,” Wise spit.
My body went rigid. “What?”
“Roman hit one of our trap houses.”
Sonnet’s expression changed as she heard the shift in my voice.
Wise continued, “We lost men. Product too. A lot of it.”
My hand tightened around the phone. “Where?”
“South Holland spot. They moved fast, hit hard, and got out before backup made it there.”
I looked away from Sonnet because I didn’t want her to see how badly I wanted to kill somebody.
“We need to meet. Now. We gotta talk about how we’re gonna handle this,” Wise rambled.
“All right,” I replied. “Meet me at my crib. Watch your backs. Make sure nobody follows you.”
It only took the crew twenty minutes to get to my crib. As soon as they got there, Sonnet went into her room to change while we discussed business in the living room.
“They burned everything?” I asked.
Wise’s jaw flexed. “Everything. Product, cash, furniture. They shot the place up first, killed three workers, then set it on fire before backup got there.”
“Who we lose?”
“Bump, Chris, and Lil E,” Prodigy told me.
Lux rubbed both hands down his face. “Damn.”
I stared at the floor for a second, mourning good, loyal soldiers who hadn’t deserved to die. The sadness sat in my chest for one quiet breath before I swallowed it down and let it turn into rage that could avenge them.
“We have to pay the Cartiers no matter what. Doesn’t matter that Roman burned it. Product was ours once it left their warehouse.”
Wise nodded. “Already knew that.”
“That’s a big loss,” Lux said.
“So is breathing wrong around the Cartiers,” Prodigy muttered. “We pay them and keep that respect intact.”
Wise looked at me. “Roman’s gone underground. His regular spots are empty. His daughter ain’t been seen either.”
“We got people on his warehouses, clubs, known women, and drivers. But still nothing yet,” Lowe explained.
“Then we need better eyes,” Wise said. “We should bring Jamir in.”
“He’s the Cartiers’ tech genius,” I added. “If Roman buried anything under fake names, offshore accounts, shell companies, burner trails, Jamir can dig it up.”
Prodigy got quiet.
I noticed. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said, but his face read something different. “Just thinking.”
The meeting wrapped with assignments of more security, more pressure on Roman’s people, and more money moving to cover the Cartier debt.
“I’m taking Sonnet to Crown After Dark tonight. She needs air. She’s been locked up forever.”
“Then we going too,” Prodigy said. “Y’all need more protection.”
Nodding, I left them in the living room and went down the hall to Sonnet’s room.
She stood near the mirror, dressed in a soft cream outfit that covered more than it revealed.
The sleeveless high-neck top fit her, and the long matching skirt fell around her hips and legs in a way that was modest without hiding how curvy she was.
Most women dressed like the strippers at my club when I took them out.
Sonnet didn’t have to do that. Her hair was pinned up, her glasses sat on her face, and her makeup was minimal, except for the gloss shining on her lips.
That damn gloss pulled my attention first and held it longer than it should’ve.
I wanted to suck it off her mouth slowly enough to make her forget why she had been pouting.
“What’s wrong?”
She looked at me through the mirror. “I heard y’all. People died, Vega. Your business got hit. You lost product. Now you owe the Cartiers. All of this because of me.”
“No, it’s because of Roman,” I insisted as I stepped inside.
“But Roman is doing it because you have me.”
I moved closer. “And you’re worth it. It’s okay for people to protect you.”
Her cheeks warmed, but sadness stayed in her eyes. “You can’t say things like that.”
“I just did.”
“I’m used to surviving by myself. Being told to just sit back and be protected feels too much like being treated helpless.”
“You’re far from helpless, Glasses. I watched you shoot two men trying to kill me.”
“Then what am I supposed to do while everyone else risks their lives?”
“You stay alive. You don’t need to earn the right to be protected by making yourself useful.”
Her eyes lowered.
I caught her hand. “Your job is to stay alive long enough to become the problem I get to argue with for years.”
Her lips parted slightly. She heard the promise beneath the command. I saw the moment she recognized it.
I led her out of the room before the look in her eyes made me forget I couldn’t have her like this.
Prodigy nodded toward me. “You ready?”
I placed my hand in the small of Sonnet’s back to urge her forward. “Yeah.”
We all filed out of the house. We kept our heads on a swivel, with Sonnet tucked in the middle of us, as we walked to our rides.
I put her in the passenger seat of the black Ferrari and felt her staring at the interior like she was afraid to touch anything.
On the way to Crown, she glanced over at me. “Can I ask you something?”
“You don’t have to ask.”
“I know you said you don’t have a girlfriend, but are you intimately involved with anyone?”
“Not anymore. I was until recently.”
“What happened recently?”
I looked at her instead of answering and held her gaze.
Her blush came fast. “Oh.”
“Yeah…” I gave her a flirtatious smirk. “Oh.”
She turned toward the window, smiling like she was trying to hide it and failing.
“I never did relationships,” I admitted after a moment. “Not because I couldn’t have one. Because I never met a woman who made me want to stop moving like I had endless options.”
“And now?”
I kept one hand on the wheel and let the other rest near hers. “Now I’m hoping that changes soon.”
Sonnet looked down, full-on gushing now, trying to bite back a smile that had already won.
“You’re dangerous,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“No,” she said, looking at me again. “I mean to me.”
I took her hand and brought it to my mouth, kissing her knuckles once before setting it back down. “Good. Then maybe we’re even.”