Chapter 2
The air in Dimitri’s office wasn’t just tense; it was vibrating with the kind of pressure that preceded a structural collapse. On the massive mahogany desk, a tablet lay cracked, the screen still flickering with the GPS data of a hijacked shipment that had vanished somewhere near the docks.
Three hundred million dollars in product.
Gone.
Dimitri Marchetti didn’t yell. He didn’t have to, the silence coming from him was more terrifying than a siren, He stood behind his desk, his chest heaving, his blue eyes screwed shut while pinching the space between his eyes. His reputation had just been insulted, and his empire tested.
Then, he snapped. With a guttural roar, Dimitri swept his arm across his desk.
The heavy crystal decanter, the gold-plated cigar case, the half full bottle of amber liquid, and the monitor went flying.
Shattering against the far wall, he grabbed his heavy leather chair and threw it with a strength conjured by pure adrenaline, the wood splintering against the floorboards.
“ Dimitri! Enough!”
Killian moved too fast for a man his size, he intercepted Dimitri before he could tear his priceless art off the wall.
Wrapping his massive, scarred arms around the Don’s chest in a crushing bear hug.
Dimitri fought for a second, a snarl ripping from his throat, before Killian forced him back into a remaining chair.
“Sit. Down.” Killian rumbled, his voice rough but controlled.
He stayed looming over him, his beastly, tattooed forearms flexed, his own jaw tight.
“We will torch the whole crew, every soldier on that dock will be lined up and I will make them talk, and then I’ll dump their bodies on Valenti’s doorstep by dawn. I know he is behind this!”
“And that,” Nico interrupted, his voice cool and collected from the corner of the room, is exactly what we will not be doing.”
Nico adjusted his black glasses, his boy next door face illuminated by the blue light of his laptop in front of him.
“Our men are trained to resist interrogation. They are willing to die for the “honor” of the family. If you two go down there with blowtorches and guns blazing, you’ll kill half our loyalists before you find that rat.
You’ll have a pile of corpses and zero answers. ”
Dimitri glared at him through the dark hair hanging in his eyes. “So what? We just wait? I need blood spilled and people talking, I refuse to have my empire fucking fall!”
“We need a specialist,” Nico countered. “Someone patient enough to weed them out but effective enough to finish it.”
Dimitri’s lips curled. “No. Hiring an outsider makes us look weak, like I can’t control my own.
“I’m perfectly capable of controlling them, Dimitri,” Killian snapped, his hand instinctively touching the gold chain around his neck.
Nico finally shut his laptop. The click echoed in the ruined office. “You’re capable of breaking bones, and making to much of a mess Killian. We need someone who can dive deep inside the mind. Someone who can smell a lie before it’s even spoken.”
Dimitri rubbed his face, his gold rings catching the light. He went quiet, the fury receding into a cold, calculated desperation. “Well? You wouldn’t suggest this if you didn’t have a name in mind.”
Nico hesitated. He knew the reaction this was going to get. He opened his mouth to speak, but Dimitri stood up, pointing a shaking finger at him.
“Don’t,” Dimitri hissed, his voice a low warning. “Don’t you fucking say her name.”
Nico didn’t blink. He leaned back against the wall, his chin dimple showing as he set his jaw. “Beatrice Rossi.”
“FUCK!” Dimitri roared, kicking at his desk this time, thankfully the heaviness caused it to barely budge.
But beside him, Killian’s entire demeanor changed. The murderous rage in his eyes vanished, replaced by a terrifying, wide grin that showed all his teeth.
“Yes,” Killian he rubs his chin in thought, while his voice suddenly husky. “Yes.”
Nico looked at him, genuinely bewildered. “Why the hell are you so obsessed with her? She’s a smart mouthed ball buster, she literally sliced your face!”
Killian reached up, his thumb tracing the silver scar on his cheek.
The one Bea had given him three years ago with a flick of her wrist and a mocking wink.
His grin only widened. “Well I did bust in during one of her interrogations and killed the man before she got answers out of him, she was so pissed.” He said dreamy with a dopey grin on his face
“She’s the only person in this city that’s ever got the jump on me, she made me feel alive.” Killian rumbled, his eyes glazing over with a dark, obsessive hunger. “If I’m going to let a woman into this house to find this traitor, it’s going to be the one who wasn’t afraid to make me bleed.”
Dimitri paced the length of the office, his silver edged hair messy, his lips twitching under his neatly trimmed beard. He hated that Nico was right.
“Then she invited herself into our home and fucked shit up because you lost your cool! She’s going to rob us blind,” Dimitri muttered, stopping at the window to look out at his city.
“She’s going to walk in here, insult me, get under my skin with that fucking smirk of hers and demand the sun and moon as well as a retainer. ”
“But she’ll find our rat,” Nico reminded him.
Dimitri closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against the cool glass. “Send her a message for her to meet us at the club, but tell her if she tries to kill us…I’m locking her ass up in my dungeon and let the real rats feed off of her.”