: Chapter 27

Walking through the halls, none of Manici’s soldiers perceived me as a threat. They should. I left a gorgeous blonde bombshell naked in bed to come down here. I could be upstairs using those incredible tits of hers as a fucking pillow, but instead I’m down here dealing with this. Matteo should know exactly who he’s messing with, but it seems like he needs a little reminder.

“Open your computer, I want you to see something.” I say, standing in Matteo’s office. Matteo takes his time following my request. It’s a power play, trying to show who’s really in charge here. But he’s about to see. “I saw you talking to Lexie at the party.”

“I might’ve had a moment with—what did Liam call her again? Ah yes, the pretty pink nurse.” Matteo’s grin has my trigger finger itching to reach for my gun. I have a suppressor just for such an occasion.

“Lexie’s mine,” I state darkly. Either Matteo doesn’t hear me, or he’s too stupid to listen.

“She must come in handy a lot. Forget about being able to stitch people up, she’s got the most fuckable tits I’ve ever seen.” At his words, the edges of my vision blur with rage as I see red. Clenching my jaw, I take a slow controlled breath in an attempt to reign in my fury. I could put a bullet right between his eyes right now before anyone realizes my gun is drawn. If killing Matteo isn’t basically an act of suicide, he’d have sucked in his last breath.

My anger ebbs when he finally logs into his computer and the first image I sent pops up. It’s a photo of Matteo standing over a dead police captain with his smoking gun still aimed at the cop’s head. Matteo stares at the image, a flurry of emotions crossing his face before he has time to cover them. Surprise, confusion, anger.

Then the next wave of images pop up on his screen—raping a beaten prostitute, a drug deal, the list goes on. The next batch of photos never seems to end, his computer dinging over and over as image after image pops onto his computer screen. Each one a different indiscretion he or his family has committed. Each one something I fixed. Over eighty of them, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“What the fuck is this, Russo?” Matteo demands, the confusion quickly shifting into intimidation and rage. Both are wasted on me.

“You want to share what’s mine, it’s only fair that I share something of yours.” I can see his tantrum rising, he doesn’t like being challenged. “If you or anyone else in your family goes near my pretty pink nurse again, I’ll bury you and the Manici name.”

“You think you can walk in here and threaten me?” His voice is rising as he stands from his chair, and slams his hands on his desk angrily. “Have you forgotten who you’re talking to?”

“Careful, Matteo. Don’t say something you’ll regret.” My voice comes out calm and cold, the underlying threat clear. “I’d hate to get angry, that’s when things start to get messy.”

Having heard Matteo’s shouting, the door to the office opens and Sal enters looking ready for a fight. “Everything ok, boss?” he addresses Matteo with his eyes on me. He puts on a brave face, posturing to be tough and dangerous. But I know the truth about him, like how he prefers his cars stolen and his women carrying leather whips.

“I was just leaving.”

***

The plane sways slightly as it turns to redirect us away from Chicago back to the east coast. When I’d left Matteo’s office and gone back to my room, Lexie had already showered and gotten dressed—another mark against Matteo. We took off back to New York City less than an hour later.

A comfortable silence fell over the plane after takeoff, allowing me to get some clerical work done. My records are meticulous, each job logged in detail before being heavily encrypted onto a private server that’s backed up in three separate locations. I know exactly who’s calling when my phone rings. I’m almost looking forward to this call.

“Don Manici,” I say, pressing the phone to my ear.

“You threatened Matteo and my family. You have a death wish?” Fredrico’s dark tone is much more practiced than his son’s, having been perfected over decades of delivering threats and other intimidation tactics. It’s pointless with me though, I’ve already seen the man behind the curtain. It’s proved impossible to fear a man once you’ve slain the demons that keep him up at night.

I glance across the aisle at Lexie where she’s curled up in the lounge chair, a blanket tucked under her chin. Her eyes are closed, she’d drifted off listening to something—either her gruesome murder podcast or a raunchy romance audio book.

“He forgot his place and went after something that belongs to me. I was simply reminding him where he stands. Maybe Matteo needs to be put on a shorter leash.”

“You forget that everything you have on us also incriminates you.” He has a point.

“I’m not considering taking the shell company I use to hide my illegal empire public, Frederico. Your five year plan could turn into twenty-five to life with one phone call.”

“You’ve been a valuable asset for many years, Callum. My son can be reckless, you know that.”

“You should teach Matteo to respect the man who scares away the monsters under his bed and buries the bodies. It’s not very smart to test me when I’m keeping the demons from haunting your family.” Lexie stirs and her eyes open slowly—blinking the sleep away once, then twice—before her gaze connects with mine. “This isn’t a conversation I’ll be having again.”

“You won’t,” he assures me before I end the call. Lexie stares at me, far too observant for her own good. Even as she pulls the headphones from her ears, I know she heard me.

“You’re having a problem with Matteo.” She doesn’t ask a question, but I still answer.

“Yes,” I say simply, watching as she lets the blanket fall to her lap. Her tank top is stretched so tautly across each of her ample curves, it leaves very little yet so much to the imagination.

“Because of me.” Smart girl.

“Because he’s an entitled prick.” My response is met with a put-off expression as she rolls those beautiful eyes at me.

“Oh please, you’re mad because he hit on me and now you two are in a pissing contest trying to prove who has the bigger dick.”

“You know exactly how big my dick is. Or do you need a reminder?” I offer her a salacious grin, my eyes heated with intent. Lexie laughs and rolls her eyes again, but not before I’ve seen the desire flash in them as the heat of need flushes her cheeks.

“You’re such a horn dog,” she scolds, making me want to lick the sass right out of her mouth.

“When it comes to you, Dewdrop, always.” I’m tempted to invite her to join the mile high club with me. But the next time I have Lexie, I want her laid out for me on a bed where I can take all of her.

“Matteo is repulsive. He’s not a threat to you, he never was.” Lexie’s assurance rushes through me, untying a knot in my chest before traveling straight down to my cock.

“I know that. Now he knows that too.”

The bed in the back of the plane calls to me, but there’s not enough time left in this flight to fuck her the way she deserves to be fucked—so thoroughly and deeply that she’s branded by me and I’ve ruined all other men for her. And after having her in my bed, I’m going to devour her perfect pink pussy like the feast it is on my pristine white countertops. I plan on having her everywhere I can get her, I’ll figure out where the plane fits on that list later.

***

If there’s one think you can bet on with low-lifes, it’s that they’ll be greedy motherfuckers who don’t know when to stop while they’re ahead. These freight workers should have taken their payday and done their fucking job. But they didn’t. So now I have to send Liam out to pay a few home visits with envelops full of photos that could make a grown man cry.

If I’d never left the Outfit, Liam would be armed with more than a few pieces of paper. And he wouldn’t be alone. It’d be easy to beat the fear of God into these leeches, but that’s not the smart play here. I need something more reliable, we can’t afford to take any more chances.

The thing about fear is that it’s unpredictable. Its power is only relative to proximity. The further you get away from the thing you fear, the less it controls you. Leverage, on the other hand, never fades. Paired perfectly with fear, leverage is the key to power and control. What they should really fear is me, and I’m everywhere.

Call me when it’s done.

Pressing send on the message to Liam, I tuck the phone into my pocket and focus on the scene in front of me. Lexie’s set the table for two, one of her signature steaks plated between green beans and roasted potatoes. It’s the same meal she made the first night we met. She’d walked around the corner and changed everything.

A force of nature.

“Dinner is served,” she announces, drawing me from my spot leaning in my office doorway. I join her at the table, pulling her chair out for her before taking my own seat. The first bite melts in my mouth, just like the first time.

Just like her.

The phone in my pocket buzzes audibly against my chair, amplified by the silence of our chewing. Whatever Liam said can wait, I’m too busy enjoying this sirloin.

“Who’s got you glued to your phone tonight? Roscoe?” Lexie asks.

“I’m waiting for Liam to report back on a job.”

“The Harris job?” Her voice is curious.

“Yes.” I don’t lie to her, but I don’t expand. She doesn’t need to know the nitty gritty details.

“If I’m coming with you, we’re saving every single little girl in that container. We can’t let them be sold,” she says looking across the table at me, her expression determined. Her bleeding heart is written all over her pretty face, and I know exactly how this conversation is about to go.

“I’ve been paid for Lottie, not any of the other girls,” I state, taking a gulp of my water, looking pointedly at her glass that’s still half-full. She rolls her eyes, but picks up her cup anyway. I track the way her lips caress the glass as she sips, more than pleased with her obedience.

“I’ll pay you,” she says naively. So sweet and considerate, my Lexie thinks that saving this shipping container full of little girls fixes the whole problem. Like there aren’t fifty shipments of girls for every one little girl saved. Like girls aren’t being stolen from their beds everyday, never to be seen or heard from again. This little girl just happens to have parents rich and powerful enough to make a ripple. One that led to me.

“You can’t afford me, Dewdrop.” I lean back in my chair, arms crossed over my chest as I gaze at her. Her pretty white top has little pink flowers on it that bring out the rosieness in her cheeks. The wide neckline displays her creamy decolletage and frames her gorgeous breasts.

My pretty pink nurse.

I can see her question before she asks it, and I know just what my response will be. I’ve led her exactly where I want her. And that look in her eyes tells me she knows too.“Name your price. What do you want?” She leans forward, her breasts pressing together and enhancing my view of her already distracting cleavage. She knows exactly what she’s doing and she’s good at it.

“You, Dewdrop.” My eyes roam over her as the possibilities flash through my mind. The many ways I can have this woman. “Spread out for me wearing nothing but lace and a pair of heels.”

“Give me your word that you’ll save them all, and that can be arranged.” She negotiates. I can pretend to mull it over, but there’s no point. Lexie’s won, there’s no way I can deny her this. .

I’ll give this woman the world.