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The reality is that people underestimate you when you’re a clown or a playboy and I’ve used both to my advantage time and time again. The problem, I’m learning, is it’s hard for some people to take you seriously when you need them to.
“Fleur Whelan is off limits. From everyone,” my edict is filled with rage.
“I know,” Roch whispers and keeps his head down, unwilling to look into my eyes.
Can’t say I blame the man.
“If you can find out more information on who was asking after her, let me know,” I demand.
“Of course. I’ll keep you in the loop about whatever I hear,” he promises, and I know he’s telling the truth.
He might not be loyal to me and my family above all else, but he’s not stupid. As I take the envelope with his payment out of my pocket and hand it to him, I know it’ll all be lost taking a risk in one way or another.
Maybe this time, luck will be on his side.
Yeah, right.
Fuck.
He’s not the only one who could use a little luck. My brothers and I need to sit down and come up with a plan. I have a feeling the information I just found out, slim as it may be, will push them over the edge, one we’re already teetering on.
They’re going to be pissed and I’m already barely stopping myself from punching the brick wall as I make my way back to my car. Roch better find out some more information about the asshole asking questions about our woman.
If Martinez is behind it, I want to know. If that’s how whoever is looking for her got pushed into my woman’s orbit, nothing will stop me from hunting Martinez down and ending his life. I already want to do it because of Viola. But the thought of him hurting Fleur? It guts me.
Now the problem becomes how to find a man who has gone so far underground that not even a snitch, who slithers through the underground like poison, knows anything about him. It might not be soon, but he will pop up.
I’d rather be going after him before he does because I know, if he comes up for air on his own terms, it’ll be to execute some fucked up plan. My brothers and I will take him down either way, but I hope it’s before he can wreak any more destruction.
CHAPTER 7
LEONARDO
I could probably tell you exactly how many hours it’s been since my Fleur was in my arms. I just don’t want to think about it because it makes me feel like I need to punch something. Or, even better, like I’m on the edge of going to Fleur’s house, binding her, and flinging her over my shoulder to hide her away where she won’t be able to get away from us ever again.
I’m not sure if she would like it if I did that, but it’s fucking tempting as hell. Then she would be at our mercy. Then she wouldn’t be able to slip away like a fucking thief.
She took something valuable with her as well, even though it pains me to say it—my heart. I know I’m not alone.
My brothers have been brooding and sulking, barely able to keep their focus on their work.
I know we could storm over to her place and demand she give us answers and then give us her heart in return for the ones she took without asking, but I have a feeling I know what will happen if we do that. She’ll run farther away, no longer feeling safe in her own home, or she’ll deny what we had the night we spent together.
I don’t want either one of those things to happen.
Which is why we’re taking a step back and letting her stew in her own misery without us for a few days. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been someone watching her because there is. I might be willing to let Fleur think she got away with sneaking out of the bed she was sharing with us, but I would never leave her unprotected.
I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to her.
Last night when Gio came home after speaking to one of his many informants in the city, he told us someone is looking for Fleur. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to go over to her place right away, but I kept it together.
I could tell Rocco wasn’t doing much better than I was, but I reminded him she is protected in her home since the security system is top of the line and we have people keeping an eye on her. I could tell he wanted to argue with me, but he must have read the look in my eye because he backed off quickly.
I looked at Gio and studied him. Seeing him on edge made me even more nervous about the whole thing. I tried not to bark at him, but it wasn’t easy to do, “What do we know?”
“I just told you everything I know. He didn’t know who was asking after her. He didn’t know why. He thought the man in question was steered toward Fleur in the first place. If that’s the case, it could be a few people for a few reasons, and I wonder why he wasn’t given all her information from the start.”
I nodded and studied my brother, knowing it was bothering him that he didn’t have more answers. Gio, being both social and a scary motherfucker when he needs to be, has put together an impressive network of people who keep their ears to the ground in the city. We might have a lot of power around here, but keeping it requires us to know what else is being planned.
