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Two days later, I still felt sick to my stomach. Two days later, and the look in Savina’s eyes when I’d left was still haunting me like nothing else had ever done. Since the first day that I’d been living on the streets, I’d been committing atrocities against human nature, but all that blood on my hands had never kept me up at night. I’d never felt guilt, remorse, or compassion for those that’d been unfortunate enough to cross my path.
That wasn’t the case now.
When I used to close my eyes before, it’d been to Savina’s beautiful face. These past two nights, it’d been to that broken look in her eyes, and the regret was tearing me a-fucking-part. In fact, I had actually joined Adriano in Alaska last night, helping him ‘question’ a couple of people because I’d needed an outlet for all that I was feeling. I had set out to humiliate Savina for what she’d done to me, but that plan had backfired the second that I’d felt her wrapped around my cock again.
Fuck.
I dropped my head back against the couch, knowing that I was going to lose it soon if I didn’t figure this shit out. For all I knew, Ashton could be beating the fuck out of Savina right now, and it was killing me to not be able to unknow everything that I knew now.
When the sound of the door opening hit my ears, I looked over to see Nero walking into my office this time. Like I had full access to his home, he had the same privilege, so there’d been no need to greet him at the door when I had texted him for a quick meeting.
“What’s up?” he asked, not wasting any time, his irritation at being away from Kason shining through. Luckily, I knew him well enough not to take it personally.
“I need to get Savina away from Ashton Oliver,” I answered, not dicking around.
“Why the change of heart?”
Nero already knew all about my visit to the house on Rattenberger Street. After all, with Savina living in O’Brien territory, my visits could hardly be kept a secret. Declan’s only stipulation was that we shared whatever we found out on the Olivers with him, which wasn’t that big of a demand. Nero didn’t care about the family one way or the other, apart from Savina’s involvement with them.
I pulled out my phone, then with a few swipes of my fingers, I handed it over to the man. Neither of us said anything as Nero’s finger started scrolling down the screen, his eyes darkening with each image that he came across. The problem with cockroaches was that they could quickly become an infestation if you let the first one get away, and Nero knew that as well as I did.
When he was done, Nero’s eyes regarded me carefully as he handed me back my phone. “It’s not our territory, Aurelio,” he said like I’d known that he would.
“I know,” I replied evenly.
Nero walked over towards my desk, then leaned against the edge. “You’re the one that had pointed out that he’s a congressman’s son,” he reminded me before adding, “How sure are you that she’s not okay with all of this? After all, she seems to be fine with the physical abuse.”
I sat up straighter on the couch. “Because being abused by the man you love can happen to any woman that is too blinded by love to see the red flags before getting in too deep,” I told him. “It’s something else entirely to be whored out to someone that has the sexual proclivities that Cooper Donaldson has.”
Because the kid was the best, Morocco hadn’t stopped monitoring any of the Olivers, so when he had come across Ashton’s newest association with Cooper Donaldson, Morocco had forwarded me everything that he’d managed to find out so far, and then I’d gotten onto social media to check it out for myself. There’d been enough posts of Ashton and Cooper dining together, posing together, and all that other bullshit to know that something was developing between the powerful families.
It was also rumored that Cooper Donaldson liked to rough up prostitutes. Though there wasn’t any proof, and the women were too terrified to testify against him, it was casually whispered on the street that he was into blood sport. It was also rumored that he’d taken it too far a couple of times, but since Cooper Donaldson was more important than a random prostitute, the police hadn’t bothered much.
Now, while I had no idea if it was true or not, it was rumored that The O’Brien felt the same way. While it was said that he wasn’t onboard with violence against women, he couldn’t do much if no one was talking, and I could hardly blame the man. It was hard to risk your entire empire for people that weren’t worthy of that risk. While it wasn’t always easy being strong, that was still no excuse for being weak.
“So…let’s say that we do get her back,” he said. “What’s the plan after that, Aurelio?”
I stood up, my chin lifting automatically. “What do you mean?”
“While I’m not overly concerned with any Oliver daring to come into Sartori territory, what happens if Savina doesn’t want to be rescued?” He eyed me knowingly. “I mean, are we rescuing her to save her, or are we rescuing her because you want her back?”
“Both,” I answered, not afraid of the truth.
Nero let out a heavy sigh. “Goddamn it.”
“Yeah, He damned me early on, Nero,” I snorted. “I’m used to this.”
Being my best friend, he asked, “So, how are we going to do this? We can’t go into O’Brien territory and just take her, Aurelio. Declan’s been gracious enough as it is.”
“I’ve been giving it some thought ever since I saw the pictures,” I replied. “I’m going to have a talk with Paolo, find out the situation with them, then have him call her, asking if she’ll come see him and Carla.” Nero pulled out his cigarettes, making me grin. I didn’t smoke, but he didn’t care that he was in my house. “She’ll be on Sartori soil, so it should be all good.”
“And then what?” he asked before lighting his cigarette.
“I bring her here,” I answered, making his first drag a long one.
“So, you’re kidnapping her,” he surmised. “That’s the plan?”
I nodded. “At least, until I can figure out what’s going on,” I said. “No matter what, no matter how much time has gone by, Savina’s not the type of woman to let a man beat on her, Nero. She’d been raised to strike first, ask questions later.”
