Her eyes widened. "Threats?"
"Vincent made some attempts at my house. He might have done the same here." I stepped into the elevator. "Also, I need you to schedule exit interviews for everyone Vincent hired in the past three years. We're bringing in an outside firm to review them all. I know what we’ll find, so I want to jump on the paperwork now."
"On it." She pulled out her phone. "Angelina? Are you safe?"
"Dez is handling it." The elevator doors started to close. "I'll call you later."
In the lobby, a man who could only be Matvey waited—tall, built like a tank, with the kind of alert awareness that screamed military training. I’d heard plenty about him, but never seen him. Dez always described him as a ‘big fucker’.
"Mrs. Moretti?" he said.
"That's me. You are?"
"Matvey. This way, please." He led me to a black SUV with tinted windows, opening the back door and waiting until I was inside before closing it and taking the driver's seat.
Immediately after he closed the door, sound disappeared as if the world outside didn’t exist.
Is this bulletproof?
We pulled into traffic and I finally let myself feel it. The fear. The anger. The bone-deep exhaustion of fighting my uncle for months only to have him escalate to attempted murder. Vincent had tried to kill me. Would have succeeded if Dez's people hadn't found the bomb first. And now Dez was going to handle it.
I texted him
My Man, My Man, My Man
Do what you need to do. Just come home safe.
Always. Love you.
Love you too.
I looked out the window as Seattle blurred past, thinking about how much my life had changed. Three months ago, I'd been alone. Desperate. Willing to auction myself off just for one night of escape. Now I had a husband who called in bomb squads and hired security teams and made sure I was protected even when I didn't know I needed it.
I have a partner who doesn’t just support my fight, he’s beside me, loves me enough to do whatever it takes to keep me safe. Even if that meant crossing lines most people wouldn't.
The SUV pulled into the underground garage of our building. Matvey walked me up to the penthouse, did a security sweep, and positioned himself outside the door.
"Mr. Moretti will be here within the hour," he said. "Don't open the door for anyone but him. Not even me.”
"Understood." I nodded.
I locked the door behind me and stood in the middle of our living room, finally alone with my thoughts. I'd known that the moment Dez showed me the embezzlement evidence that Vincent wouldn't go quietly. Protecting myself meant being willing to destroy him first. I just hadn't expected it to escalate this fast.
My phone rang. Maya again.
"The security team is very thorough," she said, "and very intimidating."
"Good. Let them do their job."
"Also, the HR firm that's going to do exit interviews reached out. They start Monday.”
"Perfect. Make it as easy as possible for them to get started."
"Angelina? Are you okay? Really?"
I thought about that. About the bomb and the threats and the fact that my husband was somewhere in the city right now doing god-knows-what to make sure Vincent never threatened me again.
"I will be," I said. "Once this is all over."
