“Fine,” I snap. “Stop wasting my time. Let’s go see what they know. But this stays between us. I don’t want her exposed. She stays out of it.”
“You know she won’t accept that,” he replies evenly. “She’s set to take over the Bellanti mafia. Danger doesn’t simply disappear.”
My teeth grind together so hard that my temple throbs. I hate that he’s right.
“I know,” I say. “But I’ll be at her side. Always. And I’ll make sure nothing touches her.”
A deceptively sweet voice answers from behind me.
“I’m sure you weren’t about to have some fun without me,” she says coolly. “Particularly when thatfunwas likely sent to the island to kill me, or abduct me. And tell me, Adriano, that you didn’t just go behind my back with Markev on a matter that very clearly concerns me.”
I turn the moment she steps into view.
Her pink hair hangs loose down her back. She’s dressed simply, in a pair of jeans, a jumper, and a jacket, the heeled boots add a few inches to her slight frame.
Fuck.
She’s perfect.
My pulse spikes.
She doesn’t look at me first. She looks at Adriano. Then past him, to his vehicle, where two men stand waiting… her men.
Her hand comes up.
The shot cracks through the air.
The bullet punches clean through Adriano’s shoulder, in one side and out the other. He grunts, his teeth clenching as he swallows the pain.
“You deserved that,” she says flatly.
“Yes,” he breathes. “I did.”
“Don’t test me again,” she continues in a lethal voice. “When you have information, you bring it to me first. You don’t go behind my back.Ever.”
Blood drips onto the asphalt.
“It won’t happen again,” he says.
She nods satisfied. “See that it doesn’t.”
Her eyes shift to the two men. “Don’t get any ideas. The next person who ignores my direct orders doesn’t take a bullet to the shoulder, they take one straight through the eyes.”
They both nod.
“I don’t hear you,” she snaps.
“Yes, boss,” they reply in unison.
My cock is rock hard as I adjust discreetly, though there’s no real way to hide it. Watching my woman take control does something feral to my body.
She turns her attention to me, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t pull a stunt like that again, or you’ll regret it.”
I smile darkly. “Understood.”
“Very well,” she says. “Let’s go and welcome our guests to the island.”
Adriano nods. “Follow my car.” He cradles his bleeding shoulder as he climbs into the vehicle, one man closing the door behind him while the other takes the wheel.
