“That’s Patrick, my date to the O’Rourkes gala.”
“What?”
None of us yell, but with eleven masculine voices in a confined space, it’s easy to guess how loud that was.
“I need to speak to him. I need to know why he went from working alongside me to being my enemy. Not just my enemy, but someone who accepted the job to kill me. We’ve been rivals, and we’ve been friends. We’ve been more than friends, but we’ve never tried to kill each other before.”
I loathe hearing she has a sexual past with thiscarechimba—face of a vagina—but it’s not like either of us were virgins beforehand. It’ll always be entirely possible for us to run into past partners. It doesn’t mean I’m eager for it to happen.
“You are not going anywhere near this fucker.”
“I have to. You know he won’t tell me anything over the phone.”
“You aren’t making his job easier by standing in front of him. That’s not happening, Vita.”
Since we’re hardly the first couple to argue over each other’s safety, the other guys remain quiet.
“I’m not asking your permission, Jandro. This needs to happen.”
“If you’re going to meet him, then you’re doing it under my conditions.”
“If I go with an entourage, he won’t show. And you’re not coming with me so he can get a two-for-one. Thatpezzo di merdaisn’t getting a one-for-one.”
“No. That does nothing to reassure me, Vita. You don’t want to know what will come of this if you insist.”
I can guarantee every guy in here, especially the married ones—so all but Joaquin and me—know precisely what I mean. If we weren’t trying to destroy each other, our similarities would probably make all members of Four Families besties forever. As Vita and I stand off against each other, Dillan steps forward.
“Pablo, we’ll do our part and dig to see what the hell’s going on, on our end.”
“You have until tomorrow night to figure this shit out. Otherwise, we’ll handle it all.”
“The feck you will. This isyourpersonal family matter that spilled over into trying to killmyfamily. Be glad all of you are still breathing rather than your parents planning wakes. Accept my graciousness with the sincerity it’s offered.”
That makes everyone in my family, including Vita, snort.
“Whatever, feckers. Until tomorrow night.”
Dillan and his ragtag bunch of cousins take off, leaving my cousins and me to stare at each other. No one’s staring at Vita because I know none of us want her to believe we’re blaming her for what happened. We don’t, so we don’t want her to misunderstand and confuse curiosity with blame.
“What’re you going to do, Jandro? Because I still intend to meet with Patrick.”
“I think you and I need to have our own meeting at our place.”
“Our place?”
“Yes. We’re going home to the condo.”
Even though she’s spent no time there, I can already think of the place as being her home too since I can’t imagine being apart from her. It’s not just that I’m controlling as fuck and don’t want her out of my sight or my reach because I’m convinced she’ll die the moment she is. I genuinely want her company when we’re not trying to sort out this chaos.
There’s not much more we can do here at the club. My cousins, Vita, and I agree we’ll give Joaquin a few hours to investigate more. Vita compromises, accepting she needs to know as much as possible before she reaches out to Patrick.
I don’t agree with her meeting him, but I also don’t fight her anymore. Once we’re in the town car I called for, Vita doesn’t fight me when I pull her onto my lap. In silent agreement, she strips off her pants while I unfasten mine. I push down my boxer briefs enough for my dick to spring free. The moment we were alone in the car and kissed, it came to life. Now she straddles me and slides down until I’m buried inside her.
“Daddy, I don’t want to argue about this. Please let me say my piece, and I’ll listen to yours, and then we’ll figure things out later. You don’t know Patrick like I do. Even though I don’t know his reasons for getting involved, I’m confident he’ll talk to me before he gives anything away to you. You wouldn’t be the first one to torture him. He’s gotten away each time. The only way he won’t is if you kill him. And if you kill him, then we can’t learn anything from him. I’m not ruling out your right to torture him and kill him. I’m asking that you let me have a go first.”
“I understand that, Vita. And I don’t disagree with what you’re saying. It’s the logistics of it. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you go alone. I know you’re right. If he thinks you came with guards or me, he won’t talk. Not only that, he’s likely tofinish the job on you. And I can’t stomach the idea of losing you. Nothing could be worse than that. You’re my everything.”
“I feel the same, Daddy. All of this, since the moment we met until now, has been nonstop intensity. I’m sure it’s amplified our feelings. But the only way it can make them bigger and louder is if they already existed. This whole thing is testing us. But we’re not letting it break the bond we have. Just the opposite.”
