“I’m not in love,” I fired back as I flipped through the apps. “Just keeping tabs on our employees.”
“Uh-huh,” Stefan grunted. “Do we track all of our employees and give them penthouses and expensive presents?”
“She’s more than our employee,” Angelo interjected. “Fucking admit it, Dante. You like Ava.”
I rolled my eyes and waited for the app to triangulate Ava’s exact location. “I like fucking her.”
“Well, that’s something, I guess.” Stefan shook his head and laughed. “But we all know you more than like Ava.”
I lifted my head to look at him. “And you do?”
He bobbed his head. “I love her.”
“Me, too,” Nico added.
I looked at Angelo. “Don’t tell me she’s got you, too.”
Angelo bobbed his head, avoiding my gaze.
“She’s going to be my wife,” I reminded them.
Angelo snickered. “If she even accepts your lame-ass proposal.”
Stefan shifted his stance from one foot to the other. “A marriage changes nothing. Ava is ours.”
I glanced at the screen, the hourglass spinning as it tried to locate Ava. “I’m not sharing my wife with my brothers.”
Shitty service paired with hospital WiFi wasn’t a great combination.
“You don’t have a choice,” Angelo said with fire behind his words. “Ava belongs to the Kings.”
I shared everything with my brothers but never a woman.
Not until now.
“I will allow it,” I said to the group. “But there will be rules that all of you will follow.”
Nico folded his arms over his chest. “Such as?”
I figured one day they would grow bored of sharing one woman. Angelo and Stefan always liked new and shiny toys and never kept girls around for long. Nico was a romantic and seemed the most in love with her.
Before I could lay down the law with my brothers, a box popped up on the screen with a ding.
“Ava’s at a house Brigantine.” I showed them the address on my phone and sat up but not without a shit tone of pain. “We’re getting her back before the auction ends.”
“We?” Angelo shook his head. “No, you’re staying right here, big bro.”
“The fuck I am,” I tossed back at him. “I’m getting back our girl and putting a fucking bullet in Johnny Z’s head. And there ain’t a damn thing you can do to stop me.”
ChapterTwelve
AVA
Iawoke in a different room on a dirty mattress pushed against a stone wall. Candles lined the perimeter, leading a path to the door. At least a dozen twin mattresses were on the floor beside me, occupied by sleeping women. With their heads turned to the side, I couldn't tell if they were breathing.
Where am I?
After Johnny's guard locked me in the bedroom, he reappeared with a tray of food and a glass of water. I downed the contents so quickly that the drugs hit me at once. And then, I was floating above my body, high for a moment until I passed out.
