Chapter 31

After meeting with my brother and giving him minimal information, I headed to the docks. Driving my Audi R8 feels strange. If not for the sole fact I haven't driven in years. Fuck, I don't even know if my license is valid.

When I pull into the docks we run, I realize I've never much bothered myself with this portion of our business. I was more the enforcer for when things didn't pan out the way Lucio wanted them to. Or when someone was being naughty and needed to be taught a lesson. Mainly, I got the information Lucio needed. Bloody business being me, and it's what cracked my psyche into bits.

I lift my phone and text Brynne again.

You'd best be leaving Dante alone. He has a job to do, bunny.

I smirkas I think of how she's not only got me in a chokehold but one of our most trusted generals, too. There's something about her that draws you in. Makes you want to be near her. Like the warmth of a fire on the coldest night.

She doesn't text back. My brow quirks. It's only noon. She should be awake. She'd been in the shower when I left. The conversation we'd had was too heavy. I needed time to process it all before we came back together like a raging storm.

All I'd wanted to do was march into the bathroom, break the door she'd locked, and fuck her senseless against the wall. Italian tile be damned. But I knew she needed space. It's not that I don't want her, or she doesn't want me. It's that being back in this world, and needing to lend my hand in this brewing unrest, is clashing my two worlds together.

Part of me thinks she was never mine, to begin with. That just because she's become the beat in my fucking heart doesn't mean I can keep her.

Growling, I pocket my phone and turn off the engine. There's no activity surrounding the docks from the outside, which is odd because Lucio said it's active.

Getting out of the car, I shove Brynne from my mind so I can focus on what the fuck I'm here to do, but it's hard. The only thing pressing into my brain is that she's not answering me or that something is fucking wrong.

I slip into a mask; one I've worn many times as the reaper. A skull is painted on it, one with a menacing glare.

I make sure my weapon is ready to go as I move through the harbor. There are shipping containers as far as the eye can see, a warehouse to my right-hand side, and a long dock that juts out into the choppy waters of the harbor.

No ships are docked, and lights overhead illuminate the night with an eerie yellow glow.

Moving through the yard, I open container after container and find nothing. Once I make it to the other side of the yard, there's a lone security officer drinking coffee inside his booth in front of a small television.

By the time he senses me, it's too late for him. I lead him out of the booth, gun to his throat as I remove his weapons and throw them back inside the booth.

"You're not supposed to be out here," he stammers.

It makes no sense. Why is there nothing here? Better yet, why is there a less-than-security officer here? If we have anything of value going on, our best men are on it. Likely there are plans for these docks, but nothing definitive in the works.

Part of me wonders what he knows, but he looks as though he's about to piss his pants. If I take him back with me and torture him, it's liable that he will.

"What is this place? How often do you work here?"

"I don't know what it is, to be honest with you, Sir. I only watch it one week a month."

"One week a month? That's it?" I ask.

He nods frantically. "The man who pays me does so in cash. He said the harbor is under their protection for the other three weeks of the month."

Why is Lucio going off the normal path with this place? I hadn't spoken to him in depth about what I'd gotten from Enzo because such was my way. I trust no one. Not even family. I might be a fucked-up man, but I have a moral code of honor, and I stick to it. Part of that is following my gut. When Enzo hit me with what he knew the Bianchis wanted, my gut had set ablaze with worry.

That's when I knew I needed to suss this out myself.

I motion for the man to get back to work, and he scrambles back into the booth. Likely, he's going to call Lucio, but the mask I have firmly in place will keep me hidden from being found out until I am ready to be.

When I get back to the car, I rip the mask off and check my phone. Nothing.

I snarl, typing furiously across the keypad.

If you think you've seen me crazed before, you've seen nothing yet. You might want to fucking hide, bunny. Because when I get back home, your ass is mine!

I don't thinkbefore I hit send, and the iPhone makes a whooshing noise as the text shoots off into cyberspace, alerting her of my anger.

My foot presses into the gas once the engine turns over, my hands work the gears, and my feet maneuver in unison to use the clutch and brake when needed.

My brain buzzes with anger, and by the time the R8 is parked and I'm on the elevator, I'm ready to fucking kill. Right as I realize I'm not in the right mindset to be near Brynne safely, the elevator opens to a dark apartment.

"You'd better be hidden well, bunny because I need time to chase you. To come down from all this rage boiling in my fucking veins. You know how worried I get when you don't answer the phone!" My voice echoes through the apartment. It wouldn't do so if I were in the cabin. I have to wonder if she'd be gone if I were in the cabin.

The cabin was home. This is a landing pad. One I have to use when I'm here.

I'm ripping through closets and tearing things apart when Dante clears his throat an hour later.

"Boss?"

I turn, frantic eyes pinning him in place.

"Where is she?" I growl, and the sound of a monster skims over my ears as well as his. I don't even recognize myself, and it seems he doesn't either.

He backs away. "I moved the things because I didn't want you to find out that way, but maybe it wasn't the best idea."

"What things?"

He moves out of the room and comes back with a suitcase, splaying it open on the bed and moving out of the apartment quickly.

Hesitantly, I move closer to the bed, my heart pounding in my throat, making nausea churn.

On the top of all the things I'd bought for her while we were in the cabin is her phone, and a note folded in half addressed to me.

Emotion chokes in my throat, and I staunch it, grabbing the note and opening it.

Slate,

I'm so sorry to do it this way. It's so fucked up; don't think I don't know that. But if I had to do it the other way, the right way, I'd never leave you.

This world isn't for me. No matter how good it feels to be with you. No matter how much I want to ignore all the facts and logic and just be Bunny and Daddy for the rest of my days.

It can't be that way.

You're more than just a man living in the wilderness, off-grid, Slate. You're a part of a world that scares me. One where blood runs freely through the streets and you dance in it.

That can't be my life. Dante told me today about his wife and it broke me. It was at that moment I knew I had to go. I'm safe. Dante is taking me to the airport, and my mom is picking me up on the other end of the flight.

You were so unexpected, Slate. You opened up my world. You showed me more about myself than I ever knew was possible. More than I ever knew myself. I'll always be forever grateful to you, but I need to live in a world where I know you're alive. One where I'm safely away from the danger of all that comes with being the reaper's girl.

Don't mourn my loss, Slate. Dance in the memories as you do the blood. Because I know I will.

Brynne

I wipe tears I hadn't realized had fallen off my face. I'm so fucking angry. Livid at Dante, pissed at her, angry with me for how I'd acted this morning. Knowing full and well I couldn't be without her. She's become the air in my fucking lungs, and she doesn't even know it.

She thinks she's walked away from me as if we were nothing but a fun few weeks in the wilderness. She's fucking wrong! We are everything together.

I love her. And I love her so deeply, I feel as though my heart is going to leap from my chest and follow her home.

The pain is excruciating as I hit my knees next to the bed and scream into the mattress, letting tears flow as memories overtake me.

She's my fucking world. How can't she see that? I'd only stepped back into this one to make sure she was protected. To make sure they weren't coming back.

But I also promised to take her home because her happiness meant more to me than the stabbing pain in my chest. It has to. She's my perfect baby girl, my beautiful bunny. Caring for her means loving her enough to let her go.

As Lucio had done for me.

I sit back, reining in every bit of misery, dropping the hardened wall over my face I normally wear. Dante has returned and is at the doorframe.

I stand and look at him. "Get someone in here to clean this mess up. And donate these clothes."

He nods. "On it, Boss. And, Boss?"

I turn from where I'd been headed to the bathroom.

"You're doing the right thing."

I nod at him in agreement. Though it feels like I just lost my fucking soul, I know I am.

Because she's all that matters. She's away from me, so she's safe.

But the streets of New York are not because the reaper is back in town, and he's got a craving for blood that's lingering a little heavily tonight.

Once I ensure her safety and find out who took that fucking case, I'm going back to my cabin and never leaving again.

That I can promise the fucking world.

But tonight? Tonight, I paint the fucking town red.