Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Honestly, Noel spent the first ten minutes being back at work just breathing. Finding out he was a true mate had thrown his entire world for a spin. Noel still didn't know what to do with that knowledge, to be honest. He felt like someone had plucked him out of his world and tossed him into a fairytale with no instructions. Nothing truly felt real to him right now. Even when he finally rose from his desk, he felt like he was floating through the hallways, lost in thought.

And of course, fear hovered close by, ready to pounce. Noel knew why. It seemed like every time something good headed his way, something even shittier stole it away again. Fernando was hands down the best thing to ever happen to him so…yeah. As soon as he was out of Fernando's presence for the first time in over a week, the surrealness began to wear off and he could feel the fear threatening to consume him. He needed to work through this overwhelming emotion, somehow. He refused to let past experiences threaten his happiness with Fernando.

Unfortunately, right now he was at work with a backlog of tasks, which meant he really had to focus.

It shouldn't be a challenge to go back to work after acquiring the boss as a boyfriend, right?

"Noel, you got a date after work?" North asked. He was helping Noel carry some old files to the storage area in the building's basement, looking downright chipper considering it wasn't him with the date. "Boss messaged us, asking for ideas about new and trendy places. If you want to cut out early this afternoon, we can cover."

Right, boss-as-boyfriend shouldn't be a challenge , Noel mused, except every single person here is nosey AF. "Is it really so strange to see your boss as a person who can date?"

"Fucking weird," North admitted without hesitation. "We were pretty sure before you came in that Boss was actually an android. Man worked like a machine. It's not that he's emotionless, but he has this resting bitch face, and we could never get a good read on what he was actually feeling. Then you come in and all of a sudden, he starts displaying emotions."

Well, put like that… "I promise you he's a real person."

"I believe you now. Wouldn't have believed you a year ago."

Noel was saved from coming up with a response by an incoming call. He answered promptly. "Hi, Crammer."

" Hey, Noel. You expecting guests today ?"

"Uh, no?" He automatically turned, gesturing for North to continue toward the storage area without him, intent on heading back toward the elevator. Crammer wouldn't be asking this rhetorically, after all. "Why, who showed up?"

" Said his name is Prew ? He's all up in arms about something and clearly not happy, but he refuses to talk to us. Gate security escorted him to the building, but I've got him on a blacklist so can't let him past the front door. I can't seem to reach Boss ."

"He's on a conference call right now. It's okay, I'm headed toward the lobby. I'll handle it."

Noel exited the elevator and put some pep into his step. He got to the main doors of the front lobby in fifteen seconds flat, but even that felt too long by time he crossed the tiled floor. There was quite the commotion just outside the open doorway. Noel could see three men facing off with Crammer, Joe, and Ronnie. Crammer and Joe were trying to diffuse the situation, but Ronnie had a hand on the holster at his waist, looking trigger happy.

Considering Ronnie was the number one hit guy in the family, this was obviously not a good situation.

Noel was quick to dart past the doorway, a professional smile pinned in place. He raised his voice to override the argument already in process, cutting through it firmly. "Gentlemen! I'm Noel, Mr. Fernando's PA. Tell me what this is about so I can help you."

The main guy was huge and smelled strongly of cigarettes, and he had a belligerent look on his bulldog face. "I don't want a fucking PA. I want your boss out here. NOW."

"You want to talk to Mr. Fernando, you go through me." Noel squared off with him, chin up. "You don't have an appointment, so I have no idea who you are, or why you're here. Start there."

His face was already deep red but turned almost maroon at Noel's refusal. "You wanna know who I am, you self-important little bitch? I'm Prew. I'm the manager of the warehouse your boss blacklisted for no damn good reason!"

Oh. THAT Prew. After the first warehouse fiasco, Fernando had been even more thorough and investigated all his warehouses currently in operation. Two more locations were discovered to have dealings in shady businesses—Prew's being one of them. Prew's employees packaging drugs in a warehouse owned by the most powerful mafia boss in North America was stupid enough, but him barging onto the main compound and causing a scene was even more so. Was this man just a mouth with feet?

"Prew." Noel sucked in a breath and firmly took hold of his temper. "You violated the agreement you had with the Lombardi family—"

Prew's mouth opened on a hot objection. Noel didn't give him the opening to try for it.

"—and we have proof. Mr. Fernando did a surprise inspection of your warehouse and not only found the drugs being dealt out the back door, but the invoices proving your people were using our money and trucks to distribute it. The only reason you're not in a grave somewhere is because we also saw no signs you were aware of anything, and it was actually your assistant manipulating the numbers. Mr. Fernando did you a favor by blacklisting you instead of putting a bullet in your head. But it seems you're not only incompetent, but apparently stupid, too. Waltzing through these gates and making a scene is suicidal."

Prew didn't look happy after Noel's dressing-down, but he did seem to realize he might have been a bit hasty in mouthing off. He leaned in closer and said in an undertone, "I'm sure we can settle this. A little favor between us, hmm? I can offer an apology and a really good gift. In exchange, maybe you can make sure this all just…goes away?"

Uh. No? No way in hell, in fact. Was this man on something? 'Cause only a person who was high would think that a good idea. He was offering this in front of multiple witnesses, to boot, which just ramped his stupidity up to a whole new level.

One of the guys with Prew sidled in closer to Noel, leaning in. "Or maybe it's a special kind of service we can offer, yeah?"

Noel stared at him blankly. What kind of service was he even offering…?

Prew's hand shot out and grabbed Noel's ass cheek, giving it a firm squeeze. Noel yelped and jumped back on instinct. This bastard did not just grope him!

Every man around Noel had a gun pointed in the visitors' direction in a second flat. Joe grabbed Noel by the arm and tugged him around and behind his own body, acting like a living shield.

"Okay, now that?" Crammer gave them a disgusted look, tone matching his expression. "That was beyond stupid. Ronnie! Go get Boss, now ."

Ronnie turned and slipped through the front door, bypassing the elevator and heading for the stairs at a dead run.

Oh god. Now there was going to be a murder. Maybe three. Noel put a hand over his eyes and sighed. He'd been trying so hard to diffuse the situation before it got to this point.

Prew had his hands up, looking around in bewilderment. "Why are you guys acting like this? He looks human to me, and don't you vamps often sample the goods?"

"Look, moron." Joe jerked a thumb at Noel. "He's not only like our little brother, he's also the boss's boyfriend."

Prew's brown eyes snapped to Noel, widening in realization. All color drained south, leaving him grey in the face.

"You signed your death warrant by messing with him." Joe indicated the second story with a jerk of his chin. "We're only telling Boss so he can tell us how slow to make your death."

Noel turned his head at the sound of thundering footsteps coming through the main lobby. Uh-oh, Fernando was pissed. Whatever Ronnie had told him, he did not look happy. Absolutely murderous would actually be the best way to describe his expression. On a scale of one to ten, one being Noel could talk Fernando down, ten being apocalyptic, Noel judged the situation to be a solid nine-point-five.

He tried to intervene, anyway.

"Fernando, slow down! Slow down." Noel caught him by the arm, dragging Fernando to a halt. Well, that only meant Fernando had allowed himself to be stopped, as there was no way Noel could have thwarted a vampire out for blood. He slowly turned his head, but only so he could check Noel from head to toe. And when he finally spoke, his voice was black with the promise of pain. "Hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." Noel gestured toward the three. "They're from a warehouse you blacklisted. They're stupid to be here, but—"

"Very stupid," Fernando agreed, pulling Noel in closer, tucking him in against his side. He was practically vibrating with the need for destruction.

Fernando turned to face Prew. He looked calm on the surface but had the presence of a grim reaper. It was fitting that he'd worn an all-black suit today. "So. First you thought it was a good idea to violate our agreement by carelessly managing your employees. As an encore, you come into my territory, harass my people, and sexually harass my Noel. What do you plan to do next? Set yourself on fire?"

Prew visibly shook, sweat beading on his temples. "M-Mr. Fernando. P-please, we came over here to talk this t-through—"

"If you really wanted to talk this through, you would have followed Noel's lead. He's the voice of reason. I'm the voice of violence. You doomed your chance of walking out of here alive when you messed with Noel." Fernando's eyes turned an almost stormy blue, and the timbre of his voice changed into something much harder, much darker. "Crammer. Hand him your gun. Now, Prew. Shoot the hand that touched my Noel."

Crammer obediently handed the gun over. Prew just as obediently took the gun, but the man seemed distressed. Tears streamed from his wide eyes, whimpers erupting from his throat. Yet his movement was seamless, efficient, like his body was divorced from his emotions.

Mesmerize , Noel belatedly realized. Fernando had just used Mesmerize and because Noel was immune, he hadn't even realized it.

Prew openly sobbed even as he pointed the gun at his own palm and pulled the trigger. The bang of the gun was extremely loud at this close range, but only Noel flinched. Prew immediately dropped the gun—Crammer caught it before it hit the ground—and clutched his bleeding hand to his chest. He stared at Fernando in pure terror, no doubt wondering what else he would be ordered to do and dreading the next words from the vampire's lips. The men beside Prew were just as shaken, openly crying.

Fernando hissed out a disgusted breath and turned his head just an inch. "Joe."

"Yes, sir?"

"Darwin protocol."

"Yes, sir ."

Darwin meaning…they were too stupid to live and it was now necessary to remove them from the gene pool? Oh dear. Noel would've protested, but as he looked from face to face, he couldn't find a single shred of reason in any of his allies. Any word he spoke right then would fall on deaf ears.

Prew and crew were loudly protesting as they were dragged away—not through the front gate, either. They'd have an "unfortunate accident" before the day was out. This fact should disturb Noel, and it kinda did on some level, but they'd also asked for it. They'd been let go once with mercy, after all. There was nothing Noel could do to save them at this point, and he wasn't really invested in trying.

Fernando wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him toward the elevator. "Come on. Today, you stick with me."

Lovely, so protective mode was dialed alllll the way up. Noel groaned. "I would like to point out that I'm fine."

"Good to hear."

"You're not going to let anyone else near me the rest of the day, are you?"

"Only trusted people."

Figured.

Well, Fernando would calm down. Eventually.