CHAPTER FOUR

DANTE

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I probably deserved the slap, but damn, did she have to hit me so fucking hard?

Adelina stopped me and clearly regrets it, if the need in her eyes was anything to go on. That and she’s mad that we both crossed a line we never have before.

I’m not sorry.

She tasted like heaven.

Despite what happened, Adelina hasn’t said a word to her father or her brother since the now famous SlapGate a few days ago.

While my cock was still dripping, I caught her wrists and glared down at her, giving her a stark warning.

“Don’t forget who I am, kitten. We’re in this together now. Do you think Leo or your father would be happy to know you let me in here without their knowledge?”

“You asshole. You said you were going to leave,” she hissed at me.

I’d released her arm and climbed off the bed.

“Not yet. I need to find out what’s going on, get hold of my men, and make a plan.”

I’d walked into her adjoining bathroom and cleaned up, bringing a warm washcloth back out with me. When I tossed it to her from the end of her four-poster bed, Adelina threw it back at me.

Which...let’s just say I won’t be inviting her to our social baseball club any time soon.

I don’t play baseball, but you get my point.

It fell short.

Which just made her angrier.

“You have an hour, then you need to leave,” she said as I picked it up and tossed it on the bed.

She kicked it off.

I sighed and pulled on my clothes, staring at her as I fastened my jeans. She’d already straightened her nightie, but the rise and fall of her chest just reminded me Adelina was still highly aroused.

Shirtless, I sat on the edge of the bed.

“This is going to take some time. A couple of days, but I’m just as eager to get home,” I said, partly lying, because if I woke to that every morning, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to leave.

My eyes had dipped to her hard nipples, reminding me that I’d licked her pussy, sucked on her clit, even penetrated her with my fingers, and left her needy.

Because she’d told me to stop.

Addy was going to be a fucking nightmare until she got release.

“Coffee. Toast. Eggs.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I’ll shower and get out of your hair, but I need some food.”

“I’m not your personal assistant or lover, Dante. You need to leave.” Adelina growled.

I leaned toward her on the covers. Her feet were tucked up and she looked too damn sexy with all that desire and hate pouring from her.

But despite our relationship, my kitten cares about me. “I’m not fucking leaving, not in daylight. Do you want me to be shot or arrested?”

When she hesitated, I lifted a brow.

“I’m not leaving this bedroom. Force my hand and I’ll call for your father as I stretch out on your unkempt bed. He can work out the rest.”

That got her moving.

She scrambled onto her knees, pushed against my chest, and shot across the room for her gown.

“Fine. I’m telling the kitchen to burn your damn toast.” She spat at me, stomping to the door.

“Gluten-free please, kitten.”

“Asshole.” I heard her mutter as the door closed.

Lucky for her, now three days on, her father doesn’t know I’m here. No one has seen me, even the guard I crept up behind last night when I whacked him on the head and took his phone.

I have calls to make, but I have waited until I think it’s safe. I know the feds will have my home’s and family’s phones monitored, so I don’t bother ringing them.

Nick and Jono are with my mother and sister, in any case. So I know they’re taken care of.

Thankfully, tonight, Adelina's mood has balanced out. I think I know why, but I’m trying hard not to imagine her rubbing one out in the shower...or however she’s alleviated her sexual tension.

Goddamn.

I’m seated at her desk searching for information online about the bust while she’s reading a book on her e-reader.

There’s nothing.

Not a fucking thing.

Busting a trafficking ring as big as ours would usually be all over the news.

“This is fucking bullshit,” I grumble for the third time and rub my forehead.

“They probably have paperwork to do or something,” Adelina says.

I turn slowly and narrow my eyes. “What?”

The fuck is she on about?

“You know. Admin. Maybe they don’t want the media to know yet.” She shrugs, glancing at me over her Kindle, then carries on reading.

“It’s not the USPS. These guys are cops on shit pay. One of them would have leaked it to pay for his kid’s college tuition.” I shake my head.

She should know this stuff.

“Busting Frank Baldassari—correction, killing him—is enormous news. Are you even in a crime family?” I snark at her.

“Unfortunately,” she mumbles so quietly, I almost miss it.

“What the hell does that mean?” I snap.

Her device drops to her knees. “Can you just do whatever and then go?”

I take back what I said. Adelina is always in a shit mood.

With me, at least.

I turn back and pick up the borrowed mobile phone. The fact that the guy hasn’t had it cut off yet tells me he’s an idiot. I’m waiting for Nick and Jono to get back to me. It’s been almost an hour since I messaged in code, and I’m getting fucking antsy.

“Dante,” Adelina says quietly a few minutes later, and I spin on the chair again. “I’m sorry about your dad.”

I nod.

“Maybe I can get one of the guards to sneak you out and into your place? Tony D is trustworthy.” She offers.

My heckles immediately rise.

I don’t know who Tony D is, but I figure she fucked him at one point and thinks he’s loyal to more than her pussy.

She’s starting to piss me off.

The moment my tongue connected with her pink wet flesh, apparently I claimed her. She just doesn’t know it yet.

I didn’t even know it.

But it was inevitable and my feelings for her are growing more powerful by the hour. To an obsessive level.

I’m a boss now.

I’m done waiting and playing by other don’s rules.

“Go near Tony Dickface or whatever his name is, and I’ll kill him.” I growl. “Any Tonys. Any Mikes, Jacksons, Antonios. You hear me?”

She rolls her eyes. “Ask me how much I regret opening my window two nights ago?”

“How much do you want my cock inside you?” I retort and she makes that ugh noise and flops over on her bed, turning her back on me.

I smile and go back to the computer. Then finally the phone rings.

“Nick.” I answer roughly.

“Boss,” he replies, and there is respect in his voice.

“Yeah,” I reply, letting out a laugh.

“How long is this one-word conversation going to take?” Adelina mumbles from behind me.

I stand and walk to the windows, looking out over the darkened Baldoni estate. The large stately trees fill part of the lawn. The hedges are high and neatly trimmed, almost covering the black steel fence line. Lights in the ground lead along cobblestone paths and to the long, curved driveway.

Adelina’s home is marginally smaller than mine. No surprise—my father had held more control of the New York state area over the past twenty years.

When the Mancini massacre happened, that opened up a lot of business for many of the other families. We took over fifty percent of it. Carlos Baldoni, the other twenty, with the rest scattered to the remaining crime families.

“Where are you?” Nick asks.

“Don’t ask. Actually, I might need you to pick me up,” I reply as his silence has me nodding.

Not that he can see me.

I need information before I can decide on the way forward.

“How long can you stay there?”

I rub my palm over my jaw, the growth getting long because I’m not using the pink fucking blade in her shower. “Not much longer. I’m with Adelina.”

“Jesus,” he replies, working out my location, and I hear Jono curse in the background.

I figured they were together.

“Come pick him up any time!” She calls out from her bed.

Nick snorts.

“Sorry, Boss,” Jono says.

Man, that’s going to take some getting used to. But it’s who I am now.

“Gianna is missing.” Nick tells me and I curse.

“How long?” I ask.

“She left with your father,” Nick says, and I know the rest, because I saw her that night.

Jesus, is she dead?

“What do we know?”

“Nothing. The cops don’t know anything. Your mother has been ringing everyone,” Jono says. “We think she’s with that guy.”

Braxton.

Very few of my men knew who he was. We wanted to keep it that way. He was to be a middleman to buyers in Europe and make us a fuck ton of money.

Clearly, that didn’t work out so well for us.

Now it appears he’s taken Gianna with him.

“Round up the men and organize a meeting at the South Docks Warehouse,” I tell them. “Tomorrow night.”

“You sure?” Jono asks.

“Anyone leaks it, they’re dead,” I say, knowing they’ll pass on the message.

“Damn fucking right they are,” Nick growls.

“What’s the vibe?” I finally ask, needing to know what our soldiers are thinking.

“The families are sniffing around. It’s been two days and there are rumors you’re dead,” Nick replies.

Expected.

But it’s not good.

“They’re trying to recruit our soldiers. They’re grieving the boss. The old boss. Your father,” Jono says somberly. “We all are.”

I nod.

Frank “the Fire” Baldassare was feared but respected.

Goddamn it, I need to get out there and start pulling the business together.

“Tell them I have every intention of running this family just as my father did.” With some changes but this is not the time to bring that up. “And I will be expecting them to pledge their loyalty.”

“Was it Gianna’s guy?” Nick asks, anger in his voice.

Yeah.

It was.

But I need more information before my men act.

“Leave him to me,” I reply. “I mean it. Nobody fucking touches him.”

“Yes, boss,” they both reply, loyal to their last breath. I know they’ll do as I’ve ordered.

I trust these men.

“Ditch your phones and get new ones so this number can’t be traced. I’ll meet you at the location tomorrow at midnight,” I say, then hang up.

Dropping the phone to the ground, I slam my foot on it and watch it smash to pieces.

Adelina sits up.

The testosterone rushing through me settles as I take in her softness. She’s wearing a black sundress which has little white flowers on it. The sleeves are short and floaty, the skirt short, showing off her slightly tanned legs.

I draw in a breath, holding myself back.

One day soon she will be completely mine. Sooner than she knows.

I’m not walking away this time.

This time, Adelina is coming with me.