Page 40 of Rescued By the Mafia

“Oh!” a different voice exclaimed, laughing.

One of the bound men twitched as more blood poured from their wounds.

The gunfire stopped. “I think you get the point, huh?” The first speaker said. “We ain’t scared of you, Mr. Dragon.” A hand extended in front of the screen, making half an air-quote. The hand bore an angled spiderweb tattoo beneath the index and middle knuckles, but whatever was in the web design did not look like a spider. At least in the short glimpse provided.

The video suddenly blurred again, as if it were moving, and the voice got angrier as the image zoomed in on the bullet-riddled corpses. “This is our turf now, motherfucker!” Someone shouted an agreement and the video abruptly ended.

Iris pulled in a deep breath.

Dante handed the phone back to his man. “Does Mikey know about the video?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I want it traced and every fucking detail analyzed. I want to know who’s attached to that hand and who pulled those fucking triggers.” He paused. “Most importantly, we need to make funeral arrangements for the men we just lost. I need to speak with their families.”

Iris turned widened eyes to him as the nameless man hurried from the room. She’d expected anger—anger she could feel in the hand still attached to her thigh—but she hadn’t been prepared for the consideration. The empathy. She rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “You’re in some kind of war, and here I am, dumping my problems at your feet.”

Dante leaned back against the sofa and released her thigh, curling his arm completely around her shoulders. “You have nothing to apologize for, Snapdragon. I’m generally always in ‘some kind of war,’ if you want to put it that way. These pests will be squashed soon. I only wish they weren’t forcing me to split my focus, and my manpower.” He turned and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “If we weren’t also looking for whoever’s stirring them up, I would have found your bastard ex by now.”

Iris was quiet a moment, the images from the video replaying in her mind. As horrible as they were, they helped to chase away the more tangible memory the video had stirred loose. “Those Ink Blots, was it? They seem like a problem, too. So I understand.” She lifted her gaze to his. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

He smiled at her. “Right now, I just need you to take a minute and ask yourself if you’re really ready to come face-to-face with that idiot deputy who accosted you yesterday.” He rubbed his hand along her arm. “It’s fine if the answer is no. You don’t have to do everything I do. I don’t want you to.”

Iris blinked at him. “You’re still going to do that today? I would have thought the video changed things…”

“It changes my anger level,” Dante said. “And now I have something else to do before we get to that, yes, but there’s still enough time. The only thing the video does is reinforce that as soon as we find where the leaders of that stupid new gang are hiding, we need to swarm them and stomp them out.” He held her gaze. “That might happen suddenly, so try not to let it rattle you when the time comes.”

She nodded. “I actually think I understand that.” She leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “If we’re out somewhere when the call comes, will you leave Carlo and Ernesto with me? Or do I have to remember the way home?” That could be an issue. She’d been distracted and in a backseat every single time. She wasn’t even sure she knew the name of the road she now lived on, come to think of it.

Dante hummed and let his fingers dance along her upper arm. “Do you think you get along with them, then?”

“Yes,” Iris said. “I’m not sure Ernesto likes me on a personal level, but he hasn’t said or done anything rude. They talk to me when I have questions instead of just grunting. The first guy would’ve just thrown me into a closet like a sack of potatoes or something if he’d been the one in charge of my safety yesterday.”

Dante groaned, the sound irritated. “Fucking Jarrod.”

Iris leaned into his chest. “You already shot him in the face for me.”

His arm tightened around her. “I want to do it again.” His phone buzzed in his coat pocket, startling her and making him loosen his grip. He slipped it free but met her gaze first. “The answer to your question is yes. Their job is to protect you. When you’re home, they’re part of the perimeter rotation and have it a little easier, but you are their only job.”

She smiled as he accepted the call and almost missed the way his tone shifted.

“Is everything all right, Mother? You’re usually busy on Saturdays.”

She hadn’t paid proper attention before, because she’d been so flustered, but Dante was different with his mother. Even when he reprimanded her, he did it respectfully. And she understood, now, that they had to be close, because he wouldn’t have sent merely the most convenient female on his roster to do her emergency shopping.

“Yes, tomorrow would be better. Today’s going to be full,” Dante said. His hand left Iris’s arm to slide over her hip and squeeze. “Of course I’ll be bringing her, Mother. Don’t worry.”

Iris lifted her head. She could hear the unconcerned tone of the woman’s voice, but not the woman’s words. She had to assume, however, that she was the woman he’d just referred to.

“A moment, Mother,” Dante said. He pulled his phone from his ear, tapped a button on the screen, and held it between them. “Say hello to Iris before we go.”

Iris felt her cheeks flush.

“Oh, Iris dear, I’m so sorry if I interrupted anything with my silly call,” Eleonora said on the other end of the line.

Flustered, Iris said, “You’re not interrupting at all. We’d barely finished breakfast.”

“Breakfast, so late?”

---