Page 70 of New Orleans Collection

“I’m not going to ask what the fuck that means,” I snarl, and I swear the asshole laughs. “Anyway, she went to Club Sin. We followed her. When we got there that dead man,” I nod toward where he’s still staring at our woman, “was chatting her up. Needless to say, she didn’t spend the night with him. She spent it with us.”

“Fleur has gotten two gifts delivered to her house with notes that point toward someone obsessed with her and stalking her,” Rocco adds on, his predatory eyes trained on the man who doesn’t know how close he is to danger.

“Well, shit,” Marco grunts and all I can do is nod.

Fleur stands up from the table where she’s drinking, joking, and laughing with the women she’s out with and walks toward the bar. I tense as everything in me screams to get up and go to her. Giovanni reaches out and lays a hand on my shoulder.

“Let it play out,” he suggests, and I want to punch him. “If he’s the one, he won’t be able to resist doing something stupid and then we’ll know and be able to end him and stop what has been making her afraid.”

I watch as Henri approaches her on her other side which means she has to turn away from where we’re sitting to look at him. I clench my fists and, somehow, force myself to stay seated. It’s not an easy task at all.

I watch as his lips move, and Fleur turns toward him. I hate not being able to see her face right now. What I can see is her hand hanging down at her side and it’s shaking as she looks up at Henri.

When he reaches out and tucks a few loose black hairs back behind her ear, I see red and can’t sit by the sidelines for a moment longer. I stand and stride closer to where Henri is completely focused on my woman. The closer I get, the more fear I can feel coming off Fleur.

I know my brothers are at my back without even having to look at them. I also notice a few DSMC brothers in the bar tonight and they are watching what is going on very closely. Good. I have a feeling I’m going to need their help, or at least use of one of their facilities.

“I know you wanted me the other night, Fleur,” Henri coaxes. He probably thinks he sounds seductive, but he just sounds like a whiny brat. “It was in the way you looked at me. I don’t know what happened or why you spent the night without me,” I notice how he doesn’t mention she spent the night with us and I almost smile.

“We were just talking,” Fleur’s voice has a waver in it that guts me.

When she stiffens slightly, I know it’s because she can feel me standing right behind her and doesn’t want to seek me out for comfort. At least not yet anyway.

“I know you’re just playing hard to get. It’s why I sent you those gifts. So you’d know I wanted to court you,” there’s an eager quality to his voice which makes me wonder if he’s confused about what took place between them or just a little mentally unstable. Maybe both. “Did you like them?”

Fleur stammers, “Uhhh.”

Before anything else can happen, I step in front of Fleur and wrap my hand around Henri’s neck. When he glares at me like I just ate the cherry off his sundae, I let him see the cold detachment in my eyes that I’ve spent years working on. Worry starts to seep into his expression, and it makes me want to howl in victory.

The rage I’m feeling is barely contained in my words, “You’re the one who has been scaring our woman by sending her gifts?”

Henri scoffs, “She’s not yours. I saw her first.”

I hear Fleur mumble something under her breath about toys and her not being something men can fight over. She has no idea how sexy and alluring she is or that a real man would be fucking lucky to fight, no matter the stakes, to spend some time with her.

Too bad for them because she’s ours and we’re never letting her go.

Hack, one of the club brothers I noticed in the bar earlier, steps up next to me. “We have a little space in the basement if you want to take this somewhere more private.”

I’m not surprised when he doesn’t ask questions or thinks I’m stepping over the line. I’ve spent years doing business with the men of the DSMC and they know what kind of man I am. I don’t have to prove anything to them.

I give him a curt nod and then glance over at my woman. I feel my features soften as I look at her. “We got this, Tesoro,” I promise her. “I want you to go with Rocco. He’s going to take you home and then you’re packing a bag.”

“A bag? Why am I packing a bag?”

I don’t respond to her and instead follow Hack while still holding onto the asshole who thought it was okay to harass our woman. He’s going to pay for his indiscretions with his life. When he starts trying to thrash and escape my hold, I only tighten my fingers as I follow Hack wherever he’s taking me.

I know Rocco will keep our woman safe, no matter how angry and hurt he was to find her gone when we came home. Now, with the asshole who has been sending her gifts, probably the one who was asking around about her as well, in my grasp, we can put this behind us and move forward.

Just because I end this threat doesn’t mean Fleur won’t be moving in with us. That is happening no matter what. Sooner rather than later.

I can feel Gio behind me as we head down a set of stairs which have seen better days. When we’re in the bowels of the church, it’s clear just how old this structure is. Part of me wants to marvel at it, but I push it aside because now is not the right time.

There’s a room with a metal door ahead of us and I’m not surprised when Hack opens the door and waves us in. When I push Henri down so he’s sitting on the only chair in the middle of the room, I look over my shoulder at Hack.

“You can work him over for as long as you want. If you need a break, knock on the door and we can have someone watch him or pick up where you stop.” Hack points to one side of the room where a cabinet stands. “You can use any of the tools in there and everything is soundproofed.”

“This isn’t normally where the DSMC works,” I find myself asking even though I don’t phrase it like a question.

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