Page 8 of Casino King

“WHAT?! What did he do to her?”

“He hit her,” Enzo says, and I explode, feeling my anger rolling off of me in waves as my blood goes from ice to boiling.

“Where the fuck were you?” I growl out. “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING HER!” I explode, pacing the small space by the window.

“What should I do?”

“Take her to up to my place and call Doc. I’ll be there as soon I can to deal with him. And you,” I make sure to add.

“Got it. See you then.”

Hanging up, I clench my phone so tight I think it might break, but hold back from throwing it across the room so I can call for an update on Tessa.

“Alec!” Leo barks. “What the fuck is going on?”

My eyes scan the room and I see everyone looking at me with questions in their eyes.

“I have to go.”

“Who is she?”

“She’s mine,” I tell him, and his eyes widen, then narrow. “And she was attacked after work today.”

“Who did you have on her?”

“Enzo,” I say through a clenched jaw.

“Go. I’ll discuss this with you later.” Nodding, I leave the conference room in an angered haze. I need to make sure Tessa is okay.

Taking the streets of Manhattan as fast as I can, it takes every ounce of control I have to not fucking punch everything surrounding me.

My grip on the steering wheel is so tight, my knuckles are turning white from loss of blood flow. But it’s the only thing I have to focus on without snapping the wheel in my hands.

Enzo is one of my most trusted soldiers, and I gave him the task of watching over Tessa this past month. He’ll have to pay for letting anyone touch her.

I rarely, if ever, go to the shows in my casino, but last month I needed a break from the shit I have going on with the Triads, and I found myself using the table I always have reserved for me or my associates. I wanted to get lost in beautiful women dressed in outfits that leave little to the imagination, and what I found was Tessa.

Every Friday night since, I’ve sat at that same table and watched her, my mind coming up with a thousand different ways I want to take her.

She’s beautiful beyond belief, and when she’s dancing, I’m mesmerized. My mind is on nothing but her. She’s an angel dressed like the devil, tempting me with the way she moves.

The moment I saw her, all I thought was mine.

I’ve kept my distance, though. I’ve sent her flowers and jewelry after every show, but I’ve remained anonymous. When she wore the earrings and necklace for me last week…it made me so fucking hard, I could barely walk out of the show without going to her. It was like she was wearing me, and I wanted to finally claim what I’ve known is mine for weeks.

From what I’ve learned about her, I know she’s alone. She doesn’t know the world I live in, and I don’t want to drag her into it. But while I’ve tried to be a good man, something I’ve never been known or described as, all I want is her in my bed. Her in my kitchen. Her in my living room. Her in my car. Her with me, any way I can have her.

Clenching my hands even tighter around the steering wheel, I hit it with my right palm and rub my jaw, trying not to think about how tight my pants have gotten. Just the thought of her gets me harder than I’ve ever been, and I don’t like that all the men in the audience tonight were watching her and wishing they could have her when I’m not there.

I’m fucking crazy.

She makes me fucking crazy.

But I have a right to be when some piece of scum thinks he can put his hands on her. I’m going to fuck him up before killing him so he knows what it feels like to have the unwanted hands of someone stronger than him slowly stealing the life from his piece of shit body.

Leo is going to tear into me at some point later, but I don’t give a shit. I’ve dealt with my older brother my entire life and he doesn’t scare me. No one does.

Leo may be the head of the family and rule over our entire empire from his tower in New York, but I’m the ruler of Atlantic City. I could have been his underboss, but I never wanted that. Our father knew that, too, so he trained Leo to take his spot and my younger brother, Luca, to be his underboss.

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