Page 17 of Under His Protection

“They are.” Every Constella soldier could be counted on.

“But they also have families, right? Friends and family?”

“We’re all one family.” It likely wouldn’t make sense to her, but that was how it was.

“Well, I’m not sure I have any family left. Not after Ricky did that to me. He took all the money Dad left. Gambled it away.”

I frowned as I drove on. “At the Hound and Tea rooms?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably other places, too. So, he lost it all and tonight, he said he had an idea. That ended up being betting on me, and losing—of course—and expecting me to go to that biker guy.”

I caught a glimpse of her shivering as she turned to look out the window, and I resisted the urge to take her hand. Now that I’d drawn the line in the sand, declaring us as two players in a grand scheme of pretending to be together, I had to keep it strictly professional.

This was how I erred with every deal I struck. Everyone knew their part. Everyone had their goals outlined. No room for confusion. It was why I didn’t trust Stefan any longer. Since siding with the Dominos, his goals and the spectrum of where his loyalty lay were no longer clear to me.

“Did he say how much he was betting for?”

Pivoting slowly, she hit me with a laser of a glare. “Are you asking me what my price is?”

I didn’t flinch, unbothered by her haughty tone. In fact, I respected it. She had enough sense not to put a price tag on herself—on any person. However, in my world, with other crime leaders as my peers, I knew otherwise. Everything, and everyone, had a worth. And it could always be quantified with dollar signs.

“Did he tell you?”

“No.” She resumed glaring out the window, but her fight deflated quickly. Her shoulders slumped. Sinking back into the cushion, she sighed deeply. “I don’t even want to know, anyway.”

“What did he tell you?” I had to know the details and cover my bases. It entered my mind that I could just offer to pay off Reaper. I could give the motherfucker the number he wanted from Ricky. It could be a payback to Henry, post-mortem, for missing his funeral.

Then again, I wouldn’t dare. The second I entered any kind of negotiation or transaction with those biker idiots, it would be become a deeper level of business, and I refused to do any business with them.

“I was just finishing my shift at the steakhouse. He showed up and told me that he ‘lost’ me in a bet to Reaper, and then he tried to drag me upstairs. As soon as I figured out that he meant it, that those people really thought I was a possession, I hit him and got loose.”

“That’s what the marks on your wrist are from?”

She nodded, rubbing the spot. “It’s not that bad.”

Stopped at a red light, I turned to face her. “Anyone marking your skin is bad,” I growled.

Except… me. I glanced at the redness from where I’d sucked on her pulse point, licking the tantalizing sweetness from her flesh there. Fuck, I really liked my mark on her.

But no more. If we were going to fake this, then I had to keep my need in check.

“Then I saw those bikers, and they came after me. That’s when I turned around and ran into you. And then…” She lifted her hand to gesture wordlessly at what followed.

And then I wanted a taste of you and found a way to make it happen.

I sighed. So much for keeping my life simple. On the rest of the drive to the Constella estate, a little bit further from the city but not too far, I spoke with Franco. He answered on the first ring, unlike Romeo. He didn’t pick up at all.

“I want you to have someone follow Ricky Bardot,” I told him. In my peripheral vision, I noticed Nina jerking to face me, her brow furrowed.

“Henry’s son?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“For…?”

“Just to follow him.” It was all the clarification I wanted to give him while Nina could hear. Half of my plans included beating some sense into the young man. He had no business trying to bet on his sister’s life, and with Reaper, of all people. More than my need to punish him for his stupidity, though, I had to make sure the bikers didn’t retaliate or push the guy to make it easier for them.

My altruism only went so far. Yes, I wanted to save Nina from this situation, but my desire for her fueled that decision. My own interests did as well. As long as she was with me, Vanessa would back the fuck off.

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