Page 5 of Cardinal

"Sir, I'm so sorry, she came out of nowhere." My driver, Marcos, apologized profusely, with a worried look at me.

Holding up a hand, I unbuckled my belt and opened the door to step out with Marcos. "It's fine. Let's just check the person and make sure they are fine. Get them to an ambulance if need be." Hopefully, the person would be too drunk to remember anything, or better yet, dead. A dead body would be a lot easier to deal with than a live body that could turn back and press charges.

"Merda!" Needless to say, my mind quickly changed about the person wanting to be dead when my amber eyes landed on the beat-up girl. Squatting down, I picked the female up into my arms, being careful to be extra gentle when I felt how tiny she was.

"Oh shit… I barely hit her." Marcos commented, his wide eyes running down her body to take in the damage as mine were doing until I snapped at him with a growl.

Shifting her in my arms, I shed my suit jacket to wrap it around her barely decent body. "Hey, calm down," I tried to soothe her shivering body, "I'm going to get you an ambulance—"

Her dazed eyes instantly clamped shut as her head shook violently. "No! No, please don't, they'll—"

A faint thud rang out in the distance, followed by approaching footsteps and heavy breaths. "Found her!" A male voice echoed off to the side of me.

I didn't like the urgency and irritation in his voice.

"Damn it." Another voice joined the first. "Sir, step—"

Before the man could fully address me, I drew my gun out and pointed it at both of them. "If I hear any more interruptions tonight, I'm gonna make sure you never get the chance to do it again."

The two men looked at me warily with their guns lowered next to them. Judging from their attire, they're guards for the club behind them. "Listen, we don't want any trouble. We're just doing our jobs. We just need the girl back." The one I cut off before spoke up with a nervous swallow as he tucked his gun away.

My eyes broke away from the workers when the girl in my arm struggled and freaked out. "No, please, no, no, no." The fear in her voice flipped something within me, making my body fill with an urge to put myself between her and these men.

"Hey," I said in a firm voice, tightening my arm around her to keep her body from twisting around too much. "Stop, you're going to hurt yourself more. I won't hand you over to them." I assured her with an unwavering expression.

"Just kill me, please… They'll find me and take me when you leave. Just kill me, please. Please, I don't, I can't go back there." The girl—well, I guess she wasn't a girl if she came from the club—broke down completely in my arms. It was sad to see all the fight from her leave in an instant, and the fact she so readily begged for death irked me.

My jaw ticked as my finger twitched towards the trigger. I kept myself from unloading into the two idiots who'd come to retrieve this poor, battered woman. "You two are going to march straight to Lady Heral and tell her I want to see her at my office tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock sharp." She'd be lucky to leave the place alive.

The two men who looked at each other and me for a few seconds with uncertainty. Then, when they showed no signs of moving, I looked at my driver. "Marcos, go tell Lady Heral—"

"We'll do it, Mr. Agosti." Even though I got a response from one of them, I wasn't fond of him cutting me off. So, I pulled the trigger and sent a bullet by his feet.

Deepening a scowl on my face, I kept my hard glare trained on them as I spoke up in a gravelly voice. "I already warned you. Never interrupt me lest you want your tongue removed." My eyes narrowed dangerously with a grave warning. "Do I make myself clear?" The men were quick to nod in response. "I don't appreciate your lingering and hesitance with my order. Carol might cut your checks, but do not forget who funds her and who is in charge at the end of the day. Now, get out of my sight before I have a different message sent to Carol Heral."

After the two men scrambled away, I turned my full attention back to the trembling female against me. "You should've just killed me. She's going to come after you and cause trouble." Did nothing of what I said before sink into her mind? Well, it wouldn't surprise me if nothing got through with her being in such a shocked state.

What did surprise me was her sudden lurch for my gun, which remained drawn but lowered at my side. "Hey! Stop that!" The way she flinched at my slightly raised voice had me frowning in regret as I felt her shut herself from me.

Taking a deep breath, I flicked the safety back on before tucking my piece away to use both arms to pick her up and hold her close. "I'm not going to let anything else happen to you. You are safe now. She won't touch you nor will anyone touch you with me around. I will protect you."

The reasonable thing to do would be to take her to the hospital and let things go, but I couldn't, not after that little exchange. Granted, if this were anyone else, then I would've taken them to the hospital and left them there. Yet, the way her dull, broken, cooper brown eyes flashed with hope and desperation for a split second when she looked at me clawed my heart. I couldn't get those haunting eyes out of my mind when I tried. I knew if I left her, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.

Carrying her to the car, I settled her into the back seat next to me before instructing my driver to take us home. "Why? I'm nobody." Her soft voice squeaked up as she curled her legs up to her chest. "Should've just killed me."

"That'd be a waste, for one," I replied curtly before softening my voice. "I am doing this because it is right, and something about you, something deep under, is reaching out for some salvation." I may be a killer, but women weren't high on my list of easy kills; she didn't need to know that, of course. "Rest, we can talk more when we return to my place."

"Just dump me off a bridge. I don't need or want your pity. Save and use it on someone who matters." Her melodramatic attitude made me want to roll my eyes and snark at her, but I held my tongue.

Unfortunately, this was not the time or place for any of that. It was clear she'd been through a lot, and whatever happened broke her. I would be a monster to add more to her troubles. Besides, attacking vulnerable women wasn't my forte.

Mobster, not monster; a very fine distinction.

Relenting to a tiny, broken girl like her was laughable. I was a feared mafia boss who showed no mercy to anyone. I should be telling her to suck it up and let her fend for herself because what else did she expect from a place like Champion's Lounge? You don't go into a place like that and expect easy work. Judging from the men who came after her, she was a worker who left mid-shift. Lady Heral didn't send her men after patrons for leaving.

On the other hand, this woman shouldn't be so beat up looking. Yeah, some people loved it rough, but from how she acted, there was no way she consented. I've seen my fair share of the aftermath of rough encounters, but they were tame compared to her ghastly state. It was hard to tell the full extent of her injuries in the dimly lit car—and the dark streets from before offered little insight, too—but I could see a badly busted lip, something at her eyebrow, and honestly, most of her face seemed fucked up.

She was probably beyond exhausted with how easily she knocked out after a few blinks of her eyes. She shouldn't think so lowly of herself because she could be in the worst position in life right now. At least she had a roof over her head working at the lounge, money coming in.

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