Page 32 of The Devil's Pawn

“So I guess you’ll be waiting a while, then?” My head tips to the side with a mocking laugh.

“Yeah, yeah. You got jokes? You know I don’t need her. I’ve got plenty of women on speed dial. But damn, that body would look so good tangled in my sheets.”

“I’m sure she’s dying to get right in your bed with all the women you fuck in it.”

Joelle was never part of our plan, but I guess some opportunities just find themselves. And my brother’s always had a thing for her, from the first moment he laid eyes on her. He’d usually come with me when I’d go to meet with Carlito, but once he saw her, he started inviting himself each time I went.

“Okay, a little clarification.” He lifts up an index finger, shaking his head, pretending he’s got his feelings hurt. “I don’t fuck anyone on my bed. I’ve got other beds around the house for that.”

“Wow. I’m damn sorry for the confusion,” I snicker. “But she still won’t want your ass once she sees the women there. What are you going to do with her, anyway?”

“I’m gonna keep her until I get bored.” He shrugs. “Then move her to a different country so the Bianchis never get her back. She’s worth a whole lot of shit to them.”

“I know that. But what is she worth to you? And before you start…” I lift a palm, cutting off any of his bullshit before it begins. “I know you like her. So instead, how about maybe take care of her for a while? I’m sure she’s not used to that, being around those fucks.”

I wait for a wise-ass comment, but it never comes. He stares over my head, as though considering what I’m saying.

“Nah.” He shakes his head. “She and I are like oil and water, hot and cold. She doesn’t give a shit about me. She and I at the club was just her working, nothing more.”

His jaw tenses with the edge in his voice. And I know immediately by the look in his eye that she hurt him.

“Even a cat with the sharpest claws can be tamed,” I say.

“You a fucking poet now?” He picks up a pen and tosses it at me with a chuckle.

I catch it easily, staring at him with a grin.

Enzo likes to hide behind his big heart, as though showing it off makes him weak. He might be the youngest one of us at only twenty-five, but he grew up quickly like we all had to.

Each of us deserves to find something meaningful, something true, whether it’s a woman or something else that makes us happy. But I worry we’re doomed to walk behind the life we could have, instead of alongside it.

* * *

While spending some more time with Enzo, we hear something slam in Dom’s office right next to mine, so we rush there.

It was his burner cell connecting to the wall after he received a text from Faro, threatening to kill us like he did Matteo.

The fucking Bianchis still don’t respect us. They don’t quite comprehend the kind of men we are now. We care about nothing more than killing them all.

We’ve risen from the ashes, completely reborn. We’re the devils marking their graves. They may have been the ones to fear then, but we’re the ones to fear now.

And the angel sleeping beside me has no idea that the man who swore to protect her will be the one taking out her father.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about waking up with Raquel curled around me. I want more of that—more ofher—even when it’s the last thing I should want. I didn’t realize the sparks we’d have when we were finally face-to-face, even while knowing how badly I wanted to fuck her when I followed her around all that time.

I know I can stop myself from falling in love with her, but I can’t stop myself from wanting her. And I don’t think she can either.

As a thank-you for helping me with the arm, I had Janet make a steak and lobster dinner for tonight, knowing those are some of her other favorites. The garden by the fountain has been arranged with a table for two, and candles with rose petals have been scattered across it.

Probably a little too much, but I think she deserves it after everything she’s been through with Carlito and her family.

Once I park my McLaren, I enter the house, finding her cuddled on the sofa in the den with the TV on. She sits up as soon as she sees me.

“How’s your arm?” There’s concern scribbled all over her face.

“As good as new,” I lie.

The muscle is still throbbing, especially when I move it.

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