Page 36 of Taking Over the Dark

“For what I’m guessing is your first kill, you sure are peachy,” I joke but with a slight edge to my voice. I don’t want him hiding and shoving these feelings down. I know that had to be a big deal to him. So I add, “We’re all here for you if you need to talk. All of us have killed in some way. Don’t stuff these feelings down. That never works well for anyone, I promise.”

“I won’t. I know it should probably be a bigger deal to me… but after going through what we just did”—he looks at Ellie with the saddest puppy dog eyes—“I refuse to let anyone even threaten our safety. I don’t really care if that makes me a bad person or not.”

That brings a shocking smile to my face. I love this little bastard already, but I’m sure as hell keeping that to myself… for now.

I wake up covered by the limbs of the large bodies surrounding me, but I don’t try to free myself. That was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long fucking time. I’m basking in each of their presences and trying my hardest not to move and wake any of them up.

Thirty minutes pass without any of them moving, and I have to call Dario to fill him in, letting them know we need his crew up here to take Zamir’s dad down. He might be in deeper than I ever imagined, especially since he’s taken his own brother out for more power.

I also want Alex to fly in since he’s the only one in the ranks left, and we need to protect him if he truly doesn’t have anything to do with any of this. The way they kept him in the dark, though, I highly doubt he has any information, let alone had his hands in all of this. But I don’t doubt for one second Agron doesn’t want Alex dead too. That man is the epitome of power hungry, willing to get rid of anything in his path to more money and power.

It makes me sick to think of the resemblance to my father. All of our fathers are cut from the same cloth, the harshest synthetic fabric of your nightmares.

Somehow, I slither to the end of my bed, freeing my body without waking them. If I didn’t just get my shit knocked in by Ellie, I would have a little fun with myRagazza Dolcewhile she’s sleeping so peacefully.

Standing at the end of the bed, I admire her little sighs of breath and her bare chest moving up and down. I let my eyes roam over Zamir’s body next and briefly consider what it would be like if he let me play with his beautiful body while he’s sleeping. The body of a trained killer and professional athlete. Just the thought of him trusting me that much sends a flicker of power through me that I know is only a fraction of what I’d feel in that moment. It’s almost unspeakable. But my eyes alwaysland back on my Ellie. And my mind races back to that intake kink quiz from Sin’s.

But I would like to keep the rest of my teeth intact…

She’ll work up to loving it again, I know it.

Floating into my office, I feel rested and ready to tackle the pile of emails that I still have in my inbox. It’s truly astonishing how many emails I deal with, and I am seriously contemplating getting an assistant solely to deal with my inbox. But I’m too much of a control freak regarding my businesses… I never want to become so desensitized to what’s happening in the day-to-day and how my employees are being treated by the management I have in my establishments.

Before I know it, hours have passed, and there’s a knock on my office door. Ellie walks in holding a plate of food that smells way too good to be anything I had in the freezer and a huge glass of water. “Nash and Zamir are right where they belong… the kitchen.”

I smile up at her as she sets my plate down on my desk. “This isn’t poisoned, is it?”

“Damn it.” She smacks her leg. “I missed my perfect opportunity.” She fake pouts. “And it wouldn’t be poison… it would just be something to make you a little sleepy so I could play.” The playful but equally wicked grin should scare me, but she’s so fucking cute when she acts like this.

“You would never.” I side eye her, acting like I’m actually suspicious, but this isn’t her game. She does things in front of your face. She’s sure as hell not the sneaky type. She shrugs and walks out the door before I can ask her any more questions.

“Eat, and drink your fucking water, dick head, or I really won’t have to poison you, you’ll end up killing yourself.”

Aww, she cares about me.

Nash and Zamir just got back from their late practice, and they walk in with some delicious-smelling Thai food. Thankfully, while they were out, there weren’t any tails or shootings tonight.

That reminds me, I need to call Dario.

We all eat in relative silence, and once we’re finished, I quickly pull my phone out and finally decide to call Dario down in Texas. I question Nash as I’m listening to the ringing coming through my phone speaker, “Nash, have you talked to your sister since you and Ellie have been back?”

The worry on his face says it all. “No… I completely forgot to call her and tell her what happened. Why?”

“I have a close friend down where you’re from in Texas who owes me a favor. So I called him up, letting him know we may need help because you and Ellie were taken from us, and he knew exactly who you were…” I refuse to be the one to rat out his sister for being in a relationship. To my knowledge, he has no clue about it.

His brows pull together, but Dario’s voice answering the phone breaks the silence. “Barone.”

“Ramos.” He doesn’t say anything, so I don’t waste any more of his time. “Nash and Ellie are safe, but we need you up here. This is all running deeper than I ever imagined possible.”

“We have a bigger issue down here…” Well, there goes that idea of them coming up here to help. “Willow and Sonny have been taken too. They’ve been gone for two days. We’ve been tearing this city apart looking for them, but?—”

“We will be down there in a couple of hours. Let me call my pilot.”

“I’ll fill you in on the rest of the shit we’ve figured out, but I think all of this may be linked to the same people.”

* Lithonia - Childish Gambino

TWENTY-SIX

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