Page 392 of Rage

“You are so lucky that you are well connected and know exactly what I need. Pack a bag quickly and wait outside my office to be released. Your punishment is that you are to leave and sit outside of her apartment and watch her. She was seen on my arm last night and even if she isn’t speaking to me at the moment I need her alive to forgive me,” I say, releasing his neck and going back to my chair. It is a little easier to focus on the contract that I need to sign now that I know what I am going to do. Grabbing the notebook from the top drawer on the right side of my desk I start to pen a note.

Dear Lilac,

My shining star in the dark of night. I know how bad this looks but I beg for the chance to explain. Please, if you felt anything that I did last night you will have coffee with me and offer me the chance to explain myself.

Signed,

Do

I stand up and walk to the door of my office before pulling it open. Gio is standing there at attention waiting for further instructions.

“Slide this under her door,” I instruct him before turning around and letting a smile find my life for the first time since my lips were on hers last night. With a pep in my step anddetermination in my soul again I find my way to my desk and the stack of contracts is much easier. Hours pass while I meticulously read each one and note any questions I have that need to be run by our attorney. Once I have finished everything that I can behind a desk, I pull out my phone and call Enzo.

“Hey, we need to meet and discuss your endeavors for the company,” before hanging up the phone, getting myself another drink, and getting cozy for a minute while I wait for my friend to arrive. Enzo and I grew up together, he was younger than me, and being part of the family business already, we were both safe to be friends as children. He has never experienced love but I know he has had his eye on a female serial killer that I have been asking him to keep an eye on to see if she is problematic for us. So far he seems to be helping keep her under wraps but in the decades that we have known each other, the man has never asked for a favor so I let this be without question. I know that if she were a danger to us she would no longer exist. My thoughts are disrupted by my phone ringing, so I shake my head to clear them away and answer the phone.

“Boss, your message has been delivered,” Gio’s voice rings through the line and my heart shudders in my chest.

“Hold on, her friend is calling,” he says momentarily before I hear the hold music. I can barely breathe, I am so nervous. Every nerve ending feels like it's on fire and the seconds are moving at a molasses pace. Each beat of my heart reverberates in my ears as the anticipation grows.

“She is in. She will meet you for coffee at Sly Fox Coffee at 7:00 am,” Gio says triumphantly. While I am extraordinarily happy to be seeing her tomorrow, Gio has a long night ahead of him.

“Good, you can watch her tonight and follow her to the shop in the morning where you will be relieved.”

“Understood Boss,” is all he was able to get out before I hang up the line and hear a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I give the go-ahead to Enzo who has arrived just in time this evening. He opens the door, walks to the liquor cabinet, and pours himself some peanut butter whiskey before sitting down across from me. We both take sips of our drinks before diving into the business. We discuss the real estate that we manage for all of our people to ensure that everyone is able to have a safe space to sleep at night and raise their kids. Then we transition into the strip clubs and bars that we own all across the state to help clean the dirty money that comes in from the weapons trades that we deal in. I had asked him for the specs on a specific building and how difficult it might be to acquire the apartment building that my lilac lives in.

The information is easy, it's a faceless corporation and I can get it for market value and then increase the safety and security. Even if she doesn’t want me after I explain myself, she was seen with me and I will not let anything happen to her because of me. She deserves so much more than I can provide her but I so desperately want to be enough for her. The next thing that I had Enzo do was put a GPS tracker in her car and a video feed of the hallway outside of her apartment. The last file Enzo hands me is the background check. There are still a few requests outstanding since information isn't at the tips of our fingers, but I have her driving record from the DMV and her police record from our detective at the local precinct.

I open the file and read up on how she was only questioned once in a bar fight because someone touched her and she laid them out cold. It brings a smile to my face that my lilac can defend herself when she needs to. She has been pulled over for speeding before, but always seems to talk her way out of a ticket. It says here that her fingerprints were sent to the local hospital for their records since she is an employee there. If she fixespeople, maybe she can fix the broken parts of my soul. I lose hours digging into the file and Enzo sits there answering any of my questions and making a list of necessary security updates to her building. By the time I look up, I realize how late it is and that I need to get to my room and get some sleep if I plan to win over my lady tomorrow morning.

Chapter Four

“When in doubt, drink more coffee. What can go wrong?”

Anna

Iam way too early, but I couldn’t sit still and watch the clock anymore and if I just went to the coffee shop I could get in at least one cup before he gets there. The warm caress of the coffee will calm my nerves. My mind wanders as I walk through the streets to see the shop around the corner. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary or any dangerous men as I complete the walk from my apartment. The last steps into the coffee shop bring peace to my soul. The only other place that has ever brought me hope is the library where I could find heat, escape, and adventure no matter how little funds I had. Smelling the warm beans and fresh pastries wafting around the space, I feel some of my anxiety dissipate.

My head turns as the door jingles while other patrons enter the shop, but I am looking to see the man who brought me to life. The barista takes my coffee order and is kind enough not to comment on my obvious reaction at the door. Once I finish ordering a white chocolate mocha with caramel and whole milk, I pay with cash before waiting on the other end of the coffee barfor my drink. I can see the door from where I stand and my body vibrates with the violent combination of hope and anger.

“Anna,” the barista calls out from behind the counter before setting down my drink and turning back toward the coffee station. I pick up the warm cup and find my way to a table in the corner where I have a clear view of the door. After I sit down I reach into my bag, pull out the vampire book that I have been reading, and pretend not to be bothered while I wait for him. The jangle of the bells catches my attention and my heart stops beating when I see him. Our eyes lock and the corner of his lip rises in a small smile. I am so fucked.

He takes strides toward me and signals with his hands for his guards to stay behind, near the exit. With each step he takes he gets closer to me and it feels like the connection between us strengthens when we are in the room together. The rest of the room blurs and he is the only thing that I can focus on. When he reaches the table, he stops, stands before the seat, and looks up at me.

“Is this seat taken, Lilac?” he asks me with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

The lump in my throat prevents my verbal response from coming out, so I nod instead. I watch him take a seat and scoot his chair closer to me so we can talk without needing to project our voices across the table and over the ambient sound. To stall and find my voice I take another drink of my coffee and then put my receipt in my book as a bookmark before putting the book back in my bag.

“You asked to see me and have a chance to explain. I am here and ready to listen,” I tell him as I reinforce my spine and remember that he is married. Before he has an opportunity to speak, one of his guards appears at our table with a plate of pastries and a coffee for Aldo.

“Thank you, Enzo. Did you do what I asked?” he inquires with an even tone and quizzical expression. Enzo looks at him, smiling, and nods before taking a seat near the door to give us privacy. The baristas come out and go from table to table talking quietly to the patrons. Once they visit every table, they turn off the open sign and lock the door so it can only be opened from the inside. My jaw falls open in utter disbelief; this man just cleared out my favorite coffee shop so we could sit alone.

“Don’t worry beautiful, the patrons were all compensated with coffee cards to take their drinks to-go. The staff and owner have been duly compensated for any losses they would suffer from shutting down early. I know you care about this place and I wouldn’t want our meeting to affect your daily life negatively,” he says to me and reaches out his hand offering for me to take it but not forcing me. Fear courses through my veins as indecision racks my system. I promised him a chance to explain but not a chance to touch me, so I gently decline by lacing my hands together in front of me. His face shows his disappointment for only a moment before he moves his hand and nods in acceptance.

“Let me start with the fact that I want to apologize for making you feel deceived. I only ask that you let me finish explaining before you leave. If you decide then that you never want to see me again, I will respect that.” Aldo looks over my face, watching me take him in and all of his words as they sink into my being.

“I can do that but I may have questions, do you prefer that I ask them all at the end?” I inquire, as I grab the notepad and pen from my bag and flip to the ribbon marking my available page.

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