Page 22 of Born a Queen

Chapter Twelve

Sotza was not pleased that his second-in-command hadn’t managed to retrieve his stepdaughter. Vee was even less pleased.

"There was absolutely no excuse to have left that club without my daughter." Vee’s voice echoed sharply through the room.

Mateo’s phone sat propped up on the nightstand on speakerphone. He was laying stretched out on the bed, his arms behind his head, his eyes closed. He was not relaxed though. He was thinking. He didn't trust Savino, didn't trust the man to hand Raina over. Mateo believed he had another plan.

"There were no less than a dozen of Savino’s men inside and outside the club. Had I brought everyone on hand with me, they wouldn't have been enough to get us all out alive. Raina might have been shot during the standoff. I had no choice but to allow Savino to leave with her."

“I don’t believe that. You’re supposed to be a professional, Mateo, and you’re telling me that you couldn’t extricate one girl from Italy. Incompetent - ” Mateo tuned Vee out as she continued on her angry tirade.

Mateo was steadily losing patience with Vee. Only two things kept him from going on the offensive with her; his employer would have him killed and Mateo loved her daughter. He refused to do anything to harm Raina, even indirectly. She would never forgive Mateo if he went after her mother. Which left Mateo to suffer the woman's disrespect.

"You made the correct choice." Sotza interrupted his Vee.

He was used to stepping in between his wife and his second-in-command. From the moment Vee helped her daughter leave the Venezuelan mountains, helped her leave Mateo, she’d made an enemy of him. Sotza cared for them both and tried to keep the peace, though it tested his already thin patience.

Focusing on his boss, Mateo said, "I have people near Savino’s estate where the guards won't see them. Ready to storm the place if it seems like Raina might be in any danger, though I got the sense that Savino feels somewhat paternal toward her."

"Good enough for now," Sotza said.

"Not good enough!" Vee snarled into the phone. "I need to hear her voice, know that she’s alive and well."

"My word is good enough," Mateo snarled back. There was only so much he was willing to take from the woman and insulting him at every turn was unacceptable. She acted as though he wasn't just as invested in keeping Raina alive.

There was some unintelligible mumbling from the other side of the phone, then the slam of the door, loud enough that even Mateo’s phone jumped. He smirked. Señora Sotza had left the office.

"Between you and me, my wife will not be happy again until she sets eyes on her daughter. Get the girl and bring her home. Do not delay if you can help it." What he didn't say was that his marriage would not be a happy one until Vee got what she wanted.

Mateo didn't envy the other man his choice of wife, but he got it. Despite his better judgement, Mateo was hopelessly fucked up over the daughter. And the daughter was very like the mother. It was a mystery to him how he could love one and despise the other. But he wasn't the type of guy to look too deeply at himself and his motives. He lived his life the best way he knew how. And what he knew was that having Raina in his life would complete him.

"I’ll bring her home, you have my word," Mateo told his boss.

"I have full confidence," Sotza said calmly, and they both knew it was true. Mateo would not be Sotza’s second if Sotza didn't trust him completely and utterly.

A slight smirk curled the edge of Mateo's lip. "You can tell your wife to prepare for a wedding. A happy occasion should put her in a better mood, don't you think?"

"You enjoy testing my patience." There was humour in Sotza’s voice. "My wife would gut me with her new dagger if I so much as suggested her daughter might be marrying into the organization."

Mateo opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling. "It's a fact. Best she prepare herself. I will be marrying Raina."

As soon as he could get his hands on her.

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