“Jesus Christ,” I mutter, tucking my gun into the back of my waistband. “Say what you came to say.”
She falters. Something like discomfort flashes across her face. “It’s personal.”
“There is no personal with us, Valentina.” I start to shut the door, but she yanks her hand out of the guard’s grasp and grabs my arm.
“No, Matti, wait.” She sounds panicked. “There’s something you need to see.”
I glare at her. “If you’re wasting my time—”
“It’s important, Matti.”
There’s something in her voice I haven’t heard from her before. Something that makes me stop. Though I wouldn’tput it past her to fake sincerity in order to get what she wants, in our current situation with Aurelio, I can’t shut out potentially valuable information.
Eleanor’s eyebrows lift as I wave Valentina inside. “Shall I wait, Mr. Dragovari?”
“No, but they can,” I say, gesturing to the guards.
“Sir…” Eleanor stops with a glance at the guards and lowers her voice. “Mr. Vincenzo Demonio has called several times this morning and stopped by twice. I don’t know if you’ve seen my messages.”
I hadn’t. I was focused on Siena. “Why isn’t he calling my cell?”
“He said he did, sir,” Eleanor says.
That tracks. I’ve barely checked in with my phone for the past week. I nod. “Get him a message to come here. Aprivatemessage.”
“Mr. Tommaso Demonio was with him as well,” she says.
I raise an eyebrow. I haven’t heard from Tommy in over a month. “Okay. Him, too, then.”
As the door clicks shut behind me, I walk into the living room to find Siena and Valentina facing off like rival cats about to pounce.
My kitten is standing next to the laptop on the table, her expression impenetrable while Valentina is closer to the couches, her usual resting bitch face firmly in place.
I clear my throat. “Siena, I believe you’ve met Valentina. Valentina, my fiancee, Siena.”
I settle into a chair at the table next to Siena as both women turn to look at me in angry shock, but for very different reasons.
I cut Siena a look—sharp, deliberate, daring her to contradictme. She is mine. It’s not up for debate. She can be mad if she wants, but I lost her once, and I won’t lose her again.
The only benefit of Valentina being the first to know is that I can count on her to run her mouth. Once people know she’s mine, they’ll understand that she’s off limits and anyone who fucks with her will have to deal with me.
Anyone.
Valentina moves first, stepping toward the table. “Look, I didn’t come here to fuck with you,” she mutters. “But there’s something you should—there’s a video that—fuck, Matti—”
“What the fuck do you want, Valentina?” Siena snaps, and I sit back silently, filled with pride as I watch my kitten flex her claws. Something about watching her be so strong with other people while knowing I get to turn her into a begging, whimpering mess later makes my dick hard. Especially knowing there’s a butt plug in her ass that I will be replacing with my cock sooner than later.
“I came to see if you’d checked the flash drive.” Valentina speaks to me but looks at Siena as she points to the laptop. “May I?”
Siena begrudgingly slides it her way and Valentina goes to work, tapping rapidly on the keyboard. “After I finished with, um, yourfiancee’sproject, I went back to the flash drive using scanner software to organize the files based on who was in them, and I came across someone unexpected.”
She gives the keyboard a final tap, spins the laptop toward me, and sits back.
The screen flickers to life.
And I freeze.
26