Page 35 of Bitter Prince
My brother and I were in the back room, checking numbers on the shipments of cocaine that hit both the Leone docks and my own private ones. I might be a Leone, but I wouldn’t put it past my father to leave me with nothing. It was crucial I make my own way in this world.
“What’s up your ass?” Dante muttered as he calculated the numbers coming into his own docks. “You’ve been in a sour mood ever since you got here.”
“I ran into the Romero girl.” The images of her dancing with Roberto kept replaying in my mind, making me see red. I was starting to suspect that Reina would turn my world upside down.
“Again?” I nodded. “Is she stalking you?”
“No.”
I would have made the same assumption, except she seemed genuinely surprised to see me. If she was faking it, she was doing an excellent job. Then again, her mother and grandmother were actresses, so it wasn’t far-fetched that she inherited that gene.
“What happened to the chick who was all over you?” Dante’s voice penetrated through my thoughts, and it took me a moment to realize he wasn’t talking about Reina.
I couldn’t stand seeing her blonde curls glowing under the lights, the way men stared at her as she swayed her hips to the rhythm, rotating and twisting.
Reina Romero looked fucking hot. She was gorgeous in anything she wore, but those tight leather pants hugged her curves in a way that gave me a glimpse of what her body would look like beneath.
Underage. Underage. Underage,I kept reminding myself, but somehow it didn’t matter. I was fucked.
“Amon?” Dante’s voice reminded me I never answered him.
I shrugged. “No idea.” I wasn’t in the mood to talk about women. “How are your numbers coming along?” I asked instead.
That got our attention back to business. The moment we turned eighteen, Dante and I started acquiring businesses here and there. Dante was more wrapped up in our family business than me, so I was left with free time to expand my own. I owned nightclubs, hotels, and docks on four continents, and used them actively to launder the money from my more illegal ventures, and for my supplies and transport. I even invested in my hobby, car racing, and made a decent return.
“They’re coming,” Dante grunted. He’d much rather talk women than business. After all, we were only twenty-three—I was only a few weeks older than him—and we’d both seen some shit that we’d much rather forget. But this was important. It’d give us independence from Father—if we needed it—and from the underworld, if we so wished.
Going through the sales figures sorted by cities always took forever, but I wanted the full scope of what was going on. Dante felt the same. When it came to Father’s business, we shared the burden, but it wasn’t ours. At least not while he breathed.
An hour passed before a knock made us both look up from our laptops. The door opened and it was Cesar. He was built like a giant, and had been Father’s right hand man, however his allegiance shifted to us. He disliked our father as much as we did.
I frowned. He rarely ever made his way down here. He was usually out front or behind the bar.
He smiled nervously and I narrowed my eyes. “What is it?”
“We have a situation at the bar,” he said, his tone cautious. “Someone roofied a girl, and her deaf sister is going ballistic.”
“The Romero girls,” my brother and I hissed at the same time. I jerked upright, pushing the laptop out of my way. Fucking money could wait. “Who?”
“He didn’t touch her. Her sister and her friends were there and on him.” Cesar was breathing harshly. He knew how much I fucking hated guys who drugged girls to take advantage of them.
I stormed past him, past the lounge in front of our office, rushing to get to Reina. I could hear Dante and Cesar talking behind me as they followed, but I barely listened. The loud music slammed into me, feeding my fury until I saw her.
Reina clung to her sister’s arm, her face ashen, her eyes unfocused, and her head wobbling like she couldn’t hold it up. Even in the state she was in, she looked so beautiful it hurt.
“Find the man who did it and bring him to me.” My voice vibrated with my barely contained anger. I’d slice into him and make him regret ever looking her way.
“It was—” Cesar swallowed audibly, clearly uncomfortable. “It was fucking Roberto.”
“Your buddy,” Dante muttered. Not exactly, although he was sort of a friend. We shared a few classes in college and the guy stuck around afterward, so I gave him a job.
I had to take a second to swallow down the burning rage and the need to go after him. I wanted to tear him limb from limb, but Reina was more important right now. I’d handle him as soon as she was better.
“Take him to the special room,” I gritted.
I plowed through the crowds, people parting like the Red Sea while fury burned in my throat and through my veins. I took Reina from her sister who could barely hold her up.
“Let me,” I spat out, taking Reina’s free arm. Phoenix stared at me with those eyes that were so much like her sister’s, yet nothing like them. Then I remembered, the girl was deaf. I made a mental note to orderAmerican Sign Language For Dummies.
