Page 90 of Fortress of the King

“Nice fucking work,” Dante quips as I leave the room and head towards my quarters. I have a stash of stuff here; I could stay here a month without leaving and not run out of anything.

I dial Rayne again on my way to the shower to see if she answers and to make sure she’s okay, but it goes straight to voicemail and I hang up even more frustrated.

A little visit will be on the cards at this rate, and a late-night spanking to go along with it for not answering her fucking phone. I don’t like to be kept waiting.

After I freshen up, I wrap a towel around my waist and walk over to the window to our forest of a backyard that stretches for so many acres I lose count. It doesn’t displease me at all the exorbitant amount of money we all just got paid, this last account was profitable and well earned, although I wonder what it all means sometimes.

I acquire more money, more cars, and more gadgets than I know what to do with. I own all my own houses, my mother and sister are taken care of, and will never have to struggle in their lives. To say I’m well off would be more than an understatement.

However, there are times I wonder when the madness ends, and at the end of the day, I still sit here alone.

My mind flicks back to Rayne and the way I’ve felt with her in this short period of time.

I want her so fucking bad. I want to make her mine and have her in my bed every single night.

She courses through my veins like sweet poison, and up until this point, she’s captivated me, seducing me with her hot little body and her sexy smile.

I love how we are together. I love how we fit so well, and I love she’s not afraid of me.

I want to be the only thing she ever needs and craves. She doesn’t know this yet, but I would give her everything; she would want for nothing for the rest of her life.What’s more, I barely know her.

I contemplate that exact notion while I dress, and Enzo finally decides to show his face.

I’m past the point of entertaining my brothers when he walks into the informal parlor straight off the back entryway. I pour us a whisky and pass it to him as he runs his hand through his hair and takes a long breath. He does look a little worse for wear which is unusual for him, but he doesn’t appear to have been drinking.

“Why the fucking long face?” I ask him, throwing the amber liquid back in one mouthful.

“Wait till you hear where the fuck I’ve been,” he says not looking at me.

“Well, out with it, why call me nonstop all evening and then disappear?”

“I’m gonna need another few rounds, and then some, for this,” he mutters.

“I’m fucking serious, Enzo!”

“So am I!” he shouts.

I stare at him in disbelief, something sinks in my chest. Come to think of it, he’s looking grave as fuck, like somebody died or something.

“Fuck, is it Ma or Valentina?”

He shakes his head momentarily. “It’s nothing like that ….. it’s …. oh, Jesus fuck, Angelo …. I don’t know how to tell you this.”

My patience is wearing thin and this isn’t like him at all. What could be so difficult to tell me where the hell he’s been and why he needed to speak to me so urgently?

“Do I have to shake it out of you?”

He looks down at his feet. He doesn’t look me in the eye; I don’t understand his demeanor at all. “It’s Rayne,” he then says quietly. “I was with her just now.”

I stare at him dumbfounded. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“There’s something going down, Angelo …”

I don’t even give him a second before I’m on him, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him backward into the wall behind him. “You fucking messing with me, Enzo? Is that what this is?”

He pushes against me, shocked. We’ve never come to blows before, not outside the ring anyway.

“It’s not like that,” he manages to choke out with the bit of breath he has left. “What the fuck, Angelo!”

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