Five
Cole
Hidden in the shadows of a small back alley, I watched the gates of Giorgio’s compound slowly swing open, admitting a long town car. Flashy and unnecessary, and so very Giorgio.
Everything in me was chomping at the bit to rush over and take him out. The highly illegal firearm strapped under my jacket would get the job done, but it would be loud and messy and there was no guarantee I’d survive the encounter. And I’d come too damn far to screw the pooch now.
Laying a hand over my chest, I rubbed the outline of the solid gold cross that hung beneath my shirt. The action helped to ground me, easing the fury boiling in my veins, even as it renewed the ache I’d lived with for almost a year.
Natalie. My sweet, beautiful, smart as a fucking whip baby cousin.
The light of my life, snuffed out in an instant.
I could still hear the sound of glass shattering, of my aunt’s screams echoing in the night as she held her daughter’s lifeless body in her arms. Could still smell the metallic scent of blood permeating the air, my own mixing with what had already been spilled as I crawled across the broken glass to my family.
My phone vibrated against my thigh, jolting me out of my memories and back into the present. Shoving my hand into my pocket, I pulled it out and frowned at the unfamiliar number on the display.
“Porter.”
“Cole? It’s Adele.”
Pushing thoughts of vengeance and blood from my mind, I focused on her sweet, hesitant voice. “Hey, sweetheart. Miss me already?”
“Ahh… yes. A little.”
I could practically hear her blushing through the phone. Leaning back against the brick wall behind me, I grinned at the thought of her, all pretty and flushed, pacing her apartment as we spoke. “I miss you too, sweetheart. How is that sweet little pussy of yours feeling?”
“Cole! That is not why I called. You are very… very… effronté.”
I wasn’t a hundred percent sure of the exact translation, but I got the meaning and my grin widened in response. Flustering her was turning into one of my favorite pastimes. “Sorry, sweetheart. What were you calling for?”
“Well, maybe now I do not want to tell you.”
“Adele.” I let the warning tone slip into my voice. “Tell Daddy why you called.”
“You do not play fair,” she answered with a huff. An image of her, sitting on her bed, squirming at my commands flashed into my mind, and once again, my cock was straining at the zipper of my jeans. It should have been impossible to want her again so badly so soon, but my hormones apparently hadn’t gotten the memo.
“I know. Tell me why you called, or I’ll get a car to take me back to your apartment and you can answer the question with a red, hot bottom.”
“Dinner,” she blurted out. “I was calling about dinner.”
“Did you finish your errands already?” A quick glance at my watch confirmed less than an hour had passed since I’d dropped her off. She’d made it sound like she’d had a full day planned, but perhaps she’d only said that so I would leave her alone. The thought amused me more than it annoyed me, but she didn’t have to know that. Any reason to get her gorgeous ass back over my knee worked for me.
“Errands?”
Naughty little brat. “Yes. Your errands. You said you couldn’t commit to dinner when I dropped you off because you had errands to run. Or did you lie to Daddy?”
“I might have… exaggerated a tiny bit,” she admitted after a drawn-out silence.
“Hmmm. Do good girls tell lies, Adele?”
The hitch in her breath came through the phone loud and clear and I had to bite back a moan. God, this woman might be the death of me if Giorgio didn’t get to me first.
“N-no, Daddy.”
“No, they do not. I’ll be at your apartment to pick you up at seven. We can discuss your punishment then. And Adele?”
“Yes?” Her tone was sulky, and I could clearly see her face in my mind, her bottom lip in a full pout. The image only made me more eager to get to the end of the day so I could see it in person.