“Not yet, Angel.” He nuzzles my neck. “Not till I knock you up at least.”
19
ANTONIO
“I’ll be up soon.” I kiss Angelica’s forehead and shoo her from the library.
She gives me a sexy look over her shoulder, then pauses and returns to me.
“What is it, angel?” I wrap her in my arms.
“I’m just so worried. Bianca won’t survive people like the Frangiones.” She looks up at me, her eyes welling with tears. “She’s so sweet, Antonio. You’d know if you met her. She’s genuine and kind and so, so good. I’ve always tried to protect her, but now I’m not there and–”
“Shh.” I rub her back. “I’m going to take care of this, angel. I need you to trust me.”
“Idotrust you.” She sighs. “I don’t know how or when it happened, but you made me fall in love. I thought being forced to marry you was my death sentence, but it’s turned into anything but. Now I want the same thing for Bianca, not a life where she lives in terror. Please, help her.” She buries her face in my chest. “Please.”
I can’t bear to hear her beg me like this, not when I can feel the pain inside her. “Angel, I’m going to fix this. I swear it. Your father is over a barrel. I don’t know how or why, but I’m going to find out. If I have to save his ass to save your sister, I’ll do it.” Fuck, I don’t want to do anything except bury her father in the fucking ground, but I’ll do what I must to make my angel happy.
“I don’t love him, Antonio. Not as a father or anything even close to it.” She sighs. “So I don’t want him saved.”
“There’s my vengeful queen.” I tilt her chin up and kiss her. Angelica has a fire inside her that she only shows to me. She did the day I married her when she asked me what the fuck I was looking at. She does it here and there by challenging me and using her sassy mouth to get me all riled up. Angelica knows just what to say, and I fuckinglovethat she already knows me so well. “I’ll bury him if that’s what you want. I’ll have it done before the night is through if you just say the word.” I stroke her cheek.
She sighs. “It’s tempting. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t, but Bianca wouldn’t want that,” she adds when I finally let up. “She doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, not even him.” Her gaze hardens. “But if it’s between Bianca or my father, I’d end him in a heartbeat.”
Fuck, does she have any idea what her warrior words are doing to me? I’m getting hard again, needing to fuck a baby into her to bind her to me in every way possible. I have no idea why I was chosen to be the lucky bastard to bag this fiery angel, but I know I’ll never let her go now that she’s mine.
“I feel better since I talked to Bianca and she’s doing fine, but also kind of worse that I know what my father intends for her–though she has no idea.” She sighs. “But I trust you, Antonio. I know you won’t let her get hurt.” She gets on her tiptoes and kisses me. “I should go upstairs. I already promised Carina and Diablo I’d try to broker peace between them once you came home safe.”
“I’m here, angel. Go on up.”
“All right.” She moves toward the stairs. “But you’ll be up soon?”
“Soon.”
She nods and climbs the stairs. When she’s out of sight, I hear her say, “Oh! Diablo, we’re already off to a bad start. Why are you clawing Carina’s door like that?”
I turn to head to my office, but Gilly comes rushing down the hall. My stomach drops when I see the look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Butcher.” He skids to a halt in front of me. “He’s gone.”
“Gone where?” I don’t exactly keep tabs on Butcher, but then again, he’s always around. Like Gilly. The two of them are my right and left hands.
“I got a text from one of my lookouts you had me put on the Larone house.”
My eyes go wide. “Oh, shit. Are you telling me he’s there?”
Gilly nods. “He pulled up on the back road that goes through the trees. Did it stealth, but our lookout still managed to get a shot of him.”
My head spins as I try to put this puzzle together. “Why thefuckis he there?”
“I don’t know.” He shakes his head, then pinches the bridge of his nose. “I haven’t a fucking clue. He didn’t say anything. When you got back, he just took off and went straight there it looks like. Do you think he’s going to try to gank Constantine for you?”
“No. He wouldn’t do that unless I gave the order.” I realize Butcher is a fucking force of nature, but he doesn’t go against me. Never has. Never will. There must be something else going on that I’m missing, but what?
I pull out my phone and text him.