“She all right?” Viking falls in with me, while Snark heads downstairs mumbling about “checking his scripts” or some bullshit. I know he does important stuff, but as long as my phone gets Wi-Fi, it's fucking beyond me.
“She'll be fine. Just tired. Or hangry.”
Viking chuckles. “Sounds like you.”
Hawk follows as far as the door, then continues down to his room with a little wave.
I push open the door quietly, hoping to catch Alessa naked and asleep. It's my favorite way to wake her up. With Izzy here, it'll have to be the PG version of it, but I work with what I have.
The bed's empty.
“Where is she?” Izzy grumbles along with me, like she's sensing something's wrong.
“Maybe she took your bed,” suggests Viking. “That one's big enough for all of us.”
Turns out she's not there either. Or in Snark's quarters. Hawk? I wouldn't think so, but after they had it out the other day, things have been good.
When I open the door, Hawk looks up from his bed where he's reading on something. “Given up on knocking?”
“Whatever. Have you seen Alessa?”
“Not here.”
“What the fuck?” I look around like she's hiding behind the door or something. “Where'd she go?”
“Guys, we have trouble.” Snark comes in after us and closes the door.
“No shit,” I growl. “Alessa's not here.”
“It's about to get fucking worse. I've managed to decrypt messages going in and out to mob domain addresses.”
I blink at him. “I have no idea what the fucking means. What's it got to do with Alessa?”
“Someone here has been communicating with the Mafia. Well, two someones now. I bet one of them is our saboteur, and the other one is Alessa.” His expression is frustrated. Angry. And concerned, all at fucking once. “And I've figured out who it is. It took some messing around with tracking and sorting the devices using our Wi-Fi, but I got it.”
“Stop beating around the fucking bush,” snaps Viking. “What's it mean? Conclusion.”
“Beatrice. Like we fucking were worried about. Fuck, they've been living together for a long time, and she seemed cool. Alessa’s going to be crushed.”
“The fuck?” Viking goes for the door. “She's been fucking handling our baby.”
I see red. Before any of the guys can stop me, I tear the door open and stomp back to the common room. We might not know where Alessa is, but there's someone I bet does.
Beatrice and Emily are still chatting, though Wild Child has slipped underneath Emily to have her in his lap, his hand up under her shirt. She's just slapped it away, when she notices us. It must be pretty obvious we're pissed, because she frowns. “What's going on?”
I cut right past her to yank Beatrice out of the couch. She screams in surprise, but I don't give her time to gather herself before I press her up against the wall. The back of her head bounces off the cement, and I don't fucking care. “Traitorous bitch, where the fuck is Alessa?”
30
ALESSA
Dario's smirk is a sight I hoped I would never see again.
“You made it.”
He's leaning back against the hood of a black SUV, his legs and arms crossed, casually waiting as if this is a date. A social call. I'm surprised to find him alone. Is he that confident? Or did he get abandoned even by his family?
I hate that I've had to lie to the others to meet him here. That I'm sneaking around, but all it takes is one moment. One opportunity, and we'll all be free of him. The risk is worth it. Hawk's gun is an uncomfortable lump in my pants that I hope Dario doesn't see under my jacket. I'm only going to get one chance at this.
“You didn't give me much choice.”
“Bella mia,” he says in that way that makes me want to grind my teeth. “I'm glad you've finally come to reason. Where's your brat?”
“You can have me. I'm not giving you my baby.”
He shrugs. “Don’t want her anyway. You and me, we'll have lots. Those fuckers can keep theirs.”
And that's how he'll always see me. A plaything. A possession. Someone for him to fuck when he feels like it, someone to raise his little Mafiosos. Unlike the guys, he'll never see who I am.
“You realize I'll never love you, right? Everything you do to me, I'm going to hate. Everything you tell me, I'll try to forget, and the day someone's bullet finally catches up to you, I'm going to spit on your grave.” My words are pure venom, so caustic they should burn away his skin. If anything, his smile widens.
“Alessa, amore mio. As long as you're with me, I'm happy. I love you, and with time, you'll learn to love me too. Trust me. It'll be fine. I'll buy you all the nicest things, dress you in all the prettiest clothes, and our babies are going to be fucking beautiful.” He pushes off the car, then goes around to the side to open the passenger door.