Vow to Protect

I turn to face Kai. “What are the odds the old man takes out Sal for us? As interesting as that dynamic could be, I don’t want to lose my chance to rip that slimy weasel apart piece by piece. I want him to know exactly what I took from him and exactly what he gave up for his twisted games.”

“I don’t think he would kill him unless he had definitive proof Sal did something to Valentina. Right now, he’s just spouting off about Sal taking her to marry off without doing things properly.”

It went to show how much he knew about his own business partner and daughter’s fiancé. Sal would never steal Val away to marry her. To rape her, absolutely, but never to marry her when he can do that legitimately and get all the money he thinks is coming to him.

“Well, monitor things and make sure. The old man might know a special place Sal likes to hide out. Follow him to see if he makes any moves, especially to places we’ve logged as possible hideouts.”

A hush goes around the room again, and I meet each of their eyes. “What? What the fuck are you all staring at?”

Alexei breaks the awkward silence. “Andrea wants to know if you’ve taken the princess to bed yet.”

Kai drops his head, shaking it over the table, but I can’t tell if he’s ashamed or he’s laughing. If anyone else asked me such a question, I might put a bullet in their head after I made them apologize to my feet. These men earned the right to question me, so for them, I simply flip them off and focus on Kai. “They obviously need more to do if they are worried about my sex life.”

I shoot a look at Alexei. “Also, don’t fucking call her princess.”

He gives me a clipped nod and then elbows his sister, who is grinning from ear to ear. I flip her off individually just to make sure my point is made.

“Keep all our current surveillance in place. Get some people into Sal’s current businesses so they can be monitored at all times. I want him, and I want him alive so I can change that. Understood?” My tone is sharper than usual, but no one seems disturbed by it.

I settle back into the chair and wave at the screen. “Bring up the images again. I want to get a look at him. We still need to find out why he was out of town that long. Business deals don’t take that much time, but other things do.” My brain is headed down a track so fast it takes a moment for me to catch up. “Medical procedures would take that long. Start checking hospital records. Bribe, steal, whatever you need to do to track down the information.”

It gives me a little thrill to think the old man is finally getting what he deserves. If he is sick, I hope it’s brutal and eats him from the inside out.

“Anything else?”

Kai shakes his head while everyone else sits and waits for me to leave. I push out of the chair and head out. These assholes. They’ve earned my respect, my friendship, and my disgruntlement. It happens regularly, but this time, I want to bang heads together because they were talking about Valentina.

While my brain ran off that well-worn track, something else occurred to me. If I don’t find Sal soon, will Valentina decide our contract is unfulfilled and try to leave? It’s not as if I’ll let her walk out the door. She is my wife, after all, but if she took the contract to the council and showed it unfulfilled, they could grant her asylum and help her dissolve our marriage.

White-hot rage pours through me at the idea. There isn’t a person alive who could take her from me. Some part of me wants them to try so I can set the example of what happens if anyone does.

The anger eats at me while I head to my office and slam the door behind me. Let them think I’m mad at them for now. My head is spinning because I need to find Sal. I won’t give her a reason to walk away.

22

Valentina

I’m in bed before Adrian comes in for the night. We saw each other at dinner for a moment, but then he had to go off and handle some business meetings. The season is about to end, and it hits me how much has changed since I attended the first party. It feels like so long ago that I was excited about going to my first society event. Now, it’s all so hollow. As if I would see that girl and tell her to stop being a moony idiot. Since then, I’ve learned my world is so much darker than I’d ever imagined. And somehow, the man who is supposed to be the darkest star has become my light.