Page 13 of Ruthless Touch
Sasha grins wickedly. “Give me a chance with her so I can see for myself.”
“No and stop asking. It irritates me.”
Disappointed, she shrugs. “Fine. Then let’s focus on our work tonight. Is he here? I can’t see him anywhere.”
Looking around, I sigh. “I don’t either. He’ll be here, though.”
“I know you think this hotel is your own personal fortress, Gideon, but is it a good idea to invite the one man who’s sworn to kill every Rule he can find?”
While I keep my focus on the crowd, I answer her. “What better place to meet him? I’m protected by security here. Outside this hotel, who knows what might happen? This is the best way to handle this.”
Sasha pushes her arm against my elbow, drawing my attention away from everyone else in the room. When I turn to look at her, I see real concern in her eyes.
“What?”
“I just hope you’re being careful. Please? I’d like to keep you as my boss.”
“Not to worry. If they take me out, you can always go work for my brother,” I say, even as I hate that idea.
Her eyes get wide. “Alex? He doesn’t have any of your charm to soothe the rough edges. Mine or his. He’s all dark and jagged. We’d probably kill each other by the end of our first week together.”
“Then I guess I better stay alive,” I say with a smile, touched by her concern for me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the man I’ve been looking for all night. Marcello Angeloni. He vowed to take down the Rule family after the Rossettis told him it was a Rule who killed his brother last month. Alaric swears it wasn’t him who got rid of Lucius, although I wouldn’t blame him if he had.
Leaning over, I whisper to Sasha, “This fucker is all slick and smooth. Is he more your type?”
She looks in the direction of my gaze and sees Marcello. Shaking her head, she says, “If it’s a choice between him and your brother, then I’ll take Alex. Darkness is one thing. This guy is all cockiness, and I don’t think he has enough between his legs to back it up.”
Not surprising. That’s what you get with the prodigal son.
“What are you planning to do? I hope you’ve got your temper under control after that Aria situation. You can’t let Marcello Angeloni see someone can get to you. He’ll use that against you, Gideon.”
She and I watch him walk toward where we stand. “Relax. This is just a chance for two men to talk. We’ll have a conversation here in the safe confines of my hotel, and I’ll see what he’s got on his mind.”
“What he has on his mind is to kill everyone with the last name Rule. Please don’t underestimate this man. I know he’s the baby of the Angeloni family and he’s been gone from this coast for years, but he’s not a boy. Remember that.”
Just then, a man I know all too well joins Marcello as he makes his way through the crowd. “Some people just can’t get it through their heads that they should stay away.”
Sasha watches the men for a moment and asks, “Is that Franco Marchetti? I thought you said he left town and wouldn’t be back.”
“He’s not supposed to be back. Looks like he made a new friend.”
This changes my plans. I still need to talk to Marcello Angeloni to find out what he has planned, but Franco’s showing up here tonight with him tells me I need to make a point he didn’t understand when we last talked.
“Go get Aria. Make sure she’s wearing her mask, but I want her down here with me. Now.”
My assistant hesitates for only a moment before hurrying away to do as I ordered. Franco wants to show up at my hotel? Then he needs to remember what I got in exchange for him leaving town.
CHAPTER SIX
Aria
My blood feels like it’s boiling as I pace back and forth across the living room in Gideon’s beautiful penthouse, or what I affectionately like to call my fucking prison. That bastard! He has that ice princess of his dress me up to look all pretty, and then when a single person has the nerve to appreciate what I look like in this green dress, he forces me to come back up here and he goes back to the party! He’s probably there with Sasha, and the two of them are having a grand old time.
I pass that white and blue vase I saw him place on the table behind the couch the other day like it’s some priceless thing and stare at it. He gives that more care than he does me. I should accidentally push it onto the floor as I walk by next time.
He’s such an ass! Who takes a woman to stay with him and then does nothing with her, and then the one time he actually lets her out of her gilded cage, he stuffs her back in for doing nothing wrong?