Page 28 of She Belongs to Me
CHAPTER 9
Nico
My goddaughter had lifted her middle finger to me. How dare she? She’d acted as if my behavior had been childish. What the fuck? And she’d been flirting with Romeo. I should have given her another hard spanking.
Didn’t she know she belonged to me? Me. Not anyone else.
I threw back almost an entire glass of whiskey, slamming the glass down on the credenza with enough force the glasses on the shelf rattled. Only then did I realize I had an audience.
Hissing, I glanced over my shoulder. Both my brother Domino and my attorney and friend Francesco had arrived at the same time. They were standing just inside the small conference room door with sheer amusement on both their faces.
“What?” I barked and returned to my glass.
Domino walked further into the room. “Well, it’s after four anyway, but the way you’re pumping back liquor means something has infuriated you. Would it be the guest you’ve yet to tell me about? Make me one of those, will ya?”
As usual, my younger brother looked like he’d stepped out of some goddamn fashion magazine. Meanwhile, I looked like the creature of death or Zorro. Goddamn, the woman had gotten under my skin.
It would seem no one could keep information to themselves. “Bastards.”
“What? For mentioning a guest from America, a girl your family has never met yet you’ve raised from the shadows?”
“Do not go there!”
Francesco had remained quiet, but the look of amusement remained on his face. I barely glanced at him before making three drinks. What the hell. I was an adult. I could do anything I goddamn well pleased.
I almost overpoured and the two men dared to chuckle behind me.
“And where the hell is Isabella?” My sister should be here.
“Contrary to popular belief, you’re not God and she’s not at your beck and call. She had an appointment with a distributor she couldn’t get out of.”
My brother also knew how to get under my skin and I’d whipped around, even pulling my arm back for a hard punch before I knew what I was doing.
“Whoa. What is going on? You’re not going to start a fight. Not here. Not now.” Francesco had jumped between the two of us.
I took a deep breath, grabbing my drink and walking away. As I stood in front of the window, all I could envision was her face. Her voluptuous body. And the way my trainer had responded to her.
“You’re off today more than I’ve seen you before. Is this about the American Greek mafia?” Francesco asked the question, which meant the full scale of what I was dealing with had become gossip fodder. I only hoped it had stayed in the upper echelon.
“You know,” I snarled.
“Goddamn it, Nico. We’re your partners. We’re your friends. And Domino is your brother. Now, what is going on?”
I turned around, leaning against the window. “Alexandra is a handful and entirely different than I thought. But she’s in serious and significant danger.”
“Is there a difference?” Domino threw out.
It was all I could do not to rage at him. My brother knew how to dig at a festering wound better than anyone I’d ever known. “Yes, there is. Not only did I see firsthand the efforts Adonis Dimitriou will go to in order to exterminate a witness, but my gut tells me eventually he’ll figure out where she is and come after her here. It would seem people talk.”
Both men caught the double entendre.
“You really think they’d cross the ocean to try and find her knowing she’s protected by one of the most powerful crime syndicates in all of Europe?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“But why?” Francesco asked.
“Have you heard of a huge gas line project that goes through Philly and other states?”