𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐞

8|| Caught & Captured

Dante / January 15
•••

"Capo," Ricardo greets me with a nod as he enters my office.

I'd been working the entire day, sifting through every second of the recordings of Lester's meetings with that Frenchman Tobias Dupont.

"I can see that this isn't a good time, but she insisted on me telling you that she's here to see you and-"

"You tasteless man whore."

My headache increases by a hundred when Natalia storms through my office door, almost knocking Ricardo out of her way in the process. Her face is calm – it always was due to the Botox – but you don't need sight to feel her rage.

I give Ricardo a nod and he closed the door on his way out after giving me a sympathetic look. Natalia has a way of making grown men pee their pants with a single glare, but after spending three years in an engagement with her I'd gotten used to them.

I look her up and down, entirely unimpressed with her entrance. "What makes you think you can enter my house like this?"

She reaches into her purse and holds up a plastic bag before me. "Seems familiar to you?"

My muscles tighten in anger as I stare at the very same gun Celeste Costelle stole from me at Natalia's club Paradise. Just the memory of watching her use my family's weapon to make some random waitress come made my blood boil.

I didn't let it show though, even then, when she looked me straight in the eye as she licked that woman's cum off of my gun I kept my composure.

When in reality I wanted nothing more than to shove the entire thing down her throat and pull the trigger.

"I do not need you to provoke me by leaving your gun covered in another woman's release in my club, Dante."

My eyebrows tick up as I realize what kind of conclusion she'd come to. "That's not mine." I lean back in my chair. "I would never waste a perfectly good gun on something as useless as provoking you."

She crossed her arms. "If it's not yours, then whose is it?"

I know I'd be getting way more trouble from this if I didn't give her a straight answer than if I did. "If you must know, someone took it from me and then stuck it into one of your waitresses."

"Someone took your gun?" she repeats in disbelieve.

"Yes," I say. "Now I trust you can find the door yourself."

She narrows her eyes in offense. "If I find one more of your weapons on my floor, I'll have no choice but to blacklist you. Paradise is a club of immunity and I want everyone to feel safe."

"How inspiring," I say dryly, before nodding my head at the door.

She left and I had ten minutes of peace before my phone went off. I frown when I see that the caller is Adriana. She should've been home by now.

"What?"

"Don't tell me that's how you greet your sister, Mr. Alessi."

My blood runs cold as a familiar voice comes out of my phone's speaker. "Why do you have her phone?"

"Because I took it from her."

Before I know it, my head is running wild with thoughts of all the ways I'd torture this lunatic if she'd laid a hand on my sister. I stand up, heart pumping with adrenaline and I get even more pissed off when I realize that no one had ever gotten me this railed up before.

Meanwhile Celeste had managed to do it twice already.

"I swear, if you-"

"Relax. She's fine," she interrupts with a slightly annoyed undertone. "Say hi to your brother."