Caught In The Crossfires - Spinoff

27

Chapter 27

Cristiano

Brushing away a few fallen tendrils of Lorella's silky dark hair from her rosy cheeks, I leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to her delicate skin before leaving her to sleep in the guest room. I gently shut the door behind me so as not to wake her.

After her drop, she barely made it through aftercare before she was out cold. My brain had been battling my desire for her from the moment we spoke in her coffee shop, and tonight I broke. And knowing that I shouldn't have let it go so far or that I should have walked away didn't stop me from basking in her for as long as she let me, but it couldn't happen again.

Sighing honestly exhausted, I ran a hand over my face and strode towards my destroyed office, all the while my thoughts in complete shambles. How was I supposed to let her walk away after that? And was I really going to be able to sit back and eventually watch her be with someone else? I growled in irritation; the notion of another person's hand on her almost immediately angered me. I'd never met anyone like her, and it made it even harder to stay away, and now that I've had a taste.

"What are you still doing up?"

Alessandro's voice snapped me to the present. There was no way he could know what happened. He would never let me live it down, and right now, that wasn't what I needed. "I wanted to get this taken care of." I immediately cleared my mind of her and thanked my lucky stars for soundproofing that room.

"Yeah, that little brat really did a number on this place, didn't she," Alessandro snorted, sorting through some scattered files and putting the paperwork in its rightful place before sorting it away.

For some reason, something about the way he referred to Lola as a little brat irritated the absolute fuck out of me even if I knew he just meant her stature. I didn't fucking like it. Instead of telling him to call her by her name, I bit my tongue and grabbed the broom from the far end of the desk—Jesus, Lorella. That girl really did do a number on this place.

"So what'd you do to the girl," my brother asked casually, continuing his task, and my mind instantly went back to

"I told her what she needed to know."

My patience had already run thin this evening, and I was in the mood for twenty fucking questions.

"Are you really going to make me beg?"

"Jesus Christ, Alessandro, enough, okay? It's late. I have an early meeting and now this to deal with. So can you not be your usual pestering self?"

There was a brief silence that I knew was too good to last before the asshole decided he would, in fact, be the usual nuisance—apparently, it was still something he hadn't outgrown from childhood.

"Well, if you're that pissed about it, why isn't she in here cleaning it up," he mumbled under his breath, and I fought the urge to remind my little brother I wasn't one to be fucked with.

"Because you're the one who fucking let her in here, and she's been through enough tonight."

"Enough of what exactly?" I knew what he was implying, and frankly, what happened between Lorella and I was none of his business. Rather than go back and forth with him about that fact. I told him what he wanted to hear.

"I told her everything."

The small room fell silent before Alessandro snarled out a growl. He fucking growled.

"The fuck do you mean you told her everything? Are you out of your goddamn mind, Cristiano?" He hollered. His big emerald eyes looked as if they were ready to pop out of his head.

"Lower your fucking voice and watch your tone with me." My hand twitched, desperately needing to clean up this mess and wanting to snatch him up by his thick, corded neck. My brother may be stalky, but he knew better than to get fucking smart with me—sometimes. The little asshole's mouth got him in more trouble than not.

"What fucking choice did you leave me, huh?" I bellowed. My anger was a step away from getting the best of me. I dared not look over my shoulder because I wanted to believe that he didn't know that Lorella was still here. Surely he would have said something if he had the slightest suspicion of her whereabouts. "If you hadn't been snooping around in here, she never would have found those fucking files. So, right now, I'd be real goddamn mindful of how you choose to address me about what I did or did not tell her, little brother, because I'm not in the fucking mood for anymore your tomfoolery this evening."

Sucking in a deep breath through my nose, I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Don't hit him, Cristo. One. Two. Three... The black, thunderous clouds invading my mind molded into sweet raven tendrils, wrapping around me in a warm embrace. My office—my space was desecrated, and I hadn't a fucking clue on where to begin.

"Well, I wouldn't have had to have snuck into your goddamn office if you were honest with me." He retorted as he dropped a stack of papers into my desk without an ounce of grace. Air picked up a few of the documents, carrying them to the floor. Four. Five... Her sweet-smelling tendrils tightened, holding me like a serpent, and it was hard to breathe.

Gritting my teeth, I bent over and snatched the papers from the floor. "What I do in my free time and who I do it with is none of your business. Frankly, nothing I do unless it has to do with the business—concerns you." I slammed the papers down on my desk and shot him a pointed look. "I'm a grown-ass man. I never once questioned you about the door of revolving women that you are constantly parading throughout my house."

"Our house," Alessandro growls underneath his breath. "That's fucking different, and you know it, Cristo, and it very well does concern me, especially when it's her!" He jerked his hand toward the direction of my playroom. Torment swirled in his anguished eyes. Is he jealous? I wanted to laugh at the thought. He gets his fair share of getting laid, but he doesn't love. My little brother and I may not be so different after all.

Silence greeted us again, and he seemed to learn to bite his tongue. Alessandro heaved the bookcases from the floor and placed them back where they belonged against the wall. God damnit, my little brat is quite the Tasmanian devil. I took note of the hardwood, noticing the scratches I would have to polish out of the floor from where she pushed my filing cabinet across the room. Such a fucking brat. She just had to go snooping and barricade herself in here away from my brother. However, a part of me was glad he didn't get to her. His hand tended to be heavier than mine.

"So," Alessandro broke the peaceful quiet we were working in, and I rolled my eyes. "I'm assuming since you told her everything she knows about the ex-boyfriend then?" I turned to look at him, and he cocked his head to the side, sizing me up as he spoke. "Because that's when everything began to click into place for me."

My blood ran cold, and I couldn't move. No one knew about that. Not even our usual clean-up crew. No, because I took care of that—of everything. I could still feel the way his bone structure broke beneath my hands. His cheekbones turned to dust, and his face sagged like his skin was only supporting jelly. When I was done beating the shit out of him, I put a bullet in between his eyes. I wanted him to pay. I wanted him to feel the wrath of God for laying a fucking hand on her, but I never cared for messy kills. Too much blood, and it always ruined my suits.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I don't?"

I gritted my teeth, biting back what I wanted to say to him. Even if I told him what that asshole did to Lorella, I don't think he would give a single fuck about it. This was my business, and it didn't concern him in the slightest. He was only pushing me on this because he got caught for sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

"Just help me clean this fucking mess up since it's your fault, to begin with, and I don't want to hear another fucking word about it. Period." I said, brushing my hands on my sweats. I always kept a spare change of clothes in my playroom—and the guest room—since I never knew when I might need them. I just needed to get this mess sorted before I went to check on Lorella again.

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