I smirked. "I can't imagine he's pleased to know I'm back in her life."
Lino outright laughed. "Safe bet there. Wonder if he ever tapped that," he mused, and I leveled him with a glare. A lesser man would have cowered, but my beloved cousin only laughed in the face of what was a very real danger to his life. "When do I get to see her again? Is she still as hot as she was in high school?"
Donatello stepped between us, likely saving Lino from very serious pain. "She will be my wife. You will not speak of her in that way again."
Lino's eyes widened, and he barked out a laugh. "Holy shit. Didn't realize you were quite that serious about it, man. I just enjoy pushing your buttons."
"I think I'd like to break your pretty fucking face," I growled.
"I would advise saving that anger for people who want to harm Ivory," Donatello inserted, distracting me from turning Lino's face into a bag of meat. "With Ricci's interest, a message needs to be sent about what happens to people who cross the line with her. It's your best chance of keeping her safe if you truly intend to install her at your side permanently."
I picked up the paperweight from my desk, the one fairly personal touch I allowed in a room that saw crime daily. The sea green globe reminded me of Ivory's eyes and had become a fixture in my life soon after I'd walked away from her. "Well, Ryker got a lock on the guys who robbed the bank. He's waiting for you if you'd like to convey a message," Lino said with a smug look. The bastard had been sitting on that information, withholding it from me the entire time he sat in my office, and we discussed apartment building renovations like I gave a shit about the specifics.
"Call him. Now. Tell him to grab them and meet me at the warehouse," I ordered, already striding out of the office. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, dialing Ivory's number. I'd programmed mine into her phone when I'd snuck into her bedroom the night before, so her voice was predictably guarded when she answered.
"Of course, you went through my phone. Leaving no stone unturned when it comes to invading my privacy, huh?" I smiled, loving even that bit of fight and sass she had that hadn't been there before. I'd loved her innocent, but the slightly harder woman she'd become would be better prepared to live a life at my side.
"I'm taking you out tonight. I'll be at your place at six." She started to protest, but it fell on deaf ears when I hung up the phone with a grin.
My little angel was about to be mine again, in every sense of the word.
And she had no idea.
✽✽✽
It was a struggle to wipe the smile off my face when I made it to the warehouse. The warehouse was located inside my territory, a necessary evil when you wanted to be sure no innocent bystanders heard victims scream. Riverdale was one of the worst areas of Chicago, and it was a very rare occasion that someone was foolhardy enough to play the good Samaritan in that area. Regardless, the abandoned building wasn't welcoming in the slightest, but the locked room that had once served as a freezer was fantastic for ensuring nobody ever stumbled across someone I needed to keep around for a while.
I should have been surprised to see Ryker's van parked in the back.
I wasn't.
As soon as the man found them, I had little doubt he'd set things in motion to get them here. He was efficient, his obsessive tendencies required nothing less. But there was nothing he hated more than an innocent woman getting wrapped up in a dangerous situation that she had nothing to do with. Even if I hadn't demanded blood because they'd put a gun in my woman's face, Ryker would have.
He had strange values, considering he was my most violent enforcer and nothing fazed the man. I'd seen him do some fucked up shit and never blink. But he didn't do women or kids.
Said that was the one thing his woman could never forgive. Not that he had a woman, or at least, not one who was aware he’d claimed her, since she was already married to another man.
I shook my head, because obsessive didn't cover it.
The man was a stalker.
I knocked on the steel, exterior door, and Ryker opened it up quickly. "Took you long enough," he grunted, turning and striding away. I turned the deadbolt, locking out any trespassers.
"I was on my way when Lino called," I snorted, and he leveled me with a dark grin.
"I may have already had them in my van." He shrugged his nonchalance, but it was fake. His steel-blue eyes glittered with excitement.
There was a reason the man was my best enforcer. Violence simmered in his blood, an unending rage that never seemed to quiet. I'd never asked where it came from. Even I didn't dare. Ryker was not the man you asked questions about himself. He was loyal, friendly with me and my other guys, but his life started when he joined up. He didn't have a past, was a ghost before he came to me.
That was something I understood.
So we didn't push. People who did ended up dead.
"How many?" I asked. I hadn't been able to ask Ivory exactly how many men had thought to rob the bank. I'd been flooded with too many emotions after over a decade of feeling nothing—suddenly overwhelmed by rage and fear and relief and real lust.
"Four. From what I can tell, three were inside and one was the getaway driver. He never even laid eyes on your girl. Should we let him live?"
I hummed. "We'll see how I feel in the moment." Ryker smirked, and I knew he was relishing the fact that for once, I would enjoy the violence I took part in. Too often I was just a cold spectator, rarely getting involved myself unless I needed to send a very serious message.
Not this time. Not when it came to my Angel.
When he opened the door to the freezer, I let my face slide into that cold mask that the rest of the world knew. "Mr. Bellandi!" One man started in as soon as I filled the room with my presence. Ryker stepped off to the side, leaning against his table where he kept his tools. His ass hit it, and he grabbed one of his picks that he normally used to insert under fingernails. The crazy fuck set to cleaning out under his own nails with it, and if I'd been in any situation where I could have, I'd have laughed my ass off at the horrified look one of the more bloodied men shot his way. "We didn't touch her. I swear!" the man blubbered on.
"Yeah? Tell me how it went down," I challenged, crossing my arms over my chest and staring down the four men strapped down to wooden chairs that Ryker would throw in the incinerator after he finished up. I listened to the most bloodied man rattle on through his story, admitting that he'd pointed his gun at Ivory, but realized who she was as soon as he got close enough. Every muscle I had tensed, picturing what her terror must have looked like as she stared down the barrel of a gun for wanting to help an old lady. I could imagine the slime ball in front of me probably had filthy thoughts while he stared at her. Knowing the way Ivory seemed to draw people into her orbit, had there been need of a hostage, they'd have taken her.
My Angel.
Visions of her broken and bleeding body flashed in front of my eyes, and I reached behind my back to grab the handgun I'd tucked in there before leaving the estate. As soon as I held it in front of me, flicking off the safety, the man began to tremble. "Please, please no." I stepped forward, pressing the gun against his forehead. The stench of urine struck me, his pants wet as terror undoubtedly took over.