Ruthless Vow (Vegas Vicious #2)

15. Leo

15

Leo

I sit at the desk in my home office, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a view of the pool and hot tub and, in the distance, the mountains. On the far side of the pool is the pool house, a two thousand square foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom home that Sabina has claimed as her own. It offers her both privacy and safety. She has a place of her own while still being protected by guards and gates and the confines of the electric fence. I know there are times it grates on her, the need for protection, but it is our life.

A glass of whiskey sits untouched at my elbow. I poured it only because it makes me think of Nicole, a reminder of the night she poured one for me and sat with me while I mourned my father.

My index finger taps the polished surface of my desk, each tap in time with the pulse of the blinking dot on the tablet in front of me. I’ve been watching it for almost three hours, watching it move slowly across the map, weaving its way through the city, heading toward downtown.

I considered having her followed from the warehouse, my piccolo lupetta . Then decided against it. Too risky. If my men are spotted, either by her or someone she meets with, then this opportunity will be lost.

The tracker will have to suffice. It was easy enough to install when she let me take her locket so Luca could scan the picture of her sister.

I wonder what my little wolf thought when she found the door of her holding cell unlocked. I imagine she thought back to the unloaded gun she’d grabbed from my waistband. I imagine she thought this was another test.

It isn’t.

Her escape was carefully and methodically planned, at least on my end. On her end, it was a fleeting opportunity, one she grasped and made the best of. I expect nothing less of her.

The dot continues to move slowly across the screen.

I picture her, her steps quick and sure as she walks the maze of city streets, thinking she’s finally slipped through my fingers.

But she hasn’t. She never will.

The door to the study opens on silent hinges. Damian steps inside, followed by Luca, Cassio, and Dante. They’re all dressed, as am I, in loose-fitting black tactical trousers, black t-shirt, black hoodie, black tactical boots. My gun is in my inside waistband holster, my knife at the small of my back. The others are similarly armed.

I study Dante for a moment, relieved to see he looks healthy. His green eyes are clear, his light brown hair trimmed and styled. He’s carrying himself with confidence and poise.

“You good?” I ask.

“Looking forward to an adventure,” he says, his tone deep and resonant. He sounds like himself. He doesn’t wait for me to ask. “Haven’t had a drink in days,” he says. “Haven’t wanted one.”

I nod.

“Where’s she heading?” Luca asks, moving to look over my shoulder at the screen.

The dot has stopped moving. I check the address. “She’s near a storage facility on Freemont, near the Mob Museum.”

“Smart girl,” Damian says. “Probably has cash and weapons squirrelled away.”

My eyes stay fixed on the blinking red dot on the screen while the others joke and banter amongst themselves. The dot stays put for fifteen minutes, not moving. Then it shifts slightly. I’m guessing Nicole was scoping the vicinity before heading inside.

“You think she knew you were setting her up?” Dante asks, coming to stand beside me and watch the dot.

“She would have considered it,” I say. “But the opportunity was too good to pass up.”

“She’s loyal to whoever she’s working for,” Cass says.

I look away from the screen for a moment, flicking a glance his way.

“See, I don’t think she is,” I say. “I think that she’s being manipulated. That whoever she’s been reporting to has leverage. That they’re forcing her to follow their orders.”

“What kind of leverage?” Cass asks.

“She has a younger sister,” Luca says.

“One she hasn’t been allowed to see in over two years. One she’s only been allowed to speak with three times.” I meet the gaze of each of the men in turn. “Sibling love and loyalty,” I say softly.

There’s no need for me to say more. Each man in this room would kill to protect each of the others. To protect Sabina. We know a little something about sibling love and loyalty.

And though Luca isn’t our brother, we love him like one. Our mother took him in when his mother died. He’s one of us.

“That puts a bit of a different spin on things,” Damian says.

“Doesn’t it?” I reply. It wasn’t long ago that Alina almost got killed trying to protect her brother.

“So Nicole told you about her sister,” Damian says with a frown. “She trusted you with that information, but not with the identity of her boss.”

“Which is why I wanted her to run. She’s going to run straight to him and we will follow.”

“So she’s just bait?” Dante says.

I freeze. “No. She’s more than that.”

I stand abruptly, my chair scraping back. I pace to the window and look out. My jaw clenches as memories of Nicole tease my thoughts—her defiant stare, the way she grabbed my gun, the way she didn’t break, even when cornered. She intrigues me in ways I can’t explain, even to myself.

And that is dangerous.

When I turn away from the window, I catch Cass looking confused and Dante shrugging in reply to some silent question.

“More than that in what way?” Damian asks carefully.

I look at my brother, remembering how he’d stood against me when I threatened Alina before I learned she wasn’t a spy for the Ivanovs. He had been willing to fight for her. Not just willing. He’d come at me with all the strength of his rage. I had been utterly confused, unable to understand why my brother was so furious that I had threatened her.

And, well, I’d also choked her. Just a little. And pulled a knife on her…

But now… now, I think I understand.

Nicole is mine. I will decimate anyone who touches her.

“She is… not just bait,” I say, unable to find the words to explain. “She thinks she’s outsmarting me, that she’s running to freedom. But all she’s doing is leading us straight to him. We’ll track her and once she meets up with him, we’ll move. Her boss dies tonight. By my hand only. But Nicole…”

I pause, the weight of my unfinished thought hanging in the air. My mind flashes to her again—her dark eyes, the way she’d held my gaze with a mix of fear and defiance. I will not let her slip away. Not because she is a piece on my gameboard, but because she is mine.

She has no idea just how far she is from freedom.

When I find her, I’ll make sure she never forgets who she truly belongs to.

Me.

"I want her back," I finally say. "Unharmed. No one touches her, no one lays a hand on her. Understood?"

Damian laughs softly. “Oh, understood loud and clear. Never thought I’d see the day.” He looks at Luca, his dark brows rising. “The thunderbolt.”

“Looks like it,” Luca says with a grin.

“The what?” Cass asks.

“In The Godfather, Michael Corleone got hit by the thunderbolt,” Damian says.

“Love at first sight,” Luca clarifies.

“Well, this isn’t first sight,” Cass says. “He’s known her for years. We all have.”

“Who the fuck said anything about love?” I snarl.

Luca and Damian both laugh.

“Sound familiar?” Luca asks him.

“Very,” Damian says.

I glower at them, refusing to ask for an explanation. Damian offers one anyway.

“That’s exactly what I said when Luca asked me if I was in love with Alina,” he says. “I was. I just didn’t know it yet.”

“For fuck’s sake. I am not in love—”

“Uh, guys…” Dante says, cutting me off.

I turn to see him standing behind my desk watching the screen.

“You were expecting Nicole to meet her boss, right?”

“Yes.”

“Here? In Vegas?”

“Yes,” I say, getting a bad feeling as I round the desk.

The dot is moving, too fast for Nicole to be on foot. And it’s heading out of the city into the desert.