Page 79 of Under His Watch

“I would have if it meant keeping Nina and me safe, but…”

I smiled wider and brushed her hair back from her face. “But I’ll handle the killing.”

She frowned. “I do want to keep up with the training. Shooting practice and maybe even some martial arts. I feel more confident to know how to fight back, even if I know you will be my protector.”

I nodded. “I agree. And you will continue it. I’m proud of you, Tess, for fighting back. It’s sexy as fuck.” I squeezed her bare ass to emphasize that point.

“Please,” she groaned playfully. “I think I need a teeny break from another round.”

Later, after we dressed and moved out of the bedroom, she asked if we could move to the house that I had wanted to renovate. I wasn’t opposed to the idea at all, and I looked forward to her making her mark on the place and getting busy updating it.

“You’ve been thinking about this a lot, huh?”

She nodded over a late breakfast. “I have. For a while, I wasn’t sure if I was a girlfriend or what. When Stefan goaded me about not really being a Constella, I resisted the thought that I didn’t matter enough to you.”

As soon as we catch him, he’s paying for putting that doubt in her mind.“You do.”

“I know.” She smiled quickly. “But as I tried to figure out who I am to you, I daydreamed a bit about fixing up that place. Nina said the family has so many properties.”

“We do.”

She perked up. “Hey, that reminds me. I might need to ask a favor.”

I huffed a laugh as I stood. “Don’t call it afavor. You’ll be my wife as soon as I can arrange. Spouses don’t need to exchange favors.”

“Okay. Then I need to ask you something.” She shrugged. “My friend Liam could use a place to stay for a while, so I was wondering…”

“Sure.” I recalled the fondness in her expression when she mentioned her old friend. I also recalled the jealousy I felt at the idea of another man in her life. An envy that no longer mattered. She said she’d marry me. She said she’d be mine, and I could put faith in that. Tess was mine, and no one else’s.

Especially not Elliot Hines, whom I planned to pay a visit to later that day.

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask!”

“Were you going to ask if he could stay in one of the houses we own?”

She nodded.

“Then sure.” I kissed her brow, hating that I’d need to leave for a while to deal with Elliot.

My father and Franco rode along with me for that particular trip.

After the bullshit that Stefan pulled yesterday before going into hiding, it was a given that we would eliminate our enemies once and for all. It felt like a constant waiting game to figure out the best way to strike, but today, right now, we would hit back in such a way that would hinder the Giovannis and the Devil’s Brothers.

Elliot was clearly a high player in their schemes, and whatever those two groups were plotting, it made perfect sense to take out the men who were a part of that bigger goal.

Stefan and Reaper would continue to cause issues for the Constella Family. They wouldn’t stop. They wouldn’t give up. The only end we could count on was killing them all, and sooner or later, that would happen.

I hadn’t been bluffing. The Constellas always win. We always come out on top. Yesterday was another example of it. Carlos and the other guard would live. Nina wasn’t wounded, just scared. And Tess hadn’t been captured.

Now, as we rode to Elliot’s office, we would ensure we remained one step ahead of our enemies by taking out the slimy lawyer.

“Congratulations,” Franco said once I told them that I’d proposed to Tess.

“Did you use one of the family rings in the safe?” my father asked after telling me congratulations as well.

I shook my head. “I’m taking her to the jeweler’s after this stop.”

My father scowled, looking out the window. I doubted he wanted the memory of Nina in danger, but he wasn’t going to freak out about it. He’d called Tess and personally thanked her for looking out for her friend.

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