Page 68 of Thorns of Death
“He doesn’t have any guards,” I mumbled under my breath. At least I hadn’t seen any last time I was here.
After all, kidnappers didn’t usually chitchat with their victims. Right? Fuck, I should have watched more movies on this shit.
But then I never thought I’d end up on the wrong side of the law.
TWENTY-TWO
ENRICO
Ireally needed to pull my head out of my ass.
I had risen earlier than my normal five a.m. and paced around anxiously for Isla to get here, glancing at the clock like an eager schoolboy.
I shook my head, disgusted with myself. I was too old to behave like this. The truth of the matter was that Illias had every reason to be worried. Every woman who married a Marchetti over the last five generations had been killed. Well, almost every woman.
But Donatella would be dealt with. I had men looking for her, and I’d end her as soon as she was found.
The door to my study opened and Manuel strode in.
“We have guests.”
My chest made a strange flip that seemed to happen every time that red-haired goddess was about, but then my cousin’s words registered.Guests.As in, more than one?
“Who?”
“Your woman—” Shit, that sounded so fucking good.My woman. “—and Tatiana Nikolaev. Or rather, Konstantin.”
The latter didn’t sound good. It meant Illias wasn’t far behind. What the fuck was Isla playing at? She never mentioned coming with her sister-in-law. Not that I asked for specifics. I was too eager to hear her voice… and then that phone sex. I seemed to be getting hornier in my old age, but only for Isla.
I pulled up my security, and sure as fuck, Isla and Tatiana stood at the corner of the street, studying my Paris home through the gate. Most people only had the immediate surroundings of their home surveilled. I took it a step further and expanded it to several blocks.
Tatiana and Isla discussed something, their mouths moving, and I decided it might be time to have surveillance outside my home include audio because I fucking wanted to know what those two minxes were talking about.
I watched Konstantin’s wife shake her hands and loosen her legs as if preparing to run a marathon. It looked slightly comical in her dress, although I wasn’t laughing. My eyes were locked on what Islawasn’twearing.
“Didn’t I tell her to wear a fucking dress?” I grumbled, slightly annoyed. She wore a pair of skinny jeans and a cropped green sweater that revealed a sliver of her midriff. She paired it with a pair of heels. Her jeans hugged her long legs and shapely hips, giving me a glimpse of what was now inaccessible. The waves of her curly red mane reached her back and framed her face. Even through the grainy video feed, I could see her emerald gaze—one that could make angels and demons alike weep.
Dio, I had to get a grip.
“Scusi?” Manuel gave me a blank, confused look and I waved my hand in agitation. At Isla. My uncle. At myself.
Instead of focusing on what the fuck these women were up to, I was fixated on Isla’s choice of wardrobe and how it wouldn’t give me easy access to her pussy. Maybe that was the problem. The young woman was too sweet and too distracting.
I watched as Tatiana reached inside her purse, pulled out a gun, and pointed it against Isla’s back. My spine instantly stiffened.
“Take the boys into the safe room,” I barked out, fury rushing through my veins. Manuel followed my eyes to the screen before rolling his eyes.
“They’re clearly working together, but sure, I’ll take the boys into the safe room. No reason to let them stand in the way of two women who are determined to get themselves killed. The amateurs should have done more recon to realize that we have cameras and can see them plotting.”
I picked up my phone and barked out orders to all my guards. “Make sure you keep your eyes sharp, but don’t let yourselves be seen. The two women that are currently approaching… Let them pass without them seeing you.”
I hung up without waiting for the acknowledgement.
Manuel rushed out of the room to usher the boys into the safe room while I watched the two women make their way across the empty street and toward the iron gate. Pushing it open with a soft creak, they marched forward and found themselves in front of the door, then disappeared inside my home. I switched cameras and thanked all the saints that the surveillance system inside my home had audio.
I turned it on and watched as Isla made her way to the stairs. After all, she knew her way up the stairs and into my bedroom from our first night together.And out of it,my mind mocked. I immediately shut it up.
“Please tell me he didn’t instruct you to go to his bedroom.” Tatiana’s voice barely registered, but it was clear she wasn’t happy about her young sister-in-law having anything to do with someone like me.
