Page 40 of Stolen Christmas
“Look, I’m being serious. I took what Fields wanted, and he’s pissed about it. There’s no telling how far he’ll take it.”
“Then you better be careful.” She pokes me in the chest, and my heart fucking does a double back flip. She might not love me, but she actually cares enough about me to worry if something happens to me, and that’s fucking all I need to take down mountains.
“That’s what my men are there for.” I press my lips to hers briefly, needing to just get a taste of her. I take her hand and help her to her feet. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. You’re being too nice to me.”
“You’re about to be my wife, Angel. My beautiful Christmas bride. I don’t think there’s any reason I shouldn’t be nice to you.”
She always looks shocked when I mention the wife thing. “Come on, get ready so we can get going.”
She speeds through getting dressed, and by the time she comes out of the bedroom, I’ve spoken to my men, who had to leave because the neighbor called the police. Unfortunately, they were armed and didn’t want to cause a scene, so they called me. The door was obviously broken and they had questions.
We are in the vehicle two minutes later. I pull her small clutch out of my coat and hand it over. “Here is your purse; I’m sure you’ve been aching to have this back.”
“Of course my phone isn’t in there.”
“Check.” She opens it, and it’s in there. Pressing the power button, it’s full.
“You charged it?” I nod. She kisses my cheek. “You’re full of surprises.”
“You mean I’m not a total bastard?”
“Yes.” I chuckle as Marco drives us through the city traffic. She looks at it, and there are about twenty voicemails and text messages, but she just scrolls through it and then tucks it away.
“You don’t want to respond or anything?”
“Why bother? I want nothing to do with Fields, and there aren’t any messages from anyone else. Did you already see these?” she asks. I will tell her the truth, but I can’t yet. I cloned her phone and I can see everything on there, but for now, I’ll keep that to myself.
“No, but I’m giving you the choice.” She raises her brow, not believing me.
My phone rings when we’re nearly there, and it’s Sammy. “What’s up?”
“The cops are bothering us.”
“Well, tell them to mind their fucking business.”
“They said they received a call about a break-in last night, so they’re here to take the report.”
“What the fuck? A bit late, no? Tell them fuckers that we don’t know who broke in, but the owner is on her way right now.”
“She’s on the phone,” Sammy says to the cops.
I hand her the phone. “Hello, Officer, I’m on my way now to inspect the house. I’m about two blocks away.”
“Fine, ma’am. We’ll wait for you before we enter. Have you made an incident report yet?”
I nod to her and then she says, “I wasn’t the one who found it. The maid did. She had to handle another cleaning job, so I’m sure the cops would have taken it down, or maybe you should talk to the neighbors who called it in, the first time.” Damn, my bride is a much better liar than I give her credit for. It concerns and excites me.
We pull up front, and then my men open the door to help her out. “Mrs. D’Antonio.” The cops exit their vehicle, and I recognize one from the courthouse.
He looks at me with surprise. “Wait, you are connected to this home?”
“Hello, I’m the owner of this house,” Angel says, interrupting any conversation.
“Do you have your identification?” he asks. She goes in her purse, taking off her gloves to dig inside the tiny bag. Damn it, it’s too cold and windy for this shit. I surround her in an attempt to block the wind.
“Sorry, it’s freezing out here.” She manages to pull out her wallet with shaking hands, fingertips cold. “Here you go.”
