Page 25 of Romeo

“If you keep looking at me like that, you might not make it out of bed today,” she teases, peeking one eye open.

I groan as I lunge forward, intending to get lost in her body all over again, but Thalia rolls away, laughing when I growl at her.

“What if I don’t want to leave the bed?” I say with a considerable amount of whining in my voice.

“You’re the boss,” Thalia quips, her green eyes sparkling with mischief. “No one would call you out for skipping work.”

I’m about to text Dante and tell him to cancel all my meetings and plans for the day, but he texts me first.

Dante:Two warehouses were hit last night. No casualties, but missing product. Missing funds. Colombos want a meeting to discuss a trade.

“Shit,” I mutter, knowing my plans for the day can’t be postponed. Typing away on my phone, I tell Dante to gather the details and the men necessary for a briefing and schedule a meeting with the fucking Colombos. I don’t have to ask what they want in return for what they stole. Or, rather,whothey want.

I will kill any and every man who tries to take my Thalia away from me. I’ll scorch the whole fucking world to ensure her safety.

“Duty calls?” Thalia asks from her mountain of blankets and pillows. She doesn’t sound sad or disappointed, simply understanding of my demanding schedule.

I’m sad and disappointed, however. Livid, too. When this is all over with the goddamn Colombos, I’m taking a vacation. Somewhere far away where I can spend an entire week wrapped up in Thalia and show her how much I love her.

Putting my phone down, I turn to Thalia, smiling when I see how snuggled up she is. I can’t imagine not waking up to this every day, and truthfully, I’m not sure how I managed without her for so long.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” I mutter.

“Go out there and kick some ass, then come back to me, and I’ll make it better,” Thalia offers, crawling out of her blanket cocoon and sitting next to me on the edge of the bed. My girl kisses my shoulder, then rests her head there in the sweetest gesture.

“I promise I’ll always come back to you,” I murmur, pressing my lips to the top of her head.

Reluctantly, I untangle myself from my woman and quickly shower before getting dressed. This is the last thing I want to deal with today, but it’s a matter of Thalia’s safety, so it’s of the utmost importance.

Hours later, Armando, Valentino, a few other trusted men, and I are scouring the docks and empty shipping containers for the representatives from the Colombo family. They were supposed to be here, in neutral territory, an hour ago. Being late could be a power play, but something tells me it’s more. I just haven’t figured out exactly what the endgame is yet.

“They were the ones who called this meeting in the first place,” Valentino grumbles. “Was it to mess with us?”

“A stupid, pointless joke if that was their goal,” Armando replies, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It has to be more than that,” I say, mostly to myself. My men fall silent, giving me space to figure out our next move. “They can’t be baiting us. Otherwise, they would have ambushed us by now.” I pace back and forth, my mind whirling with the possibilities. “The Colombos might be arrogant and sloppy, but they wouldn’t plan another attack on our territory so soon after the first one. What am I missing?”

There has to be something else. Something I’m not seeing. A weakness I’ve overlooked.

My phone rings, and I sigh when I see Dante’s name pop up.

“What now?” I say flatly.

“She’s gone,” is all he says. It’s all he needs to say.

My stomach drops to the ground, and my heart slams against my ribcage as I struggle to take in air. I don’t realize I’m crushing my phone until the case starts to crack. I ease up, but only to keep a line of communication open.

“Thalia… left?” I choke out.

Did I hurt her this morning? I thought we were on the same page, but I was rough with her. Jesus, if I made her uncomfortable in any way… I can’t even finish the thought. It’s incomprehensible. Or maybe she realized I’m no good for her. My life, my world, everything I touch is evil. Except for Thalia. She’s the one pure, good thing I allowed myself to enjoy, and now…

“I’m not sure,” Dante replies, breaking into my racing thoughts. “All of her things are here, but there’s no sign of a struggle. No one was in your house except for the usual staff. I checked with the guards and those working the compound, but there were no reports of strange activity, no visits, and no one even came up to the gate all day. I’m not sure what to make of it.”

I’m already sliding into the back seat of my BMW and motioning for my driver to head home. “I’m on my way,” I clip out before hanging up.

I don’t know how they did it, but the Colombos have her. The meeting today wasn’t to discuss a trade. It wasn’t a power play or a joke. It was a fucking distraction so they could get to Thalia.

Little do they know, they are living on borrowed time. I will tear off every finger that touched my sweet Thalia, then pluck out the eyes of every man who dared look at her.

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