“To knock is to ask permission,” I said, glancing down at my nails thoughtfully. I’d missed a spot of blood under the edge of my thumb when I’d washed my hands clean of the punishment I’d dealt Enzo’s man, for his failure of letting Sadie escape.
An old-fashioned beating seemed so rudimentary considering my own methods, but I’d never complain about the ability to act on the violence that simmered in my blood.
“And the great Rafael Ibarra asks permission of no one, not even his lifelong friends, apparently,” Matteo noted, raising a brow at me. Enzo had undoubtedly warned Matteo of my interest in the almost seventeen-year-old girl who’d consumed my every thought since I’d seen her the day before.
Punishing Enzo’s man had been the only thing to offer me even a moment of respite from her haunting face in my head.
“I’ve done nothing,” I said, matching his eyebrow raise as we stared one another down.
“Yet,” he added, daring me to contradict him.
“I won’t touch her until she’s eighteen,” I answered, shrugging my shoulders as if it was inconsequential to me, when the thought of waiting so long felt like an agonizing torment to rival the worst of my methods.
Matteo sighed, leaning back in his chair as he studied me. “How intent are you on this?”
“How intent were you on Ivory when she stumbled back into your path?” I returned, clenching my fingers around the arms of my chair. His gaze fell to the tense movement, studying it as he considered his next words carefully. Matteo Bellandi needed my men for his war. Without them, he would have a much more difficult time triumphing over the allies Tiernan Murphy had amassed, simply because they wanted to keep selling people as bodies to fuck, and that couldn’t continue under Matteo’s reign.
He sighed, hanging his head. “You won’t touch her until she’s graduated from high school,” he said, laying down the first of his terms. His jaw tensed with the knowledge that his wife would likely refuse to tolerate his concession, but there was nothing he could do without being a hypocrite.
He hadn’t done much better in his pursuit of Ivory, and that had worked out well for him.
Eventually.
I nodded, considering the words with a purse to my lips. While I didn’t like the demand, it was one I’d contemplated myself. Her May birthday wouldn’t be too far off from graduation as it stood, and it seemed like a small sacrifice, considering everything I would put her through when I stole her away from everything she knew.
“I’ll be leaving men in Chicago to keep an eye on her,” I returned. “Will that be a problem?”
“Not as long as their sole purpose is to keep an eye on your girl, but I don’t want her harmed. Until the time comes and you take her to Ibiza, she is to live a happy and peaceful life.” I nodded my agreement, because the entire purpose of her security was to keep her safe and untouched by the sins of my world.
Or the greedy hands of teenage boys who might think to take what was mine.
“What are your intentions for her when you take her? Will you release her when you’ve had your way?” he asked, wringing his hands thoughtfully. Everything I knew about Matteo told me he would never allow me to take Isa if she was to be anything but a permanent fixture in my life.
“She’ll be my wife,” I answered, knowing the answer would placate him. I hadn’t made the decision prior to speaking the words aloud, but something in them felt like the truest words I’d ever spoken.
“And you’ll treat her well?” Matteo asked. I bit my bottom lip as I considered my answer. I couldn’t say that I would ever treat a woman well. I was too much of a ruthless bastard for that, but understanding crossed Matteo’s face. “You won’t abuse her?”
“No. I won’t abuse her, though I imagine there may be times when my definition of that word differs from hers,” I chuckled.
Matteo glanced at his wife through the window where she played with his children. “Yes, I imagine there will be. I suspect you and I may have different definitions as well.”
I nodded as I glanced out the window, the sudden desire for a child of my own overtaking me as I watched his entire world giggle outside.
I suspected he was right.
5 Rafael
Two days later
I stepped out of the car, glancing toward Lino and Georgio where they hid from the cold in the front of the SUV. Three men stepped off the private jet I'd sent back to Spain for the purpose of transporting one very specific family to Chicago. The three brothers made their way down the steps, bowing their heads respectfully as they approached me. I stretched out a hand to greet the eldest first, one of my most trusted men whom I'd left behind to help Alejandro, my second-in-command, manage my day-to-day operations in my absence. With his calm demeanor, Joaquin was easy to overlook: a shadow as he moved through the Ibiza streets at night, quietly ridding my territory of any who dared to deal without my permission.
There was nothing that happened on my island without my knowledge.
The middle brother, Gabriel, worked in technology mostly, helping to develop the top-notch surveillance that gave me eyes even where my men couldn't go. Both would help to monitor Isa, but both would need to remain out of sight and out of mind.
The youngest brother was the one who I desperately needed in Chicago. At just sixteen years of age, Hugo had already proven himself a valuable part of my business. Infiltrating the youth of Ibiza without raising suspicions, he kept
