“And where is that?” Sadie asked, her voice issuing a challenge even as I tightened my grip on her in warning. The conversation didn’t need to escalate.
Not when I couldn’t tear him limb from limb.
“On your knees for me. Choking on my dick,” he said with a lecherous smile.
“Shut your fucking mouth before I do it for you. I can promise you when I do, it will be a permanent situation. She’s off limits,” I snapped, tucking Sadie behind me slightly.
“Murphy always planned to kill her, but I think I’ll enjoy breaking her down bit by bit. Turning her into my little bitch. Maybe the first time I fuck her will be on your bloody corpse. She does look real good in red,” he sneered, grey eyes glinting as he thought about my woman in a way I’d never allow. “I’ll see you around, pretty girl,” he warned, turning and disappearing into the crowd.
Everything in me itched to follow him and put him down like the rabid dog he was. It was only the reality that I’d be bringing Sadie into a dangerous situation that stopped me. “He talks a big game. Choking on his dick,” she scoffed, grinning up at me playfully to try to draw me back from the haze that threatened the edges of my vision. “I could probably use it to pick my teeth.”
I sighed a slight laugh, turning and guiding her back toward the betting tables to find Massimo and make it clear to him that all his men were to know Murphy’s guys were not allowed on site.
No matter how much she might try to cheer me up, nothing would change one simple truth.
It would be my bullet that ended Sean’s life, after I made him my bitch.
Mike had won his fight, but that didn't mean that his face didn't show the signs of it the next night. To be fair, given the beating he'd taken that had nearly cost him the match, my respect turned up a notch that he'd still turned up the next night to help Sadie with her class.
Women gathered in the gym in astonishing numbers. It made me realize just how many women in the city were unable to afford to pay for private sessions, but needed a way to learn how to defend themselves. I wondered if any of them sensed the danger looming within the city. The growing tensions that were hidden beneath the layers of sudden disappearances. Those same women probably expected the police to interfere to protect them, to investigate to find their missing sisters and friends.
But the police were unequipped to deal with scum like Tiernan Murphy, and their only salvation would come in the form of a Bellandi war. My cell rang as Sadie stepped into the center of the mats we'd laid out to offer more space to the collection of women.
"Okay, everybody grab a partner!" she shouted, turning her attention to Mike. He grimaced at her, looking pained at the prospect of Sadie using him as her dummy. She'd asked me. But as much as I wanted to be the one she put her hands on and threw to the mat, there were too many people in the building for me to be so preoccupied.
I'd had to leave that honor to Mike, so I could keep an eye on the women, and the men volunteering. We knew without a doubt that Tiernan was not above using women to do his dirty work. Not after the way he'd used Sean’s girlfriend to keep an eye on Calla and assist in her abduction attempt.
It hadn't ended well for the men involved when they met their maker in the form of Ryker and his hatchet. If the woman ever left Murphy's protection, she'd probably meet the same fate. I didn't think Ryker had ever killed a woman, but I had no doubt he'd make an exception for the bitch who almost cost him his wife.
"Yeah?" I answered the phone when it rang, stepping closer to the door to put some distance between Sadie's class and myself. My eyes never left her, watching as she demonstrated something with her hands, swinging her body into a punch that glided slowly through the air.
"Is that anyway to speak to your employer?" Matteo teased. "Your eloquence makes me wonder if you're indisposed in a way I do not want to consider." His shudder almost resonated through the phone.
"I'm watching Sadie teach her self-defense class," I responded with a chuckle. "Did you need something or did you just call to bother me, Princess?"
He scoffed his laughter into the phone, the static making me draw the phone away from my ear. "I think that's the first time anyone has dared to call me Princess."
"So stop acting like one and get to the point," I said, my fingers tightening on the phone as Sadie encouraged Mike to grab her arm like an attacker might. How was it that it only took one platonic touch and I wanted to tear the gym apart so that no one could ever touch her again?
"Judge Ryan agreed to oversee the Garcia case against Murphy. Our connection is no secret, and Murphy will see it as the declaration it is. The Judge will not be serving in an impartial manner, given he knows of Murphy's extracurricular activities. He's going to throw the book at him and try to put him behind bars for a very, very long time. Even if he only gets him on the illegal lending, we'll be rid of him for a few years. We won't be involved in the trial, because we both know we do not involve the law in our problems. We want no record of it when we rid the world of Tiernan—"
"What's that have to do with me?"
"He's requesting a man for his
