Page 6 of Drowning in the Deep
“I own this place,” I said. “Not the family. Not Ma. Me. So no one walks in here unless they work here ever again. Period. That goes for every single fucking facility that has a deed in my name, and the ones that I’m running for Ma. If she wants to take them away from me, she’ll do it from my cold, dead hand.”
“I’ll fuck ‘em both up before that happens,” Vin promised, that wild look in his eyes even more evident.
“I have no plans to hurt Ma. She got tricked by that prick Alexander La Rosa, and she doesn’t even understand the problems she’s caused by marrying him. But if Alexander La Rosa shows up here again, start shooting first and ask questions later. Is everyone clear on that?” I was done policing my warehouse for one day and ready to get back home.
I shouldn’t have to be the one to come down here and knock heads together. That was why I had my most trusted men running the facilities. Dezzy had fucked up once, which was forgivable, but I wouldn’t be so forgiving the second time. I understood he was more timid than I was, but if I couldn’t trust him to do his job, I’d have to find someone who could.
“I get it,” Dezzy said with a nod that told me he meant it.
I locked eyes with him for a few more seconds and then nodded in return. “Good. I’m out then. Make sure that shipment goes out on time, and be prepared for La Rosas to show up. You just never can fucking tell.” With that, I turned around and walked out of the closet, looking over the work that was being done one more time before I headed out.
In the car, I considered whether or not I should be concerned about La Rosa launching an attack against my drug warehouse. I didn’t think he’d be that brazen. Before, he was sneaking around in the shadows, having Ragno tip off the Latvians in a way that we weren’t supposed to be able to track. That hadn’t worked for him, and Ragno was dead, so that option was now off the table.
I seriously doubted that he would be so bold as to attack the place where I’d seen him with my own eyes earlier that day. What sort of excuse would he use when I confronted him? It had been a coincidence? No one would be stupid enough to believe that. No, even Ma would become suspicious if the place where Alexander just left was targeted for the first time later that evening.
That didn’t mean that asshole wouldn’t find a way to help the Savages find a different target to hit this evening. We had to be ready for anything tonight, not letting our guard down even a little bit.
When I pulled into the garage, I took a few moments to clear my head as I parked the car and headed inside. Even though I’d been completely focused on fixing the situation in the warehouse and making sure La Rosa understood that he wasn’t welcome there, in the back of my mind, he wasn’t the only La Rosa I’d been thinking about.
Was Elisa still in my room, handcuffed to the bed? Or would she have found a way to escape? I thought back to the time when she had been here all day and night, a gift from her father as my own personal prisoner. I had been pretty unkind to her at times, even keeping her in that dog cage, but she’d come back to me time and again. I didn’t quite understand why, but she did.
“She has to be just as fucked in the head as I am,” I muttered, finally getting out of my car and walking inside.
The frenzy of maids wasn’t quite as intrusive as it had been before we’d managed to get several of them moved to other homes and facilities, but there were still several who had to quickly maneuver out of my way as I headed for the stairs. I was done dodging maids. The only one who’d ended up being of any help to me was Tilda, and that had nothing to do with keeping the house clean.
I threw the door to my room open and barreled in but stopped almost immediately. Elisa looked up at me from where I’d left her on the bed, still attached to the headboard, her blue eyes wide with uncertainty. Various pillows were tucked in underneath her in an effort to make her more comfortable, no doubt. I would’ve been irritated if it had been anyone else to barge into my room and interfere with my captive, but it was easy to see who the culprit was since he was currently curled up next to Elisa on the bed, snoring softly, and I couldn’t bring myself to be angry at the man. It was in his nature to serve and try to make people feel more at home, even if the person in question was a hostage.
“Janis,” I muttered, shaking my head. He didn’t stir. My eyes wandered back to Elisa’s face, a question mark hanging over my head.
“He came in to put your laundry away,” she whispered. “Then we started chatting.”
Raising an eyebrow, I nodded toward the tray of pastries and coffee sitting across the room. “What’s that then?”
“Well, he thought I might be hungry,” she said with a shrug. “He was just trying to help.”
Though she was talking so quietly I could barely hear her, Janis stirred. Slowly, he opened his eyes, looking a bit dazed until his gaze locked on my face. Then, he bolted upright, knocking some of the pillows he’d so carefully placed around Elisa off the bed and onto the floor as he scrambled to get to his feet.
I was tempted to laugh, but part of me also liked the feeling of sheer terror I’d clearly ignited within him. “Janis, what the fuck are you doing?”
“I’m so sorry, Daemon,” he said, straightening his tie as he regained his footing. “I was simply placing your garments in their respective places when I found Ms. Elisa here. The two of us got to chatting, and I suppose I must’ve dozed off.”
Still biting back a laugh, I tried my best to look disappointed in him. “How many times have I asked you not to pamper my prisoners?”
“Yes, sir,” he said. “I beg your pardon. Let me get the tray out of the way, and I’ll be out of your hair.” He turned and met Elisa’s gaze, giving her a look that seemed to say he was sorry for causing her any potential problems, and then he grabbed the tray and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Dragging a hand down my face, I let go of the amusement I’d been feeling because of Janis’s ridiculousness and I returned my attention to Elisa. Immediately, I thought of her father, how his ass had shown up on my turf, asking questions that were none of his concern, and any speck of humor I’d held within me quickly vanished.
“Well, at least you weren’t stupid enough to try to get him to uncuff you,” I said, placing my hands on my hips as I glowered at her.
“Even if I had asked him to, he wouldn’t have done it. Shit, he wouldn’t even let me out of that fucking dog cage,” she said with a small shrug. Her hands were down by her right hip at the moment, in front of her, so she had a bit of flexibility in how she could move if she was willing to raise her hands above her head. Seeing her there with her outfit in disarray, clearly put out, made my dick begin to throb against my zipper. Maybe it was time to punish her for what her father had done.
“Janis is incredibly loyal,” I reminded her. “He does exactly what I tell him to do whenever I tell him to do it. He doesn’t argue, make excuses, or try to get out of his job for any reason, especially not because he thinks he’s not capable of a task. If I tell him to do something difficult, he still finds a way to come through.”
I watched her eyelashes flicker as she processed what I was saying and applied each word to herself. Elisa was a smart girl. Of course, she would assume I was letting her know that she was disappointing me by arguing with what I’d instructed her to do earlier, refusing to kill her father or help me do so.
“I’m sorry, Daemon,” she began, biting down on her bottom lip as she stared up at me. “I’ve been thinking about it. I just don’t know how I could be involved in something like that. I know you understand my father, but what you don’t get is that I wasn’t raised the same way you were. While my brothers were out there learning how to be ruthless killers, I was playing with dolls and trying not to get in the way. Now, you’re asking me to adopt that killer instinct, and it’s just not who I am.”
I didn’t like her response, and she needed to know it. Grabbing the pillows that Janis had so carefully layered around her, I yanked them away from her roughly, tossing them across the room before stripping the throw blanket off her lap and tossing it too. Her teeth nibbled at that bottom lip, and I knew she liked it when I was rough.
