I glare at the image of the moron on my screen. He's also known as Nicole Salvatore's boss and the station manager of Network News. He doesn't own the company by any means, but by some stroke of luck, obviously- because I know this man is a moron- he rose through the ranks and the board of directors made him Station Manager. As he makes his way from the parking lot, showing on my screen, I fight the urge to go after him right away.
My hardly-existent patience is messing with me right now because my hands desire blood. How dare the bastard raise a hand to my baby? He's fucking playing with his life and heaven knows I don't have a long stretch of patience.
My gaze goes to the spread of screen interfaces in front of me, from one security camera feed to the other. The main wing has a much larger spread headed by our resident hacker who hacks into the city's camera feeds so we keep an eye on the law enforcement especially when we transport our goods.
While I have a similar interface in my own wing, I've recently added a few new camera feeds to my original spread. I'm facing it now as my gaze monitors camera feeds of Nicole Salvatore's house and her workplace. I have her house bugged and I only just hacked through the firewall in her workplace's security cameras earlier today.
A glance at the screen lets me know that currently, Nicole is not at her house or workplace. She'd left the office earlier this morning after her meeting with her boss. She went home, but a few minutes ago, she left the house with her friend in tow. From the camera feed outside her house, it looked like they were walking to their destination, so I'm guessing a coffee place or Lisa Ramirez's house. Through my background study on Nicole, I was able to get as much information on her and everyone close to her. Including everyone she's said anything to in the last two weeks.
It isn't a lot of information. Nicole Salvatore does not have a lot of friends.
It makes me smile to know my little siren is almost a loner. An introvert, through and through, she does not do a lot of socializing. But I don't mind. I want her all to myself anyway.
So far, she hasn't talked with her brother yet. I'm waiting for her to do so. Once she does, she's mine.
That is the only time I will act. Damn, I want her badly, but there is a very important task ahead. But dumbasses like Bruni Santos will be kidding themselves if they think I'll let them between five feet of Nicole Salvatore.
I rub my eyes as the vision of that encounter between Nicole and her boss in his office haunts my sight. I cannot forgive Bruni Santos even though he didn't try it again. If he had touched Nicole again, I would have killed him. I hadn't been kidding. But my blood still boils and when it boils like this, there are only a few known ways to remedy the situation. I will pay Bruni Santos a visit.
My phone rings beside me and I snatch it up.
"Roman." My father sounds impatient. "I hope you remember we have an appointment with Valentino Lorca this afternoon."
"I'll meet you there," I respond. "I got caught up."
My father is silent. "I am at the venue. We'll be waiting. Your brothers are here already. I won't want my own Underboss late for such a meeting. I won't want you to make a bad impression on our hosts."
The fuck I care about that. But my father has always been one with strong leanings to tradition and keeping up appearances.
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
I hang up and make my way from my surveillance room to my bedroom, soon after which I get changed.
***
Some thirty minutes later, I'm making my way out of my Jaguar, heading for the docked vessels at Carina Dock. There are several boats along a line, the open sea spreading beyond that to the horizon.
The sun is high in the sky and I have shades on. I make the walk to the twelfth boat in the line-up. By the steps that go up on the boat, there is a man in a suit. He stands aside as I approach and climb up.
I stand on the deck and stare out to the blue sky as the sun recedes for just some time. Oddly, I have never noticed how blue the sky is until today. It reminds me of the sapphire blue eyes of my baby. So vibrant and full of life.
I grin widely for the first time in a fucking long time. My baby, I repeat in my head. She doesn't know she's mine. But soon she will and she'll know there's nothing she can fucking do about it.
I'll see her tonight.
I stroll along the deck for a few seconds before I grow impatient and pull out my phone. I call my father.
"I just arrived," I say, staring about. "Place is pretty deserted. Did the venue change sometime between the last thirty minutes?"
"Valentino Lorca is aware that you've arrived," my father tells me calmly. "Serena will be there to bring you inside the cabin we're at shortly."
"Who the fuck is that?" I ask and my father lets out a long exhale.
"Serena Lorca, Valentino's daughter who just arrived from Ibiza where she used to stay with her mother."
I don't need to know all of this and my father knows. Why this woman would be bringing me to my father and not some of Valentino's or our men has suspicion written all over it.
"When will she be here? The sun is merciless."
"Hello?" A voice interrupts.
I turned to see a brunette behind me. Oh good. She's here.
"Never mind," I say to the phone.
My father hangs up and I turn to fully face the woman. I remember her now. Our families have always been close. As kids, she always used to hide behind the shadow of her brothers, especially for formal meetings between our families. How one person would be comfortable living in shadows is very mind-boggling.
"Isabella?" I ask her and she colors in embarrassment.
"Serena," she replies.
But my words had been deliberate. I know what's going on. I know what my father has up his sleeves and Serena needs to know that I will forget what she looks like once I leave this deck. Whatever plans my father has to ruin her life by getting her tied with me will not work. Not like this is for her. I barely knew she was alive before coming up this deck.
I make a motion for her to lead the way. She does. We walk on in silence for two minutes.
"How big is this boat?"
"I-I don't know."
But that was not the question.
I wanted to know why it seems that we've been walking in circles.
"It's summer and it's baking outside. I want to know how long I would have to cook in my suit," I tell her. "Are you this lousy a host?"
A serious flush covers her face and I feel uncomfortable as she stares at the floor and then back up my face.
"I'm really sorry," she says. "We're just a few more meters from the entrance to the lower deck."
She apologized. She fucking apologized. No. Fucking no.
If I didn't have my sights on elsewhere, it still would have been a no on my part if my father planned to tie us both in a relationship. What the fuck?
We make it to the cabin below deck and my father is seated with another man around his age. Only, this one smiles more than him. The man smiles like it's fucking Valentine's day everyday with him. Unlike his daughter, his hair is jet black and his bushy mustache moves very often as his mouth crinkles in a smile. Valentino Lorca.
As soon as we join the room, Serena Lorca goes to her father's side and proceeds to disappear from everyone's attention.
My father and hers are in a discussion about the pointless masked ball my father holds at our home every year. Apparently, those in our circles would take any excuse to show off their wealth at a social event, hence, we always have quite a turnout. My own father personally loves that ball.
Also, apparently, Serena will be there. Valentino Lorca chips this in as he and my father laugh raucously over some incident that happened the last time.