Chapter 25: Distracted at Work
Chapter 25: Distracted at Work
POV Abraham
Two days away from home and my damn mind was still stuck on her.
The wind sliced across my face as I kept my eyes locked on the scope, lying on top of an abandoned building downtown.
Next to me, Prince was chewing mint gum with the most annoying sound known to man.
The rifle scope reflected the dim lights of another rooftop, where three men were gathered, surrounded by guards.
That’s where my focus should’ve been.
But all my head could do was replay the taste of Celeste, the sound she made when she came, the way she moaned my name in that needy little voice that got me hard just remembering it.
Fuck.
“You’re acting weird,” Prince finally said after a long silence. He adjusted his binoculars, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. “Never seen you this quiet or distracted. Something happen?”
“I’m focused. Shut up,” I growled, knowing damn well I wasn’t fooling anyone—least of all myself.
He snorted.
“Yeah, right. Focused my ass. Your finger’s shaking on the trigger and you’ve checked the target’s position ten times already. That’s not like you. Just spill it, Abraham. What happened?”
I let out a long breath.
I didn’t want to say it. Didn’t want to name the thing eating me alive. But if there’s one guy I trust in this world, it’s Prince. And keeping it all in was just slowing me down, making me sloppy.
“I got involved with the nanny.”
Prince blinked, pulling the binoculars from his face slowly.
“…What?”
“You heard me.”
He took a beat to process, blinked again, then threw his head back and laughed.
“No way. Abraham De Montreal—the most uptight bastard on the planet—hooked up with the nanny?”
“Keep your voice down, fucker,” I snapped. “This is a mission, not a goddamn pub crawl.”
“I can’t believe it! We disappear for two weeks and come back to you all… in love?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you thought it,” he shot back, eyebrow raised.
“There’s no love, dumbass! It started with a kiss. She drives me insane. She’s young, impulsive, talks too much, never backs down… but when she looks at me…”
I shook my head, frustrated.
“So what’s with all the tension?” Prince asked, still holding the binoculars, but eyeing me like he’d sniffed out something rotten.
I blew air out of my nose hard. The city below looked frozen in time, but my head was chaos.
“She’s too young, for fuck’s sake,” I gritted out. “She’s twenty-four. And… I saved her. Ten years ago. In a fire.”
Prince choked on his own spit.
“Wait—what?!”
“It was at a school. Part of a mission. Valastro ordered the place torched to draw local forces away. She got trapped in a classroom. I pulled her out. She was unconscious, covered in soot. Just a little girl. I remember the fucking smell of her hair burning. I’ve never forgotten it.”
“She knows it was you?”
“No. At least, I don’t think so. That was the day I… you know—” I gestured to my face reluctantly.
“The fire that fucked up your face?”
I nodded, eyes drifting from the scope.
Prince stared for a while, jaw tight, then let out a dry chuckle.
“Jesus… this sounds like one of those corny romance movie plots.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“No, seriously,” he said, ignoring me. “You saved her life, now she wants to jump your bones. It’s like the full hero arc. You think she gives a shit about the age gap? You seen yourself, bro? You’ve got the body of a gladiator and that whole brooding widower thing that drives unhinged women wild. She’s probably obsessed with you.”
“It’s not just that. I’ve got kids. A job that’s a shitshow. I can’t, Prince. I can’t drag her into this world.”
He scoffed.
“She’s already in it. From the moment she stepped into your house. From the second she looked at you like that. She’s screwed, man. So are you. You’re both just pretending otherwise.”
I didn’t answer. My eyes drifted back to the rifle scope, but I wasn’t really seeing. All I could picture was her—still wet, sitting on the pool’s edge, legs trembling, lips parted, breath caught in her throat.
That voice…
“I need to... please…”
I clenched my eyes shut, jaw locking tight.
Prince snapped his fingers in front of my face.
“Hey. Try not to blow your load staring at old mafia dudes.”
“Shut the fuck up, asshole.”
He chuckled but stayed quiet, giving me the silence I needed. That’s when I finally really focused on the building across from us. And then—
“Wait a second...” I muttered, adjusting the scope, narrowing my eyes. “No... no fucking way.”
“What?” Prince leaned in. “You see something?”
“Yeah…” I turned the dial until the image sharpened. “Shit. It’s him.”
“Who?”
“Julian. Julian Valastro.”
Prince immediately went still.
“Anton’s nephew?”
I nodded, every nerve in my body going on high alert.
“I see him clear as day. That bastard. We exchanged fire twice. He was there when we ambushed Anton last time and vanished after that.”
Prince grabbed his binoculars and aimed where I pointed.
“Holy shit... you’re right. That’s Julian. I recognize him too. He was at that Prague mission.”
“This changes everything.” My blood was boiling. “If Julian’s involved, Valastro’s not as out of the game as we thought.”
“Maybe he never left. Just pulled back. Waited for things to cool down… now he’s ready to strike.”
“And sent his nephew in first. That piece of shit…”
“If Julian’s out in the open, Anton might not be far behind.” Prince’s voice was grim. “And that’s bad news, Abraham.”
“Yeah. It is.” I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm. “We need to alert Sebastian. Now. That building needs round-the-clock surveillance. We can’t let those bastards out of sight.”
Prince was already pulling out the encrypted phone, calling HQ.
As he spoke, my brain was on overdrive.
If Valastro was back… then the thing I feared most might be coming.
The past, crashing back into my life.
And Celeste…
She couldn’t be caught in the middle of this.
That feeling I’d been trying to bury since I walked away from her at the pool came roaring back—loud, raw, and relentless.
I couldn’t keep lying to myself.
I couldn’t want what I couldn’t protect.
“They’re sending backup. Sebastian wants us here another two days. Things just got serious.”
I nodded, still staring out over the city—alive, pulsing, full of danger.
In the middle of all that chaos, I knew exactly what I had to do.
Protect the ones who needed protecting.
Even if it meant staying away.
At least… for now.