Grieved Loss: A Dark Mafia Romance (Bellandi Crime Syndicate Book 3)

by Adelaide Forrest

  It wasn’t like I could gag the dude with my own underwear.

  I stepped up to his head, pinching his nose until he mouth-breathed all over me like the nasty thing he was. Shoving the boxers in, I stepped back and fought the gag that pinched my throat.

  I was fairly confident the boxers were clean.

  Shame.

  Matteo’s knock on my door was anything but subtle, and I stepped over to let in the Bellandi brigade. Ivory’s body collided with mine in a rush, propelling me back into the room so quickly that I almost fell on my ass. “Woah,” I laughed. “I told you, I’m fine.”

  “You were attacked!” she hissed, pulling back to look at me. Her brow furrowed. “Weren’t you?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded, watching as Matteo and Ryker stepped in. The guy trailing on their heels seemed vaguely familiar from around the Bellandi Estate.

  Matteo gave me a glance over, seeming to determine I was safe enough. “What’s that in his mouth?” he asked, bending down to inspect the dude with the twitchy eyeballs. He’d wake up soon enough.

  “Patrick’s boxers,” I said, and Ryker huffed out a laugh.

  “You good, Short Stuff?” he asked, blue eyes studying my face.

  “I’m good, Meatball. Assuming you guys are going to clean up the blood. It just does not go with my color palette.”

  Ryker laughed. “Yeah, she’s good.” Stepping over to the body, he hauled him up into his arms. Seemed the stalker was in a hurry to get back to the Warehouse.

  “This is Bryan. He’s going to keep an eye on you from now on until things settle down,” Matteo said, coming over to wrap Ivory in his arms.

  “On that note, I’m out!” Ryker called as he stepped into the hallway. The man had a brain.

  If only Matteo had been that smart.

  “Um, fuck no?” I asked, glancing at Ivory. Had she lost her ever-loving mind that she thought I’d be okay with a babysitter?

  “Ivory wants you to come stay with us. I do not think that would be wise, seeing how I’d probably feed you to Ryker by the end of the week,” Matteo admitted. “You would still need security while you were out of the house at any rate.”

  “Please, Sadie. Do this for me,” Ivory begged. “This will get ugly. You need to protection if they’re going to come after all of us.”

  “Did you miss the part where I defended myself just fine? Not sure if you noticed, but he is concussed because I bashed his head in with a bat, he has a broken arm and probably leg too. I’m just fine on my own,” I told her, waving my hands in the air as I spoke. She eyed them and backed off, seeing the writing on the wall.

  “She’s pissed,” Ivory said to Matteo.

  “Thank you, Angel. I deducted as much on my own,” he whispered to her, affection and amusement in his voice.

  “Miss Hicks, I can sleep on the couch. I’ll try to be as unobtrusive as I can,” Bryan said.

  “Look, Bry. There is no way that anybody is sleeping on my couch. I live alone for good reason. I will walk from my bathroom to my bedroom, buck ass naked. I am not Chef Ivory over here, and I am not going to feed you. You are not staying here.”

  “Unfortunately for Bryan, he takes orders from me,” Matteo inserted.

  “Right, so I hope you know that I will sneak out every chance I get. I will draw dicks on his face while he sleeps, and I’ll steal his clothes while he’s in the shower for good measure. Are you sure he’s up to the task? He seems a little green to me. I promise you I will attempt to torment him every second of the day if you leave him here,” I said.

  Matteo glared at me. “Bryan, go home,” he said finally, tugging his phone from the pocket of the jeans he’d slipped on before coming here. The other man looked grateful before he slipped out the door.

  “What? You promised me you’d protect her!” Ivory whispered, looking at him like he’d lost his mind.

  “Oh, she’ll be protected all right. I just know I’m going to regret this. Fucking woman will be the death of me,” he muttered as he stepped out the front door of the apartment.

  “Love you too!” I called as the door closed behind him. “Who’s he calling?” I asked, watching as Ivory bounced on her heels. “Do you have to pee?”

  “No, I do not have to pee. Stop acting like I’m pregnant. I’m not,” she said.

  I raised my brow at her. “Yet.”

  “Hush,” she scolded. She slid over to the door, pressing her ear to it as she tried to listen to her husband on the phone. Her full lips twisted into a pout when she couldn’t hear Matteo’s side of the conversation, glaring at me.

  “Well?”

  “Nothing. I can’t hear a damn thing. I don’t understand why he’s keeping secrets like this. I want to know who’s coming!” she said.

  She jumped back when Matteo opened the door carefully. He knew Ivory well enough to know she’d be trying to eavesdrop. She wasn’t exactly good at it. “Who did you call?” she asked.

  He leveled her with a look that said she needed to learn some patience. The oaf of a man preaching patience was ridiculous, given the way he’d taken Ivory without care for giving her the time she needed to adjust to being with him. “You should pack a bag, Sadie. Staying here is a security threat. I can’t see your new babysitter letting that fly.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I argued, crossing my arms over my chest and staring him down.

  “Suit yourself. I’m not the one who will have to deal with the consequences of not doing what you’re told. I suggest you at least put some more clothes on. I don’t imagine you’ll want him to throw you on the back of his bike in shorts.”

  “I have time.” I shrugged. Nobody, even in the middle of the night, could get through Chicago traffic so quickly.

  “You have less than five minutes. He was close, and traffic isn’t an issue for him,” Matteo flopped down onto my couch, making himself comfortable as he waited out whatever fucking friend he was so confident I wouldn’t torment.

  “I’ll just make him miserable too, you know? It doesn’t matter who you assign to me. I will make it my mission to drive them crazy,” I said.

  He smirked, glancing up at me with vivid blue eyes. “I’d like to see you try to get away with that shit with him.”

  “Go put on a bra at least,” Ivory said. “Trust me when I say you’ll want the girls up where they belong-”

  “Don’t even start,” Matteo warned. “He is here to protect her, not be her plaything.”

  “After all I did for you.” I gasped in mock indignation, pressing a hand to my chest. That he could think so little of me.

  Like I cared.

  I went to put on a bra anyway, because after Ivory drew attention to it, I felt weird being in a room with Matteo without one. I grimaced at her as I stepped back into the living room.

  Bras were the devil.

  The knock on the door sent Ivory springing to her feet as she raced for it. Peeking through the hole in the door, she grinned as she spun back to look at me.

  It really said something about our lives that she could smile so happily while blood stained my carpet next to my feet.

  She tugged the door open, stepping aside for the powerhouse of a man to step over the threshold. He emerged from the shadows of the hallway, stepping into the well-lit room and towering over me as he approached. It took a big man to stand in the same room as Matteo Bellandi and not seem small.

  He managed.

  Motorcycle boots covered his feet, and jeans hugged his legs in that oh-so-sexy but not quite tight way. The black t-shirt that clung to his broad shoulders couldn’t quite contain the beast of a man.

  “Sadie, this is Lorenzo Vescovi,” Ivory gushed, knowing that the sound of the name would turn me into a puddle.

  “Enzo,” I whispered, staring up at the hazel eyes that stared down at me as he stepped closer.

  “Hello, Carina,” he said in a deep rumble of a voice.

  Fuck.

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