Page 21 of Beautiful Torment (Empire of Kings #1)
ANGELO
“ A djust your camera,” I tell Nicky. “I’m not talking to your fucking forehead.”
There’s some shuffling on screen before he reappears in frame. “That better?”
I nod and scan the list he sent over, marking off two additional changes. “You getting a handle on all this?”
“Yeah,” he mutters. “They’re all willing to accommodate your requests. I’ll send the details to the coordinator tonight.”
I don’t like his tone or the fact that he’s been giving me half-assed responses all day. It’s eaten away at my goddamned patience, and if it were anyone else, I’d be questioning their loyalty. But Nicky isn’t disloyal. He’s a fucking toddler when he’s mad.
“Alright, spit it out,” I tell him. “What crawled up your ass?”
“Nothin’.” He shoots me a sideways glance.
“Clearly, you have a problem,” I snap. “So tell me what it is.”
There’s a lengthy pause before he heaves a sigh. “It’s Abella.”
The mention of her name on another man’s lips unfurls something primal in my chest. It doesn’t matter that he’s my most trusted capo . I don’t like it.
“What about her?” I grit out.
“She asked me not to tell you,” he says, those words settling between us like a live grenade.
“And you think that’s a fucking option?” I growl.
He shifts under the weight of my stare. “She mentioned the visit between you two last night, and I got the impression that’s how she ended up with the mark on her face. It didn’t sit right with me, boss.”
I digest that for a minute, irritated that she’s trying to manipulate him and equally bothered that I don’t know what he’s talking about.
Tension stretches in my chest as I consider the possibility that someone actually hurt her. My fingers flex, then curl into fists at my sides. The image of her marked by someone else stirs something violent and possessive in me.
I level Nicky with a murderous glare. “What part of tell me everything did you not understand?”
“Sorry, boss.” He lowers his gaze.
“Your loyalty lies with me,” I remind him. “You’d do well to remember that.”
“I know.” He scrubs a hand through his hair. “I fucked up.”
I don’t bother to tell him she has that effect on everyone.
“What kind of mark was it?”
“It was red and puffy—looked like someone smacked her around if you ask me.”
I lean back in my chair, my voice far calmer than I feel. “Who else had contact with her since last night?”
“Matteo was there this morning,” he admits. “Do you think she’s covering for him?”
Heat blisters beneath my skin, seeping into my veins and clouding everything around me with a red haze. I’m tempted to string him up by his dick and break every bone in his body while she watches.
It still wouldn’t be enough.
“How long was he there?”
“Not long,” Nicky says. “Maybe ten minutes.”
I swivel in my seat and glance out the window. “Don’t let him enter that house again before the wedding. I don’t care what you have to do.”
“You got it, boss.”
“And, Nicky?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t ever withhold information from me again.”
“I won’t,” he assures me. “There’s just one more thing I need to mention.”
“What is it?”
“She wants to talk to you,” he says. “Asked me three times.”
A pathological curiosity tempts me to consider it before I remember how and why we got here in the first place.
“Tell her to enjoy her upcoming nuptials.”