Page 78 of Double Daddies (Dirty Daddies Anthologies #8)

Chapter Twelve

Elijah

“I don’t like leaving her,” I say as we get closer and closer to the town she used to live in.

The whole time, she has only been an hour away from us.

“I don’t either, but Noah said he was off today.” Brix tightens his hold on the steering wheel. “She’s safe with Thorin. She’ll be okay.”

Silence fills the truck cab as we pull onto Mateo’s road.

“We’ve been to this little town how many times?”

“At least four times a year,” Brix mutters.

“How did we miss Nora?” I ask. “She was right under our nose. So close and yet so far.”

Had we seen her before and didn’t notice her? I would like to think I would have noticed her if we saw her walking down the street or in a store.

“We have her now. That’s all that matters.” Brix pulls up to a house. “Ready?”

I crack my neck and nod. We both get out of the truck and walk to the front door, knocking loudly.

“What do you want?” a man says, yanking open the door.

Mateo.

Rage fills me as I stare at him. I want to make him suffer. I want to kill him with my bare hands, feeling the life drain from his body. He never deserved Nora and how he treated her.

I take a deep breath. “Mateo?” I ask.

“Yeah. Who are you two? I didn’t order anything.” He looks us both up and down.

Without warning, Brix grabs him by the throat and pushes him inside the house. I calmly follow behind him, shutting the door.

“Who are we?” Brix's voice is cold. “We’re Nora’s men.”

Mateo’s eyes go wide as he starts clawing at Brix’s hand. Satisfaction fills me as his face turns red and then purple.

“Mateo! Who was at the door?” A woman walks into the living room.

She screams as she sees both of us, Brix still holding Mateo by the neck.

“Let go of Mateo! Let him go!” she yells, running toward Brix.

I grab her hand, pulling it behind her back before she can touch Brix.

“Let him go! You’re going to kill him!” she screams. “That’s my brother. Let him go!”

Brix lets Mateo go, and he crumbles to the floor, holding his neck, gasping for breath. I would have liked it much better if he were dead, not able to hurt Nora anymore.

“You must be Lainey,” I calmly say. “The evil bitch who gets off manipulating people.”

She gasps. “I d-don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her voice shakes.

I let go of her arm, and she drops next to Mateo.

“I heard the conversation you had with Nora the day you two were out. I saw the texts you and Mateo sent to her the other day,” I explain. “I know you. A good-for-nothing girl who gets off on hurting people.”

“Wh-who are you?” she asks, looking between Brix and me.

“Nora’s men,” Brix states.

I grab Mateo’s arm, yanking him up from the ground and pushing him onto a chair. I pull zip ties from my back pocket, securing his hands and legs before he can say anything.

“You can’t do that!” Lainey yells, yet she stays where she is.

I glare at her. “Sit your ass down and stay there, or I’ll tie you to a chair as well,” I growl, my patience gone.

She immediately plops down, her eyes wide.

“Fucking wimp,” Brix mutters, walking over to us and bending down in front of Mateo.

He’s breathing normally again, his eyes trained on both of us. His body shakes with fear, and I can’t help but smile.

“I didn’t do anything,” he rushes out. “It was all her!”

I chuckle. “Liar.”

He shakes his head. “I promise. It wasn’t me. It was all Lainey. She was the one to send things and spread rumors.”

Brix circles around him as I take a step back. “We know it was both of you. Have proof.”

“Please, we didn’t do any harm,” Mateo begs. “It was all a little fun.”

“Fun?” Brix asks. “You think it’s fun to spread things about innocent people? You think it’s fun to humiliate someone?”

“She had it coming!” Mateo yells.

“How?” I cock my head to the side.

Lainey is sitting perfectly still, her whole face white as a sheet. I wouldn’t be surprised if she passes out any second now, and I wouldn’t care either.

“She knows being with two men is absolutely disgusting. Whoring herself out. When she left and broke up with me, I followed her. She got into your truck. Two fucking men,” Mateo growls.

“When I threatened her to tell the whole town she didn’t believe me, didn’t even respond, so I did. That bitch had it coming to her.”

Searing hot anger courses through me. Raising my fist, I punch him in the face several times before Brix pulls me off. Mateo groans in pain, his left eye already shutting.

“You don’t get to fucking talk about our woman like that,” I sneer.

Brix cracks his knuckles before he starts punching him in the stomach. Screams fill the room as Mateo begs for him to stop. I turn toward Lainey, gripping her chin with my fingers.

“You fucking go after, spread any other information, or contact Nora again and you’ll regret it. I’ll send one of our females over to rough you up,” I spat. “Do you understand?”

She barely nods, and I let go before walking back over to Mateo and Brix. He’s hit him in the face a couple of times, opening skin and breaking his nose.

Brix grabs his shirt. “You fucking leave our girl alone,” he growls.

“Or what?” Mateo weakly asks.

“Or the Ricci Crime Family will come after you and Lainey.” I show him my tattoo.

Mateo’s whole face goes white as he stares at the tattoo.

“One fucking wrong move and you’ll be six feet under, and no one will bat an eye.” Brix lets go of his shirt. “One wrong move.”

Mateo nods his head. “O-of co-course!” he stutters out.

Grinning, I grab one of his fingers and bend it back, hearing it snap with satisfaction. Mateo screams, tears running down his face as he looks at the broken finger.

“Let’s get back to our girl,” I mutter, walking toward the front door.

We head to the car, looking around for anyone glancing in our direction, but no one is. It’s a secluded neighborhood in the middle of the day.

“Surprised no one called the police,” Brix grunts.

“They’ve probably seen us in town before. We don’t keep it a secret who we work for.” I shrug, getting into the car. “And Rogan has the police in his pocket.”

Brix starts the truck and heads home.

“Wonder how she’ll react to us working for Rogan.” Brix grips the steering wheel.

“She’ll be with us no matter what. You know that, I know that, and she knows that. There’s nothing to worry about.”