Page 31 of Ruthless Commander

I forced a smile, flicked away the tears before they slid free, and drank.

Fuck you, Mateo.

Fuck you very fucking much.

I took a step, then cut through the crowd as I caught sight of Kat VanHalen. “Hey, sexy.” I leaned forward, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey,” she answered, smiled, then scanned the room as though she was searching for someone.

I sank into small talk, hating how I couldn’t stand to be here. Kat stiffened, her gaze hooked on some tall, blonde rich asshole. I was sure I knew his name. “Who the fuck is that?”

“No one,” she answered. “Excuse me, Xael. It was nice seeing you, we need to catch up soon, okay?”

“Sure,” I muttered as she rose from the sofa and rounded the edge of the living room before disappearing. “Nice.”

“OMG…NO!”a woman’s scream ripped through the space.

I flinched, searching, and found her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she dropped the cell phone from her ear.“Baldeon is dead…someone just killed him.”

12

Mateo

“FUCK!”I roared, staring at the body of a man I'd seen alive and breathing only two fucking hours ago.

“They’re still here.” Lazarus Rossi sucked in hard breaths and lifted a shell-shocked gaze to me. “I saw them…ifit was them.”

I turned away, lifted the two-way from my pocket, and barked into the radio. “I want the entire island searchednow!”

“Heading to the east side now,”squawked the reply.

My men were hunting, every fucking man…every goddamn soldier. “Who found him?”

“I did." Rossi turned his gaze to mine.

“Did you see anything else?”

“Two men…or two people, I couldn’t get a good look, running from this building toward the beach. I heard the faint sound of a motor.”

“And they didn’t come after you?” I narrowed my gaze on the Stidda son.

He just shook his head. “No, they didn’t come after me.”

“Thank Christ for that,” his bodyguard grunted.

I nodded and took a step away, lifting the two-way once more. “I want every building searched, leave nothing untouched. Do I make myself clear?”

“On it, Commander,” came the bark from the other end.

Jesus…Jesus, this was going to be bad.

“Rossi.” I glanced toward Lazarus, taking in his shell-shocked gaze. I wondered if he’d ever seen a body…not one like this, I bet. “I’m going to need a statement.”

He gave a slow nod and I could almost see the kid slowly unraveling. Did he see himself lying there in the pool of blood? See his fucking future? In a blink, I saw Edon lying in front of me on that stainless steel gurney meant for the dead. Had my brother felt the icy hand of death reaching for him as they beat and stabbed and unleashed their rage on him? Had he seen his end as clearly as Lazarus Rossi was seeing his own right now?

“Freddy,” Lazarus whispered.

“I got you.” His bodyguard was right there, grabbing him by the shoulder and turning them. “Move,” he snapped at my men standing in the basement hallway of the building assigned to Marcus Baldeon. Then they were gone in a heartbeat under the softthudof the elevator doors.