Page 39 of Ruthless Lord

The sincerity yanks my breath straight from my chest.

Stefano goes to the door. I lean back against the table, not sure what the hell to make of anything right now. He moves the chair away and throws the doors wide, grinning massively.

His mafia friend-slash-boss is standing there, looking annoyed. Luca’s another big man, fit and athletic. Handsome in a cleaner, less menacing sort of way. He glances at me, frown deepening.

“I need you. Work calls.” He gives Stefano a meaningful look.

“Seriously? On my wedding night?”

“Seems like you already got a jump on the festivities.”

My cheeks turn crimson. “We were just talking.”

“I don’t care what you two were doing.” Luca gestures with his chin. “Come on. This is important.”

Stefano doesn’t look happy, but he nods and glances back at me. “I’ll see you later.”

“You’re seriously leaving your own wedding?”

“It’s the job.” He follows Luca from the room and I’m left alone, still reeling from the orgasm and not sure how to feel about his sudden disappearance, wondering if this is going to be my life from now on.

Chapter 12

Stefano

“You pulled me away from my own wedding forthis?”

The trucking depot is dark this late at night. The outside floodlights send long shadows across the empty lot. Security cameras stare down balefully from the roofline.

“Didn’t think you needed a better reason.” Luca picks his way over broken glass and lightly taps the ruined back door with his toe. It’s hanging on by a single hinge, and the second he touches the edge, it clatters down to the ground with a loud crash. He looks back at me, eyebrows raised. “What more did you need?”

“A few dead bodies would be nice. Wouldn’t complain about gold bars.”

“Who the hell hasgold barsthese days?”

“Pirates.”

“Right.” Luca steps into the darkened back hallway. “Come on. It gets worse.”

I follow him inside. The place looks normal at first. We flip on lights as we go. The main depot area is quiet for the night. More security cameras are placed at strategic areas, and a high-end alarm system is currently inactive. Otherwise, the place would be going crazy from motion sensor trip wires.

There are several trucks in the main bay. Nothing looks out of place. Several Marino soldiers linger around, looking grim and bored. They nod respectfully as we walk past.

Luca takes me to the back hallway. I slow and stop, staring in surprise. The office door is standing wide open, and past it, the room’s a complete wreck.

“Someone flipped it,” I say, eyes roaming over papers tossed to the side, a computer smashed and missing its hard drive, the shelves torn to shreds, drawer upended and junk scattered all over. “They did it in a hurry.”

“Maybe,” Luca says quietly as he picks his way through the room. He carefully kneels down in the very back corner and gestures for me to join him.

The safe is tucked back against the wall. It’s a heavy motherfucker. I’d know because I helped install it. Pure titanium outer shell with a state-of-the-art biometric locking system. Davide, our tech wizard, swore up and down nobody would ever be able to open it.

There’s a hole drilled straight through the top.

“Now how in the fuck did someone dothat?” I poke a finger inside. The sides are still warm, like the metal’s holding on to whatever monstrosity pulled off this miracle.

“Starting to understand?” Luca slumps back into a chair. The seat was slashed right down the middle, and some of the stuffing’s poking out.

I stare at the safe, teeth grinding together. “That bastard was such a pain in the ass to haul in here. I’m not doing it again.”