he asks Mason.
“Should be another hour,” Mason answers. “It’s coming from New York and I sent Tommy to go pick it up. I don’t want any chance of it being tampered with.”
He nods.
“Good. Good work,” he tells both Mason and Elias.
Once Chase and Rory leave the office, he heads upstairs to check on Jazzy. Hopefully, she doesn’t know what’s going on yet but she’ll be asking soon especially with Stella and Ariana out of the house for a lengthy amount of time.
Walking, he calls Russell for an update on Ariana.
She may have left without a way for him to track her but he had Russell on her before she even crossed the front gates. She checked into the Mirabeau on Gaston’s turf. Stella, as pissed as she was, made sure that Ariana would be safe, leaving her two merce-nannies, Jason and James, to stay with Ariana.
It takes only two minutes for Russell to relay the update to him.
Ariana hasn’t left the hotel room. Neither has the two mercs.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Derrick,” Rory whisper-shouts across the table. “Slow down on the whiskey.”
He looks at his twin sitting beside him.
Derrick hasn’t even bothered to shave for the event. His hair may be slicked back nicely but his suit is disheveled and barely put together properly.
Derrick slams back the tumbler of whiskey against Rory’s warning anyway. His twin’s right hand sits over the empty chair to the right. It’s the seat that was originally reserved for Stella.
He may be falling apart inside since Ariana’s departure two weeks ago but Derrick doesn’t seem to give a shit who sees him shredded at the moment. That’s never a good thing.
And this event is a big one.
Disguised as a charity gala, it’s an annual meeting of who’s who in the business. Its where big deals are negotiated and new business connections are made for the likes of them. New weapons are discussed and new products are pitched here.
Disgusting as it may sound, yes…it’s a convention for mob bosses, bratvas, and crime syndicates. And yes, it almost always ends up with a few industry leaders missing before and after the event. Let’s hope Derrick can remember that. There are people here that will shake their hands with a smile then put a bullet to the back of their heads after.
Derrick usually takes the lead, being head of the family, at these events. That shit isn’t going to happen tonight it seems. He can stand in to negotiate just as well, except all he can think about is Ariana.
His phone has been burning a hole in his pocket. He needed to hear another update. Things would be even better if he can just hear her voice for himself and feel her slim fingers brushing over his skin again. Comedy isn’t it? For him to feel like this yet still function on auto-pilot.
Auto-pilot is all he has left. He’d function that way for so long and Ariana was the catastrophe that straightened him out.
As if shit isn’t dejected and fucked up enough, he sees Isabella strolling over with her bastard of a brother, arm in arm with grins on both of their fucking faces. He grinds his teeth together preparing to face the two. Every drop of blood in his body is on fire in a murderous rage.
And he can’t do shit about it.
“Don’t you have your own table to fucking bother,” Chase growls out first without hesitation. Disgust and rage are barely controlled on his younger brother’s face.
“Oh, but we’re family now. Are we not?” Isabella provokes.
“FUCK YOU!” Derrick stands and grabs Isabella by the throat.
He and Chase stand immediately, crowding around so others close by don’t see or hear this exchange. He sees from his side-eye that Rory’s got his Glock out and pressed against a sneering Cristian as well. Not that it was necessary. Cristian’s a fucking coward.
“Stay the fuck away from us,” he growls at Isabella, letting Derrick continue to crush her throat in barely-contained anger.
Isabella tsks unflinchingly.
“Might be hard to do, my loves. Especially since I don’t think we used any protection in our little tryst,” Isabella half whispers, half giggles. “And with twice the stamina of you two stallions, I’d say we can do a double announcement very soon.”
FUCK!
Derrick drops his hand from around her throat as if she’s wearing acid. She might as well be. He and his brother simultaneously sneer with disgust at Isabella.
“You think that bullshit is going tie me or Adam down?” Derrick hisses at her. “You forget who you’re talking