I’ve spent the last four days digging up everything I can on Robyn’s brother and doing everything I can to figure out who he owes money to.
Because once I find that little tidbit of information out, I can find the man who thought he could put his hands on my girl and live.
So far, I’ve come up with nothing.
Fucking nothing.
Jeremy Stone is a ghost and I feel fucking useless as the days pass, getting closer and closer to the deadline Robyn was given.
That deadline ends in two days.
Two motherfucking days until he comes back for her.
Though if it comes to it, I’ll be there, ready and waiting to end the sorry fucker’s life before he can get to her.
I’d just rather finish the whole thing before it comes to that. I don’t want Robyn to keep worrying about this shit.
I’ve even had Alec look into him for me since I know he’s the best in the business at digging up information after Izzy, but even he can’t find anything.
I haven’t wanted to involve Izzy while things are so strained with her and Luca, she’s teetering on the edge of insanity herself right now.
She’s buried herself in work the last few days and honestly, that woman kinda scares me a little.
I don’t want to add more baggage onto her when she has enough to worry about.
I didn’t want to involve my family with this, I didn’t want my family anywhere near anything at all to do with Robyn. But at this point, I’m out of options.
Which is why I’ve asked Marco to meet me at our fathers for a family meeting. Usually, I’d ask Luca to help too, but considering everything he’s going through at the moment, I don’t think he’d be much use even if I did ask.
I stroll through my dad’s living room towards his office, resigned to the fact that mine and Robyn’s worlds are about to collide and there’s nothing I can do to prevent it. This is the only way.
Reaching the office, I knock twice before opening the door and letting myself inside.
Dad and Marco are sitting on the sofa with a glass of whiskey each, both looking miserable.
It’s kinda freaky how much Marco looks like our dad. Sure, we all share certain features like we all have dark hair and we’re basically all built the same. But Marco could pass as a carbon copy of our father’s younger self. Especially with their matching green eyes.
Me and Luca inherited our brown eyes from our mom, but I’m the only one of us who never actually got to look into her eyes.
“What’s going on?” I ask when they both give me resigned nods.
“Izzy’s divorcing Luca,” Dad announces, and I resist rolling my eyes.
I knew they’d had someone following her whenever she left the apartment as a safety precaution, and they must have followed her to the lawyer’s office.
I adopt a solemn expression and nod my head as I sit down on the chair opposite them, not wanting to put them out of their misery and tell them that she’s not actually leaving my brother. They can stew a little while longer since I’m still pissed that they didn’t believe me when I told them Izzy was innocent and didn’t betray our family.
“So, why are we here Enzo? And why isn’t Luca here?” Marco asks, straight to the point as always.
“Luca isn’t here because he has enough shit to deal with right now, and you’re here because I need help,” I huff.
“Help? What’s going on?” my dad asks with concern while Marco’s expression is stoic as usual.
“Someone’s threatening Robyn. They broke into her apartment and attacked her, yet I can’t figure out who it is. It has something to do with her brother owing the guy money, but he’s a ghost.” I tip my head back and pinch my nose.
“The girl you’ve been following, right? How do you know it has something to do with her brother?” Marco asks.
“Because she told me,” I say, dumbfounded as to why he’s asking me that.
“Wait, you spoke to her?” Marco asks, and I roll my eyes.
“Of course I fucking spoke to her. I also installed cameras in and around her apartment…” That she thinks I don’t have access too. “I changed her locks and gave her a watch with a panic button, but I need to find the asshole who got his hands on her, which is why I need your help,” I say with a huff.
For once, Marco has lost his mask of indifference and is looking at me in shock.
“Does she know who you are?” he asks.
“Yup.”
“And she let you into her apartment?”
“Yes.”
“And she let you install cameras… and change her locks?” he asks with a look of confusion.
“Yeah.”
“And sh—”
“Jesus fucking Christ, enough with the questions!” I roar, interrupting him. “Are you going to help me or not?”
“I’m sorry, it’s just… What are you gonna do when she finds out you’ve been stalking her?”
“She knows,” I say with a shrug as Marco and Dad share a look before turning back to me like I’ve grown another head.
“She knows?” Dad asks, finally taking part in the conversation.
“Fucking hell. Yes, she is well aware that I’ve been watching her.”
They’re really starting to piss me off. What the fuck don’t they understand?
“I’m sorry son, it’s just that I’ve been waiting with a lawyer on standby for when she inevitably figured out that you were… watching her. Anyway, tell me more about what—”
He’s interrupted by the ringing of his cell which is resting on the table between us. He picks it up with a furrowed brow before accepting the call.
“Sweetheart? Are you okay? What’s going on?” he asks.
Who the fuck is he calling sweetheart?
Me and Marco silently watch as his posture turns rigid and he speaks through clenched teeth, “What happened?”
His face pales as he looks between me and my brother, immediately putting me on high alert.
“We’ll meet you there. We’re on our way Izzy, you’re not alone.”
Izzy.
He’s on the phone to Izzy.
He hangs up a second later and jumps to his feet. He grabs his gun from the desk and tucks it into his waistband before turning to us.
“We need to get to the hospital. Luca’s been shot.”
The ride to the hospital is a blur.
Even though our family’s line of work is dangerous, it’s fucking rare that any of us end up with serious injuries.
Our dad trained us well, so the worst injuries we’ve really had are grazes from a bullet or concussions if we we’re too close to an explosion.
I was stabbed once, but my family don’t even know about that. I just shot the fucker between the eyes, patched myself up and carried on with my day.
None of us have actually come that close to death, we haven’t allowed it. But from what Izzy told us when we got here and she explained everything, it sounds like Luca wasn’t even thinking, he was just making sure that his girl didn’t end up shot—so he took the bullet himself.
Quite romantic, if you ask me.
I spent hours pacing the waiting room while waiting for news on how his surgery went.
Luckily, the bullet didn’t hit any major organs and they managed to patch him up. Now we just have to wait for the lazy fucker to wake up.
I swear once the asshole’s awake, I’m gonna punch him for all the stress he’s put us through.
Especially Izzy. Jesus, that girl was fucking broken when we got here.
I’ve never really formed attachments to anyone before, but from the moment that I met my sister-in-law, all I’ve wanted to do was protect her.
So seeing her crying on the floor of a hospital waiting room was fucking heartbreaking.
I’m back in the waiting room with Dad and Marco after seeing Luca. Izzy insisted that we see him first so that she could see him alone and stay with him afterwards.
I’m pretty sure she isn’t going to leave his side for even a second until he opens his damn eyes.
“So… what are we gonna do about your girl?” Marco suddenly asks from where he stands, opposite from where I’m sitting.
“We keep her safe,” my dad replies, and I can’t hide the look of shock from my face.
When my dad first found out about me watching Robyn, he had Luca have a talk with me in an attempt to get me under control and make sure I wasn’t gonna hurt her.
Now he’s suddenly on board? What the fuck is happening today?
Am I in the fucking twilight zone?
He must see my expression because he lets out a light chuckle before leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees and rubs his hand down his face.
“You clearly care about this girl Enzo, we’re not gonna sit around while she gets hurt,” he says with a frown before continuing, “When I first found out about her, I was worried. You’ve always been the one with no control, you acted without thinking and I was worried that she would be the catalyst that would make you snap… that she’d make you lose control. I was wrong, if anything, ever since you laid eyes on this girl, you’ve calmed down. You’ve gained control over the emotions you’ve always found so hard to identify and this is the most settled I’ve ever seen you. She brings out another side of you that I don’t want to see destroyed, and if anything happens to her it will destroy you. I see the look in your eyes when you talk about her, it’s the same look I had when I talked about your mother and it’s the same look Luca gets whenever he talks about Izzy. So, here’s what we’re going to do…”
