He kissed her.
His lips touched hers.
He fucking kissed her.
The asshole who took her on a fucking date, pressed his lips to hers as though she belonged to him.
She. Fucking. Doesn’t.
Fuck, she doesn’t belong to me either.
The only thing keeping me from losing my shit right now is the fact that she pulled away and he got back into the cab alone.
I’m not sure what the fuck I would have done if he followed her into her apartment.
Or if she went home with him to his apartment.
I’d probably burn the fucking building down and smoke them out.
I sit and watch as the cab pulls away, the burning sensation I’ve felt in my gut since I watched Robyn greet the little asshole in the restaurant lessening as it drives away.
Away from my girl.
Except she’s not your fucking girl.
I watch as she approaches her door, I’ve done this plenty of times now. I’ll just wait until she’s safely inside before I leave and do what I need to do.
Except, rather than unlocking the door and heading inside like she usually does, she turns around and her eyes connect with mine.
There’s a question in her gaze, as if she’s silently asking me if it’s me that’s been following her.
I know she’s been able to sense me watching her, I could tell from the way she would speed up when walking home and rush inside, only to peer out of the window and look down at the street seconds after she made it inside.
I hold her gaze since there’s no use denying the fact that I’ve been following her, watching her, keeping her safe.
After maintaining eye contact for a few more seconds, I dip my chin in acknowledgement, watching as her brows furrow and she spins back around before unlocking the door and walking inside without a backwards glance.
I wait a few more moments to be sure that she’s had time to lock the door behind her before putting the car in drive and heading towards the warehouse where one of my men is waiting with a gift for me.
The drive doesn’t take long, not with the thoughts echoing around in my head. Voices screaming at me that I shouldn’t be doing this, that this isn’t what she would want, that I shouldn’t let my brand of crazy loose in any part of my angel’s world.
But I can’t stop myself.
This is just something that needs to be done.
Before I know it, I’m pulling up outside the warehouse and I waste no time at all jumping out of the car and making my way inside.
This warehouse isn’t typically used by my family, this is one that’s designated just for me.
My own playhouse.
I enter the main room and the sight that greets me lights up my fucking insides like nothing else.
Tied to the cross in front of me is a sobbing Gary Parker. The man who thought he could spend an evening wining and dining my fucking angel before stealing something from her that wasn’t his to take.
Stealing something from me.
When I realized that Robyn was having dinner at Di Nuovo—a restaurant owned by my family—and that she was there on a date, I made sure I put extra precautions in place.
Like making sure we had extra men dotted around inside in case anything was to happen, since my family is still technically at war with the Columbians, and it wasn’t that long ago that the place was shot up while Luca and Izzy were there on their first date.
At least it was a memorable first date.
I also made sure to swap out the drivers of the cabs out front. Probably overkill to kick the drivers to the curb and replace each one of them with one of my men, but it’s also the reason I’m able to have this little fucker in front of me so quickly so I don’t really give a fuck.
I barely spare the asshole a glance before walking over to the table that houses a tray of instruments for me to use and it takes no time at all for me to pick out what I want to use.
I grab one of my favorite items—an object that looks like a spoon, except this particular custom-made spoon is sharp rather than smooth—and make my way over to him.
One look at his chinos and I can tell he’s already pissed himself from whatever was done to get him in here and I let out a chuckle.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
He doesn’t answer, just continues to sob his little heart out.
“No? No ideas at all?” I huff out a breath and make a tsk-ing noise before continuing, “You’re here because you had the nerve to touch something that doesn’t belong to you. You talked to her, sat next to her, shared a meal with her, and then had the fucking balls to press your lips to hers and kiss her,” I say, my tone calm but deadly, even though I’m anything but fucking calm.
I can feel the monster bubbling up inside me, demanding chaos. Demanding its piece of flesh for having to witness watching this little prick play nice with my girl over the security feed all night. For having to watch as he had the audacity to steal a kiss from my angel.
“Wh-who?” the fucker asks like he doesn’t already know.
“Who? Fucking who?” I growl and slowly close in on him until I’m standing right in front of him.
“My angel, of course. My uccellina.” I refuse to say her name out loud. Her name has no business being spoken in a place like this, she’s far too pure for that.
I bend down and slide the knife I keep in my boot for safe keeping out if its holder and bring it up to his face, slowly caressing his cheek with the blade.
“You made a mistake tonight, and you’ll pay for it in body parts,” I whisper.
His face contorts and he shakes uncontrollably.
Fucking pussy. I haven’t even gotten started yet.
“I didn’t… I didn’t know, man… I’m sorry,” he cries, and I grin manically at him which makes him visibly flinch.
“Too late for that, I’m afraid. It’s already done.”
I bring the knife over to his hand and carefully press against his fingers that are spread out against the wood of the cross before increasing the pressure and bringing my arm down, slicing off four fingers in one move.
“That was for when you pressed your hand to the small of her back and guided her into her seat,” I growl and his whimpers fill the air, feeding the beast inside me.
I lick my lips as I practically taste the fear that’s wafting from him.
“Next up, you’re going to be punished for ever laying your eyes on my angel. But don’t worry, I’ll only take the one since I want you to still be able to see what I do to you,” I say and bring the spoon up to his eye before pressing the sharp edge to his lower lash line, pushing it under his eyeball and tilting it upwards before bringing my arm back, scooping his eyeball from its socket. I take his eyeball in my fingers and yank it away before throwing it and the spoon to the floor.
The little fuck screams out in agony, but it’s still not enough.
Though if I’m being honest, I don’t think it could ever be enough.
“Now onto the next order of business…” I say as though he’s not still crying like a little bitch.
“I had to sit and watch as you kissed her, so I think we’ll take care of your lips next,” I say with a nod and bring my knife up to his lips.
“Now bear with me, it’s fucking awkward trying to get the right angle,” I say as I twist the knife, lining it up just right against his trembling lips before slashing the knife right across them.
I watch in awe as his lips fall to the floor and feel a sense of peace wash over me from the knowledge that they will never go anywhere near Robyn again.
What pisses me off the most is that he got to experience something that I never will. He got to feel her soft lips against his—even if only for a second—and I’ll never allow myself to have that.
Her safety is my number one priority, and if what I’m doing right now is anything to go by, then she’ll never be safe with me.
Unlike what Izzy says, I’m not going to and never will give Robyn a choice in the matter. Because if she chooses wrong? If she chooses to take a chance with me? It’ll only end in pain, in chaos, and in blood.
Not hers of course. Never hers. But I don’t think she’d be too impressed by what I do for work—what I enjoy doing for work—or what I generally get up to in my spare time, like torturing people for shits and fucking giggles.
Gary lets out another cry and I realize I’ve been standing around thinking about Robyn for way too long in a place like this, so I force myself back to the present.
“You spoke to her, and that’s just unacceptable,” I say simply before prying his mouth open and pulling out his tongue.
“You don’t deserve to fucking speak to her,” I say as I take hold of his tongue in my left hand and bring the knife up and giving it a quick slice.
The act makes me chuckle as I remember the wedding gift that Luca gave Izzy—a severed tongue in a jar.
I watch as Gary’s head drops forward as he passes out and I roll my eyes at the sheer fucking audacity of him before bitch slapping him.
He wakes with a jolt and stares at me with wide eyes.
“Do you really think I’ll just allow you to pass out on me for the grand finale?” I ask, knowing he can’t exactly answer me since I’ve just removed his lips and tongue.
“I should remove your lungs from your body just for breathing the same air as my angel, but fortunately for you, I can’t be fucked spending that much more time around here playing these games with you. So, I’m just gonna go ahead and slice your neck now, I’ll see you again in the afterlife and we can play some more games then, ‘kay?” I give him my signature grin that I know screams insane and bob my head up and down before I lazily bring the knife to his neck and slice.
At this point, I just want to go back to my apartment and look through my bedroom window. Hopefully I’ll catch a glimpse of her, so I know she’s okay.
I turn and stroll out of the building, calling out to one of my men as I go, “Clean up on aisle six.”
I let out a bark of laughter as I slide into the car and attach my seatbelt.
Safety first and all that shit.
As I look down to click in the belt, I take note of the blood that saturates my clothing and make a decision that I know will kill me, but it’s what’s best for Robyn, so I’ll just have to live with it.
As much as I love seeing her up close, I know that nothing good will ever come of my little visits.
So I decide here and now that there will be no more visits to the bookstore, no more helping her when she falls, no more stalking her when she goes out at night, no more keeping watch over her.
Not when this is the result.
I don’t regret what I just did, not in the slightest. But that’s the problem. She should be able to live normally, she should be able to go out on dates and live her life without me standing in the way.
From now on, I’ll no longer watch from the shadows. I won’t watch her at all.
