* * *

“Hey Anna, where's my girl?"

"She's right here Shane, why?"

“What’s wrong with her?” I could hear her shit in the background.

“Some new chick at the club has her tits in a twist.”

"Why isn't she answering her phone?"

"Geez Shane, we've only been gone like two and a half hours, stalker much?"

"Put her on the phone."

"Later big brother."

"An..." I can't believe she hung up on me. She knows that shit makes me crazy. And why the fuck wasn't Mouth answering her damn phone? I've been calling her for ten minutes already.

You see this shit? If I didn't let her go hang with her girls I was controlling and overbearing, but when she went out with them this is the shit I had to put up with. Meanwhile I couldn't have a night out with the boys without at least three calls from her ass, fuck this noise.

I pulled on some sweats and a long sleeved tee and headed for the door with my phone to my ear. The twins were on her but keeping out of the way per her instructions. She’d set ma on my ass to get her way and like a sap I’d agreed. As long as she didn’t leave the club without them we were fine, but I’d forgotten how big that place is and how sneaky her little ass can be.

“Where are we going?”

“The club.” Tony signaled Mikey and the two of them followed me out the door. They were hanging out in my living room like they didn’t have homes a hundred feet away. Saps can’t be home without my sisters there to keep them company.

Alec picked up the phone on the first ring. “Where is she?”

“We can see her, they’re sitting at the table yakking it up.” I could hear the music in the background and breathed a little easier knowing she was safe but that didn’t answer the question of why she wasn’t picking up the damn phone.

We were leaving in a few days to take care of her shit and I wanted to make sure everything stayed calm before then. Poppy and the Rossis were up to some shady shit that they were keeping close to the vest and I’m doing everything I can to keep them away from her.

“What’s wrong? Mouth pull another runner?” Tony asked from behind me as we made our way to the car.

“She’s not answering her damn phone.”

“She at the club?” They moved a little faster as I walked my tired ass to the car. The truth of the matter is I need her ass at home with me. It’s time for bed. Fuck if I was going to admit that shit to these two.

* * *

* * *

"Who was that, Anna?" Like I had to ask.

"Who do you think?" My sister in law rolled her eyes at me. “He says you’re not answering your phone.”

"Oh shit." I grabbed my phone from my purse, dead.

"I am so fucked." I turned the screen to show her the dead battery signal.

"So what, he'll get over it. I told you-you need to break my brother out of his caveman ways." Hah, easy for her to say, she didn't have to deal with the consequences. Mob boy isn't exactly what you would call rational when it comes to me. It's like from the moment we met and became one he gave up all pretense of being civilized and reverted back to pre historic beast.

It helped that he was hot as hell while doing it and what Anna doesn't know and could never understand is that the way Shane loves me, the way he takes me over completely, was just the way I needed to be loved. When he looks at me with that heat and want in his eyes, oh man. Just thinking about it makes me needy and twitchy. And when he’s pissed that shit multiplies by ten.

His little jealousy fit earlier today had been too cute. Once I got over wanting to knock his lights out. He’s so…everything that it was hard to believe he’d be jealous over anything. It got me to see my family so in the end it was a win for me, but if he ever pulls that shit again he won’t be getting off that easy.

Only fifteen minutes had gone by when I felt him. I always know when he's around. My body just goes on high alert, like a bitch in heat scenting her mate.

"He's here." I got the tingles just thinking about what craziness he was gonna get up to now. I knew when his sister hung up on him it would mean trouble. And for some reason all this wedding talk was making me itchy again.

"Where, how do you know? You know, this freaky shit you two got going on is creepy as hell."

I ignored her as I looked around the crowded room. The club was packed but we were in the VIP section, after all my fiancé owned the place so where else would I be?

Before I could find him I felt his hands come around my waist from behind and looked up at him with a smile. He wasn’t smiling, in fact his face looked like a thundercloud. Geez, I wonder what he thought I did this time. I looked over at the twins with a scowl but they had their game faces on. Besides, I hadn’t done shit but sit here all night laughing it up and having my first real girl’s night out.

You’d have thought I was going to a foreign country the way this one acted when I told him we were going out tonight. I had to remind him like five times that it was his club. Then he’d set his guard dogs on me like I was twelve and gave me a list of instructions before I could get out the door.

I lifted my lips for a kiss, which he gave grudgingly but still with that sour look on his face. He can be so testy when he doesn’t get his way.

* * *

* * *

"What the fuck Mouth, where's your damn phone?" Ma cleared her throat to start her shit but I think she was drunk because all she did was glare.

"It died baby I'm sorry." She tried giving me the pouty lips shit that makes my dick hard but it was too late for that. I was already out of sorts. What a bitch ass term to use about myself, but there you have it. "I told you about that shit, let's go."

"Damn Shane, you couldn't even last three hours without hunting her down, you are so whipped." Anna shook her head at us.

"Uhhh, I wasn't ready to go yet."

"Too bad, you shoulda thought of that before you left the house with a half dead phone or next time tell your girl to pass you the damn phone...that better be juice you're drinking little girl."

I put my hand on her barely rounded belly.

"Duh, I'm not a complete dolt I know I can't drink."

"Didn't say you were babe but when you get around this bunch you always lose your damn mind." I glowered at the table at large and got goofy smiles all around. Fuck were these women up to?

"This bunch is your two sisters, your mother and her friends."

"Uh huh, your point?"

"I never thought I'd see the day; my son the bad ass is whipped." Ma and her friends whooped it up at my expense and then the male jokes started. Apparently we were all pussy whipped asses being led around by our dicks. I never knew ma even had those types of conversations.

"Ma, how many of those did you have?"

"What? It's cranberry."

"With a fifth of goose."

"Shut it Sophia, snitch."

I just shook my head; it never fails.

"Where the hell is your husband anyway?"

"Probably right behind you." Ma was ten sheets to the bloody wind with Sophia not far behind and that damn Anna was smiling like always. Whatever, their husbands could deal with their shit. I had my hands full as it is with my little pain in the ass.

Mikey and Tony were as usual sucking face with their wives not at all concerned with their shit.

"Let's bounce babe before one of my employees realize I'm here and ask me to do some shit, it's my night off I really don't want to be spending it here."

"You're supposed to be home catching up on sleep."

"Was about to do that until you decided not to answer the damn phone, now let's go."

She did that pouting shit and I had a chorus of women telling me basically to fuck off but not in so many words. I ended up sitting with them for an hour before dragging her ass home.

She wasn’t drunk but some fuck was going on with her because she was loopy as hell. I barely kept her in her seat all the way home while the others were in the front. Mikey and Tony were taking ma and the girls home, while the twins drove us. I saw Zane checking his mirrors and he gave me a slight shake of the head once I caught his eye.

I threw my arm around her and pulled her in and used that as cover to look out the back window. My heart rate started to speed up because she was there, but I controlled that shit quick. If there was ever a time I needed to keep my shit together, now was it.

I saw the car drop back but couldn’t make out much of anything through the slightly tinted windows. Zane gave Alec the signal and he started maneuvering through traffic. All of this was done in a way that she wouldn’t catch on to the fact that we were being followed.

I relaxed once I caught Alec’s nod in the rearview letting me know that he’d lost them. Now my mind was stuck on who the fuck that could’ve been. She was half asleep in my arms and didn’t notice a thing, or so I thought.

As soon as we were alone in our room she dropped all pretense of tiredness. “Did you know you have triads in your place?” Say what now?

“What do you mean?”

“You do know what a triad is, right Peter Gotti?” Now even I know what that insult meant.

“Yes smart ass, I do, but how do you know they were in my place?”

I couldn’t help but think of the conversation I’d had at the meet a few days ago. “I saw them, their damn tats stand out like a beacon.” She shook her head and pulled her clothes off, dropping them on the floor. I have to get her spoilt ass a maid soon. Shit, the vetting process alone is enough to make me sweat.

“What were they doing?” I kept my voice calm so as not to let on to what the fuck was going on inside me. Were they there for her or me, and was it them in the car behind us?

“My guess is planning a hit of some kind or a shakedown.” I’m pretty sure they’re not stupid enough to try shaking me down so it must be a hit. I wonder where the fuck they found the balls.

“Did they have eyes on you or anyone else at the table?”

“Nope. I’m thinking they were after you.”

I wanted to head back out into the night and deal with this shit before it went too far. I never had any dealings with the triads since they came on the scene in my city when I was already starting to pull out. I’m not sure what the fuck they want with me, except maybe my territory down by the wharf. Fuckers love being near the water. I guess it’s easier to traffic human flesh when you have easy access to a port.

“They were probably out for a night on the town.” I was about to take her mind off of it when there was a knock at the door. I answered and stepped out in the hall with Alec. He motioned for me to follow him and I closed the door and left.

“We screwed up again. Zane and I saw the Asians in the club but since they didn’t go anywhere near her we didn’t think anything of it. But they were the ones following us tonight.”

“How do you know?” I asked that question just as we breeched the door to their security room. Fucking place looked like NASA. All of this, just to keep track of one little girl.

Zane was watching something on the screen that covered the wall. “We have a device on the car that records everything around it. It’s good in case someone tries to plant a bomb shit like that. We can see the car through here.” He showed me his phone where the same picture was on the screen.

“And when we’re driving we leave it on just in case we miss something with our eyes.” No wonder they’re the best. I hadn’t even thought of shit like that. “The only problem now is who were they following? They didn’t approach or even look in her direction while we were inside. So I’m thinking it was you.”

That was fine by me, but now they’d got her in the mix that was not so good for them. I wouldn’t put it past one of the other families to have joined forces with them to get rid of me and I had a pretty good idea who that was. The coward Scarletti didn’t have the balls to come at me head on so he enlisted these demented fucks.

I knew he had an agent in his pocket that I’d cut loose. He and the congressman had been tight so now I’m wondering if this was retaliation for the hit on him. Hadn’t Scarletti asked me about the new guy in my operation that was taking off people’s heads? At the time I didn’t ask how he knew it was my hit. It was my territory so that was an easy call to make. I’d thought for sure the agent was out of my ass though; I guess I was slipping.

“I don’t want her leaving the house again until I deal with this shit.”

“Um, she already has plans with your mom and sisters to go shopping tomorrow.”

“Well she can change that shit.”

“It’s for the wedding.” What the fuck! I just looked at him until he shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

“Uh boss, you’re gonna tell her she can’t go right.” Alec looked at me for confirmation. Bitch was afraid of Mouth. “Yes, I’ll tell her.” I left the room and went back to her. She was asleep on her side with my pillow under her cheek. I sat on the edge of the bed just watching her in the moonlight that came through the window.

I’d made a promise. I told her I’d keep her safe once we got out of the life. I know she acts tough and pretends she doesn’t want to give it up, but I know her now. I know she wants out too, that she’d been doing this shit because she thought she had to. When she thought her dad was dead, murdered by his enemies, she’d been avenging him.

But now he’s back from the dead and once we take care of Tommy there would be no need for her to keep that shit up. If I get drawn back in now I would be breaking my word. I have to think of a way around this without any bloodshed.

I knew what they wanted, and had no intentions on giving into them. First of all, I hate the very idea of enslaving people for any reason, but these fucks go too far with their barbarity. I can’t see myself making deals with assholes who brutalize children to make a fucking buck, so that’s out. I slipped into bed and pulled her into my arms as my mind stayed busy trying to come up with a solution.

I’m gonna have to have a sit down with this agent after all. Like the congressman he hadn’t been too happy about the fact that the family was pulling out of the illegal trade. There wasn’t much money in it for them if we made everything above board. As with the congressman I’d made my point clear but I’m thinking he didn’t get the fucking memo.

* * *

In the morning, I tried telling her over breakfast that she wasn’t to leave the house. I’d already convinced myself that it was me they were after and no one knew who she was, but I still wasn’t about to take any chances. I was gonna flush this agent fuck out of whatever hole he hid in from nine to five and straighten this shit out once and for all.

“No can do, Joe Adonis. I have a date with Pia and the girls to go shopping for a wedding dress and I’m not missing it. What’s the problem, somebody else after you? You see; this is what happens when you talk people to death. What do the Asians want with us?”

“Mouth, nobody’s after anybody you nut. I just have some shit to do today so I can’t be with you and I don’t like you being out there on your own.”

“What alone? I haven’t been alone since you sicced those two on me. And that’s another thing, they’re not coming with us today, Pia’s already asking questions.”

I think she’s deathly afraid of ma finding out about her killing shit. Maybe I can use that. “All the more reason for you to stay your ass in the house. I thought you could buy almost anything on the net?”

“You want me to buy my wedding dress off the Internet? How about I cut down the drapes and sew one myself?”

Now she’s being a smartass. “Look Mouth…”

“No you look. Your mom has made an appointment with some hoity-toity designer who’s flying in from Europe somewhere. You’re the one who said the wedding has to be in three weeks so you’ll just have to deal with whatever. I can call my dad and uncle Al if you’d like.”

She said that shit to rattle my damn nerves. I slammed out of the room and heard her laughter through the door. Disrespectful!

“Change of plans we’ll put more people on her but she’s being snippy about not going.” It would probably make sense to have this designer come here, but I wasn’t too jazzed about having strangers on the grounds.

“Who’s this designer she’s meeting tomorrow, you two know?”

“Of course. Already vetted, she’s clean. Your mom’s been using her for years, she’s supposed to be one of the best.” He brought up a picture of some chick and I barely spared her a glance. If they said she was fine I’ll take their word.

“Where’re they supposed to meet?”

“The Regency. We’ve already put someone on the room to make sure it’s clear and the route is already taken care of. I don’t see anything going wrong unless the women veer off track.” Knowing them that was a sure bet. I left and headed back to her ass. I didn’t like that crack she made about bringing in those two old fucks. Was she implying that I couldn’t take care of her as well as they could?