be the same again once this was done.
Chapter Thirteen
“Ana, open the door.”
“I’m sick, Dio. You don’t want to catch what I have.”
“You aren’t fucking sick. I know what happened. Let me in.”
I took a deep breath and opened the door. I didn’t look as bad as I had a few days ago, but I was still sporting some yellowish brown bruises and chafed wrists. I looked at Dio standing on my doorstep with a blank expression.
“Goddamn it. This is why I told you to stay behind the fucking bar, Ana.”
“What do you want, Dio?”
“I want you to tell me exactly what happened.”
“I thought you said you knew.”
“I know that you tussled with Micah outside the elevator but by the time security caught it and got down there, you were gone. They went to his room, but you weren’t there and he was laying on the floor with a nasty head wound. Other than that, there is video of you running from the building. Now, I want the rest of the story.”
“It’s none of your concern.”
“Everything that happens in my casino is my concern.”
“That what this is about? Tarnishing your precious casino?”
“Tell me what happened, Ana. Now.”
“Or what? You going to do worse to me than Micah did?”
“Ana, I’m not playing games with you. Tell me what happened.”
I studied his face. He was angry. If I was going to stay at the club and keep snooping, I needed Micah dealt with, and Dio would certainly read the riot act to him about touching me. Even if it wasn’t personal to him, he couldn’t afford to have one of his own club members assaulting the help.
“Fine. I’ll tell you.”
I proceeded to tell him what had happened. I thought I could do it matter of factly, but when I got to the worst parts, I broke down in tears. Despite the anger that grew more and more apparent on his face, he continued to listen to the end, wiping away my tears and grabbing me some Kleenex so I could finish. I told him that Hannibal had mentioned Micah was looking for me the next morning. I had been hiding here in my house until I could figure out what to do about him.
“That son of a bitch. Security took him to our guy to get him patched up and sleep it off. I knew he had grabbed you, but not the extent of what had happened. All the guards told me was that he tried to get you up to his room but you had gotten away. How dare he think he can do that to one of my girls. I have to go.”
“Wait, Dio. What are you going to do?”
“What needs to be done. Lock your door and don’t answer it for anyone but me. Got it?”
“Yes.”
To my surprise, he kissed me softly on the forehead before turning to leave. When I didn’t follow him, he turned toward me at the door. Despite the relative gentleness of his kiss, I could see that he was seething with anger and trying to keep it under control.
“The door, Ana. Lock it now.”
“Okay, Dio.”
I felt a bit like a small child being instructed what to do, but I knew he was right. Who knew where Micah was right now or what he might do. I should have told Dio what he had said about being second in command, but something told me to keep that to myself for now. Until I knew more about what I needed to in order to sort this whole mess out, it was best to keep some things quiet. If I told him everything, he would send me packing so fast it would make my head spin…or he might do even worse.
After he left, I paced and fretted, worrying about what he might be doing to Micah. It wasn’t that I cared if he hurt him, Micha had it coming, but I was worried about Dio going too far. It couldn’t be good for his group to see someone in charge lose it like that on one of their own. I certainly didn’t want to be the cause of him having trouble among the ranks. Hours passed without word and it
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