House of Payne: Rude (25 page)

Frowning, he did so, and she knew the exact moment he came across the mention of the Russian mob. His expression grew hard and violent all at the same time, and when he lifted his gaze she wanted to back away.

“I thought it was a joke,” she whispered, shaking her head helplessly. “Both Scout and I couldn’t believe how fucking gullible this Heather chick must’ve been. I mean, people who are in the mob don’t actually
talk
about being in the mob. It had to have been a stupid story some sleazebag player made up to get in her pants. That was the only thought I gave it before forgetting all about it.”

“This guy with the aviator glasses—”

“Marco Polo Scorpeone.”

Rude stared. “You gotta be shitting me.”

“His few friends call him Polo, and his vast ocean of enemies and people in the business call him Scorpio. He said I could call him Polo if I wanted to. I don’t.”

“You did have a nice chat with him.” Giving the letter one last look, he stuffed it back in its envelope, then got to his feet while pulling her up with him. “Did this Marco Polo asshole say what the fuck he wanted with you?”

“His boss is some guy named Borysko… something. Vitaliev,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “That was the name. Borysko Vitaliev. Scorpio said this guy was my father, that he wanted to see me, and that whatever the Russian dude wants, Scorpio makes sure he gets it. And then he let me go and told me that he would see me in twenty-four hours.”

“He let you go?”

“He had a hold of me right from the beginning this time around. Otherwise I would have run like I did before.” She looked down at her wrists and was vaguely surprised to see they weren’t braceleted by finger-shaped bruises. “I tried to get away from him several times—I even headbutted him, but all I did was knock those stupid glasses off his face and break my shoe heel when I tried to impale his foot with it. But I’m fine,” she added hurriedly when the alarming look on his face finally sank in. “See? No bruises. I’m fine.”

“He touched you.” The words sounded stifled, because he couldn’t seem to get his jaw unclenched, and the fury tightening his face made her heart skip a beat. “He scared you. He put his hands on you and made you struggle, and still he wouldn’t let you go. That fucking cocksucker… Jesus H, I will fucking
end
him for this.”

Oh, shit
. “Please, please just forget about it, Rude, okay? This man…I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s incredibly dangerous.”

“So am I.”

She didn’t like the way he said that. At all. “No one is like this guy. He’s… it’s like you hear his voice, and you know he doesn’t have a soul. I don’t have any proof, but I think he’s one of those button pushers you hear about.”

He blinked, and she was relieved to see the desperate rage ease out of his eyes as confusion took its place. “Button pushers?”

“Yeah, like when someone wants a person to be dead, this Scorpio guy is the one who pushes the button and makes that person dead. A button pusher.”

“A button
man
, baby.” At first faintly amused, his expression once again became a mask of barely restrained violence before he pulled her into his arms, tucking her face into his neck so she couldn’t see him. “My little Sassy was scared by a fucking dirty hitman. Bastard. That mother
fucking
bastard. Goddamn it, I will fucking
kill
that piece of shit with my bare hands for daring to fucking
touch
you.”

They needed a change of subject, pronto. “I don’t even know what you’re doing here now. Did something happen at work? Are you okay?”

“The cameras, baby.” He took a couple deep breaths, which seemed to help calm him, and he let her lift her face from the side of his neck so she could look up at him. “The moment you started tearing the place apart, I was alerted. But I have to admit, the last thing I expected was to see you packing a bag.”

“I was going to try to keep the danger away from you.” And the crazed violence that kept whipping up in his eyes made her think that maybe her first instinct had been the right one. If he thought he could tangle with the likes of Scorpio and the Russian mob just because he was pissed off, his life expectancy was going to fall to absolute zero. “I thought if I left, you wouldn’t wind up like Liam. But then I remembered how much I love you, and that you’re worth fighting for, no matter what, and that was when I realized I could never leave you. You’re my whole heart, and I can’t live without my heart. But I do understand if you want to leave,” she added, forcing herself to say the words. Each one left bloody, gaping holes in her soul, but she had to let him know the door was wide open if he wanted to go through it. “You didn’t sign up for this hot box of crazy shit, so I would understand if you decided I’m not worth the trouble and you—”

He shut her up by capturing her mouth with his, and the leashed fury of it was conveyed in the way his lips ground into hers. He kissed her like they were enemies, like it was the last kiss he’d ever have and he was furious about it, like he wanted to forever brand the feel of her on his lips. When he raised his head and allowed her to breathe, her mouth pulsed with the frantic beat of her heart, and she felt like she was the one who had been branded.

“Don’t you
ever
say that again,” he growled, and the dangerous sound made her shiver. His furious gaze swept over her, and it was so hot she could feel every place it touched. “I told you that I love you. That’s not just when times are good. I love you even when the storms are raging and the wolves are howling at the door. I love you
especially
then, because I know I can be your shelter in that storm, and I can keep those fucking wolves at bay. You just have to trust me.”

“I do.” Then she smiled, though she hated herself when she felt it tremble. “I’m still here, aren’t I? I’m ready to fight for you, because I know you’re worth it. I just hope to God you still think I’m worth it, too.”

“You once told me the things you love about me,” he said, and his tone was so fierce it was hard to believe they were talking about love. “Now it’s my turn. I love that you fit your name. I love that you’ve been stronger than everything life has thrown at you. I love how you love the people in your life, and that you’re loyal to them no matter what. I love that you gave me another chance and didn’t hold my dipshit teen years against me. I love that I’m the only man you’ve ever trusted enough to sleep with. I love that you think I’m worth fighting for. I. Love. You. And I will tear this fucking world apart if that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”

Her heart overflowed with so much warmth it brought tears to her eyes, but that last part made the fear surge up once more. “Please don’t do anything stupid, Rude. If anything happened to you and you left me alone in the world, that would break me, do you understand? I wouldn’t want to keep going without you.”

He made a sound deep in his throat. “Don’t say shit like that.”

“I’m just telling you how it is. So you have to be smart about how you play this, okay? Keep us both alive and together. Please.”

“Okay, baby.” He gave her one last squeeze before stepping toward the door, his hand coming to curl around hers. “That reminds me. If we’re going to play things the smart way, we need to make the first step.” With that, he tugged her out of the bedroom and into the now-wrecked living room, stopped in front of the clock on the wall and pulled her close to his side.

“Aviator glasses has a name,” he told the clock, making her eyes widen. “Marco Polo Scorpeone, aka Scorpio, possibly a regular guy, or possibly a hitman. He works for a man by the name of Borysko Vitaliev, who might also be a regular guy, or he might be a high-ranking member of the Russian mob. Needless to say, be careful how you look into these guys. We have less than twenty-four hours to put something together.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Incoming.

Rude read the text sent by Havlik, and glanced over at Sass. She was doing what she always did—carrying on despite the weight of the world crushing down on her. Her blog’s theme for the upcoming week focused on holiday meals, from appetizers to main courses like turkey, goose and ham, to desserts. She’d chosen to tackle the desserts first and was currently working on a complicated layered pumpkin cheesecake in the kitchen. She’d been up at the crack of dawn after a restless night, and had already done an apple cake drizzled with salted caramel by the time he’d come out of the shower. He’d watched as she photographed it in the morning light made that much brighter by a layer of snow that had fallen overnight.

They’d had coffee together while he discreetly monitored his phone, but there was no way he was going to get anything past her. She insisted she had a right to know what was going on since it was her problem and not his, and that had pissed him off. Even now, she was still seeing the world as hers and his, but not
theirs
.

He understood she’d pretty much been on her own throughout her formative years. He understood she was probably wired to think like she was alone. But it was time she understood she needed to do some rewiring.

“Any news?”

His attention swung back to Sass, who’d come to statue-like stillness at the kitchen’s counter, her dark eyes anxious, her delicate elfin face almost gaunt it was pulled so tight with stress. Seeing her like that filled him with jaw-knotting fury, and the image of twisting Scorpio’s head from his neck and stomping it into red mush once again flared in his mind.

“Havlik’s here,” he said not untruthfully, and tucked his phone into his pocket as he headed for the door, grabbing up his coat as he went. “Stay inside, okay? Don’t even go out into the hallway until I come back. Our twenty-four hours are up, so I want to make sure you’re kept out of reach, got it?”

“Rude, I’ve been think—”

“Sass, I need you to tell me you understand, and that you’re going to play it smart.”

“But—”

“That’s what you wanted from me, and I gave that to you. Now it’s your turn. You’re going to tell me that you’re going to play it smart and do as I say. Otherwise, you’re going to force me to stay in here and sit on you so you stay safe, instead of going out and taking care of business. And trust me, sitting on you is
not
what you want me to do.”

Her lips compressed before she nodded and headed around to where he stood. “Fine, I’ll play it smart. No going out of the apartment. But you should know right here and now that I’m not some docile little chick who’s always going to do what she’s told. This is a one-time deal, pal, so enjoy the zero-pushback while it lasts.”

“Sassy.” He grinned at her mildly miffed tone, and it felt so good he chuckled before he reeled her in for a kiss. The moment her lips melted against his, the tension that had been gnawing away at his insides evaporated, and for a few perfect moments everything fell silent. Then he felt his phone vibrate with another message, and he reluctantly let her go. “Don’t you worry, Sassy Pants. I know you live up to your name.”

“Don’t you forget it,” she called after him as he headed for the door.

His smile vanished the moment he was out in the hall and had her securely locked inside. Across from him leaning against the wall was Steele, his scarred face looking more sinister than ever as he returned his somber gaze.

“Your lady’s apartment smells like gingerbread, apples and cinnamon—way better than her neighbor’s across the hall,” Steele said by way of greeting. With a nodding glance toward the end of the hall where Nix stood guard, he and Steele headed for the stairs. “I think her neighbor has cats. Lots and lots of cats.”

“Hopefully this’ll be the last time you’ll have to be in this hallway.”

“What, you’re not going to invite me over after this? Some friend you are.”

“If I invited you over, then I’d have to invite Havlik. Otherwise he’d cry.” That reminded him of the message he’d received, and he fished his phone out. When he saw the message, he scowled and came to a stop.

Call me.

In a handful of seconds, Rude listened as the line picked up. “You’re not going to believe this, Rudy.”

“Is he here, or isn’t he?” Rude quickly put the phone on speaker, then modified the sound so only he and Steele could hear it.

“Oh, he’s here,” came the even reply, and that alone ratcheted up Rude’s alertness to another level. Havlik only got that cold, even tone when he was ready to break someone in half. “I’m looking at him right now. Asshole pulled in right across from Sass’s building in a bright red Ferrari, got out, leaned against the car door and waved at all of us in our
various fucking positions
. He clocked us all. Right now the cocksucker’s smiling up at the sky like he’s enjoying a good long laugh at our expense. Motherfucker.”

Steele’s expression hardened until he looked almost demonic. “Why can’t we shoot him? We’d be doing the world a favor, taking out the fucking garbage.”

Havlik made a grunting sound. “That’s what I said. I said please and everything. For some strange reason, Cap said no.”

“It’s cool.” Unlike Havlik and Steele, everything inside Rude settled and became icily calm. “I’d better get down there. Don’t want to keep our guest waiting.”

Steele resumed his post outside of the apartment while Rude descended the stairs, shrugging into his coat as he headed for the door. Through the glass he could see a hint of red across the street, and without pause he pushed out into the cold November morning, pulling his gloves on as he went.

The first thing he noticed about Marco Polo Scorpeone was that his sunglasses were gone, and a tiny cut now decorated the bridge of his nose.

Good job, Sass.

The second thing he noticed was that the mark Sass had reported seeing on the right side of his neck was, as far as he could tell, the curled tail of a scorpion with a drop of poison on its tip.

And lastly, he was smiling right at him.

Fucker clearly wanted to die today.

“Thanks for not keeping me waiting,” he greeted, his tone light and happy. It was the way a man greeted a good buddy. The mere sound of it made Rude want to rip the bastard’s arm off and beat him to death with it. “I appreciate that. It’s colder than a well digger’s ass out here, know what I mean?”

“I’d never be so rude as to leave you hanging. My only goal this morning is to make sure I help you get on your way as quickly as possible. One way or another.”

“Now, Rude… wait, you don’t mind if I call you Rude, do you?”

“Yeah, I do.” That was Sass’s name for him.

The man, Scorpio, lifted a shoulder. “Just trying to be friendly since we’re all on the same side here. You can call me Polo if you want.”

Jesus, this guy was the fucking limit. “All I want to call you is
gone
. What do I have to do to make that happen?”

“Come for a ride with me.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Come on. I even brought my favorite car just for you.”

“Not going to happen.”

Another smile bloomed. “You’re not that scared of me, are you?”

Rude’s humorless laugh left a vapor trail in the frigid air. “Yeah, I’m fucking petrified…of leaving Sass’s side.”

“With all the firepower you’ve brought with you today? As of this moment, I suspect Sass is the safest woman in all of Chicagoland.”

And Rude was going to do everything he could to keep it that way. “If I were ordered to take down a target, the first thing I’d do is identify problems around that target, and eliminate them so I could take my time and have a clear shot at the main prize. With that in mind, you should know that the only way I’m leaving Sass’s side is in a fucking body bag. Why don’t you try to put me in one? You might even be able to do it.”

Scorpio pursed his lips and tilted his head, clearly evaluating him from another angle. “Yeah, I might. But one of your buddies would drop me before I could enjoy the victory, so there’s no point in getting into it with you. Though it would be fun,” he added honestly, and Rude didn’t doubt him. Trying to kill him would be considered fun for the likes of this designer-dressed piece of shit.

“You’re still not telling me how I can make you gone. Do I have to put you in a body bag?”

Scorpio went back to smiling, and this time he saw what had scared Sass so much. This guy, if pushed, was dangerous enough to make even the Devil piss himself. “That wasn’t a threat, was it, Rude?”

“That’s Sass’s name for me, and it wasn’t a threat. If killing you is what it takes to make her safe, then I swear to God that’s what I’ll do.”

“Even if you die in the process?”

“I think that’s kinda obvious,
Scorpio
. If I can take the threat to my woman with me into death, then that’s one hell of a good way to go out.”

The smile vanished, and for a second Scorpio’s expression was so blank it was like the plug had been pulled on the thing that made his human motor run. Rude had seen a lot of weird shit in his life, but this guy was hitting the top of the list when it came to being unnerving.

“So you’re a genuine Romeo, eh? You’d die for her? Don’t answer, I can see you would. You really fucking mean it, you would actually go that far, as long as it guaranteed she’d be safe.” He tilted his head the other way, this time with a curious air. “It’s a very rare thing to run across someone like you, Rudolfo Panuzzi. I wonder if you’re that way because you’ve already looked death in the eye and made peace with it while stuck in some foreign shithole.”

It didn’t surprise him that this asshole had researched him as much as PSI had researched Scorpio, a shadowy but prolific
torpedo
, or contract killer, in Vitaliev’s army. “I’m this way because I love my woman, and if you can’t understand that, you’ll never get why I’d die for her. And,” he added flatly, putting every ounce of truth he had into the vow, “why I’ll kill for her.”

The man named Scorpio didn’t move. Neither did Rude. Every instinct he had pulled piano-wire tight, because the man standing before him was a bomb wanting desperately to go off. One little twitch would do it, and before he could blink there would be two bodies in the street…

“Yeah, you’re right, I don’t really get it. But that’s basically what my employer wanted to hear from you, so it’s cool. And he’s going to be real jazzed when he hears about this show of force,” he added, sliding back into genial mode so abruptly it left Rude staring. “I counted six outside, plus you and… what? One more dedicated soldier inside with Sass? You’ll get top marks from the old man with that kind of protection for his little girl, no doubt about it.”

“I don’t care.”

“You should. From the moment my employer learned of Sass’s existence, all he wanted was to make sure she was taken care of… but taken care of quietly, and from afar.”

That got his attention. “What do you mean, from afar?”

“This building?” Scorpio tilted his head at Sass’s apartment building behind him. “He owns it. When Sass went apartment-hunting years ago with that hot, inked-out piece—what’s her name, Scout?—my employer made sure they got the deal of a fucking lifetime. The grant Sass received to go to college was also a gift from her father, along with the first newspaper that offered to put her writing into syndication. From the time he knew of her existence, when she was about seventeen or eighteen, Borysko Vitaliev has made sure she’s led a charmed life. He calls it a
father’s prerogative.”

Rude’s pulse hammered at the thought of Sass having been watched all that time while he’d been half a world away, oblivious to the danger that had been a breath from her. “He sounds like a real doting daddy.”

“To his children, he is.”

“Then why didn’t he show up on her doorstep and introduce himself years ago?”

“The old man’s got two other kids.” Scorpio shrugged, and for the first time something dark moved through his expression that Rude couldn’t put a finger on. “Considering how volatile my employer’s line of work has been in the past, there have been times when those kids have been targeted for one reason or another. Also, he’s not what you’d call destitute. The old man’s built an empire, and with an empire comes a whole host of greedy assholes wanting their piece of it, including a few family members who don’t want to share with
anyone
. Because of these factors, he understandably doesn’t want the world to know that Sass exists. Believe me, her anonymity keeps her safer than all the highly skilled, military-trained personnel you’ve got set up around us.”

So Sass had a family that might not be too happy to know she existed. He could only imagine what her reaction would be to that bombshell. “If he doesn’t want the world to know she’s his kid, why does he want to see her now?”

Again that dark
something
moved through the other man’s expression, and for the first time he shifted his weight, a telltale sign of discomfort. “Fucking Russians. Ever met one? Most of them smoke like they can’t fucking breathe if they’re not doing it through a cigarette.”

The light went on. “Cancer?”