Page 24 of Paolo DeLuca
Chapter fourteen
AssoonasDante left, he picked up the phone to call Franco. “How is she?”
“She’s safe right now, Capo,” Franco confirmed. “I haven’t seen anyone poking around.”
He could breathe but couldn’t fight the urge to go to her. “I’m coming.”
Paolo hung up the phone and was out of his office in seconds. He needed to fill Gino in and get to Lyric as soon as possible. Cali didn’t have to say it. He read the threat between the lines. She was going after Lyric if he didn’t succumb to her like she wanted. Paolo didn’t bend for anyone.
“Where are you going?” Gino asked him as soon as he made his way to the floor.
“I talked to Cali. She’s been watching Lyric.” Gino’s eyes widened at the information, then settled on the same fire and indignation shown in Paolo’s eyes. Lyric was family and under DeLuca protection. Don’t fuck with family.
“Franco already there?” Gino asked.
Paolo nodded. “Yes, he says everything’s good right now, but I’d feel better if I could see her with my own eyes.”
“What about Dante?”
“He’s looking for that bitch. Coordinate with him. You know where I’ll be.”
Paolo headed out the door, pushing those who were in his way to the side, then was in his car, speeding to Lyric’s neighborhood.
It seemed as if it took only seconds to get to Lyric’s place. He’d barely put the car in park before he killed the ignition and headed for Franco.
“Franco, take a spin around her neighborhood, then get up with Dante,” Paolo ordered. “I want the bitch found, now.”
Paolo watched Franco get into his car to spin around the block then marched to the door of the diner to see a closed sign. His fist was ready to pound on the door until he saw the buzzer and smashed it so hard, it stuck. He waited impatiently, stepping back just a little to look up at her apartment.
“Damn it, Lyric!” he yelled. “Open the fucking door!”
It was only a few minutes when he spied her coming down the short hallway from the stairs, but it seemed like fucking forever.
“Mr. DeLuca, what are you doing here?” Lyric asked, surprised when she went through unlocking the door of the small café. “What are you doing here?”
“Let me in, Lyric.” He didn’t want to spend another second in the open. She opened the door to let him in. “Fucking finally.”
She stepped back, letting him step through. Paolo pulled her into a hug. She didn’t fight him, just melted into his embrace.
“Are you okay?” she asked him. Fear and concern laced her voice. He didn’t mean to scare her. “What’s wrong?”
“Come on, let’s go upstairs.”
He reached back and locked the door while she waited for him at the elevator.
“Mr. DeLuca.”
“Lyric, stop with that Mr. DeLuca bullshit.” They stepped into the lift. “I told you to call me Paolo.”
“Fine.” She sighed, folding her arms across her luscious chest. “Now, tell me what the fuck is going on.”
The action had him taking notice of what she had on for the first time. A black tank hugged every curve and the swell of her breasts. Paolo let his gaze travel down the length of her body to the barely-there shorts and the print of her fat pussy. His body stirred, and the urgency of protecting her he’d felt earlier shifted to a different kind of urgency. Paolo covered the short distance between the two of them. Lyric held her position.
“Good girl,” he crooned. “You’re not afraid of the big bad wolf.”
“That’s because the wolf is not as bad as he thinks.”
He grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her close to him. “We’ll see about that,” he promised, his lips crashing onto hers as the elevator halted and the doors opened.
