ROMEO (book 1)

35. ROMEO

I call Leo's cell for the tenth time, it goes straight to voicemail again.

I call Delilah's again, it also goes to voicemail.

I call one of my men that live in the same building as me, "Gio, go check on Delilah and Leo. Keep me on the line."

Rumbling. Elevator pings. Sigh.

"Leo's not outside, capo."

"Go inside."

He uses the key to walk inside and when he does, a sigh of relief washes over him. "Ugh... hold on." He hangs up.

My phone pings a second later to see Delilah laying across the couch with a blanket over her, fast asleep. Leo was sitting on the floor, his head on the table, also asleep.

I always get jealous when I see her with other men because they would treat her much better than I would. But this was a different kind of jealousy. I was deep rooted. She was using his sweater as a pillow.

Why didn't she just go and sleep in my room?

I call Gio, "wake them up and then bring Delilah to me."

She can stay at the strip club tonight.

Beneath the strip club, there's one of my meeting rooms. There's a lot I need to do. She can sleep on the couch with my sweater.

Forty minutes later, a tired Delilah walks in with her nightgown on.

She looks at me and smiles softly.

I get off the seat, give the men at the table one look and they all look away. "Come here." I grab her wrist and lead her into the office room. "You can sleep on the couch here." I point to the couch.

She sits down, "Why'd you wake me up just to tell me I can sleep again?" She rubs her eyes, her makeup smearing. "You could have let me stay at home."

"Because I was jealous that you were with Leo." I take my blazer off, hugging it around her shoulders.

"Don't need to be jealous." She yawns, "Leo isn't my type."

She lays across the couch and I open the drawers, Ilaria stays here some nights and has a drawer full of makeup stuff.

I get the wipes and walk back to Delilah and crouch down, wiping the makeup off her face. "If you need me i'm through the door, bathroom is through the blue door."

"Blanket?"

"I'll get you one." I kiss her cheek, "You have food stains across your chin.

"I can eat faster than Leo." She grabs my hand, "Can you come to the bathroom with me?"

"Now?"

"When I need it. Don't want to throw up." She closes her eyes.

"Course I can, precious." I kiss her lips. "Get some rest."

I leave her with the light off but the lamp on and walk back out. One thing I hate about mafia men is that they're predators.

By the smirk on all of the men's face, I just knew they were talking about Delilah.

I throw Gio my keys. "Get her the blanket in my trunk." And then I switch my attention to these men, "I hear any word about her and I'm going to rip your tongue out, that is a promise." I sit down.

They quiet down and I finish doing the business with them. They leave, some other men walk in. These are the men from the Phildalphiea base. Their capo is Lorenzo.

He sits down, "We need more men."

"How so?"

"Half of ours were killed." He cracks his knuckles, his blue eyes staring back at mine. Lorenzo and I hate each other. He's a known sociopath also, he's good at what he does but he's under me for a reason. I'm better than him at everything, and he hates that.