Kingpin (Breeding #4)

After ten minutes have passed, I’m getting angry, with concern growing right along next to it.

Finally, I give up and walk into the building, knowing that she always leaves out the back. If she’s working late, then she won’t see me and there won’t be any harm done. That’s what I tell myself.

When I walk inside, there’s a young girl at the reception desk smacking her gum and holding her phone up for a selfie.

“Is Thea James working?” I ask, getting right to the point.

The girl looks up from her phone in confusion. “Who?”

“Thea Jones.” I hold my hand up to the height of my chest. “This tall, long dark hair, gray eyes.”

“There’s no such thing as gray eyes.” She looks at me skeptically.

“Do you know who she is?” I’m irritated, and I don’t do a thing to keep it from my voice.

“Yeah, she’s the quiet one who used to sit in the back. She’s gone,” the girl says, and goes back to her phone.

I’ve had enough. I reach over and put my hand over the screen and push it down to the desk. “Did she leave early?”

“Dude. Don’t touch my property,” she says, moving her phone from under my hand as she looks around for help. When she sees none, she finally answers me. “She didn’t come in today. I hear they called her last night and let her go with a bunch of other people. Cutbacks or something. It wasn’t just her.”

I don’t say another word. I push back from the desk and I’m out the door with my cell in my hand. The guy I had watching her building picks up his phone on the first ring. I slide behind the wheel as I try to figure out what happened.

“Why wasn’t I informed the woman on the third floor didn’t leave for work today?” I’ve been getting updates on her movements for two weeks, and I’m pissed I didn’t hear about this already.

“Sorry, boss. I thought you only wanted to know when she left. I haven’t seen any movement today, so I assumed all was good.”

I hang up the phone and hit the gas. Normally it takes me a while to get to the other end of town where she lives, but I’ll make it in half that today. I’m gripping the steering wheel and weaving in and out of traffic as I think about her losing her job. She works hard and has barely anything. I know it probably wasn’t her dream to work there, but she seemed to be trying to make it work. It pisses me off that I wasn’t there for her when she got the call. That I wasn’t beside her, telling her it was going to be okay.

By the time I make it to the building, I spot my guy near a construction zone across the street, where it looks like he’s set up to work. But in reality, all he’s set up to do is watch Thea. That’s his only fucking job.

When he spots me, he immediately stands up and comes over to meet me.

“I’m sorry, boss. I should have reported her staying put,” he says quickly, trying to smooth things over.

“Relax, Mike,” I say, and look at the building.

He nods, and I walk past him and around the back. Mike can’t see the rear of the building from where he’s set up, but he’s got cameras to help with that. From the front he can see Thea coming and going, and up until now it hasn’t been a problem.

When I get to the back of the building, I see a fat drug dealer named Big Shot. He’s almost as tall as me, but where I’ve got pounds of muscle, he’s all blubber. His bald head is shiny, and he’s got a goatee that looks like food is stuck in it. A woman stands next to him, nearly naked, and a couple of guys loitering close by watch me intently.

I don’t know Big Shot personally, but he’s been checked out by my men and I don’t fucking like him.

When I reach the edge of the steps, Big Shot steps out in front of me.

“Hey, I know you,” he says, looking me straight in the eyes. “You going up to see my girl?”

Rage builds up in my throat, and I clench my fists. “Your girl?” I manage to choke out.

“Yeah, I heard about you making a late-night visit to her. But she’s up there packing now. Found out she needed a place to stay, so I’m helping her out. So you can go ahead and turn around, pretty boy. She’s about to get the royal treatment from me.” He licks his lips, and the woman beside him crosses her arms and looks pissed.

There is only evil in the smirk he gives me, and I’ve had enough.

Reaching out, I grab him by the throat and push him up against the wall, high enough so that his feet dangle. He grapples with my arms and chokes on his words as his boys come over to help him. I pull out my gun from the back of my belt and point it at them. They come to a complete stop, so I turn my gun to the middle of Big Shot’s forehead.

“Do you know who I am?” I ask calmly. Big Shot shakes his head, and I look over to his men, who do the same. “I’ll do you a favor and give you an education. I’m Salvatore Castello.”

At the mention of my name, Big Shot’s eyes widen and his boys start to make excuses for him.

“Looks like you do. Then you should know better than to fuck with me and what’s mine.”

I point the gun in the direction of his boys and fire it. They take off running, along with the woman, and I’m thankful I thought to put a silencer on my gun before I left for work today.

Moving the gun back to Big Shot’s forehead, I hold the hot barrel to his bald head and burn him with it. He lets out a choked cry, and I squeeze his neck harder.

“Maybe not right here, boss,” I hear Mike say from behind me. He must have either seen what was happening on the cameras or been close enough to hear the gunshot.

Thankfully his words sink in and I realize that anyone could come down those steps at any moment. This isn’t the place for this.

“Call the twins and have them take care of him,” I say to Mike as I crack Big Shot over the head with the butt of my gun. He slides down to the floor unconscious, and I straighten my suit.

“Will do, boss,” Mike confirms as he hauls his limp body out to a waiting trunk.

I push my hair back in place and walk up the steps to Thea’s apartment. I try to let thoughts of Big Shot and what he said he was going to do with her fall away. She’s mine, and no one touches what belongs to me. It’s clear I need to take care of this now.

When I get to her door, I see a yellow piece of paper taped to it and I rip it off. My eyes scan it to see it’s an eviction notice. I own the goddamn building — how is she being evicted?

There’s some bullshit at the bottom about the management company that took over having to remove residents due to overcrowding. Residents have to relocate as of end of business day today.

“What the fuck?” I growl, crumpling up the paper in my hand and banging my fist on her front door.

When Thea opens the door, something in my chest eases and aches all at the same time. Her eyes are rimmed red and her hair is piled high in a messy bun. She’s wearing a gray sweatshirt that’s hanging off one shoulder, and I can’t tell if what she’s wearing could be classed as underwear or shorts, they’re so damn short.