IAN
"You almost shot him, Boss! Do you know how much he cost?"
Jayce voice grated on my nerves.
My teeth gritted. "If it's the price on the tag, take him back and ask for a fucking refund. I don't want a bodyguard."
"But Boss..." Jayce whimpered.
Too exhausted to glare, I raised the glass to my lips, thought better of it, and set it down on the table again.
This wasn't the time for this, and he fucking knew it. Two shipments of the top boss's goods had suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth—along with my men in charge.
That was why I had almost killed the fucker I walked in on, lying lazily on my couch, eyes closed, face relaxed.
Now I glared at the man who was supposed to be my bodyguard. White hair—not gray, white—a sharp contrast to my raven black, so stark it seemed dyed. And those fucking green eyes.
Almost like he wasn't scared of me.
And that realization was tumbling everything I believed in.
It was the way he held my gaze. The small smile I could swear I saw pulling at his lips. And most of all, the way he hadn't flinched at my eyes like everyone else did.
That made me pull the trigger.
But... it didn't budge.
Chin tilted, not once had he looked away from me. Even now, standing across from me, he held my gaze, those soulless, turquoise-hued pupils smug.
Too smug for a man whose life I could end before lunch.
Then his eyes... sparkled.
I frowned. Either his eyes had actually sparkled, or I was going crazy.
"Think about what it would've done to me if you'd died on the last raid," Jayce continued to press.
"But I didn't," I snapped. "Fine, I almost di—"
"That was the third time, Boss."
"But. I. Didn't."
"Christ!" Jayce swore under his breath, running a hand through his gray hair tied in a bun. "Having a bodyguard doesn't make you less of a boss." He snatched my glass before I could reach for it. "Please, Ian?"
The men surrounding us fidgeted at Jayce's casual use of my name, though they knew he'd get away with it.
I sighed.
Jayce could lie all he wanted that this was for my safety, but we both knew why he really went to such lengths to find someone like him.
Someone who wouldn't run the moment Klaus so much as looked in his direction.
"What does it matter? We'll be dead in a few days once Ace finds space in his schedule," I muttered.
Jayce went quiet at that.
Ace—Don Romano's firstborn—held half the leadership, while Klaus had the other. He'd hated me from the moment his father gave me a district to run. And now, with the old man gone and Ace officially in charge, I was one misstep away from a bullet to the skull.
And two days ago, under my care, Ace's shipments went missing.
Surely, the news had reached him. Surely, he was taking his time, torturing me with silence before making his move.
The only one who could help me was Klaus. And currently, the bastard was stringing me along, probably punishing me for the last time I flinched when he touched me.
Punishing me for not calling him in over a month. For not begging him to fuck me so hard my body throbbed, just so he wouldn't feel guilty about ruining my life that night.
I massaged my temples and looked up at the bodyguard again, only to find his eyes still on me.
My brows knitted. What the fuck was his problem?
Jayce stepped forward, standing in front of me as I sat on the sofa, legs crossed, an unlit cigar between my fingers.
Shutting his eyes briefly, he took a deep breath. Then he spread three tattooed fingers before my face.
"Three days," he announced.
I blinked.
"Three days. If he proves unnecessary, we get rid of him. And I promise never, ever to interfere again." Hazel eyes watered. "Please, Boss. Someone has to look after you."
I sighed, massaging my temples harder. There was no winning with this one.
"Fine. Three days. Then he gets off my back."
And there—just for a moment—I swore I saw the white-haired bastard's lips twitch. As if in relief.
My brows knitted.
"Yes!" Jayce leaped forward and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
I shoved him off. "What the hell?"
"If you don't wanna be kissed, don't be that pretty," he snickered, flopping back onto the couch.
"Get the fuck out."
"Eesh, broody much?" He chuckled but didn't move, watching me stand and head toward my bedroom. "I love you Boss."
Halfway there, my phone buzzed against my hip.
I swallowed hard.
Reaching the door, I hesitated and turned back to my bodyguard, eyes narrowed.
"What's your name?"
The white-haired man hesitated, as if debating whether to give me the same cocky answer as before. But then—with a slight bow that seemed so unnatural—he murmured:
"Levi."
That hushed, sly baritone filled the room. Even Jayce stopped his chattering to look at him.
He kept his eyes on me.
My head tilted back, eyes hardening.
"I don't like you, Levi. And you know what I do to people I don't like?"
White lashes lowered against tan skin, a silent confirmation that his hair color was real.
"No, Boss."
"I fucking kill them."
His eyes glinted again, but he didn't react. Just nodded.
"You're not afraid of dying, are you?"
"No, Boss."
"Shame."
Too tired to delve deeper into that, I walked fully into the bedroom and closed the door quietly behind me.
Leaning against it, I exhaled slowly, breath catching in my throat.
The dimness of the room felt suffocating.
Sighing, I pushed the smug bodyguard from my mind and settled on the bed. The weight of everything crashed back down on me.
Reaching for the bedside lamp, I pulled out that lone picture.
Mum and Cher smiled up at me.
I shut my eyes, rubbing the dull ache in my skull—the one that turned my vision hot and red.
How could I save them...
When I couldn't even save myself?
The phone rang again, shattering the silence.
I stared at the familiar number before picking up and pressing the phone to my ear.
"Klaus..."
But that quiet, cold voice wasn't his.
It was his assistant.
"Boss won't be seeing you anytime soon," the assistant said.
A sharp click and then Silence.
I shut my eyes, exhaling heavily.
In my mind, I could see him—sitting there, listening to his assistant make the call, the phone on speaker so he could hear my breath hitch.
I dropped the phone beside me and stared at the ceiling.
I needed to find that shipment before Ace came for me.
But how?