novelxo Scorned Love: Chapter 4
The pounding on the door jarred me awake.
I hadn’t fully opened my eyes when Dom appeared beside my bed.
“What the fuck, Dom?”
I grabbed the pillow, turned the other way, and covered my face with it, wishing I had locked the door.
“Get up.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“It’s noon.”
“Get. Out.”
“Family and Archer business. And you can’t talk to the boss that way.”
Dom liked to mess around with Matteo and me when we didn’t cave to his demands. There was nothing he could do because we weren’t under his control as the boss of the De Lucci crime family. We were mafia adjacent and had a separate chain of command.
“I’m talking to my cousin.” But the Archer business gave me pause. I sat up on the bed and stared at Dom. He had his arms crossed. His expression gave me an uneasy feeling. We grew up together, so I was familiar with his tells. And his expression right now was alluding to a serious problem, but it was my problem to handle, and it was something he would enjoy watching me deal with. “What Archer business?”
“It’s better if you see it. Underground? In ten?”
“Make that fifteen,” I sighed. I felt like I needed coffee for this.
The Grindhouse basement was the headquarters of the Archer Syndicate. It was an organization started by my father to control the balance of power in the underworld. Organized crime pest controller was a term we liked to use. Matteo took over as Archer Prime two years ago, and I was his second-in-command. Archers were the heads of different territories, and like the mafia, we had soldiers called Arrows in case we needed paramilitary support.
I grabbed coffee and a bagel sandwich from Jabbin’ Java before I headed to The Underground—a term we liked to use to refer to the basement. Dom was already there, including Trevor Hayes, who was our lead Arrow and intelligence officer. A role he was familiar with during his Special Forces days.
“Just three of us?” I asked, entering the server room and perching my ass on the desk behind Trevor. He was working on several screens in front of him.
“I’m here.” Matteo was on speaker.
“I’m here.” It was Daniel. Why the fuck was he involved? Daniel was the Archer of South East Asia, but we worked together when the organized crime business ran from Asia to North America. A frequent occurrence, actually.
“Daniel, you have a lead for us?” I took a sip of my coffee.
“No.” His voice was subdued, and then he sighed. “I think it’s better if Trevor shows you the video.”
The screen started playing something. A surveillance tape.
“This is from this morning—the Donateka warehouse in Brooklyn,” Trevor said.
I sat up straight when I recognized Ivy joining a blonde woman on the screen. Along with them, their maintenance man, Carlos, was flanked by two people I recognized as the Scavo brothers Alfonso and Arnold, also known as double-As. Al and Arnie. They were Rossi soldiers and made men.
“Are they squeezing the warehouse for money?”
“Yeah,” Dom said. “Just watch.”
Arnie knocked Carlos to the floor.
“Motherfucker,” I gritted. Fast fury fizzed through my veins as my body prepared for the worst. “Did they touch Iv—the women?”
“Just. Watch,” Dom repeated.
The next scene had me shouting, “Fuck! Is she crazy stepping in front of the gun?”
By this time, I was fully engaged in what was happening on the screen. Nothing short of a three-alarm fire in the building would tear my attention away from it. Ivy exchanged more words with the Scavo brothers.
“She was letting them take the fabrics, but it was a ruse,” Trevor explained since there was no audio on the footage. When Al lowered the gun, I exhaled in relief, but it was momentary. He swung his arm to backhand Ivy, but she neatly sidestepped the blow.
“She was prepared for that.” Awe crept into my voice. She said she knew kung fu, but I thought it was just tai chi stuff.
“And moved into a fighting stance,” Trevor added.
Al attacked with a series of jabs, but Ivy’s footwork was impeccable as she led the man against the bolts of fabric. I wanted to interject again that she was cornered, but before I could say anything, she caught Al’s striking right hand with her left, gave it a twist—I could imagine the asshole screaming in agony—and I was shocked when she slammed a palm against Al’s chest, incapacitating him.
I was more shocked because I popped a boner.
Fuck. And I probably wasn’t the only one.
I didn’t have time to second-guess my reaction because Arnie raised his weapon. Ivy grabbed the yardstick, and I didn’t question her moves this time because it didn’t take a genius to decipher her goal.
She and Arnie were in some kind of dance and she was leading. Even through the graininess of the footage, the wariness of Arnie came through loud and clear in the way he was holding the gun. A gun he wouldn’t hold for long.
In a blur of motion, Arnie was down on his ass and his gun somehow made it to Xander.
The odds had changed big-time.
“Yes!” I fist-pumped.
Dom was shaking his head, grinning from ear to ear. “What we said the first time.”
Al rejoined the fight, but it was short-lived. Ivy somehow had poked the stick under his arm. I wished I was a fly on the wall to hear the conversation, especially when the Scavo brothers scampered from the warehouse like they’d shit in their pants. They probably did.
When Trevor stopped the clip, silence reigned for a few seconds.
Finally, I said, “What the fuck was that?”
“My thoughts exactly,” Dom said.
“You holding out on us, Daniel?” I asked.
“About Ivy’s skills? Hardly,” he scoffed.
“Sera told us,” Matteo said. “Remember that time we crashed their breakfast? She told us Ivy knew kung fu and she could keep us in line. You even bickered about it.”
We did. I was a condescending asshole, thinking it was basic self-defense similar to those taught at gym classes. Her derisive expression then, like I was a bug under her shoe, like I wasn’t worthy of the oxygen she needed to explain further, made sense now. “Was that ever on her social media?” I asked.
“No. True practitioners of the art don’t brag about their skill. They call upon it when needed.” Daniel sighed. “Look, I’m beat. It’s been a long-ass day here, but I need a favor.”
“Anything,” I said without hesitation, and I meant it.
“I feel like I let my sister down when she called Sera instead of me to ask what to do. With the shit the Archers are involved in, I shouldn’t have left her in Manhattan, flying blind. Now with the Rossi crime family involved, I’m worried about her safety.”
“Archers protect their own,” I said. “Of course we’ll make sure she’s safe.”
“She thought about private security and I’m okay with that, but I thought I’d run it by you guys first.”
“See,” Dom said. “She’s already learning. Glad she didn’t go to the cops.”
Daniel chuckled tiredly. “Maybe I should fly back to the U.S.”
“Don’t do that,” Matteo interjected. “Nico and Dom can figure something out.”
There was another round of silence. Daniel doted on his sister. I could relate. If Bianca was in danger, it would be hard to entrust her security to someone else. “Okay.” The reluctance in his tone was loud in that single word. “I’ll let her know. Thanks, guys.”
When Daniel got off the line, Matteo said, “You got this?”
“Yeah, don’t worry,” I told him. “Dom and I will handle Ivy and the Rossi camp.”
“Sera is talking with Ivy right now. Your guys with her, Dom?” Matteo asked.
“Yeah, they’re watching the warehouse and will escort her to SoHo.”
“It’s best to bring her into De Lucci territory,” I said.
“The whole workroom?” Dom scoffed. “That might not be within the purview of Archer security. Our immediate concern is the relative of a member. It doesn’t extend to the business.”
“I haven’t looked at the bylaws,” Matteo said. “But I think you’re right.”
“It could be a mix of private security and Arrows,” I said. “It’s been done before. Ivy is our principal to protect.”
“Sera is getting pushback from Ivy. She’s not too keen on moving the workroom.”
“Look, let me talk this over with Dom and Trevor,” I told Matteo. There were many moving pieces, what with the Rossis and fashion week in play.
“Sounds good. Keep me posted.”
Matteo hung up.
The three of us in the room stared at each other.
“I wasn’t gonna say it in front of Daniel.” Dom rubbed a finger across his mouth, trying to hide a grin. “But I never thought seeing Ivy Wu kick ass would be so hot.”
I glared at my cousin.
Trevor didn’t pick up on my warning and said, “Yeah, gave me a hard-on, man.”
I thwacked him upside of the head. “That’s Daniel’s baby sister.”
“What the fuck,” Trevor grumbled. “Just because she annoys you, it doesn’t mean other guys don’t find her attractive.”
“She annoys you?” Dom’s brows drew together. “Is this going to be a problem?”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle. Same way I get annoyed at Smurfette sometimes. Which reminds me, Bianca announced she’s joining the fashion week zoo.”
“Shit.” Dom pinched between his brows. “This is getting more complicated. We’ll see if the Rossis have a response.”
“You think they’ll admit to getting their asses handed to them by a girl?”
“You have a point. But my concern is if the Rossis do become a problem, can you look at this objectively?”
He was referring to my history with the acting boss.
I kept my face neutral. “Of course.”