The three of us entered my office and I slammed the door shut behind me, leaving it rattling in its frame.

"That meeting was a waste of my fucking time." I growled at Fiero who said nothing. It was his stupid fault we had the meeting in the first place. "I would kill to protect every man in that room and their families. The fact that Michael would dare say something like that to me proves he needs some reminding of what is expected of him."

Fiero only nodded in response. I looked over to see why he wasn't talking, but he wasn't looking at me. His mouth was set in a thin line and his eyes were trained on my girl sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room. I had been so busy in my own rage that I hadn't even noticed the darkened cloud her mood became. She was staring at the speckled carpet with a furrowed brow and her bottom lip caught firmly between her teeth.

"Go have that talk with Michael, Fiero." He nodded and exited the office with one last worried glance at Nora.

I took her hand and tugged her to my side, placing my arm around her shoulders. She stiffened at my touch for the first time in a while. "Please tell me what you're thinking baby girl."

She just shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She was holding her breath to keep from crying. I hated when she did that. I wish she would just let herself express her emotions naturally. Whenever she did this, it often led to a hyperventilating panic attack.

"You're not worrying about what that idiot in there said are you?" I gave her shoulders a playful shake.

When she finally looked up at me, her eyes were swimming with tears. "Why shouldn't I? He's right! I'm no good to anyone. I only cause problems. I-I shouldn't-" her breath was gasping.

"Hey, hey, hey." I pulled her into my lap, and she pressed her face into the crook of my neck. "Don't you dare listen to anything that fucker said. What did I tell you before we went into the conference room?"

She only continued to cry silently. I could kill Michael. I knew for a fact that she felt this way about herself on a daily basis, but it was a totally different beast to hear those words from another's mouth. I would spend the rest of my life reassuring her if that's what it took for her to see her self-worth.

"I told you your place is always right next to me. Do you remember that?" she sniffled in response. "And have you ever known me to lie to you?"

She fisted the lapel of my jacket in her little hands and uttered a small 'no'.

"Alright then. There's no reason to worry about what some low-IQ mouth breather said, right?" She nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You're good for me. You've brought light to my life. You're my everything. Remember that." At my words, she sat up straighter and looked me directly in the eyes. Her lips were swollen from her incessant chewing and her pupils were dilated. She was warm and felt so good in my arms.

I couldn't resist her anymore. Her lips were begging to be kissed. "Enzo, I-"

We were interrupted by three sharp knocks on my office door. The bubble we had created around ourselves had popped and we were suddenly back on the leather sofa in my office. I groaned and Nora scrambled off my lap and quickly wiped the remaining tears from her face. Her cheeks were flushed and all I wanted to do was pull her body back onto mine.

"Enter."

The nameless receptionist from the lobby came in with a package in her hands. "Mr. Lorenzo, this package just arrived for you and your guest." She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. I imagine she thought she was being flirtatious, but it looked more like a nervous tick to me.

"Leave it on my desk and get out." I said coldly.

The receptionist's eyes widened at my rudeness, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I had gotten so close to finally kissing the girl who had become my entire world, and this bimbo ruined that for a fucking package.

Nora flinched when the receptionist slammed the door behind her.

"You should probably be nicer to people." Nora muttered playfully under her breath. I shot her a look and she pulled her lips together to keep from laughing.

"We might as well open this stupid package, since it's so important." I rolled my eyes. The shoebox-sized package was wrapped in brown paper and only had our two names on it.

"Who over sent this had it hand delivered. There's no address." Nora commented, noticing the same thing I did.

"Yes... that's very odd." I picked it up and the contents rattled. It sounded like metal rods clanging together. I slipped my finger under the taped wrappings, but Nora grabbed my sleeve to stop me.

I knew that sound. I had only heard it once in my life, but it wasn't something I would soon forget.

"Hello pet. I brought you a gift." Varlam often brought me gifts. By the malicious gleam in his eyes, I could tell I wouldn't like whatever he had in the box he brought down to my basement.

He tied my arms behind my back in a complicated knot and threw the rope over an exposed supporting beam in the ceiling. He pulled the rope so tightly that I had to try and keep balance on my tip toes. Once he had me where he wanted me, he finally revealed what was in the box.

He tipped out the contents of the box onto the bed and the sound of metal rods clanging together filled the room.

I didn't realize what was happening until he started heating the cattle brand with a handheld blow torch.

"They make electric one's these days, but I much prefer heating them up myself. I like the control it gives me." He explained so nonchalantly, as if explaining an old recipe to me.

No amount of thrashing or screaming did me any good. While he pressed the red-hot iron to my skin, I kept focusing on the basement door. I prayed so hard for someone to come through it and save me. I prayed for a miracle. When no one came, I prayed for death.

"You look so beautiful this way." He whispered. I turned my tear streaked face away from him. "Now everyone will know who you belong to."

"Baby what's wrong? Talk to me." Enzo was holding my face in his hands trying to get me to focus on him.

"I know what's in the package and I know who it's from."

"What are you talking about sweetheart?"

"It's Varlam."

Enzo's eyes widened in shock for a moment before he tore the package open. A cattle brand with the letter L fell out along with a handheld blow torch. I bent down and picked up the note that had fallen out of the wrappings with my shaking hands.

"I thought Lorenzo may want to make his mark on you as well. Happy twentieth birthday pet." I read under my breath.

"What the fuck is this?" Enzo was rolling the brand between his fingers. The sight of him holding that thing had me shivering, but I had to focus.

"Enzo, the package was hand delivered downstairs!" I said desperately snatching the iron from his hand and throwing it back in the box.

He realized what I was saying and pulled me by the wrist out into the hallway. He flung another office door open to reveal Fiero sat behind a computer.

"Hey boss."

"We have a problem. A package was just dropped off downstairs for Nora and I. There was no address and we know it was from Varlam. Go downstairs, talk to the receptionist, the stupid blonde one. Find out what she knows. We're going to the security room. Have Gino meet us there. We need to look over security tapes. Maybe they were sloppy, and we can figure out who brought it. I doubt Varlam himself brought it, but maybe it was another one of our rats."

"Security checks all of our deliveries. How did this not get flagged for investigation?" Fiero asked.

"I don't know but get someone to look into the building's security too." Enzo pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and middle finger.

Everything after that was a whirlwind. We talked to several security guards. Enzo was barking orders at his men. He said it was lucky we had so much backup here from the meeting, but it also made it harder for any rats to hide.

Here you are, causing trouble again Nora.

Enzo said I belong with him.

Enzo is just a nice person. He'd never tell you how much of a burden you really are.

SHUT UP! Enzo doesn't lie to me. I belong with him and I'll stay by his side until he sends me away!

My fingers tangled in my hair; my ponytail long gone by now. Enzo saw and reached over to force my fists open, releasing the tortured hair.

"Baby don't worry. I'm not going to let anyone get to you. You're safe as long as you're with me."

I believed him.