The Penthouse Suite, The Silverwire Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada....
Hours passed without much fuss as both Duko and Rae ended up falling asleep after another monster movie marathon and seemed at peace with just being in one another's company. It was a rare thing for the naturally restless Duko to spend a good deal of time in one place, let alone with one person, but he had managed it with Rae just fine it seemed. The two of them were curled up together in bed as the heat from the sun began to fade and the cool of the night began to take it's place only for yet another knock at their door to disturb them. Duko hated to be woken before he'd been good and ready, especially when he'd been comfortable. Rae attempted to rouse as well opening her eyes and blinking a bit to clear the fog of slumber from her mind. A low growl rumbled from the throat of Duko as he untangled himself from his still half asleep wife and rolled out of bed annoyed to no end about the interruptions that seemed to take place more often than not when he simply wished to enjoy spending time with his new bride.
He hadn't expected to see four armed men not at all looking like they belonged to The Silverwire staff in the hall waiting for him when he opened the door. Rae had not noticed anything as he stepped out into the hall, quite naked and out numbered as one of the leading goons kneed him in the stomach and caused him to drop down to one knee. The leading goon he could tell had been sent by The Caballero Family and they had stormed The Silverwire Casino in search of answers as to how their associate was murdered on the streets of sunny Las Vegas on their collective watch.
Duke had not given them the satisfaction of reacting to his situation as he knew they were only fishing for information and had no real leads other than the fact that he'd possibly been spotted in the company of The High Roller, either from his time in the casino or when the bastard pulled him into the alley way to do him in.
"Marcell Corvin." said the one goon whom seemed to be in charge. "You know who he is?"
Duko glared at the bastards as he attempted to get back to a standing position only to be kneed in the stomach again. He'd been quite naked but that didn't seem to do much to dissuade the men from causing him harm.
"No idea." coughed Duko despite the fact that he'd been putting on a show for Rae's sake.
They lead goon struck him again.
"Marcell Corvin was last seen at this casino..." he showed him a picture of the two of them at the casino prior to Corvin, which had apparently been the real name of The High Roller, being found among the bodies of the mutilated corpses yet to be identified. "With you and a few other men."
Duko looked up at the bastard that struck him.
"Last I checked, I was escorted out of the casino due to what's his face not liking that all the ladies preferred my company as opposed to his." he replied not in the least intimidated by the presence of these people. He knew from the moment they arrived he could easily rip them to shreds. He didn't know how he knew it, but he did as he looked into their eyes he saw something akin to fear and it settled it for him. "Perhaps your friend ran afoul of something and someone else."
The lead goon seemed annoyed that he couldn't intimidate him so he struck him across the face letting his heavy silver and gold rings crush into the soft portion of Duko's nose causing it to bleed as a result of being broken.
Duko resisted the urge to lash out despite the coppery scent of his own blood getting the attention of the now furious beast that dwelled within. The urge to beat these men and devour their cowardly hearts was strong, but the concern for the unsuspecting Rae inside their room was stronger.
"Someone's a wise guy." said the lead goon glaring at him. "I don't like wiseguys."
"Then you're in the wrong line of work." replied Duko doing his best to catch the blood that trickled down his nose.
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Inside The Penthouse Suite, The Silverwire Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada....
Rae awoke to find that Duko had once more disappeared. She recalled seeing him get up from the bed and had at the time assumed he'd gone to the bathroom, but she recalled the knocking that had awakened them. Duko had answered the door before stepping out into the hall and she recalled him being naked when he stepped out so she knew he couldn't have gone far. After several minutes she began to get concerned, when a half an hour passed she finally decided to see what all the fuss was about that required his attention so much that he didn't even have time to get dressed to investigate.
She slipped back into one of his large shirts and eased her way toward the door where she heard the sound of muffled yet angry voices in the hall. She wondered if there was an incident with one of their neighbors and when the voices grew silent and the sound of someone being struck got her attention she immediately opened the door to find herself looking at a group of shady individuals each in a similar suit with their eyes fixated upon a what appeared to have been their leader and a doubled over Duke whom had been dropped to his knees after being struck in the stomach via the leader's kneeing him in the gut.
She saw the blood from the door and couldn't stop herself as she pushed passed the group and made her way toward her husband unsure what was happening or why he'd been targeted by them in the first place. She had hoped it didn't have anything to do with the duffle bags full of money but from the direction of the conversation, it was about a missing person that Duko might or might not have had direct contact with.
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The Hallway, The Penthouse Suite Floor, The Silverwire Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada....
The lead goon had been about to strike Duko again when the door to the room suddenly opened and a curious Rae stepped outside in time to see four men surrounding her husband whom had been bleeding from his nose. She had not been thinking in that moment as she rushed toward him and he glared at her furious that she bothered to interfere.
"DUKE!" she called to him as she rushed over to him and kneeled by his side.
"GO BACK INSIDE!" he insisted not at all pleased that she decided to make her presence known to these brutal thugs.
Rae didn't appear to have been listening as Duko become defensive. His muscles ripped and he got back to his feet pushing Rae behind him as he stood before the goons sent by The Caballero Crime Family to interrogate him. He knew Dan Costa had simply compiled with their obvious demand to see him due to not wishing to tangle with them and he also knew how dangerous they could be to anyone not hipped to their usual means of doing things.
"Looks like our new friend here is entertaining." said the lead goon now having a weak point to poke at when he needed to. "Let's make ourselves scarce boys...wouldn't want to be rude...with a lady present...in the meantime, we'll be seeing you around...Duke."
Once the five of them left, Duke turned his attention to Rae whom he was furious at for having lingered when he told her to go back into the room.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" he asked in a harsh tone as his rage continued to boil over. "They could have done something to hurt you and then what the fuck would that do to us?"
"I didn't want you to get hurt." reasoned Rae not at all afraid of him despite his blustering temper. She wrapped her arms around him in the form of a hug ignoring his violent outburst and then some.
Duko growled his eyes shifting from their normal dark blue hue to the eerie glow of red that often accompanied a wicked omen in terms of his temperament. He wanted nothing more than to rip those inferior slackers to shreds but Rae continued to hold on to him. It was as if she wasn't allowing him to get angry like he wanted to.
His eyes returned to normal and they slowly made their way back inside their suite. Rae didn't seem to want to let him go even when they reached the bed. He sat on the edge while she set to work cleaning him up as blood had run down his bare chest dripping from his broken nose.
Rae entered the bathroom, and wet one of the white towels before returning to him and wiping the stained crimson from his skin and putting pressure on his broken nose to stop the bleeding. Duko snapped it back into place as if it had not bothered him aside from an initial groan from the process.
Rae clung to him, already on high alert following the vicious animal attacks and the visit from gangsters had not made her new found paranoia any better. Duko sighed pulling her to him as tears began to stream down her cheeks when he realized just how terrified she'd been and how severely attached she'd become to him.
"It's fine." he said softly stroking her back as she continued to cling to him. "I'm alright.....I'm not going anywhere."
Rae looked up at him for a moment and pressed her lips into his as her tears continued to stream down her cheeks.
"I love you." she said caught up in the swirling haze of emotions.
Duko looked down into her tear filled eyes for the longest time before wiping away the tears that cascaded down her cheek and kissing away the remainder of them.
"I love you too." he replied before pulling her close to him again.
Rae continued to cling to him and he held her close in return for the remainder of the hour.