Much as I hated to leave her, I needed to get back to Luca’s. But I couldn’t get Sera out of my head as I drove out to his lake house after dropping her off back at the club so she could get her car. Coming all over her face hadn’t done anything to ease the hunger inside of me. If anything, it only made it worse.
I’d watched her walk away in that little baby doll dress, every cell in my body screaming at me to go after her and bring her back. To lock her away somewhere where no one else would see her dressed like that. Where they couldn’t take her from me. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that Sera would never accept being in a cage. She wasn’t like Veda. She wouldn’t understand. And she would never be happy living her life in a prison again, no matter how luxurious I made it for her.
No. If I didn’t want to lose her, I had to let her have a taste of freedom. For a while, at least. Until she was too attached to me to leave.
No. This is wrong. You should send her back to her father. Or better yet, just give her the money and let her run. Away from you and this life.
I concentrated on the road in front of me, pushing away my conscience.
After some minor haggling over money I didn’t give two shits about, she’d finally accepted my offer. Sera was completely and utterly mine to do with as I wanted for as long as it was mutually acceptable to both of us. She’d insisted on the ‘mutual’ part, and I’d let her have it since it seemed to make her feel better about the whole deal. It wouldn’t make much difference anyway. I’d seen the way she’d looked at me. Felt the way she’d responded to me when I’d forced my cock against her mouth. Heard the little moans she’d tried to stifle. She wasn’t immune to me. She’d even admitted as much. She felt the pull between us as much as I did. And now she was mine until I decided otherwise.
And if anything happened to me, I would make sure she had a sizable amount of cash. Enough that she could change her identity and fly herself anywhere in the world and live in the lap of luxury for five years or more before she’d have to worry about figuring out a way to support herself. Longer if she lived more modestly. I’d call my lawyer and make the arrangements tomorrow.
You had to have Alessandra, and look what happened to her.
But Sera isn’t Alessandra. She was born into this life.
And she still hates it.
I squeezed my eyes shut tight and tried to shake the thoughts from my head before refocusing on the road in front of me. I knew she didn’t deserve this. But the very idea of allowing her to walk away from me had anxiety twisting my guts even as bright red fury tinged the edges of my vision. My hands tightened even more. I needed to get a grip on myself. This was fucking crazy. Even for me. Especially for me. I knew how I was, and I knew how to control this thing inside of me. I didn’t date. I only used escorts. I didn’t allow myself to become obsessed.
Yet, I barely knew the girl, and she was already in my blood. I shook my head. I should have just given her back to her father. Keeping her around like this wasn’t healthy for me. The moment I’d opened that door and saw her face, that face that stole my breath from my lungs, I should’ve sent her on her way and slammed it closed again. But I didn’t. Instead, I invited her into my space. I allowed her smile to brighten my world. Her voice to soothe me. Her body to enflame mine until the urge to see her sweet lips wrapped around my cock was something I couldn’t control, and I forced her on her knees…
I wiped my hand over my mouth and ignored the hard on it gave me to think about how she still refused me until I ended up fucking my own hand anyway. But if she wanted to play, I was more than happy to show her the rules.
A hollow feeling opened up in my gut. She would never be safe from me now.
Out of habit, I went to look at my watch to check the time. The watch I no longer had because Sera had stolen it from my nightstand before we left, and this time I didn’t catch her. Of course, I wasn’t expecting her to steal from me, and I didn’t even realize it was gone until after I dropped her off and I noticed it wasn’t on my wrist.
Pulling up my contact list on the screen on my dash, I called the owner of the club where she worked. It was time to call in that favor he owed me from the time I found his teenage son being groomed by one of the family. I’d gotten him out of there and taken him the fuck home where he belonged. Mostly because he wasn’t cut out for this life. The kid would’ve died before he hit twenty. His father, however, was forever grateful to me when I returned him to the family fold. Skip ahead five years later, and I’d run into the same guy at the club where Jade and Sera now worked. I didn’t even remember the guy’s name, but I did have his number under the name of the club. ‘It’s me,’ I told him when he answered the phone.
‘Enzo! What can I do for you?’
He was pushing the enthusiasm a little too hard, but I chose to ignore it. ‘You have a new girl working there. Pink hair. A nose ring. Wears the baby doll outfit.’
‘Yes. That would be Sera. Did she do something wrong?’ He didn’t even pause before he told me, ‘I’ll get rid of her right away.’
I rolled my eyes as I heard him rustling paper around like he was doing it that very minute. ‘No. That’s not why I’m calling.’
‘Oh. Uh. Alright. Is there some other issue with her?’
‘There is. Sera is now under my protection.’ I paused for effect. ‘Do you get my meaning, my friend? I want extra security on the nights she’s working, and I want a guard waiting outside for her when she arrives for work. I also want a guard to walk her to her car at the end of her shift.’
‘I will check her schedule first thing tomorrow and get that set up,’ he assured me. No questions asked.
‘And the most important thing. Are you listening?’
‘Yes, yes, of course.’
‘No one—and I mean no fucking one—is to touch her. Sera is not for sale. She is under my protection,’ I repeated. ‘She can wait on tables because it makes her happy to feel like she has a job, but that’s all she will do. If you fail to do any of these things, you will have to answer to me.’
‘I completely understand.’
‘Good.’ I hung up the phone. I didn’t need to go into more detail. His club was in our territory, which meant we were the ones who made sure no one fucked with him. He knew exactly who I was, and he knew exactly what I meant when I said she was under my protection. Sera was now mine. And any harm that befell her while under his watch would cause his life to be cut violently short. It was the best I could do without assigning some of our own guards to keep an eye on her. And I couldn’t do that without questions being raised, or worse, risking that someone might recognize her and go over my head to report her whereabouts to her father. At that point, there wouldn’t be much I could do except beg Luca to kill his guard and keep my secret. And that wasn’t something I wanted to put on him.
I arrived back at the lake house just in time to relieve Tristan.
He was at his station by the front door when I walked in. ‘Luca wants to see you,’ he told me.
‘About?’ I asked. Fear gripped my stomach that he’d already found out about Sera somehow and she would be taken from me before we ever had a chance.
Tristan shrugged. ‘Probably putting you on the missing person deal. I have to go deal with one of the capos.’
‘Which one?’
‘Gino. His boy Salvatore is having a hard time controlling his impulses, and he’s going to cause some major problems if we don’t get him under control.’
‘What’s he doing?’
‘He shot one of the Irish in the back. No one is sure what happened or why.’
I cursed softly under my breath. Things with the Irish had been a little touchy lately thanks to Luigi, Luca’s father, and his fucking delusional decisions that Luca had to maneuver through as best he could without causing a war until he could take over his position as boss. ‘Is he dead?’
‘No. Luckily, his brother, Gil, saw him pull his gun and tried to stop him. Missed the guy’s head by inches and the bullet skimmed the side of his neck just beneath his jaw, from what I understand.’
‘Jesus Christ. What the fuck is the matter with that stronzo?’
‘That’s what Luca is sending me to find out. I’ll be hanging out with Gino and the family for a while, so you’ll need to handle everything here.’
God fucking dammit. ‘Of course. Do whatever you need to do. And be careful.’
He gave me a partial smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ‘Will you let Luca know I’m heading over there? I’ll watch the house tonight and talk to Gino in the morning.’
I nodded and told him again to be careful, then locked the door behind him and checked the security system to make sure it was armed for the night before I found Luca in the kitchen with Veda.
‘Hey, Enzo,’ she greeted me.
‘Veda. How are you?’
She smiled. ‘Good. Thanks. I have a test tomorrow morning though, so I’d better go do some last-minute studying and let you guys talk.’
‘Good luck,’ I told her as she rose and took her teacup to the sink, then returned to give Luca a kiss before she left. She patted my arm as she passed, and I felt a surge of affection for this woman who had made my lifelong friend so happy. She also kept him on his toes, and I admired her for that also.
‘I’ll be up soon, amore,’ Luca called after her.
She smiled at him over her shoulder and went up the stairs.
He watched her until she was out of sight, a possessive look in his eyes. Then he sighed. ‘Enzo,’ Luca said. ‘Come sit with me.’
I did as he asked, unbuttoning my coat, and taking a seat on the chair to his left. I took off my sunglasses and laid them on the table as I waited to hear what he had to say.
‘What’s going on with you, my friend?’
My immediate instinct was to take a deep breath and tell him everything. Luca was my oldest friend. No. He was more than that. He was family. He understood me as no one else did, except maybe Tristan. And yet, I hesitated. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I had the security footage from the club sent over to me. There was no attempted break-in.’
A reckless anger flared inside of me before I could control the impulse. ‘You didn’t trust me? Didn’t believe what I told you?’
‘No,’ he told me honestly. ‘I didn’t. Something is off with you, and I want to know what it is.’ When I didn’t respond right away, he sighed again and leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the table. ‘Enzo, I can see it in your eyes that something is eating at you, so you might as well tell me what it is.’
I started to deny it, but he was right. Arguing with him was pointless. All it would do was piss him off and make things tense between us. However, I wasn’t ready to tell him everything yet. Not until I was positive he would have my back when it came to Sera. So, I went for a partial truth. ‘You’re right. There is something going on with me. And please forgive me, Luca, for imposing on our friendship like this, but I can’t tell you what it is. At least not right now. Not yet.’
‘Does it have something to do with the girl we’re looking for?’
I kept my mouth shut, unsurprised that he’d hit the nail right on the head. Luca wasn’t the underboss for nothing, even if his father despised him. He had good instincts, and they usually led him right where he needed to be.
He tilted his head as he studied me, his gray eyes concerned. ‘Enzo, if you know where she is, you need to tell me. She’s not worth starting a war over.’
‘I never said I knew where she is.’ I wasn’t lying. At that very moment, I didn’t know. I could guess she’d gone home after I dropped her off at the club. But since I wasn’t with her, I couldn’t know that for sure. I didn’t even have a way to call her. Something that would need to be remedied immediately.
After a moment, he sighed and scratched his head. ‘Okay. We can play this your way for now. I just hope you know what you’re doing.’
I caught his gaze. ‘I would never put you or our family at risk, Luca.’ Ghosts danced around me as I made this vow. And for a moment, my heart ached with longing for the wife and son I’d lost so many years ago.
Reaching across the table, he put his hand over mine where it rested on the dark wood. ‘I know that, my friend. And that’s the only reason I’m letting this go. For now,’ he added with a smile.
‘Thank you,’ I told him sincerely. ‘I swear to you I will fill you in on everything as soon as I can.’
He gave me a nod, and our conversation turned to business. A shop owner who was getting a little too full of himself and refused to pay his protection fee. And a new soldier who was having a hard time stomaching what he would have to do to change his mind. I promised Luca I would take care of things.
Shortly after, he made his way upstairs to join Veda, and I stayed where I was, enjoying the quiet. But before long, I was up and pacing the floor. I left my jacket and my sunglasses in the kitchen as I was alone in the house for the night. Then I made my way out to the main room where I took a right and headed toward Luca’s office. I checked the interior, and continued down the hall.
I was restless, my skin tight and itchy. With Tristan gone, I would need to be here even more than usual. And that wouldn’t give me much time to spend with Sera. I rubbed the back of my neck as I walked, trying to ease the tension there.
My mind flashed back to her sweet face, covered in my come. Seeing her marked by me like that should’ve calmed the beast inside of me. But instead, it only increased the urge to cover her with my scent, inside and out, so everyone would know she was mine.
I stopped walking. Jesus Christ. What the hell was I? A fucking animal?
Turning around, I went back the way I came until I stood at the top of the stairs that led down to the gym. I kept some extra workout clothes there, and right now, I really needed to hit something.
Tomorrow, I would have a phone sent to the club for Sera, with instructions that she was to keep it on her at all times. That would have to be enough until I could see her again.
