Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
“I know.” I could have had her a year ago, but I didn’t want an O’Haire in my bed. One that thinks they could have me by the balls. I knew what Aidan O’Haire wanted. He thought he could get close. I don’t accept marriage offers. Ever.
Sergio takes a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “You’ll need to set up a meeting.” I know he’s waiting for details on what we are going to do next.
“You’re keeping her, then?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“So you’re marrying her?”
“No.” Sergio studies me. “I can’t marry her.” I want to marry her. There are a lot of things I want to do right now. I long to climb the stairs and immerse my face in her alluring thighs. But none of that is possible at this moment. Not until I can get my head straight.
“You’re Matteo Cattaneo; you can do anything you want.”
“Fuck you.” I could marry her, but what would that mean? She would have the power she desired over me. I’m kidding myself. She already has some.
“You have been searching for the girl for weeks. What was your plan?”
Right now, I don’t have one. I haven’t seen her since she disappeared from my life. For some reason, her plan went to shit, and her brother handed her over to the Rossi family. Why? I’m not sure that's something they’d even tell her.
“I think the better question is what was hers or her brother’s? Why run that night?”
“I can take her to the basement. I’m sure Church could get it out of her.” I bolt from my chair. Sergio puts his hands up.
“Only proving a point, boss.” I grip the side of my desk, thinking about Church touching her. All I can feel is utter rage.
“Fucking hell.” I drop back down in my chair. My anger is getting me nowhere. “What if they wanted a war?”
“We already thought that was their plan. To team up with the Rossis.”
“But you could make it so much easier. The greatest of empires have fallen over women.” I never understood that, but my father did. He lost his own war when he lost my mother.
“Pit you and Vincent against each other.” Sergio nods. “Let you two fight it out until you kill off the Rossis, then they’ll come for you.”
“She was the virgin sacrifice,” I mutter more and more to myself.
“Well then.” Sergio chuckles.
“You think she fucked Vincent?” He was all too pleased to show her off to me. She’d come to my bed so easily.
“I did not say that, boss.”
I hadn’t even thought of that. I didn’t want to think that. I suppose their little plan will work because he’s as good as dead.
But right now, I need to do something with all this aggression rushing through me. My head is spinning. I'm unsure if it was the alcohol shots or her doing. There is only one way to find out.
“Boss?” Sergio says when I stand from my desk.
“I’m not to be bothered.” I head out of my office, but Sergio’s words follow after me.
“Don’t do something you can’t take back.”
It is far too late for that. Ever since Mona entered my life and I allowed myself to touch her, I've been fucked.
“Go,” I order Sal when I make it to my bedroom doors. My hand pauses on the handle, wondering what I might find her doing inside. I listen, but I don’t hear anything. I take a breath.
Pull it together. You’re Matteo Cattaneo, I remind myself, opening the door. When I enter, I don’t see her anywhere. I walk over to the bathroom, searching for her there, and then to my closet, only to find my own shit inside.
It’s a reminder that she has nothing here. Everything she'll ever have from this point forward will come from me. I relish that thought, but not for the reason that I should. I don't desire to exert control over her. I want to take care of her. I want to be the center of her world.
I shake my head, trying to come to my damn senses. I need to remember that she’s a traitor and a liar. One that might have fucked Vincent. All that anger comes rushing back as I stomp out of my closet, knowing she has to be here. I have men on the ground outside, and Sal on the door. There is nowhere for her to go.
“Mona,” I bark, but stop when I spot her sitting on the floor on the other side of the bed. Her knees are pulled up to her chest. She doesn’t bother to glance my way when I call her name. “When I call you, you come,” I tell her, walking over to her. “Did you fuck him?” I tower over her. I know I’m being a complete dick, but I have to know.