Chapter 41
Present
I was wrong.
Natalia hadn’t changed. Not to me at least.
Deep down, she was still the same woman I knew.
She might have learned how to be ruthless and cutthroat in order to gain the respect she deserved in the criminal underworld, but she was still her.
Her head was on my chest as she slept peacefully, completely unbothered by the full sunlight coming in through the grand windows. They’d woken me up with the sunrise at six.
It was now around eleven, and I hadn’t slept since. Just lazed around in bed with my girl.
Leaning down, I kissed her cheek softly.
Natalia stirred, and guilt immediately punctured me in the chest, knowing I’d woken her up.
Wrapping my arms around her, I flipped us over so she rolled off me, onto her back. She was still half-asleep when her arms found my neck and she pulled me closer.
I smiled, leaning down to murmur in her ear. “Go back to sleep, amai .”
It was noon when I heard Natalia get out of bed.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her halt where the hallway to the bedrooms ended, and where the open living-kitchen space began.
“You’re still here?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I didn’t look at her as I put the batter in the frying pan. My voice was relaxed, despite Natalia’s, who didn’t sound all that happy to see me anymore.
I didn’t say anything else as I flipped the pancake I was on. A stacked plate sat on the marble counter to my side.
“ Oh, I don’t know ,” Her voice was full of sarcasm as she made her way towards me. “Maybe because the last time we had sex, you disappeared for four years. Thought I’d see you in ten, this time.”
My eyes ran over her when I finally turned my head to the side – taking in the pink silk robe she had on, matching a pair of pink, fluffy slippers. Her white-tip toes peeked out, making my jaw tense.
Fuck. There wasn’t an inch of her that wasn’t perfect.
“Couldn’t put on some clothes?”
Rubbing a hand over my jaw, I wiped off my smirk.
I wasn’t naked. Maybe I should’ve been . She definitely liked me when I didn’t have my clothes on.
I was in my black Armani boxers, making her breakfast.
Bringing my eyes back to her face, fighting to ignore the exposed cleavage, I spoke sternly. “I meant what I said last night. Every word. A day hasn’t gone by that I wasn’t thinking about you.”
“Didn’t miss me enough to come back, though.” Hearing the hurt in her voice made my chest crack open.
It was foolish on my part to think everything between us got resolved last night.
“It wasn’t that simple, amai .”
“You don’t get to call me that anymore.” Her voice was lower this time as she glanced down, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Why not, amai ?” I pressed. This was the one thing she couldn’t ask of me.
“Because now I know what it means.”
“And?”
“And you don’t deserve to call me that. We’re not together. So, no pet names.”
Turning the stove off, I advanced until my six-pack was grazing her forearms. She didn’t step back. Didn’t cower away from me. Good girl . “In case I haven’t made myself clear last night… I’m done fucking around with you. No more games, Natalia. I’m not playing them anymore. Amai .”
She shook her head, looking away.
I cupped her chin and made her look into my pitch-black soul as I spoke slowly. “I will kill any man you try to choose over me.”
Suddenly, Zach’s actions began to make a lot more sense to me.
“I’m not backing down this time. I want you. I’m crazy about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. And I know you feel the same way.”
Her eyes turned glossy as she spoke. “That doesn’t matter…”
I frowned, my rough palms settling on her waist. “How can that not matter, baby?”
“Doesn’t fix what’s broken between us.” She looked away again, pushing a couple of fallen strands of caramel hair back in place.
“Why not?”
“Because I still haven’t forgiven you. Yes, last night was… Intense . But it doesn’t change how I feel.”
I watched her for a moment, before looking away too and nodding. “I have to go take care of something.”
“You’re leaving? What a surprise. Please, tell me you’re never coming back this time.” Her voice was full of sarcasm I couldn’t wait to fuck out of her system.
Alright. I deserved that.
Moving my hand to her lower back, I pulled her into me, regardless that her hands were still crossed and she didn’t hug me back. “You’re not that lucky.”
Leaning down, I caught her bottom lip between mine and kissed her with a sweet pull.
She didn’t kiss me back. It hurt. But I understood why she felt the way she did. After all, everything was my fault.
“I’ll be back in a few hours.” I grabbed her ass, before finally walking away. “Eat the breakfast I made you and be ready to go out.”
“And if I’m not?” Her sweet, taunting voice came from behind me as I pulled on my pants, threw last night’s shirt on and grabbed my car keys from her entrance table.
Pulling the front door open, I threw one last glance over my shoulder. “Then, I’ll be more than ready to massage my cum into your skin.” She gulped at my dirty words. “ Just the way you like it .”
It was still early afternoon when I pulled up outside his club.
I parked my Ferrari on the curb, and pushed my gun into the back of my waistband as I got out and made my way in.
A couple of men leaned against the wall outside, smoking; though none made a move to stop me. Probably due to the venue being a public space and them thinking of me being nothing but a client.
Music boomed as I walked down the hallway, though I didn’t turn right into the main room of the club, I headed towards the two large men guarding the private elevator.
“Trevor Su. Here for the meeting downstairs.”
My name immediately sparked recognition, though they still weren’t sure about letting me pass.
“It’s private to the Family.” One of them grunted, half of his face scarred.
“Then I’ll be outnumbered.” My smile was all fake and sarcastic, though what I’d said was nothing but the truth.
The two guards exchanged a look before moving out of the way and allowing me to enter the elevator. Less than a minute later, I was three stories underground and walking towards the large office that served as the main meeting room at the end of the hallway.
This time, five soldiers were outside the door.
I knew they’d all recognized me because before I even made it to the door, one of them knocked twice before opening it and letting me through.
The large oval table in the middle of the room was filled with several members of the DeMone Crime Family.
But my eyes were fixated on the one standing at the head of the table.
My fist connected with the side of Gìovanni’s face, causing him to take a step back from the force of the punch.
Moving to the bar, I poured some bourbon into a tumbler. I must’ve looked nothing short of insane interrupting a Cosa Nostra meeting, with my untucked, wrinkled shirt from the night before, and no tie or jacket.
“Everyone out.” Gìovanni’s voice was followed by the scrapes of chairs and a couple of low murmurs, before the door clicked shut again.
Silence.
“I know there was never anything between you and Natalia.”
He laughed, moving his jaw from side to side. “Congratulations.”
“That’s all you got to say?” I asked, leaning against the bar.
“What? Did you expect me to be as obsessed with her as you? Honestly, I don’t get–”
“Careful how you finish that sentence.”
“Oh, I get it.” He laughed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his jaw. “She finally let you hit.”
“Watch your fucking mouth.”
“Just saying, man. Four years without fucking another cunt? Sounds like obsession–”
The glass from my hand went flying across the room, smashing into the wall, before I pulled my Glock out and pointed it at his head. “Do you want me to fucking kill you?”
“Relax, man. Just stating the obvious: how she got you this fucked up,” He chuckled, glancing down at my un-ironed suit.
“You had your men watch me?”
“I tend to keep track of those that fuck with me.”
“Fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snarled.
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
“ You were the one buying her flowers. Making advances.” When I’d shown up to her apartment last night, a part of me feared the date Francesca was setting her up on would be with Gìovanni. He’d denied every girl his parents had chosen for him, but they’d never suggested Natalia. What if he was holding out for her? What if they pretended they randomly fell in love after his sister set them up?
“Was I? Or were you just stupid enough to believe a simple brotherly act was romantic?”
I smacked my gun over his face, turning it sideways. His jaw clicked with rage, before he looked back at me and stood eye-to-eye with me, my gun still pressed into his cheek.
“ You planted the fucking information on her laptop. You made me fucking believe you two were in love. You made me believe she used me. You don’t get to put this shit on me.” The muzzle of my gun pressed into his temple. “Even her sister, Carmen, thought you were in love with her.”
A dark smirk upturned his lips. “That what she said?”
I turned away from the dickhead, putting my gun away and rotating my jaw to try to relax. “You don’t have feelings for Natalia?”
“Never did,” Gìovanni replied sarcastically, with a fake smile, sitting back down. “Sorry to disappoint.”
Confusion worked its way through my head.
I’d come here prepared to kill him if he tried taking Natalia away from me after everything.
“Did you come all the way across town just to gloat?”
I ran my tongue over my teeth, taking a seat across from him. “I want to know why.”
“Why what?”
“ Why did you do it .”
The asshole had the audacity to scoff, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Fucking with you was merely payback.”
“For what?”
Gìovanni leaned over the desk, fingers interlocked, his eyes setting like the sun. “Maybe you got too close to something of mine first.”
I stared at him for several moments before the frown on my face melted with understanding. I scoffed before falling into a full-on laugh. “Fuck, you really are a psychopath.”
He shrugged, backing off. “So I’ve been told.”
Hitting my hands on the desk, I stood. “I’m guessing telling you to stay away from Natalia won’t be necessary, then?”
“Won’t be a problem anymore.”
On my way out, I stopped by the door, meeting his eyes for the last time. “Buy her flowers again, I’ll fucking kill you.”
Gìovanni leaned back in his chair. “Give her weed again, I’ll burn you alive.”