Chapter 11
ENZO
With my brothers back in their own homes, I drag a fighting Joelle to mine.
“Let me go!” she screams, clawing my arm. But I take every ounce of pain, ignoring the useless fight burning inside her.
I didn’t need to take her. I could’ve gotten her safe passage out of here, somewhere the Bianchis would never find her, but I was too selfish for that. I want her all to myself. That shit I told Dom, about her being valuable to the Bianchis, I don’t give a fuck about any of it.
It was all bullshit, a way to cover up the reason I had to take her—because I fucking missed her. She messed with my head, my damn heart, but still—shit. She has me.
I have to know if anything between us was real. A part of me doesn’t buy that she’d be so callous. No one is that convincing, or maybe I’m just a fucking idiot who let a woman crawl under his skin and poison his mind.
I hope her boyfriend, or whoever he was, misses her because he’ll never see her again. I’ll make sure of it.
If the Bianchis think she talked, they’ll kill her. She’s gotta know that. If she doesn’t, she’ll learn soon enough. Her only option will be to hide under a new identity, one I can provide her with.
“Joelle, it’s me. Stop fighting like I’m your fucking enemy,” I grit as I finally get her up the steps and into my house, kicking the door closed with my foot.
My men are stationed inside the premises, every door with multiple bodies, guarding, watching, making sure the Bianchis don’t think twice about coming anywhere near where we live. Not that they know where we are. We purchased our homes under an LLC.
My brothers and I all live right next to one another, each owning his own mansion in our small, gated block. The homes are separated by acres of land and my brothers’ houses are right next to mine. We know the few neighbors we have, but they keep to themselves. Lucky for them.
“I don’t know you at all!” Her breathing makes her chest rise heavily as I maintain my hold on her. “Who the hell are you, really? How about we start there?” She yanks her arm out of my grasp and I let her.
“I can't believe I had feelings for you!” She paces around the foyer while I lean against the door, arms folded over my chest. She bumps into the small table in the middle, almost knocking the sculpture there, too pissed to pay attention. “All this time, I thought you were a good man.” She huffs, and damn, it’s sexy as hell.
“But you’re like every other guy who’s gotten good at hurting me. ”
She pauses, finally staring my way, brows frowning, her face so damn sad. I just wanna hold her.
“Wait.” My mouth deepens into a calloused smirk as I lift a finger in the air, treading over to her. “Hold up.” She doesn’t resist me when I curl my arm around the small of her back, and tip her chin up with my knuckles, needing her eyes, needing all of her.
“You had feelings for me?” I raise a single brow with a snicker.
She scoffs with a roll of her eyes. “Of course I had feelings for you, asshole.”
Damn. Dante was right. I do have it bad.
In all this time we’ve been apart, I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind. She was all I thought about. All I wanted. I imagined her telling me that guy meant nothing, that what we had was real. But it’s all bullshit, isn’t it?
“There’s that damn word again.” I drop my hand from her face.
“But we’ll address your dirty mouth at a later time.
” I clutch her tighter with both arms, our chests slamming, my lips dropping, almost brushing past hers.
“We have more important things to discuss, like your so-called feelings.” She pants, her frayed breaths cruising over mine.
I stare down into her lust-filled gaze, wanting to kiss her so damn bad. I fight the depravity climbing up the walls inside, to stop myself from doing just that.
“So those feelings,” I whisper. “Were they before or after you were fucking your boyfriend?”
She sucks in a sharp breath, her features bending with a scowl as she pushes her head back, teeth biting into the softness of her full lower lip. But it only lasts a moment, the harshness now back on her face.
“Never mind all that,” she fires. “Let me go.” As she fights my grip, I hope she realizes it’ll do her no good. My palm fastens firmer over her hip, a smile sliding to my mouth.
“What the hell do you mean never mind?” I inch my face closer, narrowing a sharp gaze. “Never mind that you were playing games with me? That your pussy was riding my cock, while another man’s dick was actually inside you?”
My hand climbs up her spine until it sinks into her soft waves, fingers twining, pulling, yanking back hard until her jaw is parallel to my lips. I suck on her skin, biting until she squirms, fighting the moan set deep in her throat.
“Do you know how fucking insane that makes me? How badly I want to pin you up against the wall and fuck him out of you until all you know, all you feel, is my cock?”
My other palm slides to the front of her neck, rough calloused fingers enclosing around the delicate flesh. I shouldn’t touch something so soft, so damn beautiful. But here I am, doing it anyway.
“I’m not yours. I never will be.” Her voice wavers, like a flame, igniting what we could’ve been.
I miss the woman I had at the club, the one she was when we were alone. She was real then. It couldn’t have been a lie.
Fuck! I don’t know what to believe anymore.
She doesn’t realize how much she meant to me. How significant my feelings for her were, considering I never felt that shit for anyone before.
“What will you do to me, huh? Don’t you realize I can’t stay here?”
“Why not? I’ve got everything you’ll ever need.
And unlike some others, I’m not trying to kill you.
” I lower my lips, brushing them over her throat, inhaling her scent as she breathes heavily.
“I’ll do my very best to make sure your stay at Casa Enzo is tolerable.
More or less.” The chuckle comes from deep in my chest as I look back at her, finding her gaze turned to a narrowed slit.
I grin. Wider. I’ve realized I like fucking with her a little too much. The harder she glares, the harder my cock gets. I’m a depraved fuck, aren’t I?
“Just let me go,” she snaps. “I’m nothing to you. If Faro doesn’t know where I am, he’ll kill someone I care about. If that ever happens…” She shoves at my shoulders. “I’ll kill you myself!”
“Such a big threat from a woman in your position.” I ease my hold on her. “Who will he kill? Maybe if you tell me something true for once, I can actually help you, which is all I ever wanted to do, Joelle.”
She sneers. “Why the hell should I trust you? We know nothing about each other.”
“We could. If you were ever honest. Who was that guy at the club you were…” I can’t even say the damn word.
“I told you. My boyfriend.” She pops a hand on her hip, a brow arching. “Now, are you going to let me go or not?”
“Sorry, baby, but you’re not going anywhere. Better get comfy.” I wink, not really believing she’s got someone to save. Once a liar, always a liar.
“Fuck you!” she snarls.
“Mmm, I wish you would.” My gaze trails over her tits as I back away to see their shape hidden behind her white tank. “I keep thinking about that day, you on top of me, rubbing your pussy, except now, when I think about you, you’re not wearing any clothes.”
“Oh, is that what this is about?” Her mouth curves into a sardonic smile. “I can take my clothes off for you right now. It’s what I do best. I’m sure you know that by now.”
The vein in my neck throbs, wanting to grab her and show her just how special she truly is. “It’s never been about that for me and you damn well know it.”
Her eyelids drift to a close, and that’s when that vulnerable side, the one she fights to hide, slips out. Her chin shaking, brows furrowing, she can’t escape it, no matter how badly she may want to.
“Joelle…” I whisper.
Instantly, her gaze zaps to mine, but her mask, it’s back on as she clears her throat, her attention scattered behind me.
Her eyes swell before she looks to me. “Why do you have people everywhere? What is this place?” Shock pulls at her features.
“Bodyguards. They’re not gonna hurt you.
” I cut through the distance, palming her cheek, my heart strumming with intense emotion, hoping she stops resisting once and for all.
“I wouldn’t hurt you either. You’ve got to know that, baby.
” I can barely contain how I feel for her.
It’s fucking impossible. One second I want to hate her, the next I want to kiss the living hell out of her, to remind her what we were.
“Right. Sure. Of course you wouldn’t harm me.” She shakes her head, slipping out of my hand, her face turned with revulsion, making me wince. “So, you storming into the club, murdering people, that was what, you being a good person?”
“I didn’t say I don’t hurt other people. I just said I wouldn’t hurt you. And you suddenly care what happens to Faro’s men now?”
“No! But a man like you, with an army of your own, must not be any different than the Bianchis are.”
“You know what, Joelle, if that’s what you really think, then fuck this. Let’s go.” My hand shoots to her upper arm, but she pulls away, taking a step back.
I groan with irritation, marching forward, but she continues to move away, her glare zeroed in on me.
“Where do you think you’re going? Hmm?” I take another step. “My men are all over the house.”
“Let me out of here and you’ll never see me again,” she swears, continuing to trek backward.
A reluctant chuckle breaks from my throat. “See, that’s where the problem lies. I want to see you. All the damn time. It’s a problem I didn’t know I’d have, but here we are.”
Her lips flutter as though she’s trying to formulate a response, her movements halted, and I take that opportunity to quickly catch her, circling my arms around her thighs.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing?” She fists her hands, slamming them once into my chest, her gaze furious as I hoist her up and over my shoulder.