Chapter 20
Enzo
Iknew I was fucked the moment I woke up with Ren in my arms again.
Not because of the sex—even though the round that had kicked things off left me raw and exposed—but because I felt calm.
Having her in my arms felt like the world had narrowed down to the basics.
The steady rise and fall of her chest, the weight of her curves pressed against my side.
The scent of us mingling in the air above us.
In my line of work, calm was a liability.
But that’s what I felt. Calm. Relaxed. Focused.
Ren slipped out of bed first, padding toward the bathroom on shaky legs. “I could use a shower,” she said, turning with an inviting smile.
I followed her inside, watching her move and memorizing the way she ran her fingers through her hair, the faint crease between her brows when she concentrated on getting the water temperature just right.
Steam instantly began to fill the room. I couldn’t resist stepping behind her a moment later.
My hands went to her hips, and whatever tension was in her left her body.
Ren smiled at me over her shoulder, warm and unguarded, cracking something wide open inside my chest. “Hey, you.”
I smiled and leaned forward to press my lips to her shoulder and then her neck. A soft moan escaped, and she tilted her head to give me better access. “I can’t get enough of you,” I whispered against her skin as I kissed my way across her back to the other side of her neck and shoulder.
“Who says you have to?” she asked, turning to face me while water rushed over her.
An incoherent noise escaped from somewhere deep in my chest, and I grabbed the body wash, squirting some on my hands before lathering up her gorgeous curves. “I love your body, Ren. You’ve only gotten better with age.”
She gasped and arched into me, smiling when I spent a little too long on her magnificent tits. “You know how to treat her right.”
“Damn right I do.” I kissed her again, softly, as my hands roamed over her skin and my fingers memorized every dip and curve. The hot water filled the stall with steam.
Ren arched under my hands, and when I slid two fingers between her thighs, she was already slick and ready for me. “Enzo,” she moaned, and the sound wrecked me.
“Fuck, the way you get so wet for me. With just a flick of my tongue, you’re soaked.” My fingers pumped in and out, and I watched her, loving the way her pleasure was written all over her face.
“Enzo,” she panted, my name a warning on her lips.
“Come for me, Ren. One more time, let me feel this tight pussy squeeze my fingers.” She was so close, and I added my thumb to her clit, applying just enough pressure to send her over the edge. “Yeah, just like that.”
“Enzo!” she gasped, teetering on the brink when everything went black.
We froze.
For one suspended heartbeat, the only sounds were water hitting tile and our breathing, suddenly loud and alert.
“Mattie,” she whispered, already moving to the back of the shower.
She stepped out first, without hesitation, and navigated the dark like she’d been practicing.
Her priorities were crystal clear, and they weren’t her safety.
Or mine. “I’ll go to him,” she said simply, stepping into yesterday’s clothes.
“You figure out what’s going on.” She stopped in the doorway and looked at me, her eyes a blend of concern and confidence.
I nodded, adrenaline surging as I grabbed a towel and roughly dried off while I watched her disappear into the hall. My heart was pounding again, but this time it was certainty, not lust.
I loved her.
Hell, I probably never stopped loving her, but the truth of the realization slammed into me hard and fast, leaving no room for doubt or denial. No matter how this ended, I wasn’t walking away from her again. I wouldn’t survive it a second time.
I dressed quickly, tugging on jeans and a hoodie before shoving my feet into boots. My phone showed no signal. No emergency alerts. Nothing. I picked up the red phone that was a direct line to the security team, but there was nothing there either.
That was a bad fucking sign.
I grabbed my gun from the nightstand and made my way downstairs, muscles coiled tight and senses on full alert. The house was silent except for the soft murmur of Ren’s voice on the other side of Matteo’s bedroom door. I forced myself to keep moving to find out what the fuck was going on.
Damien had just stopped the golf cart near the kitchen door when I stepped outside. His jaw was clenched tight and his eyes were sharp as he gazed around the property.
“What the fuck is going on?”
He nodded. “Sorry about the delay. Someone downed a tree about a half mile away, knocking out the power in the whole fucking area.” His shoulders were tight and his hand hovered near the nine-millimeter at his hip.
“Intentional?” Trees didn’t just fall in Texas, especially when the weather was warm and calm.
“Yeah,” he grimaced. “I sent two guys to check it out, and I was waiting on them so I’d have something to bring to you. A tree is down, but the damn thing was half-cut before it was tipped over to knock down the power lines. It wasn’t an accident,” he confirmed.
I nodded slowly, my mind racing with different scenarios. I knew what this was, but I needed to think clearly. “Everybody accounted for?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but comms are down, so we’re doing it all analog now. Rich is digging up the radios.” He glanced behind me into the dark house. “We need to get you three out of here. Now.”
As much as I hated to admit it, Damien was right. “Yeah, we’ll be ready in twenty minutes.”
He nodded. “Faster if you can. We’re operating blind.”
“Got it.” I returned to the house and found Ren sitting cross-legged on the floor with Mattie on her lap, a book open between them, its pages lit by a propped-up phone flashlight. She looked up the second I entered, concern etched across her face.
“We need to go,” I said. “Fast.”
She didn’t argue, just gave one short nod. “How long?” she asked in a voice so quiet I wasn’t sure she’d even said a word.
“Twenty minutes.” I kept my voice steady and firm. “Grab essentials for both of you. Meet me downstairs.”
Ren nodded once again and stood, already moving purposefully around Matteo’s room. Her efficiency was a balm, knowing she could keep her head in a crisis, but it was also a warning that this was unusual for her.
“Thank you, Ren.”
She stopped and turned slowly until our eyes locked. “Of course.”
With that, I headed back to my room to pack a small bag of clothes and toiletries before I rushed to my office.
I pulled the heavy silver case from the safe and filled it with flash drives, ledgers, burner phones, and contingency files—everything I needed to run the DeRossi organization from anywhere in the world.
It wasn’t paranoia; it was preparation.
We rolled out in a black SUV with Damien behind the wheel, headlights cutting through the darkness as tires crunched over gravel. I called Luca as soon as we were on the highway.
“Power’s out,” I said the moment he answered. “Someone knocked a fucking tree down.”
There was a long silence, and then, “Jesus fuck,” he muttered. “You need to get off the road where you’re not a sitting target, but hotels are too fucking traceable. Since they know about Ren, we can’t use her cards or her house either.”
“And it’s the middle of the fucking night.”
“Right. Let me think.” Luca wasn’t just my number two; he was a fixer.
Ren reached across the back seat and laid a hand on my forearm. “I might know a place. One of my former nannies lives up on the mountain.” She gave Luca their names in a calm voice meant to soothe Matteo.
“I’ll vet them and get back to you.”
The thirty-minute wait felt obnoxious, but when Luca called back with the green light, Damien maneuvered the car up the mountain where we met a gruff mountain man and his sweet wife and child, who set us up in a guest cabin.
“Thank you, Xavier, and you too, Rosalee.” Ren hugged the woman tight and offered a quick handshake to the man, same as I had. She turned to me once they were gone. “We’ll be okay here for a few days.”
I nodded, watching the road beyond and the sky above as guilt tightened my chest. This was my fault, pure and simple.
Even though I had no fucking clue who was doing this—yet—I knew I should’ve let Ren go sooner.
As soon as I understood what was happening, I should’ve gone back to California and left Matteo with Valentina.
Now it was too late to turn back, too late to give her up.