23. Chapter Twenty-Two
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ETHAN
E than stared at Margery as she slept in his bed. He finally had her, and he couldn’t be happier. To have her in his house, sleeping in his room.
Pure magic.
Now, he was able to keep a close eye on her and make sure she didn’t do anything to harm herself or anything naughty. She needed someone to watch over her, care for her, cherish her, and also discipline her.
He grabbed one of the binkies from the table next to his bed. He knew she used them sometimes, and he fully supported it. He realized it was only when she was super stressed but could she also use them before she got stressed. Almost as a preventative measure.
Standing, he walked over to her and slightly teased the binkie against her lips. She whimpered as he pulled it away from her mouth. Margery puckered her lips, searching for the nipple.
Ethan lowered the binkie and let Margery start to suckle on it. He watched for several seconds before he went back to his seat.
She was absolutely precious.
A little part of him felt bad for putting her through so much, but most of him didn’t. He loved seeing all her emotions as she got the new zebra and binkie.
But Ethan thought his favorite moment was when he gave her the pictures of the Diego’s body. To see the horror across her face, her scream, but then her looking back at the pictures. Music to his ears and eyes.
Margery didn’t tell her friend the whole truth about it. She was worried and confused about being turned on.
And the way she looked at the pictures and the note he gave her several times. He almost came in his pants right then and there.
He loved keeping her on her toes. When she expected something, he made sure nothing happened. And when she least expected it, that’s when he would strike.
Oh, the joy it brought him.
To let her relax and then make her paranoid again. It made him so excited and hard.
“Such a good girl,” he whispered. “Daddy’s good girl.”
She was so strong. So fierce.
“Daddy is going to take care of you now.”
He would make sure of it. Long gone were the days of her taking care of herself and being Little alone. He was stepping in and giving her the boundaries she so desperately needed.
Ethan had been planning on getting her back for the past year. Carefully thinking through every single detail. He didn’t want to rush things, but he also didn’t want to prolong them for too long. He needed it just right, and it was.
“Everything has been taken care of,” Matthias announced, walking into the room.
Ethan looked over and nodded. “Did you make sure nobody will ask any questions? Not even her coworker?”
A wicked grin spread across his face. “She’ll be occupied all night and will probably forget about it in the day.”
“Keeping her busy?”
“Maybe not every night, but most nights. I can’t help it. She’s the one who leaves her window cracked open for me. If she didn’t want it, she wouldn’t do it.”
“Are you ever going to make her yours? Or are you just going to play around with her forever?”
Ethan had heard Margery's conversation with her coworker and friend. Her friend, Adalisa, probably had feelings for Matthias. The way she talked about him and how perfect he was .
Matthias shrugged. “Who knows?”
“You mean, if she gets pregnant, then you’re going to claim her, but until then, you’re not?”
He stared at Ethan for several seconds.
“Yeah, I heard all about your breeding kink. She was on the phone with Margery.”
“Still listening in on her conversations?” Matthias raised an eyebrow.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I? When it was a conversation that I knew she wouldn’t want me to listen in on, I didn’t. But some of the lesser ones were about her getting turned on when she saw the pictures of the dead guy and the message I sent. The fact that I killed for her, of course, I listened in. There was no way I wasn’t going to.”
He wasn’t afraid to admit that. Ethan knew a lot of the things he did weren’t appropriate, and he shouldn’t do them, but he didn’t care. But he had some morals. He knew when not to listen in on Margery’s conversations.
“And you don’t regret listening in?”
“Fuck, no. Don’t feel guilty at all. Why would I?”
After being the King of the Underworld for so long, some of his morals got a little warped. He didn’t feel bad about killing for her, and he didn’t feel bad about bugging her house or listening to the conversations. Those were little things.
“True. I wouldn’t feel guilty about it either.”
Ethan saw that Matthias still hadn’t answered his question.
“I have to know, as your boss. Will you only claim her if she gets pregnant?” Ethan asked. “Just need to know if I’ll have to spare some guys if she does. You know, to keep her safe because I know she won’t go down without a fight. Or are you chaining her to the bed?”
“I don’t know if I’ll only be claiming her when she gets pregnant. I may claim her before, and I may not. But if she does get pregnant, you better bet I will claim her. I’m going to raise that boy right.”
“Well, if you can, I would like some warning, but I understand if you can’t.”
He nodded looked back at Margery. He had waited so long for this, and it felt a little surreal.
“Back to business. Did you leave a note or anything in case her friend went to her house? Send her friend a text or get Rolo to send one for you?” Ethan asked.
“I copied her handwriting and wrote a note saying she went on vacation to get away from things for a while. Should be believable since her coworker knows most of what’s been going on. But if she doesn’t believe that, then I will have Rolo on standby. He has a text waiting if she asks anything.”
Matthias dipped his head, clearly happy with the lengths Ethan had gone to.
“Once Margery gets settled, will you allow her to have contact with her friend?”
“Yeah. I’m not going to keep her away from her friend. Maybe in the beginning, while she’s adjusting to everything, but not for the rest of her life. That wouldn’t be fair, and I figured she’d have her here soon enough since you’re interested in her.”
Matthias rolled his eyes, but both of them knew Ethan had hit the nail on the head. Matthias was kind of like Ethan in some regard. Once they were fixated on a girl, there was no going back. It was either them or nobody.
“Happy now?” Matthias asked as he looked at Margery.
Ethan couldn’t keep his eyes off his girl lying on the bed. Every part of him wanted to cuff her so she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. The thought was appealing, but he knew it wouldn’t end well. Not if he wanted to get on Margery’s good side.
“Partly. It’s going to be a while until she can fully be my Little girl. I’ve terrorized her, and I don’t know if she fully accepts that I’m alive,” Ethan replied .
“Why didn’t you just take her with you and fake both of your deaths?”
Matthias had arrived a year after he had taken over the underworld. It was hard to trust anyone in the beginning, but Matthias had proved himself after a year of knowing each other.
“Too dangerous. I didn’t want anyone to know about her and hurt her. I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to her.”
“But you could have kept her inside. Just like you did with Bonnie.”
Ethan shook his head. “I didn’t think it was going to take eighteen years. I thought it would only be a year or two, but I was mistaken. If I had known it would have been eighteen years, I would have changed how I’d done things.”
“Understandable,” Matthias commented.
But Ethan didn’t think Matthias really understood. He didn’t know much about his background, but Ethan knew he didn’t have to leave behind the one person he truly loved . Eighteen years was a long time and everything in him wished he could go back in time and change how he had done things.
No doubt it would have been hard on both of them for the first several years, but it would have been worth it.
“Do you go by Adalisa’s house every day?” Ethan asked.
He didn’t really want to know, but he also needed to. What if something happened in the middle of the night, and he needed Matthias? Would he be able to leave, or would he be stuck with his girl?
He had to consider everything since he was in charge, and Matthias was his right-hand man .
“Is she going to get in the way of your duties?”
“No, boss. She won’t. I promise. If you ever need me, just call, and I will leave right away.”
“She won’t be hurt about you disappearing all of a sudden? Does she know what you do?”
“She doesn’t know what I do, and if I have to go randomly, I’ll make it up to her. Or I won’t. Either way, this job comes first.”
That’s just how Ethan wanted it. How it needed to be right now. Especially since he was going to be occupied with Margery.
Right as Ethan was about to say something, Margery turned her head and whimpered.
“I’ll leave you alone,” Matthias offered before exiting the room.
Ethan kept his eyes on Margery the whole time. It was about time she woke up.
“Hello, sleepyhead.”