Chapter 43 Chiara
Chiara
“Ineed a phone.” It’s infuriating not being able to look shit up or take photos of Felix.
My cat trots across the kitchen and meows at me.
He now has the run of the place, much to Horatio’s disgust. The miserable fucker sneers every time he sees Felix.
I half hope my cat pees in his room. I’ve been manifesting it all week, but Felix is a good boy, and very clean, so sadly, it’s not happened yet.
Angelo doesn’t bother looking up from his tablet. He’s started spending more time here. Most mornings, when I drag my corpse into the kitchen in search of coffee, he’s already here, sipping his espresso and looking like the world’s sexiest mafia boss.
“No.”
“Why not?” I despise the whiny note that slips into my voice.
“Because you haven’t earned my trust yet.”
I swallow a molten sip of coffee and manifest the fuck out of Felix peeing in his shoes. Go, Felix. Be a good boy for your mommy.
Felix gives up pestering Dominic for food and struts over to Angelo. I watch as the little traitor hops onto the table and head-bumps him while purring. Angelo scratches his chin and murmurs something gooey.
My mouth falls open in shock.
Is my scary husband now a devoted cat daddy?
I shake my head, forcing my brain back on track.
“What do I need to do to earn your trust?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Be more submissive and let me put a baby in you.”
He has to be fucking joking. Me? Submissive?
Ignoring the baby bit because, nope, I snort out a laugh.
A faint smile briefly appears before he reverts to his usual icy expression.
For me anyway. From the way Felix has moved into his lap and is purring louder than an engine, it’s pretty obvious who gets all the affection around here.
“Submission isn’t in my DNA.”
Angelo smirks. “Then no phone.”
“Fuck you!” I pick up a bread roll, intending to throw it at his stupidly handsome face, but he points to Felix and frowns.
“Careful. You’ll upset the cat.”
Somewhat unwillingly, I lower my fist and drop the bread roll onto the table.
“Good girl.” Two innocuous little words, but they have an unwelcome effect. Angelo must read my reaction because he smirks.
“See? You can be submissive when you try hard enough.”
He’s damned lucky Felix has chosen to sit on him, and from the way he pets my cat with a smug grin, he knows it.
We sit in silence for ten more minutes with him reading his tablet while sipping coffee, and me shoveling pancakes into my mouth while plotting his demise. It’s dysfunctional as hell, but that’s what happens when Mommy and Daddy hate each other.
“Can you at least give me a laptop so I can access my online course material?”
“Huh?”
“I would like to finish my degree.” I fully expect my tutors have kicked me off the course by now, but hopefully not.
He looks thoughtful. “I’ll consider it.”
Better than an outright no, I suppose.
It nearly kills me, but in the interests of marital harmony, I force myself to say, “Thanks.”
“See? That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
I fucking hate this man, while also wanting to fuck him. And from the heat in his gaze as he watches me squirm on my chair, he knows it. A small, self-satisfied smile dances across his lips.
One day, I’ll get my revenge. Not just on him for marrying me against my will, but also on his father for accepting Vivian’s marriage proposal.
“Are you my personal bodyguard now?” Kane opens the passenger door of the SUV. I’m tired after spending the afternoon at the office crunching more numbers. So far, the two mysterious deposits made into the Azure Casino Hotel’s account are the only two anomalies I’ve discovered.
Brandon, Ronald’s stand-in, seems unconcerned, but at least he’s been more helpful today. Perhaps it was the chocolate brownies I took in for him and Thelma. I’d sell my firstborn for Dominic’s baked goods, so I doubt those two nerds are immune.
“Am I responsible for guarding your hot body?” Kane’s flirtatious question comes as a surprise after the way he’s been beating the shit out of me in the gym every morning.
He’s barely said two words to me all week apart from “get your lazy ass off the mat” and my personal favorite “you’re pathetic.”
“You think my body’s hot?” I flutter my eyelashes at him while smirking. Kane is so much more attractive when he’s not scowling at me.
He reaches over to check I’m belted in. While he’s had his hands on me numerous times in the last few days, he did nothing inappropriate. Now, though, my pulse kicks up, and it’s hard to breathe.
I inhale sharply as his large hand brushes across my jean-clad thighs, sucking in his spicy citrus scent like an addict. This car suddenly feels way too small.
Kane moves back and grins. “I think you’re married, kitten.” Amusement sparkles in his eyes, but his gaze drops to my tits and lingers there for a moment. A surge of aching need between my thighs has me wishing he’d cross the invisible line he’s drawn in the sand and take me.
Hard and fast.
I picture him throwing me against the hood of this car, tearing my jeans down, and railing me like the world is about to end.
“I almost forgot,” I quip while forcing my breathing to remain slow and even, even though I know my cheeks are flushed and my nipples are hard enough to poke holes in my shirt.
When he goes to close my door, my gaze drops. From the bulge in his pants, he’s not immune to my charms, which gives me a serious buzz.
The traffic is awful, as always, but Kane navigates it with ease. He seems remarkably relaxed considering it’s just the two of us. The other two guards stayed behind with Angelo, as he has a meeting, according to Kane.
“I’m surprised Angelo isn’t sending another team of armed men to keep me safe,” I remark. “Is he not worried I’ll jump out of the car at a traffic light?”
“Go ahead,” Kane says with his eyes on the road ahead. When we stop at a T-junction, I go to open the door to test him. Of course it’s locked.
“Good to know I’m trapped if we crash.”
“Don’t worry, kitten. The locks will automatically disengage in a collision.”
I scoff under my breath and stare out of the window as high-end stores and luxury office blocks turn into strip malls. The traffic thins out as we leave the central business district behind.
Because it’s a Friday night, there are more people around than usual. Patrons kicking back in busy bars spill out onto the sidewalk, laughing and drinking.
I wonder how Mack’s coping without me. Does he miss me? Doubtful.
My thoughts drift to Luka. It’s been a week since he left, and I haven’t heard from him. If I had a phone, I’d check out his social media, but I don’t, so my imagination fills in the gaps.
At least I have Felix.
“Fina will be over later,” Kane remarks out of nowhere. I haven’t seen her since the fun evening with Lorenzo.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She has a surprise for you.”
When I turn to look at him, he winks, and I frown. Fina and I aren’t exactly close, even though I do genuinely like her, so what’s going on?
I mull it over for a few moments, but just as I’m about to quiz Kane further, I realize something’s wrong.
“What’s going on?”
He throws me a grim look before wrenching the steering wheel to the left. The car fishtails across the road, the tires screeching. My seatbelt cuts into my chest as I’m thrown against the door. My mouth opens in a silent scream.
“Hold on, Chiara,” Kane grunts. “Whatever happens next, don’t panic.”
Naturally, I panic.