Chapter 5 - Mark
“Naivete in grownups is often charming, but when coupled with vanity it is indistinguishable from stupidity.” – Eric Hoffer.
One word would have sufficed to describe her—exotic. Like fine wine made from forbidden fruit on a tropical island. Or like a seductress who is locked away and only accessible to the most distinguishable personalities. I preferred the latter. It suited her.
But one word wasn’t enough.
Her beauty cannot be captured in mere words from a dictionary. As I stared at her, I felt like a fucking teenager looking at a woman for the first time again. The sight of her legs and body curled up and unconscious on the bed like a captured princess, was priceless.
Petite and cute, with a curvy ass peeking from her shorts and slender hips. Long brown hair that brushed the dip of her small waist, olive skin radiating the warm glow of the early morning sun, and full lips, looking like they had no other purpose than to be kissed, sucked. Tasted. High cheekbones, perfectly sculpted jawline ... she was so fucking perfect.
But I knew better. She wasn’t. No one was. If she got the chance, she’d run off with that asshole Logan without hesitation. She’d believe every word he spewed out of his stupid mouth, no questions asked. And if he told her he loved her, her insides would melt, and she”d give in to him like a fucking puppet. Then he’d pull the rug out from under her feet and leave her in the wreckage. Just like he left Irina.
I clenched my fist and took a long drag on the cigarette between my lips.
“She looks comfortable,” Yuri said, coming up beside me with a bottle of water. He’d taken off the suit and looked like he’d cleaned up. With a nod to the girl, he asked, “What do you plan to do with the Latina?”
“Half-Latina,” I mumbled, exhaled a cloud of white smoke, and just kept looking at her. It was hard not to. She might not have been perfect, but was undoubtedly enthralling, captivating, and beautiful. “Archie’s American, her mother was Mexican.”
“Okay.”
He hadn’t expected that much information from me. I shouldn’t have cared, but it was hard to ignore Archie Mason’s daughter. Addison Mae. I’d done all my research on her, and I’d conducted it myself. Twenty-one, business graduate from the University of Chicago. And that was it. She kept a low profile, never got into trouble, and had a small social circle. Very small. Her circle’s name was Maria Simmons.
She stirred on the bed, kicked the sheets, and her eyelids fluttered. Handing Yuri the cigarette, I pushed off the wall and approached her. With a dissatisfied grunt, Yuri shut the door behind him. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down.
Her eyes, large and brown and full of questions, grew to the size of saucers as she looked up through thick, long lashes. Her lips quivered as she looked around, peering over her shoulder like a frightened kitten to figure out where she was. “Where is this? Where am I? Where’s Logan?”
“Easy, princess. So many questions. Calm down.”
“Calm down? How can you tell me to calm down?” She couldn’t be any more shocked. Her mouth fell open and she gawked like I’d grown an extra head on my shoulder. “This is crazy. You’re crazy ...”
I raised a brow. “I’ll let that slide because ... well, because you’re obviously in a state of shock, and I guess I can understand that—”
“You know what’s funny?” Her jaw hung even lower, and she scooted back until she reached the headboard, hugging her knees to her chest. Her hair fell forward, covering the sides of her face like a curtain. She tried to sound controlled and confident, trying to hide her hysteria and quell the rising panic, but I heard the fear in her voice. She pointed at me. “You’re standing there talking like you’re a rational being and not a psychopath who wanted to kill me.”
My jaw ticked. “Again,” I sucked in a deep breath and exhaled. “I’ll let that slide too. And, I did not try to kill you.”
“What?”
If I hadn’t understood how serious her silent accusations were, I might have laughed at her comical expression. She was so fucking adorable with that scowl on her face.
Her eyes were almost out of their sockets when she sputtered, “What universe do you come from? Your ... Bodyguard. He drugged me without my consent. What does that sound like to you, Mark? A proposal?”
I chuckled softly. Not only was she a feast for the eyes with that sexy body, but she also had a good sense of humor and a sharp tongue.
Don’t get too comfortable with her. She”s only here for one reason, Logan.
“Hm, want to marry me already, princess?” I smirked. “Yuri is not my bodyguard and I’m not the bad guy here.”
She blinked. Her mouth opened and closed. Then it opened again. “Ugh, unbelievable! Let me spell it out for you. You. Kidnapped. Me. Comprender!” [understand]
Fuck me! Her fiery temper and Spanish accent made my blood rush south. “I took you in.” I stayed calm.
“Took ... Took me in? What are you talking about? I have a house, I have a father, and I have a life, one that doesn’t have men like you in it.”
“Not anymore, you don’t.” I dropped my smile, sat down on the edge of the bed, and glared at her. “You had a house, in Chicago. But in New York, you have nothing. No house, no father, no life. Let me spell it out for you. No. One. Nada.” Yep, princess, I speak Spanish too.
“What the …What did you say?” Her audacious fa?ade melted away in an instant and her ears pricked up. She lowered her arms, raised herself to her knees, and stretched her neck to peek out of the window. “I’m in New—New York. You’re bluffing, right? This has to be a joke. Tell me, this is a joke.”
“I know we’re still getting to know each other, princess, but soon you will learn not to doubt my level of intelligence. You are where I said you are.”
She dropped back on the bed, hugging herself again. “But why ...” her voice trembled. “Why did you take me with you? And where is Logan? What have you done with him? Oh my God, you killed him!” Her hand flew up and covered her mouth.
She called his name so passionately as if the mere thought of harm coming to him was enough to destroy her. I wanted to spit on her affections. If only she knew the half of the man that bastard was.
“Not yet,” I said and scooted closer to her. “I know you are innocent. You’re just a victim of that idiot”s mistakes; in the wrong place, at the wrong time. He’s to blame for everything. He was stupid enough to mess with me and the Bratva and put our family’s honor on the line.”
I hooked a finger under her chin and looked into her watery, chocolate-brown eyes. “I only want revenge.” Her fierceness was fading.
“And you say you’re not a bad guy?” Her nose twitched, she sniffled and looked at me under shimmering, wet eyelashes. The urge to kiss away the tears came over me like a full-steam runaway train. But I shrugged it off. Fuck that.
“What did he ever do to you?”
“A lot.”
I let go of her chin, and at that moment I noticed a glint. It came from her ring finger. A pear-shaped, expensive diamond sparkled in the rays of sunlight shining through the window.
When she saw my gaze on the precious piece of stone, she wanted to hide her hand, but I was quicker and grabbed her by the wrist.
“Hm …” I raised a brow and held her hand closer to my face. “You’re not only his girlfriend, are you?”
She wiped her nose with the back of her other hand and straightened her spine. “We’re engaged.”
“Hm ... Not for much longer,” I mumbled.
Nice ring and fucking expensive. Knowing the bastard, he could only have afforded it if he had swindled and fooled another victim with his charm.
“No, please, let us go,” she begged. “You can’t do this to us. You’re ruining our lives. We did nothing wrong.”
I began to get irritated. Anger rose in me, as I imagined how fucking prince charming lured her, taking advantage of her youth and innocence. How could someone so smart fall for a guy like him?
“Stop being so fucking dramatic,” I growled, and she flinched. “Your fiancé? He’s no fucking saint. I bet he didn’t tell you about his previous marriage. Or did he?”
All the color drained from her pretty face. She blinked and just sat there, visibly trying to process the information. I saw the battle, the questions, and the considerations.
She leaned forward, tilting her head to the side. “What?”
It was a whisper, borne from the deepest point of disbelief. Then, as if to prove my point, she shook her head and laughed. It was shaky and her eyes teared up, but the smile stuck.
“You should know, you have a terrible sense of humor. Logan … previously married?” She scoffed. “As if. My Logan wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t lie or keep something that important from me. That means the only one lying here is you. My Logan would have told me if he’d been married before.”
My Logan …Fuck me!
My jaw ticked and I narrowed my eyes at her, hoping she would feel the burn of my gaze.
It was annoying to watch someone so young, and sensible, sticking up for that piece of shit. The affection she had was overwhelming, even blinding. And I could see why she saw past his flaws.
She was fucking in love.
“Let me tell you something: your Logan doesn’t give a fuck about you. Otherwise, he would hardly have fled so quickly and left you in the claws of the bad guys.”
The smile slid off her face and the quiet, reserved Addison—the real one, that existed beneath the confident and defiant fa?ade—cracked through.
“That’s a lie.” She whispered.
“Strike one.” I inched forward, close enough to see the black specks in her Bambi eyes and feel her warm breath on my face. “You’re nothing here, understand? Lying to you would be an utter waste of my time. Your fiancé is nowhere in my facilities. He’s gone. Escaped. Vanished. Comprender?”
She ignored me and stared at the window instead. Her lips were drawn into a fucking sweet pout, her eyes glazed over and her hands trembled.
“But how?”
Wasn’t it obvious?
“Skills?”
Her head turned and she looked at me with a blank expression. When I read the unasked question, it wasn’t even funny. I massaged my forehead. Was it possible that this girl bribed her professors and bought her degree from the University? Was she just that inexperienced in life?
“Don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out yet?”
“It’s just… It’s not possible.” She swallowed and, I swore, that if she cried, I was going to get sick. Seeing such a sorry state was worse than enduring the stains of Ruslan’s blood on the carpet.
“It is, and that is the reality. Logan’s not an honorable man and he’s not who you think he is—not that I have the time to start giving you a background story. I’ll save that for another day. He’s a fucking snake and has some great fighting skills hidden under his false innocence. That’s why he was able to pull a few tricks and slip through our fingers while we were busy with you.”
“I don’t care what you say. He’s going to come back for me,” she snapped back. “I know he will. He has to.”
The despair in her voice sounded louder than thunderbolts and a single tear rolled down her cheek. The reason for her sudden silence was her realization of how lonely she was. With Archie in hospital, her best friend miles away, and her fiancé on the run, her little circle had fallen apart.
Archie’s condition was delicate. Hearing I had his daughter would be enough to send him straight to the grave, and that’s why I knew that information was never going to reach him. As for her relatives, it was no secret that Archie”s siblings had their eyes on his wealth. It had even been rumored once that they’d attempted to poison him.
I rolled my eyes. “If it’s any consolation, you’re not a missing person. Those who care about you have been informed that you’re on vacation.”
She glowered. “Who would even believe that?”
“Maria did.”
That shut her up and smothered the fire in her eyes.
“And there’s no way our narrative will change, even in the slightest. Logan wouldn’t dare publicly say anything about us, the Bratva. No one has the guts to. And he knows it will further complicate things. We’ve got everything under our control; the media, the fucking government … You name it. So, if you think your cowardly fiancé is running to the FBI to save you, you’re wrong, princess.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Interesting. My lips tugged up into a wicked grin and I pushed myself closer until our thighs touched. She eyed the brief contact and took a deep breath as I stroked her cheek with my thumb and traced the line of her lower lip.
“What, princess? You don’t like it?”
Her breaths came out ragged, and shaky. And her gaze fell on my hand. It scorched my skin and caused a dangerous heat that traveled to my groin.
“No, I don’t like it. My name is Addison.” Her warm breath fanned my hand, and I tipped my face close to her, drawn like a moth to a flame. “What do you want from me, Mark?” her voice a dimmed whisper.
Perhaps it was the way she called my name, or the sound of her voice in my ears, like a soft melody, but something inside me gave in, snapped to the subjection, and I struggled to tear myself away from her irresistible lips.
“Logan,” I whispered back, and it surprised me, the strain in my words, the struggle for control. The insane need to have this naive little girl close to me.
I cleared my throat. “I want Logan, and you will help me get him. No sane man would stand by and watch another man conquer his woman. So, if he’s as good as you say he is and likes you as much as you think he does, he’ll come for you as soon as he hears the news.”
“T-The news?”
“I’m going to claim you, hermosa [gorgeous]. Mark you.” I stared at her legs. “Make you mine.”
Her long eyelashes fluttered. And I wanted to kiss them. I wanted to kiss her. This exotic temptress with the big, frightened eyes, and the smooth, long legs that I suddenly ached to feel and touch, was like a magnet.
“And how are you going to do that?”
The glint on her finger caught my eye again and I smiled. Before she could utter a word, I dipped my face to the curve between her neck and shoulder and brushed my lips on her nape, then bit gently.
“Oh …”
Our sighs mingled and I shut my eyes for the briefest second.
God! She smelled so good that I could bury my face in her for a few more hours. Our bodies came together, and I could feel the gentle thumping of her heartbeat.
I had expected her to resist and curse me for even daring to get so close to her. Anything but a sigh on her lips. She melted into me like a soft marshmallow. She pressed her breasts against my chest and the tip of my cock poked against my zipper. Fuck.
Dammit, focus.
I trailed a finger down her arm, aiming for the stone. “Claiming you is an easy one, hermosa.” I rasped as our noses grazed and squeezed her wrist, and then … I pulled away.
Her chest heaved and she stared at me in confusion, furrowing her brows and pursing her lips. She wanted to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. Stunned, confused. These words could describe what we both felt. Because my heart was also pounding.
I raised my hand and showed her the ring which was no longer on her finger.
“Engagement is over.”
She gasped and lurched forward. “My ring!”
I lifted it above my head.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. If only it were so.”
With a feather-light kiss on her cheek, I rose from the bed. “From this day forward, Addison Mae, you are mine until further notice.”