Chapter 6
Sebastian
My plan backfired. I thought I’d go in there, make her uncomfortable so she would never try to alert the authorities ever again. I can’t have her misbehaving on me. I can’t have her trying to get away from me.
I’m no amateur to a woman’s body. I’ve seen plenty.
But looking at Mia. Seeing her rosy nipples pointing right at me. The slender curves of her body. Her wet skin. It was like I’d never seen a nude woman before her.
The thing that got me the most was the gleam in her eyes when I took in my fill of her sweet body. It’s almost like she enjoyed it.
Or maybe it’s my fucked-up imagination that I could ever think someone as young as Mia would want an older man like me. Her father’s friend.
She was right. That was my punishment, my own little torture for all the bad deeds I’ve done in my life.
Maybe I’m a fucking asshole, but I want to see her again. I want to touch that perfect body of hers and get lost in it. But it can’t happen. I know this.
This mission is way too important. This is my life we’re talking about here. Reputation means power, and if I want to stay alive, I must clear my name.
I can’t become a target.
I may do some illegal shit. I may not be the nicest guy around, and I’ll be honest I am a straight up criminal, but I didn’t do this thing they’re trying to pin on me. I’d never steal from the Four Families.
And I have to find out who the hell is behind this deception. The accounts came out of China. The way it all went down means it was somebody that worked for the organization. Someone high up in the chain.
Someone like Nate, or Oliver, or a string of other men I plan on seeking out. And I need Mia’s help to find them all. She may think I can do this on my own, but when I heard Bishop was after her, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to grab her, keep her safe, and find out who’s framing me.
Because someone’s fucking framing me.
As soon as Mia’s out of the shower, I tell Jeremy to watch the house. He doesn’t like the idea of me going alone. He’s normally the guy who sweeps all rooms before I enter. He’s the man who gets my affairs in order. He’s the man I trust completely.
But I’m not trying to attract attention to myself by bringing along a bodyguard.
“I’ll take the bike to the bank, and be back before you know it,” I tell him.
He follows us into the garage, and I hand Mia a helmet. I slide onto the bike. “Hop on,” I tell her.
She climbs on behind me.
I reach around behind me and grab her hands and wrap them around my waist. “Hold on tight.”
She snuggles into my back, and I take off down the mountain road. Normally, the fastest way to get to Shenzhen is by train, but again, I’m flying under the radar.
The sun shines high in the sky as I make my way toward the bank. Mia holds on for dear life the entire way, and I like the way it feels. I like having her on the back of my bike.
Like she was born to ride with me.
My heart races as she holds on tight.
I want this ride to last forever. Fuck, the situation is messing with my brain. Her open legs around my body… her enticing heat, her hands wandering on my chest.
Oh, the wonders I would do with her. And to her.
This is a great twist from my usual way with women.
My interaction with females consists of me picking one up from a party and bringing her back to my condo in New York. By the next morning, Jeremy makes sure they’re on their way out the door.
I spend no real time with them. I never care to. They’re all faceless to me.
But spending time with Mia is different. Sure, we’ve been around each other in the past, working and socializing, but we were never tethered together like we are now. There was never this charged energy between us electrifying my senses.
She’s the only person who can get me in with a few of these men I will meet with. Because with the news out about what I’ve ‘supposedly’ done these men won’t think twice about refusing to meet with me.
When I pull up to the Ping An Bank, we get off the bike. “Ready?” I ask.
She shrugs. “For what?”
“Whatever’s in this box will determine where we go from here, ok?”
She shrugs again like she couldn’t care less. “Ok.”
And maybe she couldn’t care less. Who knows? And who cares right now? She’s here, and I need to make sure she will not pull another stunt with me while we’re in the bank.
“If you make a scene in this bank, they won’t laugh it off. Ever been in a Chinese prison?”
Mia’s eyes widen to the size of a quarter. “I’ll be a good girl, promise.”
We step into the bank and I find a receptionist, telling her I need to get into my safe deposit box. I produce the key, giving her the number, and she directs me to a hallway with four doors.
She walks us through the first door and proceeds into a room with safe deposit boxes, where she pulls out the number box and lays it on a steel table.
Mia stands next to me, watching.
Please let something useful be in this box.
The woman leaves the room and I pull the key from my pocket. “Ready?” I ask Mia.
“I guess.”
I open the box, looking inside at the contents. “Oh, wow.” There’s about twenty thousand dollars inside.
I smile and feel around in the box, looking for more. There’s some papers at the bottom. I pull them out.
“What is that?”
“It looks like a bank statement. But I don’t recognize any of it.”
“Do you think it’s for this bank?”
I shrug. “It could be. Maybe Oliver has an account here. I’ll ask on the way out.”
I stuff the money back in the box.
“You’re not going to take the money?” Mia asks.
“It’s not my money. Even though the money’s most likely dirty as fuck, it’s not anymore mine than it is Oliver’s.”
“Well, that’s why you should probably take it. It’s stolen money.”
“Yes, but we don’t know where it came from.” I smile at Mia. “Don’t worry, I have plenty of my own money.”
“Ok. I just don’t want Oliver to get away with stealing from my family.”
I lean in closer. “He won’t.”
“Alright.”
“Wait here,” I tell Mia.
I step out of the room and head toward the lady who helped us earlier. I show her the paper I found, and speaking Chinese, question whether she recognizes anything on it. She doesn’t, but tells me it’s a list of withdrawals from what looks like a Swiss bank.
Great.
I thank her for her time and head back to Mia, who’s still standing in the same spot I left her.
“Where to now?” she asks, once we’re outside.
A black sedan squeals out of its spot right across from the bank, and Mia and I watch as it zooms past us, squealing its tires in the process.
“God,” Mia says, stepping back on the curb so the car doesn’t hit her.
I hold on to her, wondering who the fuck that was. “How much do you trust Nate?”
Mia blinks up at me. “Do you think he told someone we’d be coming to the bank?”
“Yes, and it’s not safe anymore.”
My plan to find Oliver evaporates about as fast as that car squealed away from the curb. I pull out my phone, putting in a call to Jeremy. “Change of plans,” I tell him.
“What’s up?”
“We’re getting out of town. Quick.”
“Boss, you have to leave without a single trace. Terminals are hot spots for surveillance.”
“Still have that number for that guy with the boat?” I ask into the phone. “I have an idea.”
My idea is to ship us in a junk, a Chinese traditional sailing ship. Now they rent them as charter boats. For a fee the owner agrees to take us to a small port on the other side of China. From there, we’ll take the train to Shanghai.
“Do you think this is a good idea?” Mia asks, watching the wood vessel’s battened sails.
“It’s the only option,” I reply. “We need to leave here. Jeremy will meet us in Shanghai with our things.”
“I’ve never traveled by ship before, not even a small boat. This is reliable, you said, right?”
This will be a long trip and Mia’s looking green already.
But I can’t leave her here. There’s no way I’d leave her here. She’s mine to protect now.
I’ll compensate her after clearing my name.
The idea of rewarding her goes straight to my dick.
“Sit under the hood,” the Captain instructs us. “There’s a room down there.”
The junk isn’t that big, just thirty-six feet long. Not that I care about the size, we just need a fast and safe way to get the hell out of here. Another man takes us to a tiny room full of boxes with a mini window and a wooden bench on the far side of it.
“If something happens, hide here,” he says, opening a thing that looks like a coffin. “I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out.”
While I pace around the claustrophobic space left free between the boxes, Mia occupies herself by looking out the small window.
“We are about to sail,” she says. “I always dreamed my first boat ride would be a Caribbean cruise, maybe across the Mediterranean. I never thought I’d end up in the South China sea with you.”
Not even in my wildest dreams could I have conjured a fucked-up situation like this.
“I’m not that bad,” I whisper, closing the distance between us.
“Says the man who abducted me,” she retorts. And I have to swallow the impulse to put that sassy mouth to good use.
The sun sets over the horizon the moment we set sail, it’s breathtaking, bright oranges and violets, reflecting on the water, and I wish we could enjoy it under different circumstances.
We move at a fast pace and Mia gets greener by the second. I need to get her out of here to breathe some fresh air.
“You can’t be here,” the Captain shouts with his heavy accent when we climb out of the small space he had us hide in.
“She’s about to get really sick, so I hope you don’t care about the goods you’re moving.”
That makes him change his demeanor immediately.
I take Mia to the deck, and we stand beside the wood railing. I give her the space to get some fresh air, but I also support her with my body.
She fits between my arms like a perfect puzzle piece. Her body commands my attention.
My dick’s attention, to be specific.
“Look at the horizon,” I say close to her ear, and I swear I feel her shiver. “Breathe, Mia. I got you.”
She does and melts into my arms. A weird feeling washes over me, and I almost feel proud to be the one making her feel a bit better.
It takes two days to arrive in Shanghai. It’s late by the time Mia and I get off the boat. We’re exhausted and in urgent need of a shower.
“I just want to sleep,” Mia tells me.
I pay cash for a hotel room and we head inside to find only one bed. “We’ll have to share, sorry.” I grabbed the first room I saw, trying to stay under the radar.
The room is small but clean. Nothing special, white walls, cheap curtains, simple headboard, and a television mounted on the wall.
“I don’t even care.” Mia falls to the full-sized bed, not even bothering to change her clothes.
Not that there’s anything to change into since we didn’t even have time to pack. It’s fine, though. Jeremy will meet us soon with our things. Until then, we have the outfits we wore today.
I head to the bathroom, taking the quickest shower, before I sit in the chair next to the window to regroup and get a plan together. I’ve never been to Shanghai, and I’m not sure of my next step to take. I need to find a few people, but I’m sure Nate has already alerted everyone to my whereabouts.
Time to lay low for a few days.
With Mia.
At least she’s safe, and no one knows where she is right now.
I need to figure out who’s framing me, but I can’t very well traipse Mia DeWinter around the world with me while I try to find out who’s really stealing from the Four Families. These men won’t meet with me alone, though. Not with all the shit talk being said about me right now.
So, like it or not, there are things I need from Mia.
I glance at her supple body on the bed, thinking about my needs. I’m a man, and yes, there are certain things I need from a woman, but not Mia.
I’ve known her for a long time. Worked side by side with her at the restaurant.
Sure, I’ve always loved her smile and beautiful eyes, but I can’t let myself go there.
But as I watch her chest rise and fall with each breath, my mind goes there anyway.
I picture myself with her, kissing her, touching her. What it would be like to have her. Like truly have her.
She moans in her sleep, and my dick instantly hardens. I can’t think about her like this. It isn’t right.
To stop the images of her in my brain, I stand, swaying just a bit from exhaustion. I haven’t slept in ages.
I’m going to have to lie in bed with her, so I tell my dick to behave. Down, boy, not tonight.
I undress and slide into bed, turning away from Mia so I’m not tempted to touch her. It’s a hard task. This fucking bed is too narrow and I’m a big guy.
I push a fluffy pillow between the two of us and lie flat on my back, staring at the popcorn ceiling.
Sleep eludes me.
Mia has no problem sleeping. She’s like Sleeping Beauty and this shithole’s our castle. But one thing she doesn’t know is I’m no fucking Prince Charming.
Yet, I can’t stop staring at her. Broken chunks of light come in through the window, casting shadows along her face. I know I’ve said this before, but she’s stunning. Truly fascinating.
Staring at her right now, studying the curves of her body, I can see why men grovel at her feet, just wanting a moment alone with her.
I must finally fall asleep, because somewhere in the middle of the night, Mia’s body snuggles against mine and I nearly fly out of the bed from shock.
“Sorry,” she whispers.
“It’s ok.” I wrap an arm around her, and then I’m stuck. What the fuck am I doing, cuddling with Georgio’s daughter?
I should get out of this bed. I should have my head examined.
Yet, I do neither of those things. Instead, I hold her. I hold her tight for fear of the future. For fear I’ll never get to hold her tight ever again.
Right here it’s just me and her. Right now, there’s no one else to hear my dirty thoughts that I’ll never be able to voice.
Right now is all we have.
It’s all we’ll ever have.