CHAPTER 26
Imust keep my mind occupied, or I’ll end up blowing Angelo’s head off.
Ever since he arrived, he hasn’t stopped flirting with Lana.
Worst of all, she plays along. When he says something suggestive, she responds in kind.
Whenever they spend time together, she laughs at everything he says, touches him, and even does that eyelash-batting thing she once used on me. .. But she also makes sure I notice.
When I’m at work, she barely speaks to him. And whenever Angelo gets near, she either walks away or drifts over to talk with my mum. I’ve confirmed this with Javier… and by spying through the cameras from time to time.
She’s using that fucker to tease me, to show me she doesn’t love me.
But the harder she tries to get away, the closer she comes.
Soon I’ll hold her in my arms; she’ll let me kiss her again.
I’ll slip a ring onto her finger the moment that happens.
She will be mine until death do us part—and even after because there is no way this woman will ever rid herself of me.
She wants me. She loves me. She hasn’t given up on me, either. She just needs to trust me again, to trust that I wasn’t the one who betrayed her.
I’ve tried to stay calm when she and Angelo are together, especially since she started learning self-defence a few days ago.
Javier is in charge of teaching her. I don’t trust Angelo to keep his hands to himself; I’m sure he’ll seize any opportunity to turn it into something sexual.
Luckily, Javier is a better teacher, and Lana prefers him anyway.
Still, the arsehole won’t stop staring at her or making remarks about how well she moves.
As if none of us notice his insinuations.
If I have not lost my mind, it is to prove to Lana that I am better than she thinks I am—although it’s debatable. I’ve asked my men to research further on Angelo, but they’ve come up with nothing. Ian tells me it’s just my jealousy, but there’s something bugging me about this.
The conversations with her mother haven’t made much progress either.
She has tried to convince me to give her the address of our home.
She insists that no one else knows she is alive but has no idea what is happening outside the bubble in which I’m keeping her.
I cannot let those people discover the location of this house.
If Mom becomes a victim of my slip-ups, I will never forgive myself.
I owe her safety to my father, at the very least.
After explaining the situation to Lana, she understood and stopped insisting. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if she, as stubborn as she is, asked Angelo to take her to Victoria… or, worse, to Ireland with her sister.
I’ve been listening to their conversations as well. Tara is trying to convince her to fuck either me or Angelo, and Lana insists she doesn’t want to do anything with anyone. Her sister is a nuisance, and I hope Lana doesn’t fall for her charm because her husband is one of the biggest threats.
As I head to the dining room, Mom looks at me for a second, then ignores me again. I roll my eyes. She’s been giving me the silent treatment ever since I gave Lana the phone, yet between them, they talk as if nothing has happened. She’s already her favourite—and we’re not even together.
Me: I’m having lunch.
Like every day, I send her that message, hoping she’ll join me.
What I don’t expect is for her to come down ten minutes later in a translucent dress that reveals the red lingerie she’s wearing.
Now I regret leaving those in her room.
I choke. She laughs at me. The guards at the door stare. My patience wears thin. “If anyone looks at her for more than five seconds, you can say goodbye to your job—and your eyeballs. Get the fuck out.”
Lana rolls her eyes and keeps walking. The men leave.
“Lovely. You’re a charmer,” she mutters as she passes me, heading for the kitchen.
I desperately want to stand and follow her, to kiss and touch her. I’d ask Mum to take Finn, then steal Lana for a few hours. Or I’d take her right here—on the table, on the floor. Anything. I just want to feel her again. I want to feel like we’re on the same page… as we were the other day.
Lana sits at the opposite end of the table after setting the plates of food. Then she places Finn in his chair.
“You said no touching,” she says, settling in. “So, you won’t.”
I snort. “Perfect.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“It doesn’t change how much I want to fuck you again.”
Her face flushes red. I stifle a laugh with my hand.
I eat without taking my eyes off them. Finn is smearing everything around him as he stuffs vegetables into his mouth.
Lana combs her hair into a ponytail that falls over her shoulder.
She has always hated its length but doesn’t dare cut it.
She never told me why, but every morning I’d hear her cursing as she tried to untangle it.
“You will cave,” she says softly, drawing my attention again. “You guys are so predictable.”
“We?”
“Men. You see… breasts and an arse,” she whispers, as if Finn couldn’t hear, “and you’re already drooling like a starving dog.”
I smile and lean back in my chair. I cross my arms and lick my lips, glancing from her head to her swollen breasts, then back to her face.
“Me drooling over you isn’t because I see your body, ragnetta. It’s because you drive me fucking crazy. If I cave, it’ll be because you beg me to touch you again. Meanwhile, I’ll entertain my imagination with anything you allow me to see.”
She stirs in her seat. I admire her ability to deny any attraction to me. My willpower wouldn’t have even lasted the first week.
Lana can try to murder me, humiliate me, be my enemy, or betray me, and I’d still choose her a thousand times.
“I don’t believe you.”
I raise my eyebrows. “You think I’ve been with random people?”
“If you don’t, why do you have a damn room for it?”
“Because I thought you would like it.”
We fall silent.
I take my plate to the kitchen, toss it into the dishwasher, and walk back to the door.
It’s obvious that Lana doesn’t want me around. This is one of her games. I’ll show her I’m better than that. It will take more to make me break my promise.
“You were planning to kidnap me all along?”
I stop abruptly, tightening my grip on the door handle.
“No, Lana. I made that room before I knew you wouldn’t marry me.”
“And when was it that you thought of kidnapping me?”
I open the door.
“When I saw you kissing him.”