31. Chapter 31
Nico
This was a job. Where was that detached coldness I was used to feeling? I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think. She plagued my every thought. Memories of her silky skin flexing under my hands hounded my every step.
Every time I scented her, I lost my fucking mind.
She hated me? Good. That would make all of this easier.
I had to get my head on straight before my old man noticed.
He’d happily replace me with Marcel, his right hand, or any of my younger brothers.
This reeked of a test. He’d never officially named an heir, and if I fucked this up, that wouldn’t be me.
I was going soft and that was dangerous in this business.
Enemies were enemies, not fuck-toys that smelled like heaven.
As the eldest son, my entire life had been built around taking over for my father. Fuck if I was going to let some long-legged omega with curves for days screw that up for me.
This was turning into a shitshow. Who was I kidding? It already was one.
Rosa just shot fucking Bruna Parisi. In the fucking head. How the fuck was I going to explain that to my father? As far as I was concerned, one less cunt like her was a good thing, but a lot of high rollers acquired omegas through her network.
People were not going to be happy. Even less happy once Oliver went through her computer and found out exactly who they were and ruined their lives. He was vindictive like that.
It was a good thing Cruz carried Rosa back, because I was already hard again, and all I could think about was getting her back under me and shoving my knot in her.
The disappointment was written all over her face when I’d held back.
As much as it pained me, I couldn’t risk the time it would take to knot her right now.
I felt the orgasm roll through her, but I would’ve loved spending hours watching her come all over me again and again.
With an army of my father’s men on the way, I couldn’t risk it. Not yet anyway.
We cut it too close as it was, because as soon as we stepped out of the woods, a stream of trucks came rattling up the driveway past my car.
Oliver had relayed orders to them, and they knew what to do, but I needed to get out of here.
I was covered in cum, sweat, and slick, which didn’t bother me, but some of the other alphas might not appreciate it as much.
They were told to transport the omegas to a shelter I trusted and were ordered in no uncertain terms not to touch any of them.
The soldiers we called in were trustworthy to a point and loyal, but there was no reason to rub it in their faces.
Me, covered in thick omega pheromones, might give them pause and have them second-guessing the hands-off order I obviously couldn’t even follow myself.
I’d been building loyalty with my father’s men, but they were still his, not mine.
Yet.
My own crew ran my club and handled my business, but I didn’t have enough manpower to pull them for this, and I didn’t need them asking questions that I wasn’t ready to answer. Because despite their loyalty to me, they would ask.
I dropped into the Bentley, relaxing into the plush leather, and when Cruz pushed his seat forward, depositing Rosa in the back, I didn’t complain.
Fuck it. Tonight was already in shambles.
She immediately grabbed Oliver’s blanket and snuggled into it.
Ollie was going to be pissed. He’d probably make me replace it, but Rosa looked too content for me to bother taking it from her now.
Putting the Bentley in gear, I pulled out of the driveway, back onto the main road.
The car sliced through the woods as we headed into the darkness.
This was turning into a long night. The trip would take hours, and now we had a major detour that had slowed us down.
I had to get Rosa out of her father’s territory and safely hidden before we had any other incidents.
Interesting, though, that Bruna had set up shop in Reyes’ territory.
He normally kept a cleaner house than this and would have patrols set to watch for anyone encroaching on his turf.
I didn’t think Rafael was the type to support omega traffickers, but he had tortured and killed my mother, so I wouldn’t put anything past him anymore.
The Bentley cruised along, near silent, through the deepening night. Rosa’s breathing evened out after about an hour, and something inside me eased, content that she was comfortable. This was too personal. She was getting under my skin, and I didn’t like it.
Rosalina
Through the glare of oncoming traffic, I saw Cruz lean toward the driver’s seat. His words were hushed as if he were trying not to wake me. “Are you going to punish her?”
Punish me? For fucking what? I did nothing.
He must’ve thought I was sleeping, so despite my anger at the accusation, I held my tongue, hoping they’d let something slip.
“I probably should,” Nico replied, sounding tired and resigned.
“Yeah, probably,” Cruz’s reply was laced with reluctance.
After a moment of tense silence, he continued.
“Nico, we really need to talk about this whole thing. Rafael was complaining about missing shipments. Unless no one told you about it, that wasn’t us.
I think there’s some shit going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about. Something’s not right.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. We have orders. Right or wrong,” Nico replied, as if that was the end of the story.
Cruz shifted in his seat. “She would’ve come with us if we’d asked.”
Nico said nothing, just stared out the window into the rolling scrubland.
Trying again, Cruz dropped his volume, glancing into the back seat to make sure I was still asleep. “Did I already tell you her favorite meal is French toast? Weird, right?”
I froze, holding my breath, hoping he would still buy that I was out.
Nico turned, looking at his passenger from the corner of his eye. “I hope you aren’t insinuating what I think you’re insinuating.”
What the fuck did French toast insinuate? My choice of breakfast treat was none of their damned business.
“Na, it’s probably nothing,” Cruz said and continued quietly.
“So, Lorenzo brought over the marriage license for the court while Rosa was at the spa. It’s just a formality.
They were going to bite her in at the ceremony anyway, but he said that if she refused to sign it to tell her he’d kill her father.
He must’ve known she’d be difficult.” He chuckled softly.
“I never gave it to her, but I signed it. Once he gets out of the hospital, he’s going to find out it says, ‘Go fuck yourself’ and not her name. So…that might be a problem.”
The Vasco pack thought we were legally bound, but probably not for long. Once they realized they’d been tricked, what would they do to my father? They told Cruz they’d kill him if I didn’t sign, but he didn’t even give me a chance to decide. Now my father was in danger because of these fuckwits.
I was going to kill him. My breathing stuttered with fury, nearly giving away that I wasn’t as asleep as I seemed, but they kept right on talking.
The steering wheel creaked as Nico’s grip tightened around it. “What do you mean, ‘gets out of the hospital’?”
“Well, he hit Rosa, so I returned the favor. From the way his face caved in under my fist, and the gurgling sound he made when he tried to breathe, I’m assuming he’ll be in the hospital for a minute.” Cruz shrugged nonchalantly.
I buried my face in the sweetly scented blanket I’d found in the back seat to hide my smile.
I could almost forgive him for everything else, knowing that.
But no. As grateful as I was, this mess was all his fucking fault, and there was no one to get me out of it this time but me. So far, I’d done a bang-up job.
Nico rubbed a hand across his face. “So, the Vasco pack thinks you kidnapped their legally bonded mate, after rearranging their pack leader’s face?”
“That sounds about right,” Cruz said, leaning back into his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.
As much as I dreaded it, I was going to have to escape and get back to the Vascos before they hurt my father.
As much as he probably deserved it, he was the only family I had left.
I couldn’t just let them kill him. Even with all the shit he’d done, he was still my blood.
Maybe the Vascos could be reasoned with.
Maybe they would see what a shit idea all of this was.
Then things could go back to the way they were.
Not that I wanted them that way.
Nico settled deeper into his seat, looking like he was trying to get comfortable and failing miserably. “Text Dom and tell him to send a reminder for Rosa to my safe house. She needs to be taught that when she acts up, there are consequences.”
What consequences? The name ‘Dom’ made something click into place.
Nico… Nico and Dominic Moreno… they were the sons of Francisco Moreno.
Dominic had a twin, Roman, and a younger brother.
I thought his name was Luca. They must’ve been the twins Claudia was dancing with at the club…
.together they had to have been the three masked guys in the Range Rover.
That didn’t explain how Cruz factored in, but it explained the rest.
The fucking Morenos.
How could I have missed this?
The scent in the club, the sandalwood on the hoodie. I fucked them both, slept beside them, and they were my worst enemies all along.
If only I’d put that together when I’d had Cruz’s gun.
Claudia and I had been kidnapped by the same maniacs that killed my brother. Fucking hell. Now I had even more reason to escape. If they could kill an innocent child, I had no doubt that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me, too.
I needed a plan. One that didn’t include fucking the two-faced liar of a bodyguard, or the deliciously addictive heir to the Moreno family.
After the time I’d spent in the trunk, and the dark roads we’d traveled, it was impossible to get my bearings. The scenery from the back seat was pitch black, and I couldn’t make out any landmarks. I’d have to try again once the sun came out, and I could see where they were taking me.
Despite the disturbing revelations, the quiet purr of the engine and buttery sweetness all over this blanket, eventually my eyes closed, and I was lulled to sleep.