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  “Being your woman is one thing. But being your wife…that’s different.”

  “Well, he said he would die for you. So, if you think he doesn’t like you, he does.”

  She stopped eating altogether, more absorbed in the conversation.

  “That’s the highest blessing you’re going to get.” I turned back to my food and kept eating.

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  I wanted to ask her what she intended to do about her family, if she was going to talk to her father or just elope, but that seemed like a difficult question to ask right now. There was no rush to get married right away. She would tell me when it was time. We could go down to the courthouse or wherever she wanted to do it. I wasn’t a fan of churches and they weren’t a fan of me, but I’d do it there if she wanted.

  After we watched TV for a while, we went to bed.

  I carried her into the bedroom and set her down on the edge of the bed.

  She still had to wear that bulky cast for a few more weeks, and it tended to get in the way when we slept or cuddled on the couch. She didn’t have as much pain, but she still had to be careful when putting any pressure on it.

  I got ready for bed then lay beside her in my boxers, used to her queen-sized bed and her old sheets. My place was more comfortable and I preferred to stay there, but since she was the one struggling with an injury, I wanted her to be where she felt most comfortable.

  And as long as I got to be with her, I didn’t really care.

  She lay on her back and closed her eyes, her head turned to me so she could look at me with sleepy eyes.

  I was reunited with the woman I loved, watched her fight for me like a pissed-off bull, but I couldn’t have her the way I wanted. I couldn’t get on top of her and make love to her, feel that powerful connection that ruled us both.

  I missed it.

  My cock was hard under the sheets, wanting to break free of my boxers and bury itself inside her, but he was restrained in the cotton, anxious. The rest of my body was just as anxious. My chest wanted to feel her little tits rub against me as I moved on top of her. My wrists yearned for the soft flesh behind her knee when I pinned her legs apart. My balls wanted to tap against her ass as I pounded into her. My lips wanted to feel her warm breaths sprinkle against my mouth while she moaned uncontrollably.

  I couldn’t wait for that fucking cast to come off.

  When I couldn’t stop thinking about it, I got out of bed then pulled the sheets off her.

  She raised her body up slightly, watching me with confusion.

  I grabbed her shorts and pulled them off her ass, grabbing her panties too. I slowly tugged them down, and when I got to her foot, I took my time getting the fabric off the delicate area.

  “Heath, I’m frustrated too, but—”

  I pinned her healthy leg back, opening her wide. I moved her other knee slightly out of the way then dropped my body between her legs.

  She was still propped up, and she watched me, finally realizing what I wanted to do to her.

  My knees and everything below hung off the bed, my feet pressing into the rug while I kept the rest of my body on the bed, my face moving between her legs. Even though she’d been injured, she still groomed herself in the shower, like she wanted to be ready for sex the second she could get it.

  That was my baby.

  My hands hooked around her thighs, and I pressed my face into her pussy, my nose diving into her slit as I smelled her, as I smelled the pussy I was hopelessly addicted to.

  She moaned quietly when she felt me, lying back so her head was on the pillow, her hair all over the place. Her top was still on, but she pulled it up so she could touch her own tits.

  I started to kiss her, kiss her pussy the same way I kissed her mouth, with purposeful embraces packed with love and a nice hit of lust. My dick was hard underneath me, uncomfortable under my body weight as it smashed against the mattress. My tongue circled her clit before I dove my tongue deep inside her, tasting her, loving her.

  She stopped thinking about her foot, stopped thinking about the fact that I was doing all the work while she just enjoyed it. Her fingers moved to my hair, and she started to grind into me, her moans becoming louder, raspier, sexier.

  Even if I didn’t get laid, I still wanted to do this, still wanted to enjoy her, get lost in this indescribable physical connection. I would always be there for her, even if she couldn’t be there for me, and that told me I would worthy of her spending my life with her, because I would do that in all things…not just sex.

  She started to really get into it, arch her back, moan loudly, whisper my name in the darkness.

  I pressed my tongue harder into her clit and made her hit home, knowing she liked that best.

  Her hands gripped the sheets on either side of her, and she bucked against my mouth, riding the climax I gave her with tears in her throat, her voice breaking, her tone emotional. “Heath…”

  I squeezed her ass as I made her finish, went hard on that little nub until her voice completely died away and the area was raw to the touch. Then I gave her gentle kisses, kind swipes of my tongue.

  She breathed hard as she came down, her skin covered in sweat even though she just lay there.

  I pushed my boxers off then moved between her legs, my body slightly turned to her right so I could keep away from her injured foot. There wasn’t much I could do even when I was inside her, but as long as I could be inside her, that was all that mattered to me. I held myself on one arm and slowly descended, carefully slid inside her, groaning as I was reunited with my home.

  She moaned too, rigid as if she was afraid to hurt herself if she did anything.

  When I was completely inside her, I held myself on top of her, my face pressed to hers. I had to make love to her, even if it was an alternate way, even if we could only move slow, barely move at all.

  Her palms cupped my cheeks, and she kissed me, indifferent to the taste of herself on my lips. She just wanted me, wanted all of me, wanted to combine our souls in any way she could.

  I started to move inside her, my lips kissing hers. “I love you, baby…”

  Her hands slid over my bare chest, and her right hand rested over my heart, feeling it beat. “I love you too.”

  Twelve

  Damien

  I couldn’t believe half the shit she’d said to me.

  I mean, I could, but I couldn’t believe she said it to me.

  That motherfucker had robbed me, had tortured me, and had ruined my life the second he ascended to the throne.

  Now he had my sister under his thumb.

  I’d hoped she would see reason during their breakup, that there were better men out there, but then she broke her ankle and that jackass came to the rescue. She pledged her allegiance to him.

  Now what was I going to do?

  I didn’t want anything to do with that asshole. But I loved my sister…a lot.

  I didn’t want to lose her because of it.

  The one thing that might undo all of this was our father. If he cast his judgment and said that bastard would never be welcomed into this family, that would probably be the rule of law she couldn’t defy.

  It was inevitable—because I would tell him everything.

  I wasn’t being a tattletale. He just needed to know about the situation since it was only escalating.

  I sat in my office at the bank, getting nothing done at all because all I could think about was that final conversation with my sister.

  “Damien?”

  I blinked, finally focusing on the man in front of me. “Have you been standing there long?”

  “Long enough to know something is on your mind.” Hades stood with his hands in the pockets of his suit. It was only noon, so he probably intended to take off early to help Sofia at home.

  “Catalina.”

  “It’s interesting. Anna used to be the only thing you ever thought about, but now your sister has taken her place.”

  “Well, Annabella is safe
. Cat is… I don’t know.”

  He rubbed his palm across his five-o’clock shadow. “I thought she left him.”

  “Yeah, but now they’re back together. And she told me it would stay that way, regardless of how I feel about it.”

  He shrugged. “There’s nothing you can do about it, Damien.”

  “I’m realizing that.”

  “Unless you kill him.”

  “I promised I wouldn’t.”

  He looked at the floor for a while. “Then I think you should let it go.”

  I gave a sarcastic chuckle. “Yeah…so easy to do.”

  “The guy is trash and doesn’t deserve your sister. But outlawing him isn’t going to do anything at this point.”

  “Do I need to remind you why I hate him?”

  “No,” Hades answered. “I don’t like him either. But what are you going to do?”

  I was out of ideas. “She deserves so much better. I never worried about who she’d end up with because she’s so fucking smart, so confident. I figured she wouldn’t settle for anything less than a handsome billionaire who adores her. Then she threw this curve ball.”

  “Doesn’t mean it’s forever. And you know what they say? The more you tell her no, the more she’ll want to do it.”

  “My sister isn’t that immature.”

  He shrugged. “But she is a young woman…” He pulled his hand out of his pocket and checked his watch. “Sofia and Demetri have a doctor’s appointment. I’m going to leave early so I can take them.”

  “Alright. Thanks for the pep talk.”

  “If you can’t change the situation, change how you feel about it.”

  I laughed again, this time harder. “Yeah…that’s not gonna happen.”

  My secretary spoke through the phone. “Damien, you have a drop-in who wants to see you. His name is Vox. Claims it’s important.”

  The second I heard that name, I got chills.

  The last time we spoke, we almost killed Heath together.

  I’d promised I wouldn’t move against Heath, so I couldn’t collude with Vox again. But I didn’t want to decline the meeting either. “Send him in.”

  A moment later, his large frame passed through my open doorway. Over six feet with bulky muscle, he had a crazed look in his eye, like he was always ready for a confrontation, wanted conflict to happen. There was a scar along his left eye, like someone sliced him with a thick knife and barely missed the eyeball. He came to my desk and gave me a slight grunt in greeting.

  “Sit.” I nodded to the chair.

  He moved into the chair, slouching with knees wide apart, sitting like a street gangster instead of a respectable criminal. That was one difference between Heath and him. Heath at least had the majesty of a king.

  “How can I help you, Vox?” I was surprised he was still alive after our plan failed. He didn’t look like he’d just recovered from several broken bones either. He’d somehow survived Heath’s wrath.

  “Why isn’t Heath collecting payment from you?” He cocked his head slightly, his eyes narrowed in fury.

  I wouldn’t tell any of his men that he was screwing my sister. I was certain Heath would protect her identity from his men, behave like she didn’t exist at all, because that was the best way to keep her safe. “Why are you asking?”

  “Because I’ve noticed he stopped collecting. Told the rest of the men. We aren’t happy about it.”

  “So, you come here to threaten me?” I asked incredulously. “That’s not going to go over well.”

  He smiled, dimples in both cheeks, and it was an inappropriate reaction. “No. I just want to know why.” He reached into his jeans and pulled out his phone. “Because I’m putting Heath in the ground once and for all.” He stared at the screen as he flipped through whatever he was looking at. “I’ve been following him, because I thought his ban on trafficking was suspicious. I followed him to a bar and found him with this woman.” He slid the phone toward me.

  Shit. I knew who I was about to see. I grabbed the phone anyway, looked at the picture of Heath and Catalina close together, gave no reaction, and slid the phone back.

  “I went back to Petrov and asked him what he knew about the whole thing. He said that Heath went down there to collect payment, noticed a woman in one of the cages, lost his temper, and demanded for her to be released. That was when everything began, when they got shot down, followed by everyone else. And you know what?” He grabbed the phone and held it up. “Petrov confirmed this is the woman from the cage.”

  Now my heart dropped into my stomach like a stone. I couldn’t even breathe when I heard what he said. My lungs were stuck in place, unable to expand or contract, unable to pull any oxygen into my blood.

  “And now he’s not collecting payment from you. Whether you pay him or not, I don’t give a damn. But I’m going to use that against him—and bring him down. Because he’s making a lot of terrible business decisions—and it’s time for him to resign. We’re the Skull Kings, not the Charity Queens.”

  I didn’t hear a word he said. “The woman in the cage… What are you assuming?”

  “I’m assuming that he completely changed our policy for one woman.”

  “So…she was trafficked?” My fucking little sister had been trafficked?

  “Petrov said she caused problems with one of his men in the bathroom of a bar. Pissed them off because he got taken by the cops. Broke in to her apartment and took her. Threw her in the cage. Beat the shit out of her—”

  Keeping a straight face was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.

  “And when Heath saw her in there, he lost his shit. The woman asked him to save all the other women too, so he did. And then he started this anti-trafficking crusade immediately afterward.”

  My eyes remained open and my jaw slack, but my hands were in tight fists under the desk. “When did this happen? With the girl?”

  He shrugged. “I think beginning of summer.”

  So, this was a long time ago, when Heath and Catalina hardly knew each other. She told me she’d rejected his advances after he let her go. Why would she want him after he’d put her in a cage? But he must have rescued her when he saw her in that basement…and that changed her mind.

  Vox slipped his phone back into his pocket. “So, why did you stop paying him? You defied him, and he just backed down? What happened?”

  It was hard to think clearly when I couldn’t stop picturing my sister locked in a cage like an animal. I knew the kind of shit that happened to those women. They were stripped naked, beaten, and… I couldn’t even finish the thought. I had no idea she’d been captured because I didn’t see her on a daily basis. By the time I would have known she was missing, she might have been shipped to another country, and by then…terrible things would have happened to her. If Heath hadn’t walked in there when he did, she might have disappeared forever. Then he outlawed the institution altogether, against great resistance, for her.

  Maybe he had changed.

  Vox waited for an answer.

  “I am paying him.”

  He cocked an eyebrow.

  “Business has been bad for the last month because I gave him all my profits the last time he stopped by. It’s just taken me a little time to make some money again.” I lied to his face, lied like my life depended on it.

  Vox stared at me with a hard gaze, like he wasn’t convinced that I was telling the truth. But he didn’t call me out on it either.

  I’d just lied to protect the man I hated—because I knew I owed him.

  I owed him everything.

  Thirteen

  Heath

  I sat on the throne with my beer beside me. Steel kept me informed about the accomplishments of the week because there was too much for me to keep track of by myself. There were so many businesses to monitor, so many streets to keep clean, that it was tough even for a big organization such as ourselves.

  The rest of the men drank at the tables, stuffed large bills into the shorts the girls wore as a
tip for having nice tits.

  Ian stepped through the doors and jogged to the bottom of the stairs. “Heath, Damien is here. Wants to see you.”

  In bewilderment, I stared at him, digesting the words like a swallowed piece of gum. Had he come here to take me out? To bomb the place so the walls collapsed on all of us? “Is he alone?”

  “He’s got a few men—and lots of bags of money.”

  What? Now this wasn’t making sense. “Scan the bags before you let him in.”

  Ian turned away.

  “And scan them well, Ian.”

  Ian nodded before he kept going.

  After that last conversation with Damien, I knew he was furious. So furious, he might go back on the promise he made to Catalina. Maybe killing me was his only option to protect his sister, because she couldn’t hate him forever, even if he did kill the man she loved.

  Steel set down the binder. “Want me to get the rifles?”

  I shook my head. “We’re all strapped.”

  The doors opened again, and Damien entered first, taking the lead with a bag of cash in each hand. He carried it down the aisles of men and stopped in front of me, dropping them on the floor, a look of rampant rage in his eyes.

  What the fuck was happening right now?

  The rest of his men did the same, piling up the cash at my feet. Then they turned and left.

  Damien lingered behind, his shoulders as stiff as his upper lip. “There’s your money, asshole.” He said the final word with such rage that spit flew from his mouth and sprinkled the stairs below me. Then he turned around and exited the room.

  All the men looked at me with respect, like I was powerful enough to get Damien to hand-deliver payment at my leisure.

  I wasn’t sure what my expression looked like—because I was confused.

  So fucking confused.

  When I got home, Catalina was still asleep, so I went to bed without waking her. I usually slept until noon, and that day was important because we were getting her cast removed at the doctor’s office. After a few X-rays, they’d determined she’d healed, and a little quicker than most people.