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"Yes." I give her a strained answer, breathing in her presence, her fresh scent invading my nostrils and hypnotizing me.

"Everywhere," she whispers, her fingers trailing down my back and to my ass…

My eyes widen as I realize exactly what she's doing.

The spoon drops from my hand as I swiftly turn around, caging her in against the counter. As expected, my phone is in her hand, as she's giving me the sweetest look on earth.

"You're sly, hell girl," I drawl, enjoying the way she's batting her lashes at me as if I didn't just catch her trying to steal my phone. "What's next? Call your big bro?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

She doesn't back down as she pushes her chin up, bravely looking me in the eye.

"Yes, in fact, I will," she tells me, and a smile plays on my lips.

Marcello was bound to find out at some point, so I'm not concerned abouthimthatmuch. He'll definitely cause me to change my plans a little, but I've already decided that nothing andno onewill ever take me away from Sisi again—including myself.

"Go ahead," I dare her. I wonder what she'll do when she realizes that Marcello won't be able to help. Not now, not ever.

She narrows her eyes at me, doubting my intentions. I just shrug, even pressing my finger down to unlock the phone. "Do it," I challenge her again.

It should be a good thing too, since I'll officially announce to the world that she's taken.

A suspicious frown on her face, she quickly goes through my contact list, dialing her brother.

"Marcello?" she asks when he answers, and I tug her hand toward me, ensuring the phone is on speaker. She gives me a deadly stare that I just return with one of my charming smiles.

"Sisi, God! Are you okay? Where are you?"Marcello goes off, firing question after question.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. For now," she adds, raising her eyes to meet mine.

"Where are you? I'll come get you!"he continues, but I only let her say New Orleans before I take over.

"Marcello, dear friend, or I should call you brother-in-law now," I add, ignoring the way Sisi's eyes are shooting daggers at me.

"Vlad,"Marcello says tersely."What the fuck are you doing?"

"No warm welcome to the family? Sad…"

"Vlad, why is Sisi with you? What the hell is happening?"

"I thought my note made it clear enough," I speak, pushing my finger against Sisi's lips to shush her, "I just retrieved my property. You know, I tried lost and found first, but imagine mysurprise when they directed me to a church," I feign a shudder, "you know how I hate those places." Sisi rolls her eyes at me, but I just continue, already hearing Marcello blow off in the background. "But now that I've found her, I'm never letting go," I add, "just a friendly warning."

"Vlad,"I can hear the tension in his voice."What the hell is your game? And what the hell is your business with my sisters. Sisi, are you okay?"

"Why doeseveryonethink I'm playing a game," I groan, pushing my fingers against Sisi's lips when I see she's trying to speak. The little minx gives me a challenging look before opening her mouth, sucking on my finger.

"Fuck," I involuntarily mutter.

"Vlad? I swear if you so much as harm a hair on…"

"Bro in law, calm down. I'm not going to harm your sister. As a matter of fact, she's quite busy sucking on my…" I don't get to finish as Sisi's hand grabs the phone, pushing me off her.

"Vlad!"Marcello yells into the phone.

"I'm fine, Marcello." Sisi finally takes over, giving me a look that saysstay put."He's not going to hurt me, but he is quite adamant about marrying me."

"Already did," I add sneakily.

"I'm going to fucking kill him,"Marcello keeps on cursing me out for a while, and even Sisi is getting bored of his tirade.