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MAEL

I pressed my foot on the gas, accelerating through the quiet streets.

If anything happened to her, I was going to burn Luckas Whitlock’s house down to the fucking ground.

I kept the line connected to Lia, not that it told me much. I could hear some rustling sounds, and that was it. She was running away from the fucker who was trying to run her down.

I was going to fucking kill him.

This had Leo Briggs written all over it.

I doubted Leo would have gotten directly involved. No, the coward would have gotten someone else to do his dirty work.

My eyes strained as I looked around for a black SUV. I had turned the corner and was close to Luckas’s house when I saw it. It was going fast and heading toward something— someone —in front of it. I reacted without thinking, driving ahead until the front bumper of my truck clipped the back corner of the car. The impact of the force caused the SUV to spin out of control.

I waited until the driver’s side was exposed to me and rammed my truck straight into it. I missed the driver’s spot by a foot. It didn’t fucking matter because the fucker was already trying to escape through the passenger side.

I got out of my truck and gave chase.

“Mael!” Lia called from behind me. I ignored her. I couldn’t look at her because once I did, I knew I would fucking ignore everyone and everything and go to her.

I needed to catch this fucker first. He was fast. But I was faster. I tackled him down on the side of the road. He let out a pained scream as his skin slid over the gravel.

I turned him around to face me. I didn’t recognize him, and I knew he didn’t recognize me, but I would make sure my face would be the last thing he saw before he took his final breath on this earth.

I pulled my arm back and punched him. He went out cold.

I stood up and dragged him with me.

Lia waited by my truck, her face pale and her hair a mess. I let my eyes quickly assess her, resisting the urge to just hold her and never let her go. My arms shook from the restraint as Lia looked down at the man I was dragging behind.

“Is he… is he dead?”

“No,” I answered. That was the only thing I was going to give her.

“Get in the car, Lia.”

She opened her mouth as if to say something, to argue with me. I shook my head. “Now, baby. Go.”

Finally, she nodded and got into the passenger seat. I stayed where I was, trying to calm myself down. Fuck me, but any later, and she would have been run over… and she would have been taken away from me.

My fist tightened around the fucker.

I looked down at his prone body. There weren’t any visible tattoos, but I would find out soon enough if he belonged to the Sicilians.

I hauled him up onto the bed of my truck and covered him with the sheets I kept there. I also zip-tied his hands and legs together and shoved the fucker’s sock in his mouth. Couldn’t be too careful.

I climbed into my seat and turned to Lia. Before she could say anything, I pulled her in close to me and wrapped my arms around her tightly. She was tense against me at first, but then she melted into me, letting me hold her and letting me calm my heart once more.

Things had never felt more out of control than they did now, when I thought there was a chance I could lose her for good.

I couldn’t fucking lose her.

I fucking loved her. It wasn’t lust or even an obsession with her. It could have been at first. I didn’t fucking know, considering all the feelings seemed to just blend in together with her, but this feeling?

This all-consuming feeling I got with her that always felt like I was on the brink of madness, where I couldn’t fucking think, fucking function, fucking breathe without having her constantly on my mind…

It was love.

I was in love with Amelia Whitlock.

“I’m okay,” she said softly.

I shook my head. “No, you’re fucking not. I’ll make it better.”

She pulled back and looked at me. “What are you going to do?”

“Something you don’t need to know about now.”

She looked at the back of the truck. I cupped her cheek and directed her attention back to me. “If you want to know the answer, just ask. I will always tell you. But only ask questions about things you can handle. Got me?”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, taking in my words before she nodded. I waited for her to ask me what was going to happen to the fucker who tried to run her off the road.

She didn’t.

Instead, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss on the corner of my lips, pulling away too fucking soon before settling back into her seat. She pulled her seatbelt on and faced forward. I looked at her for a long second, taking in her profile and running my hand over my chest when it felt like there was an… ache there that I didn’t know how to get rid of.

What the hell was she doing to me?

“I don’t think we should linger,” Lia said, pulling me out of my thoughts. She was right. I nodded and drove off, leaving the mess behind. I hoped Briggs would see this. He probably knew that Lia was with someone.

Probably even guessed it was the stalker she had run to him for protection from.

Even the texts he sent to the men he had put on her were silent.

He wasn’t stupid. It wouldn’t take him long to realize they were dead.

I drove to the crematorium before heading back to my apartment. Theo was standing out front, waiting for us.

I put the car into park and turned to Lia. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

“But—”

I cut her off by cupping the back of her neck and pulling her to me, kissing her with everything I had.

She sighed in my mouth, making my skin shake with desperation for her to be closer to me, and closer still… until there was no way for anyone to tell us apart.

I pulled away first when it felt like it was becoming too much. She kept her eyes closed.

I pressed another kiss on her lips, this one quicker and much tamer than the first.

“Be a good girl and stay here.”

I got out of the car and met Theo at the back of my truck, unlatching the tailgate and pulling the sheets away. It looked like the fucker was just about waking up.

“Have fun,” I said to Theo, who was already dragging the man out of the truck bed. He let the fucker carelessly drop to the ground. “But not too much fun. I still want a turn when I come back tonight.”

Theo grinned at me. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep him alive for you.”

I had no doubt he would. I bent down until the man was looking up at me. His brown eyes were getting clearer and clearer with each passing second. I could see the panic was already starting to set in.

I grabbed a fistful of his hair until he was focused on me. “I’m going to make you fucking regret all of your decisions today.”

I let go of him and climbed back into the truck. I pulled Lia in close to me and pressed her face down on my chest.

“Mael? What are you doing?”

“It’s okay,” I said, cupping the back of her head and holding her there. I kept my eyes on Theo as he dragged the man away, slower than it would have been had the fucker not been struggling so much.

Just because Lia knew everything there was to know about me didn’t mean I wanted her to witness it. If I had it my way, the darkness of my world would never touch her.

I held her for a bit longer, even when Theo finally managed to pull the fucker back inside and out of sight.

When I let her go, her eyes immediately moved to the front door. I was sure she knew why I was holding her like that. She didn’t comment on it, and neither did I.

I pulled the truck away and made the quick drive back to the apartment.

Lia went quiet.

I didn’t know what she was thinking, but fuck if I didn’t want to know.

I watched her as much as I could, holding her hand and keeping her close to my side as we got to the elevator that would take us to the apartment.

Lia watched me as I punched the code in but was still silent.

I opened the door, letting her walk past me and into the apartment before closing the door behind us.

Now that she was no longer in danger, I could feel all my emotions rushing in.

Fucking hell, but what was she thinking, leaving this apartment and going to her dad’s house? What was more fucking important than her safety?

I kept my back to her, trying to rein in my anger before I faced her. I wouldn’t hurt her. Fuck, I didn’t think I was capable of it, but I might say something to hurt her feelings, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. A part of me wanted to leave the apartment and go back to the crematorium to join Theo in the fun. That would certainly help with any pent-up anger I was feeling.

I felt her wrap her arms around me from behind. Then she was pressing her face into the middle of my back.

“Don’t get angry with me,” she said softly.

I was sure she could feel me shaking. “Do you not fucking know how important you are to me? Do you not fucking know how I just need for you to be safe?”

She pressed a kiss on my back. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. Fuck me, I was still shaking, and I didn’t know if it was because I was still so angry at her for leaving the safety of the apartment in the first place or?—

I took in a deep breath.

Or if it was because I was still affected by thoughts of something happening to her.

I turned around to face her, cupping the back of her neck and pulling her toward me for a searing kiss. She didn’t fight me.

Instead, she wrapped her arms around my neck and deepened the kiss. A low sound rose from my chest as I pushed her further into the room, and when she was going too slow, I grabbed her legs and hoisted her up, carrying her to the bedroom. She let out a breathy moan when I broke away from the kiss and trailed my lips down her neck. She jolted when I violently nipped at the skin there, feeling like I was on the edge of losing control.

“Mael,” she muttered, driving me out of my fucking mind. I threw her down on the bed. I wasn’t gentle with her.

I was past being gentle.

I roughly pulled at her clothes. She pushed her hands on my chest as if to slow me down. I didn’t want to slow down. I didn’t stop until I had her naked on the bed, her clothes a torn and tattered heap on the floor. I licked my lips as I took in every inch of her skin, possessiveness over this girl like I had never known building inside me until it was becoming too much.

Too fucking much.

I roughly yanked off my clothes, letting them join hers on the floor, and grabbed her legs, pulling her toward the edge of the bed. She let out a surprised squeak as I pushed her legs apart and took in her already-drenched pussy.

“Fuck me,” I growled. I drove inside her without warning. Her mouth opened in a soundless, breathless scream just as she clenched down on me.

Stardust burst around my vision from the sensation, and I didn’t wait. I fucked her, letting my own primal urges and desires lead the way.

Her back arched, and she wrapped her legs around my waist, encouraging me.

“Mael,” she grunted out when I hit just the right spot inside. Her eyes rolled, and she threw her head to the side, letting out a scream that I could feel deep inside my soul. I wanted more. I wanted everything. I wanted it all until she didn’t know who she was without me anymore.

It would only be fair, considering that’s how it fucking was for me.

I didn’t know who Mael Beckett was anymore without Amelia Whitlock.

“Come for me,” I said, running my hand down her body, pressing my thumb over her swollen clit.

She jerked against me from the sensation and shouted out her release. I watched her face, wanting to remember every little detail of this moment, just before I twisted us around until I was lying on the bed, and she was on top of me, not breaking contact between us. She braced herself by pushing the flats of her palms on my chest and looked at me with half-hooded eyes.

“Ride me,” I said, letting my hands fall to her hips.

She momentarily froze as if she were unsure of what to do. “I don’t think I can.”

“You can,” I argued, my grip tightening around her.

“No, it’s too much?—”

She let out a small gasp when I helped her out by pushing my hips up and moving her with my hands.

Her jaw tightened from the sensation. It didn’t take her long to get the hang of it, and soon, she was riding my dick on her own, moving like the fucking goddess that she was. I palmed one tit in my hand, playing with her nipple.

She fucked me harder.

Hell.

I pulled my hand back and slapped the side of her tit, taking in the way the supple flesh shook from the move.

How fucking beautiful.

Her back arched as I slapped her again, from one tit to the next, loving the way the skin reddened from my touch.

“Mael, please. This…”

“What, sweet girl? Does it hurt?”

She let out a small cry and nodded her head. I slapped the side of her tit once more.

“Do you like it when I make it hurt?” I asked, pinching her nipples roughly, moving from one to the next.

“Mael.”

“Answer me, kitten. Do you like it when it hurts?”

“ Yes ,” she hissed out.

I smiled, plucking at the hardened nub as she fucked me a little harder, a little faster, taking the pleasure for herself. So fucking beautiful.

“That’s right, baby. Do you know what it does to me, seeing you like this?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“No? You don’t know how crazy it drives me to see you using me for your own pleasure? To know that you love everything I do to you because you are made for me? Fucking hell, baby.”

“Yes, Mael. I was made for you,” she cried out. “Just you.”

Her words pushed me into a frenzy.

I moved without thought, twisting us back around until she was lying flat on her back and I was on top of her. I fucked her like that, pounding roughly inside her against the mattress until I was sure she could feel nothing but me. Until she could feel nothing but pleasure and pain.

Her head thrashed from side to side with each brutal thrust, and I increased my movements at a punishing pace.

I wanted her to remember this the next time she even thought about leaving the apartment without telling me… about leaving me.

“God, Mael.”

I watched in fascination as tears streamed down her face.

I leaned down and licked away the wetness before pressing my lips against hers in a hard kiss. She pushed her hips up when she finally came, her tight pussy squeezing around my dick like a vise grip.

Fuck.

With a shout, I came, releasing my cum inside her.

She wrapped herself around me as if she were unsure of what would happen once she came back down.

I held her close to me.

I can’t lose you.

I fucking couldn’t lose her. I wouldn’t survive living in this world if she wasn’t in it. I knew that to be a fact. It was the only fact.

I didn’t know how long we stayed wrapped in each other’s arms. I was still inside her, my dick going soft after my release, but I didn’t want to fucking move.

I needed her closer to me.

I needed her more than I had ever needed anything. More than air, more than water, more than my own fucking dignity.

I pulled back and took in her face. There was a calmness in it that I was completely fascinated by.

“You’ll always be with me?” she asked.

I nodded without hesitation. “Even in death.”

She smiled a little at that before her face turned serious, and she looked off to the side.

“My dad called Leo and told him I was back home. I was sure that man who… who tried to run me over was sent here by Leo.”

I didn’t say anything. I had already suspected that.

“Was it all a lie, then?” she asked.

“What was, baby?”

She ran her hand up and down my back, not meeting my eyes. “My childhood.”

“I don’t have an answer for you,” I said. “I’ve long given up on trying to figure out what other people are thinking.”

She nodded, even though I could tell that wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear.

“I had a nice childhood. At least, I thought so. But this… this betrayal. I don’t think I can ever get over it. What am I supposed to do?”

She whispered the last part, her eyes moving over to me.

“Whatever you want to do,” I said. Whatever she chose, I would make it happen.

“I don’t even know anymore.”

I tightened my arms around her. “There is one thing you can be certain about.”

“What?”

“Our child will have a better life, better parents.”

She tensed against me, not saying anything for a moment. Then, “ What child ?”