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46

MAEL

I raced home, trying hard not to lose the rein on my anger.

Fucking hell.

I didn’t know why she decided to warn Victoria in person without me there, but nothing good could have come from it. Now, my girl was hurt, and I didn’t know what to do.

I rushed inside the apartment with the elevator doors open. Theo was sitting on the couch in the living room and stood up when he saw me.

“Where is she?” I asked.

He nodded toward the bedroom door. “She's been in there since we got home.”

“Was she crying?”

He shook his head. “She didn’t seem to be feeling anything.”

I thought I would have preferred it if she had been crying. Not reacting and keeping that shit inside wasn’t good. I patted Theo’s shoulder. “Thanks for taking care of my girl. I got it from here. You can go home.”

He nodded and headed toward the elevator without saying anything. I came up to the bedroom door, hesitating a bit. It wasn't like me to hesitate, but fuck if I knew what to do or say to make her feel better. I didn’t know the first thing about comforting anyone, much less someone I loved.

I turned the knob and pushed the door open. Lia was lying in the middle of the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't seem to be thinking about anything, but I knew better. I kicked off my boots and climbed into the bed with her. She didn't react much when I pulled her into my arms. I sighed and pressed a small kiss on the top of her head.

We didn’t say anything for a while. I knew there were about a million things I could be doing right now, but they didn’t seem important. I just didn’t want Lia to get hurt anymore, yet it felt impossible.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” she asked softly. “Leo hired Victoria to keep an eye on me. I’ve told her so many things about my life, things I’m sure she had relayed back to Leo.” I felt her shaking her head. “I mean, it wasn’t like I had any deep, dark secrets, but I had told her things that I wouldn’t have told anyone else who wasn’t my friend, and now…” She trailed off. I tightened my arms around her a fraction.

“Victoria said something that got me thinking,” she continued. “She asked me why Leo was so obsessed with me. But is he?”

I had thought so. He wouldn’t have hired those men to keep an eye on her if that wasn’t the case. Though he hadn’t texted those men to get updates on her, nor had he texted me in a while as the hitman he hired to take out Luckas. It made me wonder if he had figured out something.

It didn’t fucking matter if he did. There wasn’t anything he could do at this point. I shook my head. There was one thing he could do. He and Luckas. They could go into hiding, which seemed to be that way since there hadn’t been any sightings of them since that day Lia went to her father’s house. And I didn’t fucking know where they were.

“I don’t know what to tell you. Not that I can blame the fucker for being obsessed with you. After all, I fell at first sight.”

She tilted her head back and scrunched her nose at me. Fucking adorable. “Please don’t compare yourself to Leo.”

I let out a light chuckle. “Fair enough.”

“I think it just hurts because I thought she genuinely cared about me. But it turned out to all be a lie.”

My fist clenched as anger squeezed at my heart from the hurt in her voice. “I can make her suffer.”

She shook her head. “No way. I don’t want you to do anything to Victoria.”

I didn’t respond. Fuck, but had she been anyone else, I would’ve killed her. But no matter what Lia said, I knew she still cared about the girl.

“Mael, I’m serious.”

“I’m not going to hurt her if that’s what you’re worried about.”

There were plenty of other ways to make a person suffer that didn’t include physical pain. It wasn’t my usual style, but I’d adjust. And I was nothing if not adaptable.

She opened her mouth as if to argue but closed it at the last moment. “No, I don’t want that. I just want to move on from this, okay?”

I let out a small sigh, not wanting to voice my frustration. It was the last thing she needed from me.

“Do you think my dad knows? He’s met Victoria. He always liked her, but I thought it was because he wanted me to be more like her.”

“Why the fuck would he want that?” I asked. Lia was perfect, and you just didn’t fucking mess with perfection.

She shot me a small appreciative smile as if she didn’t agree with my sentiment.

“She had everything figured out. Even when we were in school, she had this plan, and she followed through on it. Dad had wanted me to be the same. Only, it wasn’t my plan he wanted me to follow, but his. I refused. At this point, I’m not even sure why he was adamant about that when he didn’t care about me. And perhaps he liked Victoria, not because of who she is, but because Leo had hired her.” She made a small sound in the back of her throat. “I hate that I’m nitpicking at every little thing now, trying to separate the lies from the truth.”

“So don’t,” I said.

She pressed her hands down on my chest and pushed herself up a little to look at me fully. “What?”

“Don’t nitpick. Don’t overthink. Fuck ’em all. It's just you and me, and that should be all that matters.”

A small smile touched her lips. “Just you and me?”

I nodded.

A strange look crossed over her eyes. “Yes, just fuck ’em all, right? Even Brody Mathews?”

I narrowed my eyes on her. “Don’t utter that name from your lips, kitten.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. Her eyes roamed over my face, searching for something. “So it’s true. You hurt Brody?”

She didn’t sound angry. Or surprised. She didn’t sound to be anything. “I let the boy live. And he will continue to live if he continues to be smart about his decision.”

“You mean his decision to stay away from me.”

I shrugged. I wasn’t going to apologize for that. I wasn’t going to apologize for any action I had taken regarding her.

I brace myself for her anger.

She surprised me when she let out a small sigh and leaned against me. “You can be so…”

“Awesome? Sexy? Amazing?” I supplied.

She pinched my side, surprising me. “Infuriating.”

“Infuriatingly handsome.”

She snorted. “Fine. Let’s just go with that. And please stop hurting men just because I have a past with them.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled. I wasn’t planning on hurting the men she had a past with. Her past was her past, and I didn’t care about it… much . Fucking Brody was special because unlucky for the fucker, he had been touching my girl and lusting after her during the time I was in her life, and that was just unacceptable. And the fucker wasn’t so innocent. He had a record and a reputation with his temper. He hadn’t killed anyone or hurt them so far , but I was keeping an eye on him, and he knew it, too. One wrong fucking move…

For now, I let him live. And that should count for something. And he wouldn’t be bothering my girl anymore.

No other fucker would be bothering her anymore. I would make sure of it.

It was just her and me from now on. Just us, and it should be that simple. She wouldn’t easily forget about it, but this was a start.

“Mael?” she said, breaking the stillness in the air.

“Yeah, baby?”

“I love you.”

My breath caught, and I tensed.

I felt my lungs freeze in my chest, and it seemed like no matter what I did, I couldn’t get any air inside. I should have expected that. Her whispered confession the other night should have prepared me for the moment when she was brave enough to say it out loud.

I knew she loved me. She was willing to look past all the shit I’d put her through and all the shit I’d done in my past, so there was no way she didn’t love me.

It didn’t matter. I still felt caught off guard.

She let out a nervous chuckle and shifted against me. “You don’t have to say it back. I didn’t say it to force a confession out of you. In fact, why don’t we just pretend I never said anything in the first place? Yes, that sounds like a good idea…”

She was babbling. It was cute. And no fucking way in hell was I going to pretend this didn’t happen.

I squeezed her to me. “Lia?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

She gasped in outrage, making me smile. “That is such a mean thing to say, Mael Beckett.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” she hissed out indignantly.

“How about this: I love you too.”

It was her turn to tense up. Then she pushed up until I could see those soulful brown eyes of hers. God, sometimes I felt like I could get lost in their bottomless depths forever.

“You do?” she asked.

“How could you not know?” Had I been doing such a bad job of showing her? “How could you not know that you are the very air I breathe? That when I wake up in the morning, it’s you I think about. That you haunt my waking moments and my dreams. That you are everything. I am utterly, completely, and obsessively in love with you.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes. I cupped her cheek, and one fell and hit my thumb.

“Baby, please don’t cry. You know I can’t stand seeing you cry.”

She shook her head. “Happy tears.”

“Happy tears,” I repeated. I never understood the concept of happy tears. I had never felt the urge to cry because I was so happy, but I supposed… that was normal.

She let out a wet laugh. “Yes, happy tears. You make me so happy. Something I never thought I would say with you, but it’s true.”

I smiled a little at that. Happiness was something I knew very little about, considering everything that had happened in my life. But she was as close to happiness as I could possibly get and so much more than I would ever deserve, and I wouldn’t let her go. Not now, not forever.

I pulled her on top of me and kissed her.

She kissed me back with equal fervor, her hands clutching my shoulders, her nails digging harder and harder into my skin with each pass of my tongue against her.

“Fuck,” I whispered against her lips when she pulled away to catch her breath. I cupped the back of her head and kept her close to me. I didn’t say anything, and neither did she, just trying to savor the moment.

I pulled her down and kissed her once more. Her hands moved from my shoulders to my chest, her fingers gripping my shirt and pulling me in closer and closer to her. When the sensation got to be too much, I twisted us around until she was on the bottom. I pushed her legs apart and moved in between them, pressing my hips down until she could feel my erection against her soft pussy.

She convulsed slightly beneath me from the sensation. “Mael,” she whimpered.

I did it again and again, feeling myself on the edge of losing control completely. And it was just too much. I needed to feel her. I needed to be inside her.

I tugged on her clothes. She raised her arms, making it easier for me to take off her shirt, then her hips when I got to her leggings, along with her panties, baring her to me. I could smell her addictive arousal instantly, making my mouth water.

“Fuck, but you’re wet for me already, aren’t you?” I asked, cupping her pussy as soon as all her clothes were off. She jolted against me, and I squeezed her, letting my hand rub against her slick lips, creating that friction that I knew would drive her insane.

“Oh God,” she screamed out as I increased my pace, moving my hand from side to side in quick, hard succession. Her legs twisted on the bed from the sensation.

“Does that feel good, baby?”

She nodded, her movements choppy, as if she was no longer aware of what she was doing.

“Please.”

“It’s okay, baby. Why don’t you come for me?”

My thumb found her swollen clit and pressed down on it. She shot off, her screams echoing within the walls of the room. I pulled away from her and crawled down her body, settling when my face was directly in front of her pussy. I took in a huge inhale, loving her scent. Fuck me, but I didn’t think I would ever get tired of it. I buried my face in her pussy without warning, and she jolted up, her legs wrapping around my neck on instinct and holding me there.

Her cries and moans filled the air as I ate her out, taking in the taste of her arousal from her orgasm. She reached down until her hands found fistfuls of my hair, pulling on it roughly every time I used my tongue on her.

I fucking loved the pain.

I used my tongue to shift through the lips of her pussy before sweeping it up and taking in more of the slick honey she produced. Fuck, I was going crazy.

Her legs trembled against me, the grip tightening just a little more each time, as if she was trying to cut off my breath. I couldn’t think of a better way to go.

Died by asphyxiation from eating her out too hard.

I would fucking like that to be written on my gravestone.

I pushed up and let my tongue lap over her clit before sucking it in, then using my teeth, nipping on the engorged bud.

She jerked from the sensation.

“What the fuck?” she whispered out.

I smiled against her. She obviously didn’t know what to make of it. I focused more on that area, holding her clit between my teeth and running my tongue over it again and again.

The orgasm seemed to surprise her.

She made a strange choking sound mixed in with her desperate pleas. She tried to push me away, obviously too sensitive. I stayed where I was, licking up and down her clit, drawing out more and more of her orgasm.

“Fuck, please, Mael. I can’t— fuck .”

I pulled back then and quickly removed my clothes before moving back down between her legs, kissing up her body and setting the tip of my dick at her entrance.

She pressed her hands on my chest. “Condom.”

I shook my head. “No fucking way. I’m not having anything between us.”

“I’m not on birth control, thanks to you, you neurotic, demented man!”

I smiled, baring my teeth and showing her just how fucking neurotic I could be.

I leaned and nipped at her neck.

Her back bowed, bringing her in closer to me.

“Mael.”

I pushed my dick a little further inside her.

She made a small sound between a protest and a moan.

“You feel so good around me. I fucking love the way your pussy grips my dick like this,” I said close to her ear. More wetness squirted out of her from my words.

I pushed a little further in. She threw her head to the side. “Mael.”

“Fuck, that’s it, my sweet, beautiful girl. Clench down on me. Tell me how badly you want this.”

“I want this,” she said, her anger obviously forgotten. I nipped at her neck once more, this time harder than the first. She opened her mouth and let out a loud scream as I pushed inside her, pausing as soon as I was all the way in.

Her eyes flared when she remembered.

She slapped my chest. “You bastard!”

I laughed and thrust my hips against her, moving in a slow but hard rhythm at first, feeling the bed rocking against the wall every time I pushed back inside.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, her mouth opening in a soundless scream. I increased my tempo, moving in and out, quick and hard, feeling our skin slapping against one another from the movements.

Fuck me.

This felt so good.

But then, it always felt so good with her.

Every single fucking time.

“Open your eyes and look at me,” I demanded.

She opened her eyes, the fire blazing in them, igniting my insides.

“I fucking love you,” I said. And I would say it a thousand times a day if that was what she needed from me. “I love you so much. More than anything and anyone in this world.” Her lips trembled at my words. “And I will love you until the very day I take my last breath on this earth.”

She shook beneath me, her nails dragging down my back and leaving a burning trail of pain behind. I moved at a violent pace against her, wanting more.

She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me closer.

Her body shook with uncontrollable tremors, signaling she was close.

“Come for me,” I said, moving my hand down to her clit. I pressed down on it, and she shot off.

She cried out, her body twisting and jerking from the intensity of her orgasm, her walls tightening around me. Her orgasm triggered my own, and I shouted her name as I came, spilling my cum inside her.

I waited until I finished before pulling out completely and going back to play with her pussy.

“Please, Mael. I don’t think I can handle any more.”

“You can,” I said. She could. She was made for me and would handle anything I threw at her.

Her stomach caved in as she tried to take more air into her lungs. I looked down at the mess we made, getting a sense of satisfaction at the sight of my cum inside her pussy. I pulled back and slapped her pussy several times.

She let out a slight whine and came again, her legs twisting on the bed and trying to get away from me.

I held her there, pushing my palm down on her mound, keeping her still as I pushed my middle finger inside her, fucking her with it.

“God, have mercy,” she pleaded out.

I laughed. “There is no God. It’s just you and me. Look at how good you are at taking this. Do you have any idea how incredibly sexy you look with my cum dripping out of your greedy little cunt like this?” I increased my movements, loving the squelching sound her pussy made from all the wetness.

She struggled beneath me, trying to push me off.

I kept fucking her.

Finally, she gave up, her arms and legs splayed out on the bed, her eyes closed as her cries of pleasure filled the room.

Several more vicious pumps of my finger, and she was off.

She came again, and I pulled back and looked at her, committing to memory every little detail about her face. God, she was fucking beautiful.

And mine.

I lay back down on the bed and pulled her into my arms. She was too tired to do anything, so she came willingly, wrapping herself tightly around me as if she were afraid I might leave. I wasn’t going anywhere.

“I love you,” I whispered to her over and over again. “I fucking love you.”

It didn’t take her long to fall asleep after that. She must have been more tired than I thought. And I was sure with everything going on, her energy was drained.

I tightened my arms around her body and stayed with her for a few more moments. I pressed kisses anywhere on her body I could reach before gently pulling back from her and moving to the bathroom. I quickly cleaned myself up before wetting a cloth with hot water.

She didn’t even stir when I pushed her legs apart and cleaned her up, feeling a little regretful that I was wiping some of my cum off her, but I knew it didn’t matter. I had already come inside her.

I moved the cloth up her naked body and took in every curve. My hand moved over from one perky tit to the next, playing with her nipples. She made a small sound but didn’t wake when I twisted the nipple back and forth between my thumb and forefinger, smiling a little before leaning down and sucking it into my mouth.

Fuck. I loved the way she tasted, the way she felt in my mouth.

I pulled back with a pop and took in the wetness on each tip.

How fucking beautiful.

And mine.

Just mine.

I love you.

* * *

Admittedly, the new head of the Camorra was a little harder to kill than the old man.

He was more cautious, especially since they still hadn’t been able to locate Miguel’s head or Myra.

It was hard but not impossible.

The fucker had a propensity for fast cars. Something I knew a little about.

It made him easier to track down, and this time, I brought help.

Theo followed behind me on his Kawasaki Ninja H2R. I couldn’t see his face behind the helmet, but I imagined he was smiling—a rarity for him—at being able to get this bike out for a spin.

We didn’t usually drive things that attracted attention. With what we did, anonymity was our best tool.

But this called for it, considering Theo’s business van or any of my cars wouldn’t have been able to catch up.

All my cars, except one.

I accelerated the speed of my SSC Tuatara, letting out a small laugh as I took in the wide-open space before us. I might have to take Lia out for a ride someday soon.

I was sure she would enjoy it.

I was sure I would enjoy it. Fuck, the thought of my girl sitting in the passenger seat of this car, wearing a skirt with no panties on, and letting me play with her pussy as I pushed this car to its top speed was making me hard.

I pushed the imagery away.

Now wasn’t the time to get into all that.

I could see the bright yellow sports car up ahead.

We were driving on a remote road heading up to Bear Mountain, away from people—away from anyone who could intervene. The fucker thought if he got out of the city far enough, his life might be spared. I wondered if the old man Gallo did anything to prepare his son to take on the mob, since the boy was already running away with his tail tucked between his legs.

I grinned as Theo drove past me, patting the top of his helmet. I sped up to catch up to them just as Theo pulled out his gun. He caught up to the sports car, keeping his speed even. He needed to plan this just right. We were pushing a hundred miles an hour. Just one wrong move would send him crashing down.

I kept my eyes on him as he raised his hand and took aim.

He slowed down a little as he pulled the trigger, escaping the glass shattering. I was sure some still made it to him. I sped the car up just as the vehicle swerved to the side of the road before he realized what was happening and quickly gained control of the car. I took one side while Theo took the other, a little behind, keeping close to me. I waited until he looked at me, and when he slowed down, I turned my car and clipped the sports car in the back rear corner.

He lost control a bit from the impact. Theo caught up soon enough and shot at the wheels, sending the car spinning. We followed close behind, stopping when the car hit a small boulder on the side of the road, halting it completely. Smoke poured from the engine, and I parked my car nearby, coming to a stop.

The fucker got out of the car and booked it.

I let out a small curse, giving chase.

I hadn’t been pissed until he ran. Now I was.

I caught up to him quickly enough and tackled him to the ground.

He let out a small grunt, and I turned him around, coming face to face with Salvatore Gallo, Miguel Gallo’s heir. The fucker took me in with a look in his eyes that could only be described as fear and arrogance.

Something that was only borne from men who had lived most of their lives being able to get whatever the fuck they wanted.

He wasn’t innocent.

It didn’t matter to me if he was or not. After all, he was merely a stepping stone I needed to get into the skin trade Leo and Luckas were involved with.

But I was telling the truth when I told Lia I didn’t fuck with people who didn’t have skin in the game.

And Salvatore’s skin was so drenched deep in the game, I could see the filth coming off him. I was sure all those people he hurt and terrorized wouldn’t miss him.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asked.

I laughed just as Theo came up to me and handed his gun over. I pointed the gun at his chest. “No one you need to worry about,” I said, pulling the trigger. Blood splattered out from the fucker and onto me. I stayed there on top of him for a moment or two, catching my breath and taking in all the mess beneath me. I hadn’t touched his face, nor did I go my usual route and put a bullet in his head, considering I wanted him to be recognizable for Tacchini.

The bastard looked just like his father.

Unlike his father, he didn’t have the same cunningness that old man Gallo had when he had been Salvatore’s age. Instead, what Salvatore had was a propensity for booze, drugs, and women he could use and hurt, including his young wife back home.

I was thrown out of my thoughts when a bag fell beside me. Theo had grabbed my tools from the car. We worked fast.

There might not be another soul around, but it helped not to linger.

I used the saw and cut off the fucker's head, which took a good amount of time. It wasn’t like cutting through all the flesh and bones was easy. My muscles strained, and I could feel sweat gathering on my back. After, I put it in a waterproof bag. No liquid would leak out this time.

Then, we worked to destroy the body and cleared up all the evidence that could be left behind at the scene. It was late by the time we finished, and I was fucking exhausted. All I wanted to do was get home to Lia, but there was still shit to do. It was only a few hours before the sun rose. I didn’t have much time to prepare before I needed to show up at the location.

Theo turned and looked at me. “Now what?”

I watched him, thinking. Theo was right. The fucking mob was too big for just the two of us to take down. Luckily, I knew another organization who wanted to take these fuckers down even more than I did.

I stood up and patted his cheek affectionately. No matter how many years had passed, I still couldn’t see him as anything else but that lost, scared boy who had followed me around since the moment he was put into the system.

“Now, we call our friends at the FBI.”