Page 58 of Marrying His Son’s Ex (Forbidden Kings #3)

ROMAN

I close the open document on my desk as Leo walks in, adjusting the cuff link on his shirt. Leaning back with both hands flat on the desk, I wait for him to sit before speaking.

“He’s still on the run?”

He nods. “Yup. I checked in with the men you had stationed at his safe houses and placed some pressure on the others in case one of them knew something.”

“I see,” I mutter as my fingers dance on the polished wood. “Do you think he’s left the country?”

Leo scoffs. “In a plane? I doubt it. We have eyes and ears at every airport and private tarmac. Unless he went through the water route as cargo, I bet he’s still in the country. He’s hiding, that’s all.”

A crooked smile spreads across my face as I shrug. “Then it’s time to flush him out. Time for phase two.” I lace my fingers together. “Tell the men I said they’re welcome to use any means. As long as it gets us the answers we need.”

“Okay,” he replies, but he makes no effort to leave.

“What is it?” I ask, purely because I know he has something to say and not out of curiosity or interest.

Leo sighs. “Marriage? I can see you using her to get to Marco Ricci, but you’re not serious about making her your wife, right?”

“Why not?” I ask.

He drags his chair forward and leans closer. “Because it sounds like madness to me, Roman. I can understand marrying for the sake of an alliance, but this is the daughter of the man who killed your father. It’s worse than signing a treaty with a former rival.”

My eyes lock on Leo’s and narrow. “You don’t have to remind me.”

I was the one who identified my father’s body.

I had to find out who killed him, because I couldn’t believe he’d die in a car accident that was clearly staged. I had the bloodied knuckles that brought out the truth from his driver—that he’d been paid by Marco Ricci, our consigliere, to sabotage the car.

And then I continued digging, only to find out that Marco Ricci wasn’t the only culprit. Men my father trusted in the brotherhood had conspired to take him out. Then, they tried to take out his son too.

“I know whose daughter she is.” My voice is rough, and I force the words through clenched teeth. “I also know Marco Ricci is a dead man when I find him.”

Before then, I intend to make him experience the worst pain possible.

His only daughter, only child—she is mine. And any child that comes from her is mine.

“I’m ending his lineage,” I say. “When I watch the life drain from his eyes, I want him to know that he’ll never get the chance to pass down his traitorous blood to anyone else.”

Leo is silent for a minute, then exhales loudly. “Remind me never to get on your bad side, Roman.”

What was it Isabella called me again? A monster? While she offered to spare my life if I let her go…dressed in her wedding dress.

I close my eyes with a quiet sigh, and the image of Isabella, defiant and angry, her chest heaving as she stood in front of my desk, slips into my head. She looked even better than she did standing next to her fiancé.

The feigned meekness of loyalty in her eyes was gone, replaced by a fire. My fingers curl as I imagine what it would’ve been like if I’d taken that heat in my hand and fanned it.

If I would have spread my hand across her face, my thumb tracing the outline of her full, rosy lips, and slipped it in, watching her mouth take me. It would’ve flamed the column of her throat and settled at the nape, where her pulse beat wildly.

Her dress.

It would’ve burned the fabric, plunging the neckline lower until she had nothing on.

Nothing to shield her from the weight of my gaze.

Watching her cleavage rise as she raged had made my chest coil with barely leashed hunger. I hid it well, but I wanted to rip her dress from her body, leave her naked and trembling—not just from desire, but from knowing she belongs to me.

I want to take that fury in her eyes and turn it into something raw, something desperate.

Watch them roll back as she begs me to take her.

The sheer lace over her legs did nothing to deter my imagination, either. I couldn’t stop thinking about how easy it would be to leave my chair and rip apart the delicate fabric. Her whimpers…how loud her moans would be as she begged me to touch her.

The spark in her eyes, in her stance.

“Hell.” I drag a hand over my face. It was almost irresistible—the urge to bend her defiance to my will until she was raw and needy, ready to take everything with a single word on her lips. My name.

My cock twitches in my pants, and I move my hips forward to ease the discomfort.

“Are you rethinking your decision? Because I can think of other ways—” Leo holds his tongue when I open my eyes, silencing him without saying anything. He clears his throat. “You know what? I’ll get ahead on plan B.” He stands up. “What about the accountant? What do you plan to do about him?”

My father’s personal accountant. He’d been stealing money for two years and funneling it into offshore accounts for Marco Ricci. My guess is that’s how the bastard managed to go underground.

Unfortunately for the accountant, he did a shitty job of covering his tracks and made the stupid decision to not follow Ricci underground.

I wave Leo off. “I’ll see to it.”

“Sure,” he replies, picking at an invisible piece of lint on his shirt before he walks out of my office.

I wait a beat before picking up my phone. “Marge,” I say to my secretary, a sixty-year-old woman who used to work for my father. One of the few people my father trusted who didn’t betray him. “Tell Alex I need to see him, will you?”

“Sure. Would you like me to have him personally escorted?” she asks, letting it slip that she knows something is about to happen.

That’s why my father trusted her. She knows what goes on behind closed doors but minds her business well.

“Yes, Marge.” I smile. “Thank you.”

Ten minutes later, the door opens, and Alex walks in, followed by a security guard. “Thank you,” I tell the guard. “You can go.”

The door closes again. I inhale, taking a good look at him. Alex Hart. A man small enough that he should’ve learned how to be timid.

“Alex.” I point to the chair Leo vacated. “Please sit.”

Fear. It slashes through his face and freezes him on the spot. Well, I’ll give him one. He certainly knows when he’s walked into a trap.

“I-I…” he stutters. “He forced me. He said that if I didn’t do it, he was going to—he was going—” He rubs the back of his neck as his gaze darts around the office.

He was going to…?

I know he doesn’t have a family or a dependent, so Alex Hart’s motivation was pure greed. Not that it would’ve stopped me either way.

“Sit,” I say, sternly this time.

He swallows thickly as he nods, then drags his feet all the way to the chair. I settle back into my seat, eyes never leaving him. Time stretches between us. I wait, watching him dig his grave in fear. It’ll be easier for me to bury him in it.

He swallows again, the sound loud in the otherwise silent room. “Th-thank you,” he whispers, barely audible, his voice thick with terror.

“How much did you steal for Marco Ricci?” I ask. “No, forget that.” I shake my head. “Tell me something better. Where is he?”

Alex’s eyes widen, and he flinches back into his seat, his voice a desperate squeak.

“I-I don’t know! I swear, I don’t know!” His hands twist together, his knuckles white, and his gaze darts frantically across the room as if the answer is written on the walls.

“We only spoke once. The other times, he gave me the order through?—”

He cuts himself off, realizing he’s said too much. But I know more now.

There’s someone else. There’s always someone else, but this time, it’s a middleman.

Leaving my chair, with my fingers spanning the curve of my desk, I stop in front of him. “Who?”

“Nobody,” he replies hastily. “Nobody. It was only me. And I promise you, it was just the one time. I was going to tell your father, but he threatened that he’d have me killed if I did. Then I thought I could replace the money, but I-I?—”

My fist snaps out, hitting his face. His head jerks to the side, a soft gasp escaping his lips. I step back, my breath controlled, my eyes narrowing as I watch the shock still rattling him.

“Don’t lie to me, Alex,” I growl. “Who else was involved?”

“I swear,” he begs. “There’s nobody else. Please forgive me. Please.”

I’m certain of one thing now. Whoever the middleman was, he’s still working for this company. He’s still around, living and breathing. Also—Alex is scared of him, so I’m dealing with someone who was high on the list of the people my father confided in.

But he won’t remain hidden forever.

I grab my phone. “Marge, hold my calls and postpone my meetings, will you?” My eyes dart to the door briefly, and then back to Alex so he knows there’s no escape. “It looks like we’ll be here for a while.”

Leo shows up to the sight of a broken chair and a security guard exiting my office. My sleeves are rolled up and I’m wiping my hands on a napkin when he walks in.

He shakes his head. “I don’t want to know, and I’m sure he deserved it. I came back with a status report.”

“What do we have?” I ask as I toss the napkin to the trash can in the corner, untucking my sleeves before I sit.

“Nothing.” He clicks his tongue. “Nothing at all. If he told anyone about his plans, it couldn’t have been more than one or two. And neither of them are anywhere to be found.”

I’m not surprised. It’s the only reason I haven’t found him.

“Do you think she knows?” he asks with a subtle chin tilt.

Isabella.

“She’s his daughter,” Leo continues. “If he trusted her enough that he had plans to hand over his business, he must’ve told her something. Or she knows where he could be hiding. Ask her,” he suggests.

I arch a brow.

He’s unbothered by my lack of response. “You took her. She’s your intended bride. And she lives in your house. That makes you the most qualified person to ask her where Ricci is. The sooner we get to him, the faster we learn how many people were involved in the incident.”