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Chapter Fourteen

Genesis

I ’m fucking fuming as he dumps me back on my feet next to his Harley and carefully, hell, gently caresses my cheek while he places a helmet on my head.

It’s the look of pride and joy on his face that makes me spit in it. He wipes it off and looks at it before returning that one alluring chocolate brown eye to me.

“Preciosa, I’ll tolerate a certain level of disrespect from you because I know this isn’t something you ever wanted. But if you ever spit on anything other than my cock again you won’t be able to sit for a week. Are we clear?” What is it with this man and spanking?

“Is that going to be my punishment from now on? The little wife misbehaved so I’ll spank her ass like she’s a child?” I glare at him.

“Who said anything about spanking you? No, I’ll fuck your ass raw with only spit for lube. Now let’s roll. Hang on tight.” He drags me onto the back of his bike as if I were a human backpack and makes sure that my arms are secure around his waist.

“What does that mean?” I freak out as the machine starts to rumble under my ass.

“You’ve never ridden?” He looks over his shoulder at me in disbelief.

“NO! And I’m not exactly dressed for this.” I look at my legs and bare feet.

“Fuck.” He turns off the bike and helps me off the Harley, then thinks better of it and lifts me into his arms as he stomps his way over to a pickup truck.

“Get in.” He opens the door and plops me on the seat before closing the door to get into the driver’s seat.

I cross my arms over my chest to help hide my hard nipples. It’s not exactly warm outside now that the sun has set. He pulls out onto the street and then heads downtown. I don’t look at him and use the passing streets to calm my mind. It’s a familiar landscape that soothes me, and before I know it, we’re pulling into a private parking lot that he should not know about.

“They won’t let you in,” I warn as he stops at the guard booth.

“Why not? I have you here.” He says it matter-of-factly as he lowers the window to address the mercenaries my father uses as his personal security.

“You can’t… Ms. Torreli! Your father has been frantic.” He steps back and talks into the radio on his shoulder.

“Please let Mr. Torreli know Mrs. Maldonado and I have arrived to collect her things.” I stare at Zek as he says the words that would get any man killed.

Yet he seems calm, collected, without a care in the world for his own life. It’s fucking sexy and it shouldn’t be. This man is a lunatic, and if I play my cards right, I won’t have to find a way out of this unwanted marriage, ‘cause I’ll be a widow before dawn.

Why does that make my chest feel so heavy?

“Name?” The guard hisses, not taking his eyes off me.

One single tear, or even a hint that I’m in distress, and he’ll shoot Zek between the eyes. Instead, I shake my head and sit back, keeping myself hidden as much as possible so they don’t question my state of dress. Or lack thereof.

“Pirate.” That one word makes the guards perk up and mutter.

I watch them in fascination. What on earth could Zek have done to warrant that reaction from a bunch of assassins for hire? I look him over a little more carefully and can’t fathom what it is.

“Behave, Preciosa. It would be impolite for me to fuck you in front of all your father’s men because you won’t stop eye fucking me.” I choke on air, and he reaches over and rubs my back while I cough.

“Do you need an escort, ma’am?” I shake my head as I clear my throat.

“She’s good.” Zek rolls the window up in his face and pulls into the garage.

“You have a death wish.” I’m finally able to say that as he parks the car by my father’s private elevator.

“Nah, not tonight. Ask me again in the morning.” He gets out of the truck while I ponder that thought.

“Let’s go, Preciosa. I can see how cold you are.” He takes me back into his arms, and I don’t feel the need to fight him on it.

Am I getting used to this? Dare I say, I like him?

“Only because I don’t have shoes,” I argue more with myself than with him, but he still answers with a sweet kiss to my temple.

“Mmhm.” We reach the elevator, and I reach out to push the button so he doesn’t have to struggle.

HOLY SHIT. I do like this. FUCK!

I don’t say a word the whole way up to the penthouse. Forty-seven floors of silence that I’m itching to fill. There is so much I want to ask, but I don’t because that would show interest, and I refuse. These confusing feelings are tearing me apart, and as soon as the doors open, I practically leap out of his arms and run into the main foyer.

“ALFIE!” I yell out, looking around for him, staff, anyone that might have a gun to point at my new husband, so I can get the hell away from him.

Zek must read right through me because he chuckles at my attempt like it’s fruitless.

“Preciosa, you can’t run from me.” I turn on him to yell for him to fuck off but the words die on my tongue.

He’s standing on my father’s imported Italian marble floors in his shitkickers, jeans, and gray T-shirt. The leather vest proudly displays who and what he is, with that damn eye patch that must be real since he never takes it off. I wanted to ask him to show me, but something deep down inside was telling me that would be my undoing.

That’s when this massive mistake in my life will become permanent. As long as I can resist it, I can come home and pick up my life right where I left it. Somehow, Zek can see right through me or, at the very least, can tell what I’m thinking because he just grins and shakes his head.

“Nah, not even then. Isn’t that right, Alfonso?” I spin and find the man I’ve always known as my father staring at us.

“Chikita,” I rush into his open arms, and tears immediately start to fall.

“So, it is true. You stole my daughter in the night like a bastard, then brought her home like this? You really are Zacarías’ son.” I’ve heard my father angry numerous times, but the rage coming off him now scares me more than when he’s cursing and killing.

“Watch your tone and never mention my father again. She will be cared for.” I close my eyes when I feel Alfie sigh.

“So that’s it?” I whispered just for him.

“I wish I could change this for you, but I can not. To the famiglia, marriage is soul deep. But if he dies, he dies.” I look over to Zek and see him standing without a care in the world after being threatened by the head of the Cosa Nostra.

“I’ll sleep just fine next to my wife, knowing that when I die, it won’t be on your orders. This was a curiosity. My vendetta was never with you, nor will it cause her any harm. Genesis, go get whatever you want to take. You won’t be returning here.” I turn my back on Zek to plead with Alfie, but as soon as I see the sorrow in his eyes, I don’t bother.

“Do as your husband says.” He kisses my forehead like he’s done countless times, but somehow, this one is different.

It’s the last, and my heart breaks knowing it.