Page 12 of Taking Adalisa (Montgomery Syndicate #2)

MATTHIAS

I don’t want to leave Adalisa alone, but I know I have to.

I’ve promised Ethan that if Margery ever called the police, I would answer the phone and make sure the actual police didn’t get any more calls.

He doesn’t want her to look bad when she keeps calling them about the stalker she thinks she has.

Chuckling, I shake my head and walk away from Margery’s house. It was easy to convince her that she has a secret admirer and that she was being paranoid from a known rapist coming after her. Ethan was not happy about that, but I was in time to save her.

That time.

I never want something like that to happen to Adalisa.

Thankfully, she is a little more aware of her surroundings and can take care of herself, but I still worry about her.

She didn’t know I was following her for months, didn’t know I walked into her store several times with slightly different appearances, and still doesn’t realize that I am following her around whenever I can.

But something inside of me enjoys that she doesn’t fully realizing it yet.

“She’s been talked off the ledge,” I tell Ethan over the phone. “I told her it was another secret admirer and that she was stressed about Diego coming after her. I told her to go on a vacation to relax and get over everything.”

“Thank you,” Ethan replies and promptly hangs up.

Now, I get to convince Adalisa to be with me, give her the chance to realize she gets to decide if she wants to be with me or not—without fully knowing she doesn’t have a choice. I saw her, and now she is mine. No one else’s.

Mine.

Pulling out my phone, I look at the picture of Adalisa sleeping on my screen. “Soon, Little bit. Soon you’ll be at my house. Soon you’ll be fully mine.”

“Matthias?” Ethan calls out.

I make my way toward his office and say “Yes, boss?” as I walk into the room.

“Has Margery called you recently?”

“No, she hasn’t,” I reply.

Not since the last time she called. I talked her down from her thinking it was a stalker to believing it’s a secret admirer. It was relatively easy doing so when she was panicked, but I also know she still thinks it's a stalker.

Deep down, she knows it’s Ethan, but she doesn’t want to say his name. Not when she thinks he’s dead, and people will look at her pitifully.

“How did she react when you answered the phone and also appeared on her doorstep?” Ethan inquires.

“She was certain it wasn’t a secret admirer.

She did question why I answered the call, but I gave a phony reply.

One she believed in the moment. She thought I was the police,” I reply.

“I wondered she would put together that police officers never answer nine-one-one calls, but she didn’t.

But if she had questioned further, I had a whole list of things to say. Make her believe anything I said.”

A tiny part of me hates that I am helping Ethan do this to Margery, but we are fucked-up men. We don’t do things normally. Never have been and we never will be. Something I really like about us.

Ethan trusts me with this because he knows I can convince anyone of anything if I really want to. Adalisa is taking longer than I thought, but it is exciting that she isn’t just agreeing and doing what I say.

“And that’s why I send you on things like this when I can’t show my face.”

“I talked with her neighbors. Told them I was her cousin and that she was going to be getting the help she needs. Made it seem like she was crazy. They know not to call the police if anything happens,” I inform Ethan.

“They won’t say anything, I don’t think.

Not unless they want a bullet in their head. ”

It didn’t take much convincing them to agree not to say anything to the real police or say anything at all. They believed my lie, and with the right incentive, they were happy to pretend like they didn’t hear or see anything.

“Good. One less thing I have to worry about when I take her.” Ethan relaxes in his chair.

“I told her the police have better work to do than to catch her secret admirer. The look on her face after I said that: priceless.” I lower to the chair in front of him. “Have you seen her recently?”

Ethan nods and chuckles. “I’ve been spending most nights at her house. Watching her sleep, running my hands through her hair, whispering things when she’s half-asleep. I like watching her sleep. So defenseless.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know how you do it.”

It would be absolute torture for me to do that to myself. I’ve only done it a couple of times before I introduced myself into Adalisa’s world.

“Watch her sleep? Toy with her brain when she’s asleep? It’s my favorite thing to do. To see every emotion play across her face when she finally realizes and puts together the things I have done. Music to my ears,” Ethan chuckles as he thinks about what he said.

“If I were watching my girl sleep, it wouldn’t just be watching. I would fuck her while she was asleep,” I state, knowing I have.

Oh, when I walked into her apartment and she was wearing the bracelet for me to know she was okay.

Music to my ears. It awakened something inside of me, seeing her wear it and nothing else as she lay underneath her covers.

The feel of her smooth skin against mine as I held her close before waking her up with pleasure.

“Believe me, I understand the desire,” Ethan retorts. “To be able to just sink your dick inside of her as she’s lying there, asleep and oblivious to the things you’re about to do to her.”

“So, do it,” I announce.

Ethan shakes his head. “One day, but not today. She’s too paranoid right now.

But it’s something I want and will get. Once I have her, she’ll be clinging to me.

Depending on me when she realizes she isn’t going anywhere.

First, I need her to need me, and then I can slowly release the reins, and life can go on like it was before I died. ”

“Before she thought you were dead,” I mutter.

There was a reason for Ethan to faked his own death. The old Ethan died, and Ethan Montgomery was born He could have kept Margery in the loop like he kept his sister in the loop. But he thought he was protecting Margery, and he was, but she has been through a lot.

“I still don’t understand how people don’t put two and two together,” I say, shaking my head.

Ethan didn’t alter the way he looked. He just changed his last name, but nothing else. Ethan stayed in the shadows for a while, so people really thought he was dead. Ever so slowly, he showed his face, little by little, but no one dared to say anything.

“They think I’m a ghost when they see me. Just how I want it. But most people I grew up with moved and still think I’m dead,” he replies.

I look down at my watch and smile. Almost time for me to check on Adalisa and see if she is wearing that pretty bracelet for me. I can’t wait to sink my cock back inside of her, pleasuring us both. I can’t wait to see her eyes flutter open, the desire flit across her face as she begs me for more.

“Got somewhere to be?” Ethan asks.

“In a couple of hours. Got a girl waiting for me,” I can’t help but say.

Adalisa is trying so hard not to succumb to me, but what she doesn’t realize is she already has. I give her effort for trying so hard and succeeding, but she isn’t getting away from me. She never will.

I shrug. “She was a one-night stand. Into the same kinks as me. I found myself visiting her. Seeing her wear the same thing she wore to signify she was open. So, I slip into her room by either the front door or fire escape window and fuck her, and then I leave.”

It is partially the truth.

“So, you followed her and broke into her house.”

“Yeah.” I smirk.

Ethan smiles. “So, are you just going to continue to play with her, or are you eventually going to take her and make her yours?”

I shrug once again. “She wouldn’t survive in this world, but I’m going to try. I’ve told her she is already mine.”

It is a worry of mine that I haven’t ever voiced. I don’t want Adalisa to come into this world, but I think with her spirit, she will survive. She has to. I am going to make her.

“Fair. You could just keep her locked in your room. I’ll probably be doing that with Margery,” Ethan announces.

“Maybe,” I mutter, not sounding interested in the idea.

Adalisa has a fire inside of her. Sticking her in a room and leaving her will only make her angry and push her away from me. Unless I drive her to despair until she begs me to let her out. Then she would depend on me.

We fall into silence for a couple of minutes. Everything is working out for Ethan, and I am excited for myself. He has been thinking about Margery since the day he faked his own death, wondering whether he is actually doing the right thing or not.

“When does the next shipment of girls arrive?” I ask.

“In a couple of days,” he replies.

“Rogan onto us?”

Rogan Ricci, boss of the Ricci Crime Family and a pain in all our asses. He has been trying to find the girls with each shipment.

Ethan shakes his head. “He gave up a while ago. Probably figured he could get to the girls before we did. But they were long gone when he arrived.”

“Fucking bastard,” I growl.

Rogan Ricci is someone we all hate and don’t want any part of his behavior.

I’ve asked Ethan if I can kill him, but he always tells me no.

We don’t need the war on our hands, but if he were dead, then everything would be so much easier.

We could take over his territory and make our operation so much bigger, and we could earn a lot more.

It’s been a struggle since day one when both of our groups were made. Always at each other’s necks, trying to kill each other but never managing to. One of these days, I will succeed, and New York will be safer.

“He wants a meeting,” Ethan drops the bomb.

“What fucking for? That slimy piece of shit,” I roar.

Who is he to declare that he wants a meeting with Ethan? Not after so many years of being rivals and refusing any meet with other people.

Ethan smiles. “Wants to meet with me. I think he has Bon,” he sighs. “Going to meet with him in a week. You, Dahmere, Jason, and Clinton will be coming with me.”

I clench my jaw. Why does he have Bon? Why did Bonnie leave the sanctuary of her own home? She was safe here, where both Ethan and I could watch her.

“Sounds good to me. Just let me know when and where,” I reply.

I will take the first opportunity to shoot Rogan after he gives Bonnie back. Rogan Ricci will not survive this.

Ethan’s phone goes off, and he smiles as he chuckles at the screen.

“Let me guess, Margery did something cute,” I query as I stand up.

“Her Little side was peeking through. Sticking her tongue out at the stuffed zebras I gave her,” Ethan replies.

Ethan is completely infatuated with Margery, and I can’t blame him. She is super sweet, but she is nothing compared to Adalisa for me. Adalisa is everything I have ever wanted.

“When are you moving to the next phase?” I ask.

Ethan has phases he wants to go through with Margery, to make sure everything runs smoothly and doesn’t stray from his end goal.

“Tonight. The last stuffed zebra will be delivered tonight,” Ethan replies.