Page 38 of Wickedly Played (Checkmate #1)

Chapter Thirty-Four

STALKER

The deal was too good to pass up when Lorcan approached me a few months ago. He had promised I would rise in ranks for his family if I denounced mine. The catch? All I had to do was get his damn daughter back.

Serena was a means to an end. She keeps pretending like she doesn’t want me; that’s fine.

I will hand her back to the same person who wants to destroy her.

I have tried repeatedly to get her to see that I’m her true love.

With me rising in the ranks for The McGuire Family, it would make perfect sense for Serena to be standing by my side.

Serena Jermaine is mine… but as Serena McGuire.

I must admit I’m proud of myself for the effort and the amount of work I put into setting Max up and getting myself inside the house. With my security company, I have access to a wide range of equipment, making it easy to record her daily life.

“Serena, why did you do this to yourself? To me?” I mutter to myself as I pack up my stuff to go and get her.

She’s tainted. She’s dirty now that she has been with Max. I can barely stand looking at her. However, I won’t let him have her. That dumb bitch, Stella, can’t have her, either. If I’m not going to keep her, then she will die with me.

I packed a bottle of bleach, duct tape, rope, a taser, a gun, handcuffs, and a black sweatshirt into my backpack before running out the door. I watched the fight she had with Stella at Alpha, and then watched her fight with Max.

I’m at her house in minutes, unlocking the door, disarming the alarm, and then hiding behind one of the walls as I wait for her. My fingers graze the needle in my pocket that holds the serum to make her pass out. If I know anything about her, she’s not going down without a fight.

My phone call with Max gave me all the ammunition I needed to get my girl. She’s mine. After Serena is safe, I’m going to kill Max. How dare he touch what belongs to me?

Fuck.

My mind keeps replaying all the times I watched him with her. All of the times she was with someone else when she should have been with me. I’m going to kill every single one of those mother fuckers until they are all gone.

I smell her breeze through the house. She smells like sunshine and mine. I wait for her to finish packing her stuff. When she comes to live with me, she will leave all of this behind and will only wear what I allow her to wear. She will only be mine. No more being Mistress Aphrodite.

“Serena,” I breathe out once my needle has pierced her neck. She blinks several times, and I see the minute she realizes who I am. Serena falls into my arms gracefully, and I pick her up.

“Fuck off,” I growl at my ringing phone.

Serena is still wearing the outfit she had on at Alpha, and it would be perfect for me to touch her. Taste her. Should I just lay her out here and fuck her? Max will be here soon. I can’t risk him knowing I have her.

He’s so dumb. His ex-girlfriend died a long time ago. I know she died because I’m the one who killed her. She was a whore anyway. I don’t know why he thinks he can take what belongs to me. She was mine, too. Before Serena.

I’m barreling out of the house as quickly as I can to the van I have stashed behind the trees.

My phone rings again, and then as soon as it clicks off, it rings through.

I know Lorcan wants to know where I am. I know he wants his daughter back home, and then she’s going to be married to me by the end of the night.

I placed her gently in the van, then fished out my phone and answered it. “What?” I bark.

“Look here, mother fucker,” Lorcan begins. “If you ignore my calls again, I’ll put a bullet in your goddamn head. Do you understand me?”

After I’m in the front seat and have started the van, I pull out into the road. “Fine. I got her. She’s in the back.”

He clucks his tongue. “Excellent. I can’t wait to have my daughter back home.”

“We’ll be there shortly,” I mumble.

“The serum will wear off in a couple of hours. Make sure you have her here in an hour,” he warns before hanging up.

Looking at her sleeping in the back of the van, I notice how the robe makes her look like a present. “Fuck it,” I tell myself before pulling off to the side of the road.

I’m crawling through the van once I’m parked, to lie on top of her. I can’t wait to feel her again. Her skin has always been so smooth. I love the way she smells so sweet and pure.

“I have missed you,” I whisper in her ear.

After two rounds, I’m pulling my pants back up. I should have bleached her to make her clean for me, but I didn’t have enough time. Her pussy was still tight and sucked my soul away.

I loved how she lay there and let me do whatever I wanted to her. Not like she had a choice.

“Adam, if you don’t get your fucking ass to this warehouse in five minutes, I’m putting a bullet in your head,” Lorcan barks through the speakers of the van.

“I’m pulling in right now,” I grouse.

The minute I have the van parked, a couple of Lorcan’s men are opening the door and grabbing Serena. “Hey!” I yell at them to stop them. “I’ll take her in.”

“Dumb ass,” one of them mutters.

I’m trailing behind them, trying to make sure my girl doesn’t leave my sight even for a minute. Now that I have her, I can’t stand the thought of her being away from me.

Lorcan is waiting in the main space of the warehouse with a chair, rope, and something else in front of him for her. “Put her on the chair,” he instructs.

His goons follow directions and then begin to tie her limbs to the chair. I watch to make sure they don’t get too handsy. Her long blonde hair is snarled from me pulling it about a half hour ago. I hope I didn’t leave any bruises on her body from earlier.

“I did what you wanted,” I call out. My arms cross my chest, and I try to calm my nerves. “When do I get to take her home?”

I don’t like how they are putting their hands on her. I also don’t like how they think they can own her.

Assholes.

“She’s not leaving,” Lorcan states.

“No! I did what you said. You asked for her back, and I brought her back.”

He walks in front of his daughter with a maniacal smile on his face. Lorcan is observing Serena carefully until he gets to her chest. “What happened to her?”

“What do you mean?” I ask dumbly.

“The first mistake you have made was thinking I was your friend. The second was lying to me. What did you do to my daughter?” His voice rises several octaves as he becomes angrier.

I shift on my feet. “Uh,” I stutter.

He spins in front of me and punches me in the face. I fall backward from the blunt of the force. “What the fuck?” I cry.

“I didn’t say anything about you touching Serena. You rat mother fucker. If I didn’t require you, I would kill you right now,” he promises.

Still on the floor, I roll over to my hands and knees to get up. I lose my breath as a booted foot kicks me in the chest. “Ouch!”

My eyes look up at the face of the man I didn’t expect to see. Serena’s ex-husband is here. It would make sense for him to be here, since he was supposed to take over the family after Lorcan steps down. I know Max and Franky want to take him out to absorb the family, but I belong with the McGuires.

Our dad was a loser, anyway. McGuire wanted to take him out for a long time, and it was a matter of time before it happened.

Max was a dumbass mother fucker who thought he had the right to step into something he didn’t.

The war between the crime Families has claimed more lives than we even know, and will continue until the McGuires have taken over everywhere.

And that’s where I come in. As the son of the fallen soldier, I have good rankings. Plus, my bloodline is pure, and I have a legit business. It would be the perfect front to keep running in shit through the ports. I need everyone to step out of my way so I can claim my woman and leave.

“Lorcan,” Connor greets with a chirp. “I see you have found Serena.” He’s walking around her like he’s appraising her for a sale. “She’s still as beautiful as ever.”

The boss claps him on the back. “If Amanda can’t give us an heir, Serena can. Luckily, they look enough alike that no one will know the difference.”

“You don’t mean-”

“Your time for talking has ended!” Lorcan’s goon interrupts me.

“Amanda is back at the house. I let her know the plan. We’ll keep Serena at our house until she’s ovulating,” Connor casually states.

Serena’s fingers begin to twitch, and her body begins to shift in the seat. “Looks like she’s coming to,” one of the goons exclaims with glee.

Before she wakes up, Connor looks at his ex-wife in the position she’s in. “What the fuck happened to my wife?”

Lorcan points to me with a scowl. “He picked her up and brought her here like this.”

“You touched her?” Connor’s lip curls. “Who do you think you are to touch royalty like that?”

My brain is throbbing. My muscles are screaming for me to protect myself. I want to attack so severely, but I’m outnumbered. Serena is mine. She doesn’t belong to any of them.

“Lorcan, tell him our deal! You can’t let her leave with him!” I quip.

I’m punched in the back of the head for my latest comment.

Did Lorcan just play me?

“You were never…”

Connor’s evil smirk tells me the truth. “You Fitzpatricks are stupid as hell. You’re as dumb as you look. What made you think we would let you join our family for more than holding our bags?”

I’m dead.