I swallow hard, unsure if it’s irritation or arousal that’s clogging up my throat. With Kaz it really could be either one.
“Are you ready to be a good girl and do as I say?” He levels me with one of his dominating dark looks, and I nod. Because what else is there to do?
Slowly, he peels his hand from my mouth.
I lick at my dry lips.
His eyebrow arches. He’s losing patience.
“I’m sorry, sir for not trusting that you’ll protect me.” I say, keeping my gaze on his chin.
Because if I see the arrogance in his eyes, I might say something else that would ruin the moment.
“Good girl,” he kisses me. A soft, brush of his lips across mine that whets my appetite for more.
But he gets up and walks to his desk, undoing the tactical vest on the way.
“Gerald hasn’t been able to find a will or guardian papers or even a birth certificate for Tommy. He went looking for a will for Michael and Marco, too, and found nothing.”
“That can’t be. The family attorney came to the house and explained it to us.”
“And none of them left you anything or saw to it that you were properly taken care of financially.” He drops his vest onto the desk. “You didn’t think that was odd?”
I scoff. “No. They never gave me anything but trouble when they were alive, so why would they leave me anything in death? Not getting custody of Tommy was the only thing that hurt. I’m the only one that’s even acknowledged him his whole life.”
The tightness of his jaw gives him away. There’s more.
“What else is there, Kaz? You’re not telling me something.”
“After Dante wasn’t successful in getting Tommy out of the school, your uncle reached out.” His fingertips press against the top of his desk as he leans forward.
“What did he want?” I push up from the couch, readying myself for worse news.
“He made an offer.” He pauses, like he’s not sure how to say the next part. “If we back off the pressure to keep the pleasure houses out of the city, he’ll let Tommy stay with us.”
“So, if we let him build torture houses for women to be beaten, raped, and sold for even more of that to happen to them, he won’t pursue Tommy. But if we say no?”
He doesn’t have to say anything for me to know what would happen. He’ll come after Tommy. He’ll take him and put him somewhere I’ll never find him.
He’d be all alone with no family, no one to love him, to be with him as he grows up.
“What about Tony’s house? Can we get in there and search for the will or the birth certificate? I think I still have the key code.”
“This isn’t going to be settled by lawyers.” He rounds his desk.
“My brothers were monsters.” I realize then he didn’t finish telling me about his conversation with my uncle. “What did you tell him?”
“I didn’t answer him, but there’s no fucking way we’re letting those houses open here. And there’s no way we’re letting Tommy go with him. That means this war is probably going to start again. And it’s possible your uncle or your cousin is going to?—”
“I don’t care about that.” I take a steady breath. “Kaz, if you haven’t learned by now that I want nothing to do with them, I don’t know how I can show you.”
His expression is unreadable.
“All I wanted to do was work, get a place of my own, and find someone to spend my life with. I wanted none of this. My only goal now is to keep Tommy safe. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” He raises a brow. “What about us? Don’t you have any goals for us?”
I don’t know how to answer him. If I tell him I want a real life with him, one full of love and trust and family he might shut down. He’s finally warming to me, to Tommy, to the idea of us being an us.
