"I love you," I said, weaving through traffic with single-minded determination.
"I love you too." Her hand crept higher. "Drive faster."
I did. I drove us home to begin the rest of our lives. In the elevator up, I pinned Angelina against the wall and kissed her like a drowning man finding air. Her legs wrapped around my waist, her hands in my hair, her mouth opening under mine with a desperation that matched my own.
The elevator dinged.
I carried her through the doors, across the threshold, and straight to our bedroom.
"Finally," Angelina breathed as I set her down.
"Finally," I agreed.
And then I showed my wife exactly what I’d been wanting to do to her all day. Claim her physically as mine. No condoms, no birth control, and with pure desire, I filled her with my seed over and over again.
Marked.
Dez
Santorini was perfect. Three days of sun-soaked beaches, private villa luxury, and my wife in various states of undress. We'd barely left the bedroom except to eat on the terrace overlooking the caldera, and even then we usually ended up fucking against the railing before the food got cold. This was supposed to be two weeks of paradise. I should have known it wouldn't last. I've never felt this good, been this content, or happy. So I should've known evil was somewhere lurking.
Angelina's phone rang while we were lounging by the private pool. She was topless in just a bikini bottom, her skin glistening with sunscreen I'd spent twenty very enjoyable minutes applying.
She glanced at the screen and frowned. "It's Maya."
"Don't answer it," I said, trailing my hand up her thigh. "We're on our honeymoon."
"She wouldn't call unless it was important." She sat up and answered. "Hey, Maya. What's—" Her expression went from relaxed to furious in seconds. "He did what?"
I sat up, immediately alert.
"When? Tomorrow?" Angelina was on her feet now, pacing. "How did he… okay. Okay. Send me everything. Every document, every email, every piece of paper he filed. I want to see all of it."
She listened for another minute, her free hand clenched into a fist.
"No, don't do anything yet. Don't respond, don't engage. Just document everything and wait for me." Pause. "Because I'm coming back. Tonight if I can get a flight." Another pause. "I don't care, Maya. This is my company. I'm not letting him steal it while I'm on my honeymoon."
She hung up and stood there for a moment, breathing hard, staring at nothing.
"What happened?" I asked, already pulling out my own phone.
"Vincent called an emergency board meeting." Her voice was tight with rage. "For tomorrow afternoon. He's claiming financial mismanagement on my part. Says I've been embezzling funds, making unauthorized expenditures, engaging in insider trading. He's fabricated documents, forged my signature, and somehow convinced three board members that I'm destroying the company."
"The embezzlement is his."
"I know that. You know that. But he's turned it around on paper, made it look like I was the one skimming funds and he was just trying to protect the company." She started pacing faster. "He's calling for a vote to remove me as CEO and install himself as interim leader pending a full investigation."
I stood and caught her arm, pulling her to face me. "How many board members does he need?"
"Simple majority. There are nine total. If he has five votes, I'm out."
"And how many does he have?"
"Maya thinks four including himself. But he's working on a fifth." She pulled away, heading inside toward our bedroom. "I need to get back there. I need to stop this before it gets out of hand!"
"Angelina." I followed her. "Stop. Breathe. Think."
"I am thinking. I'm thinking that my uncle is trying to steal my mother's company while I'm on the other side of the world and I need to get back there right now."
