“Maybe…” I can’t even bring myself to finish the sentence. What exactly? Take a break, break up. Ugh, I am a freaking mess.
“I would be very careful in your place,mo run. I haven’t ruled out kidnapping,” he says so low, sending a throb to pulse between my thighs.
“Funny.”
He cast an intense look. “That wasn’t meant as a joke.”
I gulp. “Tristan, at times I think…”
He cocks his head, jerking his chin at me. “What baby? That I am no fucking better than the men in your family?”
There’s a dark challenge burning in his eyes, daring me to see what lurks in the shadows. Am I ready to acknowledge that? Then what? It’s going to be bloody and messy. And I wanted… I don’t even know what I wanted. It seems ages ago when I envisioned my love story. It was sweet and innocent. Ours is a mighty storm, passionate in its ravaging capacity.
Needing a moment to clear my head, I slip out of bed.
“You’re pushing me on purpose,” I say while looking out the window.
The full moon reflects in the foam of the waves crashing against the shore, just like the agony inside my chest.
His arms snake around my belly, and he places his chin on my shoulder. “I want you to understand that there’s only one outcome. You will be mine.”
I continue to stare, subdued by the unfairness of our situation.
Fighting won’t help.
Making him see reason even less.
He’s set to think we have a future, and I am too weak for him to burst our serene bubble, especially since the end graces me with a delay. I don’t know whether I should feel grateful or cuss it out.
“I would love that,” I say instead, turning in his arms.
He lifts me by the waist and doesn’t stop kissing me as he brings me back to bed, where he makes love to me, all night long so that I feel the imprint of his cock in my pussy, the feel of his hands on my skin, his lips on mine, shaping me into his from the inside out.
14
TRISTAN
Viviana is on her way to her parents, and my mood worsens with every passing second. This woman has dug herself so deep inside of me that I can barely function without her. Knowing it’s going to be another week until I can be with her again makes the torment a thousand times worse.
My jet lands in Boston, and I hop into the rental car, driving to the Syndicate’s headquarters. Tucked into the forest, with their men patrolling the perimeter, it’s as secure as it is secluded.
I climb out of the car, and the guard by the entrance lets me in.
I’ve been here many times, from business meetings to partaking in their parties, but the last few times we had encrypted online meetings. Our alliance took a dent the moment I refused to choose their side over BRACON.
I couldn’t. Strategically speaking, it would bring me absolutely nothing. I prefer to remain neutral, even though from the outside it might appear as if my loyalties lie with the West Coast. I am Aris’s godfather, and my friendship with Enzo goes way back.
Allying myself with the Syndicate was strictly business—a lucrative one as both sides got richer and more powerful.
Inside the conference room, the bank owner, the Mafia boss, the senator, and the trading mogul sit in a line, their indestructible bond on display. Separately, Kieran, Cato, Cameron, and Hayden are unfathomably rich, but together they’re unbeatable. No one dares to mess with them, except Calla, who now controls the Council with Enzo by her side.
While I think both sides are wary of starting a war that will end with casualties, one slight mishap could change that. I don’t like the probability. At all.
“Tristan,” Kieran says. “It’s been a while.”
He lets me know, oh so subtly, that our alliance is precarious.
I unbutton my suit jacket and take a seat. “Busy.”
