It had been two weeks since the ambush, and Zane was in a bad mood. They still had no solid proof of who had been behind it. Not that Zane didn’t have his suspicions, he was certain the fucker Johnson had orchestrated the whole thing. But he had been clever about it. All the men had been hired guns without affiliation to any organisation. The ones they had let live long enough to talk had said they had been hired by a Mr Smith, a man they all described differently. Everyone had been paid in cash and the money had proven almost impossible to trace. Almost, it was possible, but it would take time. That was why Zane was in a foul mood. He didn’t like the fact that someone had struck against his family and he hadn’t been able to retaliate. That also left the organisation vulnerable to more attacks. It left his angel in danger. Zane had wanted her to stay within the mansion grounds. She had happily obliged the first week. But over the last couple of days, she had become restless. It hadn’t
Ava had been in a bad mood for a couple of days, she felt trapped in the mansion. She had never been one for just sitting around, and now it felt like the walls were creeping in on her. Zane and Jax had even stopped taking her to the club. She knew why, but it didn’t stop the feeling of being trapped. She did regret yelling at Zane, she was hoping he wouldn’t see it as defying him and make him punish her. Or did she? She had conflicting emotions about it. To distract herself after shutting herself in her room, that didn’t really feel like her room anymore. She decided to call Gabriel, he had seemed a bit down lately, even though he insisted everything was fine. “Okay, spill it,” she had told him after they had talked for a while.“Spill what?” he asked. “Whatever has got you in a bad mood.”“Look who’s talking.”“I know why I’m in a bad mood, I need to know why you are. I need the distraction. I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” she said.“Fine. You know Ryder and I had coffee
“Yes,” Ava said and looked at Ryder. “Losing his grandmother like that has made him, I guess you can call it sensitive, for when people don’t touch base with him. Especially if he knows there’s a risk involved. He just needs to know everyone is safe.” Ryder nodded. “After his grandmother died, he hit a rough spell again. She had left him her house, so he had somewhere to live. But she didn’t have much money, so he needed to work instead of going off to college,” Ava continued. “It was before I knew him, but I think he was depressed and vulnerable. That’s when he met Jonas. Jonas was older, almost twenty years older than Gabriel, and from what I have heard, he was just confident and took charge over situations. Gabriel fell hard for him, and Jonas took over parts of Gabriel’s life.” Ava paused again, even if this wasn’t her story, and the pain in it didn’t belong to her. It still affected her deeply. “It got to a point where Gabriel was more or less emotionally dependent on Jonas. Jona
The spa day was just what Ava needed. She had thought the spa would be some small facility that acted as a front for Zane’s other business. But it turned out to be one of the most famous spas in the city. Not only that, but it had been completely empty except for the staff.“Mr. Velky has booked the spa for the day,” a sweet girl told her when Ava asked about it.“Yeah, nothing serious about that relationship,” Gabriel teased Ava. They had the most relaxing day, being pampered and talking. Gabriel told her he had already started working on some things for Zane. Amongst other things, Ava’s suggestion for a charity. He also told her that after Ryder’s confessing his fears to Gabriel, things between them had become better. Gabriel sounded happy and in love. Ava was more than happy for him. As they left the spa, Ava felt like a new person. Her muscles felt like rubber, her hair was shiny and her skin glowed and felt smooth. They dropped Gabriel off at his apartment before going home to th
Zane knew something had changed, and he didn’t like it. Ava had always been comfortable around him, maybe with the exception of the first days. But now it was like she tried to put up a wall between them. It had started the night he and Jax had met with two of the other families to talk about Johnson. Jax had made an idiotic comment which had Zane wanting to kill his friend. Jax had made it sound like they were heading out to party with women. To make the fucking mess even better, Zane didn’t have time to get away and call Ava like he had said he would. When he had come home to find his bed empty, he had gone into panic for a moment, fearing something had happened. When he had found her sleeping in her room, he had been pissed. After that night, something was different. At first Zane had considered that Ava had been upset by him not calling. But she didn’t seem upset. She was her usual happy self, and she was just as passionate when they had sex. She just wasn’t as present. It was slo
An hour later, the SUV stopped in front of the small house in the suburban part of the city. Zanes men had arrived half an hour before to make sure the aunt and uncle wouldn’t be home. They had been encouraged to go out and eat their dinner outside their home. Zane helped Ava out of the car, and she smiled as she looked at the house. “They have repaired the front step and the porch,” she said in a cheerful voice. “I told you it would be done,” Zane reminded her and followed her up onto the small porch. Ava was about to reach for the door handle and stopped. “It’s okay, Angel. The house is empty.” She looked up at him.“No one’s at home?”“No, not a soul. It’s just you and me.” She nodded and opened the door and invited Zane inside. Zane had never been in a place like this. He had grown up in a mansion, the few friends he had growing up were also living in mansions or were children of his father’s men and would come to the mansion. As he got older, his lifestyle wasn’t one which had
Ava was sitting and reading as Zane and Jax were playing pool. Ryder had gone to take Gabriel for their fourth date and Ava was looking forward to getting all the news from Gabriel later, or perhaps tomorrow. It had been an emotional day with visiting her old home. But it had also been cathartic, and she felt better after she had done it. She had revealed more of herself to Zane. She had spent the better part of a week trying to place a wall between them. But it had been emotionally exhausting, and it had felt so much better this afternoon when she didn’t have to watch every single word or action in his company. Maybe she just needed to accept that she had feelings for him. Not that she would let him know. Zane had been very clear what he needed and wanted from their relationship was just sex, no attachment. So she would give him that. Maybe when it was over he would at least see her as a friend. When her time was up with him, she would take her broken heart and she would start a new
When Zane had unbuttoned her shirt, Ava felt his hands caressing up from her waist, shaping her body contour as they moved upwards. They stopped just below her breasts. His thumbs ran over the lacy fabric of her bra, and Ava felt her nipples pebble at the simple touch. She wanted him to touch her more, to play with her breasts. Instead, his hands went to her shoulders and pushed her shirt down her arms. Ava felt it fall to the floor. Ava wondered for a brief moment why she never felt uncomfortable showing her body to Zane. Something in the way he looked at her made her relax and stopper her aunts nagging voice in her head that she wasn’t good enough. Zane always made her feel like she was desirable and sexy. “Beautiful,” Zane told her as he walked around her, letting his hand gently drag over her skin. He kissed her bare shoulder and sent a shiver down Ava’s spine. She heard the rustle of fabric against fabric and then she felt Zane against her back. She could feel his dress shirt pr
After Ava’s surprise visit by the detectives, she found herself with stricter rules than usual on where she could go and with whom. Zane usually saw it as good enough if Ryder, Tom or Marco were with her alongside one or two of their other men. But now she was back to only be allowed out in the company of Tom and Ryder. It was a throwback to her first weeks in the mansion. But she accepted it as she wanted Zane to not work himself up. He was stressed out as it was, and the long hours of work didn’t help. Gabriel was complaining that Ryder had become grumpy and closed off and Linda reported the same were true for Jax. They all three knew their men was overworking themselves, but they also knew it was necessary and the only thing they could do was to help their men to de-stress.“Me and Gabriel will have to work a little late tonight,” Ava told Zane as they were getting ready for the day.“No, angel. Both Tom
"Are you okay, angel?” Zane asked Ava and gently took a hold of her chin and tilted it upwards to make her look at him. Ava smiled at him.“I am. You are here and that makes me okay,” she answered him. He chuckled and kissed her lightly.“Tom has cleared some time in your schedule. You and Gabriel are coming with us, we will have lunch and there are things we need to talk about,” Zane told her. She nodded and saw Ryder and Gabriel walking out of Gabriel’s office hand in hand. Zane took them to In Cavea Aurea where a private table had been set up for them. Jax was waiting for them at the table.“I heard you had an exciting morning. Are you okay?” Jax asked Ava. She smiled at him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.“I’m fine, and so is the baby,” she told him before letting Zane guide her to a chair. Once everyone had sat down and the food was ordered, Zane asked Ava to tell them abou
Ava had been back to work for a few days, and it was starting to feel like she never had been away. She was pleased to see that whatever improvements had been made to their security system, it wasn’t visible. Zane and Ava had decided it was time to let people outside of the closest circle know she was pregnant. They had discussed the possibility it would make her even more of a target. But she was not worried. Ava had Tom and she knew Zane had other men stationed in the building and probably outside it as well. She was sitting in her office, looking at the latest budget for the LGBTQ+ safe space. Gabriel’s dream was slowly growing and becoming a reality. Her intercom buzzed.“Mrs. Velky, two police detectives are here. they want to speak to you,” Tom told her. Ava felt a moment of fear, had something happened to Zane? But she pushed that thought to the side. If something had happened, she wouldn’t be told by the police, someone in the organisation
Zane looked at his angel as she kneeled on the black satin sheets on the bed. The way the gold chains emphasised the growing baby bump had him drooling. He hadn’t thought it would be possible for Ava to become sexier and more alluring. But the fact that he could see their child growing inside of her, it stroked a primitive part of him. He caressed her belly with his hand. He had made sure to read up on suitable positions and punishments for his angel as they moved forward. He wanted their baby safe, but he knew neither him or Ava would do well without their playtime. “Ready, angel?” he asked as he let his hand move from her belly to grip the nipple vibrator and tug on it. Ava’s breath hitched and then a small moan escaped her.“Yes, Sir,” she said. The way she called him Sir made his cock twitch. He picked up the silk rope and started tying it to her ankles. He worked in silence, sometimes letting his hands travel up her legs, almost all the way to where he knew she wanted his touch.
Tom helped Ava out of the car at the club, she did her best not to reveal anything when she stepped out. It wasn’t easy with the way the trench coat was designed and with what little she had on underneath. She squared her shoulders and walked past the queue of people waiting to get inside. She could hear someone starting to cat call her and she heard the man’s huff as the air left his lungs. Tom would have landed a punch in the man’s gut; she knew it without looking. Just as she knew the man wouldn’t be let into to the club this evening, and if Zane got wind of the incident; probably never again. The man at the door smiled at her.“Good evening Mrs. A, it’s nice to see you back,” he told her.“Good evening, Luther. It looks packed tonight,” Ava said.“It is. Let any of the boys know if you have any issues,” he reminded her.“Thank you.” Ava walked into the club with th
Ava was nervous when she showered and got dressed, she was nervous when Zane took her downstairs, and she was nervous as they ate dinner with Miguel. She had a hard time focusing on the conversation and while she usually didn’t have a problem with small talk, she now found it hard to follow along. Zane hadn’t given her even a hint at what her punishment would be, and Ava was becoming obsessed with trying to find out.“I think we will retire early tonight, my wife seems tired,” Zane told Miguel as they had finished eating.“Of course. Have a nice evening, Mrs. A,” Miguel said.“Thank you,” Ava said. They all stood up and Miguel left the room first. Ava was about to do the same when Zane stopped her.“You will go up to our room, you will pick out some sexy lingerie that you think I will enjoy and you will sit down on the edge of the bed and wait for me. I will join you in twenty minutes. If I d
Miguel joined Ava and Zane for breakfast the following day. Both him and Zane made sure to keep the conversation casual and light. Ava didn’t mind, she knew Zane would talk to her in private if he felt she needed to know why Miguel had come. “We will probably be in meetings or out on business for most of the day. Will you be okay?” Zane asked as they were done with breakfast. “Linda and I figured so we have booked a girls day at the pool for some relaxation,” Ava told him. Zane bent down so he could whisper in her ear. “You better not be thinking about going skinny-dipping, angel. I will check in on you and I better see a bikini on that body of yours.”“I would never skinny-dip without you,” she whispered back. “Fucking right,” he agreed, kissed her and then he and Miguel left. Ava took a moment to collect herself before going upstairs to change. She and Linda met at the pool. Both were wearing big fluffy bathrobes that were tightly tied at the waist. “So,” Linda said.“Yes,” Ava
Ava and Linda had a nice and quiet dinner. As none of the boys made it down before they were finished, the two of them decided to have a game night on their own. They moved to the living room and started playing Canasta. Anna made sure they had snacks and they gossiped as they played.“Let’s make it interesting and play for something other than just bragging rights,” Linda suggested.“Like money?” Ava asked. She was uncomfortable at the idea of gambling; it had never worked out well for her.“No. With the two men we live with, playing for money just doesn’t seem fun,” Linda said, and Ava agreed.“How about we do a dare? Whoever has the lowest score by the end of the evening have to do the dare?” Linda proposed. Ava thought about it, it sounded fun. She had played quite a lot of Canasta with Anna and Linda; she was almost confident she could win. She just needed to keep a straight
Life returned to its normal state after Luka left. Ava spent her days being spoiled by Zane and the staff. Her two weeks staying home would soon be up and she prepared to go back to the office. To be on the safe side, she called Gabriel to check if something major had happened she needed to be aware of.“Nothing big. We have a new client that I was planning for the two of us to have lunch with when you get back and we are all leaving early on Friday for the renovation,” he told her.“Renovation?” she asked.“Hasn’t the boss told you? Jax called the other day to tell me Zane had ordered some extra security to be installed. I guess he is a little worried about you going back to work,” Gabriel explained.“He didn’t tell me.”“I, on the other side, am thrilled that you will be back. I miss you, and it’s so boooooring to eat lunch with the others,” he said. Ava laughed