You're mine... Forever

ENZO

“I don’t want to go back with you, Enzo!” His green eyes blazed, wet with tears. His fists clenched at his sides. “You can’t make me go back with you!” 

I stood there with the gun still in my hand. My gaze flicked past him to the girl tied to the chair and she glared at me with contempt. 

There was something about her face that tugged at a memory I couldn’t grasp, like a shadow slipping through my fingers. It felt like I'd stumbled on her before now. 

“Kai,” I called in a steady voice despite the heat simmering beneath me. I didn’t break eye contact with her as I tested that flicker of recognition. “Make sure she leaves this place safe. No detours.” 

Kai nodded and turned his broad frame toward her.

I turned to Jaden. “Let’s go,” I said, holstering the gun. He hesitated and I gripped his arm, leading him out. His warmth burned under my fingers, alive with defiance, and it stoked the fire in my gut as we crossed the cracked pavement to the waiting car.

I pushed Jaden into the backseat of the idle black Sedan and slid in after him, the door thudding shut behind me. 

The driver pulled away and I watched the warehouse shrink in the rearview. 

Thick silence stretched between us, save for the sound of the tyres against the asphalt. 

I’d found that damn letter days ago and immediately knew that something was going on. 

'Pier 17, 1 a.m. I love you.'

I’d pieced it together, turning their little escape plan inside out. I even told my men to play along and let him think he had won.

What the hell did Jaden think was going to happen? Did he think I was that stupid? 

He thought he’d drugged me and I’d be drooling on the bed while he ran to her. But I'd taken the antidote Kai brought immediately Jaden walked out. I had watched him sneak out before jumping into a car and going with my men. 

Now, here he was, alive and breathing beside me, and I was livid. Not just at the betrayal—though that cut deep—but at how he’d been with her. Jaden, who dragged his feet around me, who dulled his eyes and slumped his shoulders like every touch was a chain, had lit up for her. 

His voice had trembled with concern, his hands frantic as he freed her, his whole damn body alive in a way I’d never seen. 

Jealousy clawed at me. It was a bitter, gnawing thing, twisting tighter every time I pictured them together. And that look she’d thrown me kept nagging at me. I knew her face, but from where?

It all made me mad. Why couldn't I get Jaden to be free with me? Despite how I'd showed him nothing but love, why did he despise me this much?

And how the fuck had he even met that Sophia girl in the first place? 

I glanced at Jaden. He sat rigid, pressed against the door, staring out the window like I didn’t exist.

I shifted closer and lowered my voice. “Don’t be mad at me, Jade,” I whispered, letting a thread of softness slip in. “I didn’t want it to go like this.”

“Bug off,” he snapped, his head whipping toward me. “I hate you, Enzo. I fucking hate you.” 

Pain bloomed in my chest, cracking through the armor I’d built. I’d seen him cry before. Hell, I’d made him cry, but this was different. This was pure rejection and it hurt more than I could ever admit.

I swallowed thickly and forced my voice to be steady. “I was mad, Jaden,” I said, softer now, leaning closer until I could smell the faint salt of his sweat. “I was mad seeing you like that all over her, so alive, so desperate when you’re supposed to be mine. We are engaged, you and me. Promised. And you looked at her like she’s your whole world.”

He didn’t respond. He just turned back to the window, giving me the cold shoulder. 

I was about to lean back into the chair when I saw a tear sliding down his cheek, glinting in the passing streetlights. Another drop followed silently. My heart collapsed, a heavy aching sinking into my ribs. 

I wanted to reach for him, to wipe those tears away like I had earlier, and tell him that I’d fix this, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not when he’d just carved me open with his words.

The car rolled to a stop and Jaden didn’t wait. He shoved the door open and bolted, disappearing into the house before I could blink. 

I stepped out and paused as headlights flared behind me. Kai’s car pulled up with the other set of my men who followed us on the mission. 

I beckoned Kai over. “Kai,” I said, glancing back at the house where Jaden had bolted into. “That girl. Look into her for me. Dig deep. She’s familiar, too damn familiar, and I need to know why.”

He nodded. “On it, boss.” His dark eyes flicked to the house, then back to me, but he didn’t ask questions.

Good. I didn’t have answers yet. I turned and walked inside, the door clicking shut behind me, sealing me in with the weight of Jaden’s hate and the ghost of that lady's face.

I paused on the stairs as I ran over the thought of going to him. With a sigh, I realized that I was tense. I needed to let go of the stress in my chest and shoulders before approaching him.

You're mine, Jade... Forever.