He closed the distance, and Laura’s head was pressed against the wall. She seemed to try to escape through it. “So how about we have a little … experiment?” “Experiment?” she asked, frowning.“Yes, how about we see how much we don’t mesh?”“How?”“Simple. We start with a kiss. Just some kissing, nothing too… heavy. My hands will stay on the walls. Just our lips will touch.”“Why should I believe you?”“I’ve never given you a reason to doubt me before.” “And what does this experiment prove?” she asked.At least she wasn’t hitting him and telling him to get the fuck out. “We’ll see how far our … meshing abilities go. If we enjoy the kiss, then we will give it time, and we will keep enjoying kissing. If it doesn’t, then we will come to some arrangement that means this marriage can survive.”“I think this is ridiculous. We can just come to some arrangement where it can work. I agree with the latter.”“And you want a marriage that is completely cold and dead?” he asked. He didn’t have a c
Jealous?”“I don’t have anything to be jealous about.” She had never felt jealous. Not a moment in her life.Johannes smiled.“I don’t know why you’re smiling.”“Simple, you’re jealous.”“Whoever you sleep with is none of my business.”“So, in your ideal marriage, you wouldn’t care if your husband was with other women.”“Of course, I would. In a real marriage, I’d want love, and I’d love him. We don’t have that. We will never have that.”“How about this then? Is there a chance you like me?” he asked.“No.” She bit on her lip and glanced away as he tensed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know you.”“But what you do know, you don’t like.”“I don’t think we should be having this conversation,” she said. This was going from bad to worse. The menu lay open on the table in front of her. “Maybe we should just order.”Johannes didn’t let go of her hand, and even as she tried to avoid his gaze, he still stared at her. She looked around the room, trying to find an excuse to distract him, but she had no cho
Johannes looked at his father, a little taken aback. “What?”Leon wasn’t in the room, and Lucas sighed. “If his daughter dies at the hands of our enemies, then we are not responsible and you don’t have to stay married to her.”“You wanted this union,” Johannes said.“I know what is good for the family, for our side, Johannes. Do not be stupid and pretend you don’t know what that is. We all know what it is.”He wasn’t sure exactly what he was hearing. “Did you … was this … do you want to kill Laura?”“Of course not. I’m a man who sees opportunity.”Leon entered the room. The man looked like he’d aged twenty years since Johannes had last seen him. At least his fists weren’t clenched, and he wasn’t ready to take another swipe. “Any news?” Leon asked.“Nothing yet.”He was starting to have doubts about his father’s involvement in the attacks on Laura.“I will go see if we have an update,” Lucas said.Johannes watched his father go, and he didn’t like the suspicion flooding him. It suddenl
“You don’t know Laura,” Billy said. “And I’m guessing you don’t even know what love is. Maybe what you should do is give yourselftime to see what the two are like. To learn to love?” “I’m … not capable of it,” he said.“Everyone is capable of love, Johannes. Even you. Even Leon. Everyone is capable of love.”Johannes went to say otherwise, but he felt Laura’s hand twitch within his grasp. “Laura?” He stared at her eyes, and then looked down at her hand.“What is it?”“She squeezed my hand. I felt it. Laura, I’m here. I’m here,” he said.Her hand squeezed his.“I felt it too,” Billy said. “I’ll go get a doctor and Leon.”Billy left the room, and Johannes stood up, placing a hand by her head, staring down into her eyes.Laura opened her eyes, and he looked into her deep-brown depths. “I was never afraid,” Laura said.“Then I guess you and I are going to have to watch a horror because I don’t believe you.”She smiled and then groaned. “Do I want to know what happened?”“You were shot,”
While Laura had been in the hospital, Johannes had been alerted to another call, putting a price on Laura’s head—alive. She had to be taken alive. It was why he’d kept her in the hospital. Three people had tried to get to her. All of them had failed, but as attempts had been made to hold the people intent on killing her, they’d taken some kind of poison and killed themselves.The bounty on her head wasn’t a lot, so the people making the attempts were amateurs. Whoever was trying to fuck with them was low level, or they didn’t have the appropriate funds to take them on.This brought him to another confusing part of all of this. His father was rich. Money wasn’t a problem. He could funnel money to any person, hide the actual transaction, and have a professional kill Laura.The more he thought about the restaurant, the more confused he got. If his father wanted Laura dead, he wouldn’t have it done sloppily like that. It would be clean. Their enemies would struggle to be caught.“You’re g
She felt a little sick. And she didn’t like the bad taste in her mouth. Was this jealousy? Why would she feel this way about a man she had no feelings for? It made no sense.She hated it.“I’m not good with words. I never have been.” “I think it’s best that you go,” Laura said.“Johannes doesn’t know what it means to care, even when he does. He says that he doesn’t have feelings for you, but I saw his face when you got shot, Laura. He cares, in his own way. You’ve justgot to give him time. Give him a chance.”Saya removed his hand and got to his feet.She watched him, curious what his game was, but he left without another word.Taking a sip of the hot chocolate he’d brought her, she was pleasantly surprised. It was sweet, just the way she liked it, with just the right amount of chocolate. It was … delicious.She took another sip and stared at the door.There was no way she was going to cave that easily. Johannes had said he didn’t love her, that he might one day care about her, but s
“That’s a pretty good picture, kid,” Johannes said. He hadn’t quite mastered the art of knowing who was called what. If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t sure if he was any good with kids, but he had five of them around the table with him.It had been three days since he brought up adopting them completely with Laura. His dad had told him to find any means necessary to win Laura over, and this place seemed like a solid plan. There was also a tiny slim part of them that was starting to adore the kids and enjoy their company.He never thought he’d enjoy dealing with a bunch of screaming brats, but he did. They were a lot of fun to be around. Growing up, he never had the luxury of sitting there and coloring in pictures or drawing.However, at the ripe age of thirty-five, he was finally getting the chance to do that. What he wasn’t doing was drawing what he knew. The kids didn’t need to see death, blood, and destruction. All they needed to know was rainbows and houses, and well, he dr
The basement wasn’t so bad.Several years ago, Leon had donated the money to get it decorated and to turn it into a hangout room for the kids. Just another room for them to enjoy.Sitting on the sofa in front of Marcell, Cash, and Saya, Laura started to feel like it was more of a horror movie as they kept looking at her, and she felt so out of place. She didn’t know what to say or do.They just stared at her and Johannes as they sat on either end of the sofa. A nice large gap between them.“This won’t do,” Saya said. “You need to sit closer together.” “Noted,” Johannes said.“So do it now.” Marcell held his hands out and waved them in front of him, pointing for them both to get closer together.“I don’t think we need guidance for this. How hard can it be?” Laura asked.“When you both came down here, you took the furthest space possible together. If you need to convince a roomful of people staring at you like you’re under a microscope, every single little detail of your actions is goin
HJMen aren’t built like women. Or at least, not like Winona.We could never read emotions as well, navigate a room as well, or know someone else’s next move like her. She didn’t play chess. She dominated it. It was like sittingacross from your opponent and realizing they had all queens lined up instead of pawns.The fight wasn’t fair.We all knew that. Sebastian most of all. He knew he was surrounded by family that was supposed to protect him but that would protect her instead. She’d outmaneuvered him and the family with a love she didn’t even express.Dante trained her, and Carlos talked with her when he wouldn’t open his mouth to anyone. And I slept next to her like a cub trusting a lioness.We respected Sebastian as the king of the family.But we loved Winona.In the family, men aren’t supposed to get close to any woman unless we claim them as our untouchable. None of us had claimed her; none of us had claimed anyone. We’d all been without that love, sailing through life complete
WinonaMaybe I should have been concerned about the red stains on my hands as Dante filed in with their cleanup crew. I’d seen a few of them before, but they were nameless associates of our family, ones I’d probably never see again unless they proved theirworth.Had I proved my worth tonight or lost it all? And what was there to prove to a family that wasn’t mine? If Georgie was right, if he wasn’t lying, I belonged on the other side of the tracks.My heart didn’t rush when HJ mumbled that Sebastian would be furious. We stood at the elevator doors, HJ with his hat on and my hood back up for no good reason. The cleanup crew would be calling the police later tonight to have them wipe the cameras.In this city, we were protected.As the elevator door pinged, HJ walked in and then turned to me, black fire licking through his eyes. “Get in the elevator, Winona.”He’d almost told me he loved me in that car, and I’d been ready to drive off into the sunset with him. Now, could I love him kno
Winona “You’re kidding me, right?”“What do you mean?” I tightened my ponytail. Earlier today, I’d gotten so bored, I’d disguised myself well enough that I could go to a little shop around the corner. HJ hadn’t exactly said I could leave his place, but he had said he was finally taking me out tonight.That called for celebration. The closest store was eccentric, and I was all about it. They had knockoff clothes and secondhand items, but it was someplace to go where I knew I wouldn’t be seen.“We’re not going anywhere with you dressed like that.” He pointed at me accusingly, as if my outfit was completely ridiculous.I had to admit, it was different. The latex fit every nook and cranny of my body like a glove. I was actually surprised it wasn’t custom made for me. To say I was proud of the rare find was an understatement. “This is perfectly legit for whatever we have to do tonight. I’m wearing combat boots and a dark outfit. It’s the best way to hide in the shadows.”“You’re wearing a
WinonaHe’d left a note for me that morning.Notes weren’t my thing.Not anymore.I’d only ever gotten two. One from HJ telling me he’d never write me again—which was ironic now that I held another one of his notes in my hand—and the other . . .The other one was from the only other person I’d ever loved. It was a bad one, a deadly one. One that made me want to lie down and die with him.My mood soured. The man better wake me up next time he was going to leave me for hours on end.Plus, the note wasn’t even good. There weren’t any hearts or balloons or our names scribbled next to each other.I’LL BE BACK in a couple hours. The cabinet next to the bookshelf has food.HJPS Do you think Cleopatra was ever kidnapped?PPS Books written by Poe are on that shelf if you want to read.BY FOOD, he meant granola bars and apple juice. My stomach growled in protest when I’d eaten three and still felt starved.When I heard footsteps in the hallway, I sat up in the bed. I chucked one of the bars at
HJI left her to get breakfast, to get my bearings, and to get intel on the fact that I was sleeping with the heiress to the Russian mob.Carlos had already pulled intel from Georgie’s phone, and he called both Sebastian and I aboutit that morning. “Well, there’s a lot more information than I wanted in here.”Sebastian grumbled into the phone, surely tired from lack of sleep. “Is there information on where the fuck Winona’s at?”“We’ve got everyone out looking,” I said, lying through my teeth. I hadn’t looked at all last night.“Dimitri took her. It’s obvious from the communications,” Carlos announced. “I’ve got— I think we need to meet to discuss this.”Carlos was always worried about tapped phones. We were intelligent enough to have people within the FBI bury our conversations. We switched out phones too. Still, you could never be too careful, and I was sure Carlos had the information I needed, information that would start a war I wasn’t sure I was ready to participate in.I foun
WinonaI came to, and the first thing that hit me was a migraine from the chloroform hangover.I didn’t move. Waking up as a captive and waking up next to an angry, violent lover were very much the same.I relaxed my body and kept my breathing slow. I listened for any sound—voices, TVs, footsteps, traffic outside; any clue that could tell me where I was.I lay across a cushioned surface that felt much like a leather couch, and some cloth was draped over my body. I felt the tulle of my dress still wrapped around me, but the knife that should have dug into my ribs was gone.My kidnapper had wrapped me in a blanket and laid me on a couch? Left me dressed? It seemed they’d be playing nice once they knew I was awake.With just the sound of cars in the distance, I knew we must still be in the city, but whoever was with me, they weren’t giving much away. No one talked or walked around, and I couldn’t smell anything except . . . a hint of metal mixed with aftershave, like he’d washed away the
HJThe warm candlelight flickered on the face of every man watching Winona too closely as we walked back in. I wanted to leash her and drag her from the gala. Yet no wild animal like her was meant to be tamed. I only got that privilege when I was making her moan my name.She glanced at my watch. “It’s probably time for you and me to go our separate ways.”“As long as they intersect at some point later on,” I mumbled as I nodded and started to back away from her.Her dark cat-eye makeup had smudged around her misty gray eyes, and her hair wasn’t bone straight anymore. The wave that broke through her ponytail was a sign of the heat that had passed between us before. That look of dishevelment only worked in her favor. As the music swayed the guests, her presence mesmerized them. For the next hour, I watched her bounce around while hungry eyes tracked her movements.I should have been satisfied. We’d settled on the fact that her place wasn’t with Sebastian. He’d agreed to let her go, a
WinonaMen, by nature, had to be stupid. I was sure of it.Sebastian had given me numerous lectures about not leaving his side, as if I were a sheep, only accustomed to being herded.I played the role well enough and nodded at his requests. Then I promptly faked having to pee.He didn’t even question me.Women should have been leading the world, not men.It took one coy look Georgie’s way and a lift of an eyebrow for him to excuse himself. He knew better than to draw a crowd. He wanted time alone; he wanted an explanation.He wanted me.I strode out onto the balcony. The wind chilled me, and the night air washed over me like a calm before a storm. The stars from this far out of the city shone brighter, louder, and more vividly.The cool cement railing was just thick enough to allow me to lean on it and really peer up into the night, get lost in the darkness of it all. This was the place I felt most at home, surrounded by nothing but myself in a fine outfit, bathed in ink-black shadows
HJShe wore the dress.It was like the devil himself wanted a damn show and had wrapped her up, helped her get ready, and served her to all of us that night. He was laughing in hell right now. I could almosthear his cackle.She strutted in on Sebastian’s arm. Regal, fuckable, mesmerizing. That dress was a waterfall over her legs, but every curve of them was visible. The beads shimmered under the crystal chandelier light, and her dark stiletto heels elongated her stride down the carpet.I tensed as she looked up at Sebastian and smiled adoringly. It may have been a show, it may not have been.Either way, it didn’t matter.The back of her bound up by that black-as-ink ribbon and the way her ass flared out from her waist, I heard some of the men visibly moan.Fucking breathtakingly beautiful.Feathers and beads and black strings had been wrapped around the most dangerous woman here. The mob and the government were watching. Everyone wanted her for different reasons, but we’d all take