“Forged.” He shrugged, and I gaped at him in response. The blatant admission seemed shocking, as if there was no regret in his body that he’d deceived me for a year of my life. Given me things I hadn’t asked for, and undoubtedly would expect things I didn’t agree to give.
“Then I’ll pay it back.” As soon as I said the words, I regretted them. There was no way for me to pay back that money. Even if I gave him everything I’d saved up, it would never be enough to even cover Axel’s schooling.
“I don’t want your money,” he said then snickered, standing from the couch to tower over me. “You needed to grieve. I gave you what you needed to do that.” He stripped off his suit jacket, and my heart leapt into my throat. Tossing it over the back of the sofa, I watched as he rolled the sleeves up on his white dress shirt. His right forearm was covered in ink, an intricate tribal design that seemed to both contrast with his olive skin and somehow fade into the shadows the artist had created. Smack dab in the center of his forearm, vivid blue eyes stared back at me in the face of a lone wolf. The shadows gave the illusion of moving with his muscle as he reached for me, and I was so distracted by the art of it that I startled when his hands grasped me around the waist and he lifted me to set me back down on the couch.
“Don’t touch me!” I snarled, swatting his hands away when he sat in the corner seat and leaned back.
“Then sit your pretty ass down and stay put. We both know you aren’t leaving until I say you can leave.”
“Excuse me?” I whispered.
He sighed. Then he dragged his hands over his face and reached over to me. Plucking me off the couch, he lifted me until my legs straddled his hips and I stared down at him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I shrieked, shoving off his chest and scrambling to climb out of his lap, but those hands of his kept me rooted exactly where he wanted me. Evidently growing tired of my struggles, he stretched his hands up and caught both of mine in his and pulled them behind my back.
“Settle, Calla,” he ordered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Then let me go!” I yelled at him, wincing when he shifted his entire body to sit straight up. The motion ground his hips between my thighs, giving me the friction I shouldn’t need. Shouldn’t have wanted in that moment, but there was no denying how good it felt to feel all that muscle between my legs and the way he groaned in my ear vibrated through me.
“I want you to listen to me,” he said and his voice went oddly soft. I hadn’t heard him speak much, but even I knew that there was something unusual about it for him. “Are you listening, Tesoro?”
“I don’t have much choice, do I, asshole?” I shot back, wiggling in his lap. I stilled when I felt the bulge between my legs harden.
“That’s the point, Hellcat,” he laughed as I glared at him. “As we speak, my men are packing up your home.” I gasped, jerking my arms against his grip, but even with only one of his hands gripping them there was zero chance of me getting free. He was relentless in the way he held me. Never hurting me, but never letting me go either. “It’s already been sold to a very nice family who will appreciate it the way you used to. In a little while, we’ll go get Axel from school and then pick up Ines from your father. By the time we get home, your things should be here. I’ve told them to prioritize unpacking the kids first. Their rooms are set up and waiting for them.”
“You cannot be serious,” I whispered. “I didn’t sign off on selling my house. It isn’t possible for it to be sold.” Even as I said the words, I could already hear his response.
He’d forged Chad’s signature. What was to stop him from forging mine?
“I took ownership of the house months ago, with your signature on the Deed and all the other paperwork. You’ll quickly find that there is nothing that can stand in my way, Sunshine.” He stared up at me, those blue eyes piercing through me as my breath disappeared from my lungs.
“Are you insane?” I whispered.
“Probably,” he said with a nod. He looked as if he was thinking it over for a moment, before he shrugged his massive shoulders and continued on, “Our boy has a car and sports room that would make your father proud, and Ines’s room looks like a fucking unicorn vomited in there, but I’m sure our Princess will love it.”
“Our?!” I shrieked, tugging back so harshly that he readjusted his grip on my wrists.
“You’re mine, Calla. That means they are too,” he said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“I am not yours,” I argued. “I don’t even know you.”
He sighed, reaching up his free hand to cup my cheek with a warmth he didn’t deserve. “This is happening, Sunshine. You can either accept that or we can do it the hard way, and we both know that the hard way won’t be pleasant for the kids.”
“What?” I asked.
“What do you think it will do to them to see their mother locked in this house against her will? To see you fighting me every step of the way will only traumatize them needlessly. If you fight me and I have to trap you here, what do you think that means for them? For school and seeing your father? I promise you that you will be mine, regardless.”
I stumbled back when he released my wrists suddenly, falling to my back on the sofa. He moved to his knees, all languid and smooth in his movements despite the dramatic mass of his body. I had a moment to wonder what it must be like to be that large, to have to navigate the world and not fit in spaces where normal people never stopped to consider. The moment disappeared when he prowled over me, his hands resting on either side of my head and caging me in when he filled the space I’d left open after I’d fallen back. He stayed on his hands and knees, keeping a distance between our bodies even when he violated my personal space and trapped me beneath him. “I don’t want to scare them,” he said pointedly, his expression imploring me to see reason.
As if there was any reason to be found in the insanity he proposed.
“You’re scaring me,” I pointed out, but he didn’t seem to have any qualms about that.
He looked thoughtful for a moment, before the cold blaze in his blue eyes softened again. “I don’t want to scare you, Tesoro. I’ve told you I won’t hurt you, and I mean it. But my life isn’t the kind where I can just casually date you until you get used to being around me. My life is all or nothing.”
“Then let me choose nothing,” I hissed, pressing my hands against his chest. I both wanted and didn’t want to touch him. I felt at odds with myself when presented with that striking face of his leaning closer to me as he spoke every word.
“That is not an option. I left you alone when you were married. Let you have your illusion of a picture-perfect life, and then I gave you time to grieve before I took what is mine. Most men in my position would not have been nearly as generous.”
“Most men in your position?” I asked, and even I knew the words sounded tormented as they left my mouth. The old warehouse in the middle of nowhere, the fence, the security booth. Everything about the situation screamed that I was in over my head, that I’d walked into something I had zero chance of controlling no matter how desperately I tried to grasp the frayed edges of my life.
He let out a slow breath, seeming to debate something in his head before he dropped his forehead to rest against mine. “I’m not a good man. All you need to know for now is that there is nobody in this city who would dare to take you away from me.” I stilled beneath him, staring up into his intense gaze as horror filled me. “The cost of helping you would be far too great for anyone.” He vaulted up, holding out a hand to help me stand from the couch. I ignored it, standing on my own and making for the door. “Where are you going, Tesoro?” he asked with a sigh.
I didn’t answer, hope surging inside me when he didn’t interfere. I made it to the door, had my hand on the knob before his own came crashing down on it. I spun, glaring up at him and shoving him back.
Well, trying to shove him back, anyway. The man didn’t move, just grabbed my hands in his and p
inned them to his chest. Dragging me over to the kitchen table, he groaned dramatically before he picked up a piece of paper off the counter. When he handed them to me, I stared in horror at the zero where my account balance had been. There was no mistaking the glaringly obvious account number in the corner or the name of the bank where I’d stored all my savings. “What is this?”
“I’ve transferred your money into my account for safekeeping for the time being. When I feel it’s secure, we can talk about you having access to them, but until then you should know that you have no money. No house. If you think to leave me, I’ll target your dad’s shop,” he said, his voice cool and calculated as he delivered the crushing blow.
“Target it?” I whispered as my ears rang. This couldn’t be happening, not to me. Not to us.
“Do you think his reputation would survive if he was found to be selling cars loaded with drugs? Could his good name save him from the law when they came knocking? I don’t think so, not with me funding the prosecution.”
“They know him. They knew Chad. They know my father would never—”
“But you’re forgetting one very important detail, Sunshine. I own the police. There is nothing they can do to save your father from the frame job that they’ll help me accomplish, not without going against me. Remember that detail, if you think to turn to Jason for help. I own his boss, and I’ll destroy him if he tries to come between me and my woman.”
The paper in my hands dropped to the table as they trembled, and I turned hate-filled wide eyes up to his. “How could you do this? I’m a person. Doesn’t what I want matter to you?”
His hand lifted to cup my face, his thumb stroking over the spot on my cheekbone he’d touched all those years ago. The memory should have felt nostalgic, and it probably would have in any other circumstances. Back then, I’d thought him some kind of knight in shining armor for helping me when no one else did, for taking pity on a woman struggling with her two-year-old and alone in the park.
But in this moment it was only horrific.
“What you want means everything to me, Tesoro. One day, you’ll look back and see that I’ve only done what I have to do so we can settle into our lives quickly and painlessly.”
I huffed a breath as tears stung my eyes. He studied them, looking pained right along with me. “How is this painless?”
“I won’t ever hurt you, Calla,” he whispered, his voice cracking as if he was on the verge of breaking right alongside me. The hint of humanity was enough, just enough, to push me to appeal to it.
“You already are,” I said on a ragged sob. “This is hurting me.”
His jaw clenched, and he drew his hand away from me to step back and give me a hint of space. I looked at him hopefully, thinking for maybe just one moment that he’d listened. That he’d heard me and known I meant every word.
His hand went to his back pocket, fishing out a cell phone. He hefted it in his hand and stared at it, before his eyes came back to me. Whatever hint of kindness I’d thought I’d seen was gone, replaced by a steely determination that filled me with apprehension. “We can either go pick up the kids together, or I can have Axel pulled from school. I’ll go pick him up from my man that’s waiting outside, without you, and he can sit in the car wondering what the fuck is going on until you terrify him when he gets home. I don’t want to go this route, Calla. The ugly way is so unnecessary and the result will be the same.”
“They won’t release him to you if you’re not on his list of approved guardians,” I returned, the wobble in my voice shocking even me. Ryker turned to the table, picking up another paper and handing it to me.
“Those are all the donations I’ve made to the school in the last six months. The new gymnasium they’re building over the summer will be the Fiore Gymnasium. Surely you’ve heard of that project?” I felt my face go cold with the realization that I recognized the name from their newsletter they sent home the month before. “Make your choice.”
I shook my head from side to side, refusing to believe him. Even with the striking number of zeros next to his donations, they wouldn’t play games with my son’s safety. I had to believe that. But when he sighed and dialed a number on his phone, his finger tapped the speakerphone so I could listen to the ringtone. Every single one felt like a strike to my chest, making my heart skip a beat.
“Peterson School for the Gifted. Please hold,” the woman’s voice on the other end of the line said. My body flinched, unable to deny that he had in fact dialed Axel’s school when presented with such a blatant fact.
“No! Okay, I understand,” I panicked, forcing the words out along with any of the remaining air in my lungs. “I understand,” I repeated. “Please don’t scare him.”
Ryker pushed the end call button on the phone, tucking it back into his pocket as he took my arm in his grip. The paper with his donations on it fluttered to the floor as he guided me toward the front door.
We stepped through it, and he didn’t bother locking it behind him. When I looked toward the gate, I found a man sitting in the guard booth.
Evidently Ryker only sent him away when they wanted to lure unsuspecting women inside.
Noted.
He guided me to a sleek black car that almost looked like an SUV in the driveway, opening the door and putting me inside. The interior was red and black leather and it screamed money as I settled in the seat, momentarily stunned. He took the seatbelt in his hand, reaching across my body to buckle me in like a child. As soon as the car door closed, I resisted the urge to pull it open. When he dropped into the driver’s seat, it almost seemed absurd how much space he took up. It wasn’t a tiny car, but it felt infinitely smaller with him inside it.
I had to wait until we were off the property, though how I would get to my kids before him when I didn’t have a fucking car would take some creative maneuvering. “You can’t do this. Please don’t do this,” I begged instead. I might not have known him, but I had little doubt that my pleas would fall on deaf ears. He didn’t care what I might want or what my kids might need. Having a stranger insert himself into their lives and uproot them from their home was the absolute opposite of what they needed.
As I expected, he started up the car and the screen on the dashboard flashed with the Maserati logo. “We should get one more thing straight before we run into any problems while we’re out,” he announced, backing out of the front of the house and turning down the driveway. The gate opened for him before we got there, and he coasted through smoothly as he nodded at whoever the hell worked the gate.
“Is this the part where you tell me you’ll kill me if I talk?” I asked tartly, crossing my arms over my chest.
He chuckled, and the humorous sound made my body vibrate with a need I didn’t understand. It was rough, hoarse in a way that I suspected came from disuse. “No, Sunshine. I meant it when I said I won’t hurt you. That includes murder, the last I checked.”
“Funny.” I gave him the finger.
“I have no such hang-ups with anyone else though, I assure you. I will not let anyone come between us. Do you understand what that means?” I shook my head, pursing my lips. It didn’t sound like there could be very many interpretations of that statement, but he couldn’t be that insane.
Could he?
“It means that if you go to someone for help, know that I will make them disappear. It will not be a pleasant experience for whoever helps you. So unless you want that on your conscience, I suggest you mind your tongue around other people.”
I winced but nodded. “So let me get this straight. You’re using my family to keep me cooperative in the privacy of your house, and you’re using other people to keep me from getting help, and what? I’m supposed to like you? Is that how you see this playing out?”
He glared at me out of the side of his eye, but underneath the annoyance it felt like there was genuine amusement there. “That’s about right,” he said.
“Great.” I grinned at him. “I’m not sure when you last dated, but
in case it was the stone age maybe it’s time to modernize your strategy.”
“Calla,” he warned with a drawl. “I swear to fuck, tame the sass unless you want me to pull over and spank your ass.”
Something in my stomach clenched.
Nope. Down girl.
The psychotic man was not on the menu.
“What pray-tell are we going to tell my children then? Since they can’t know you’re a scary man, but apparently you won’t hurt us. How do we make them understand that you didn’t exist to them yesterday, but now we live with you?”
He didn’t bat an eye as he shifted gears once we got off the dirt road. “You let me handle that.”
“Um, no. They’re my kids. If I’m supposed to do this to shelter them from the fact that you seem to think it’s okay to just pluck people from their lives and make them dance for you, then I need to know what the plan is.”
“You can dance for me anytime,” he said instead of answering.
“Ryker!” I hissed in annoyance, but even I had to admit that in any other circumstances where he didn’t make me want to stab out his eyeball, I might have been entertained by him. For a man who chuckled like he’d forgotten how to laugh, he seemed to have a smart comment for everything I said. Like he lived inside my head and could predict my words before I spoke.
And I’d officially creeped myself out.
He glanced over at me, all traces of humor gone from his eyes as they darkened. My brain shouted at me to retreat, but with him barreling down the highway there was zero chance of that. “Say it again,” he ordered.
I fumbled over my thoughts, wondering what the hell had come out of my mouth to piss him off so much when he’d smiled through insults. “Ryker?” I asked finally.
He let out a deep breath, releasing some tension that had filled him so suddenly. “There was a time when I never thought I’d hear you say my name.”
Half of me melted, because it was oddly sweet to see how much it affected him. But the other part screamed danger.
Grieved Loss: A Dark Mafia Romance (Bellandi Crime Syndicate Book 3) Page 6