by Nadia Aidan
Their bodies came together in twisted limbs, slick with water, and he clung to her, the wet heat of her pussy clenching tight around him with every thrust. It was heaven inside her, to lose himself within her wanton body. He’d only ever abandoned himself to the pleasures of the flesh once. Only with Selena, only in her arms.
She moaned against his lips, and he swallowed the throaty sound deep inside him, their breath becoming one as their bodies tightly fused together. When she rocked back against him, sending him tunnelling deeper, all pretence of control disappeared.
He wrenched his lips from hers to bury his face in the hollow of her throat where he could drink in her scent. His cock pummelled inside her, through the taut muscles of her tender flesh. The tingling at the base of his spine warned him of his impending release and he unfurled his hand from her wet hair to snake it between the slick, wet lips of her cunt. He thrummed her clit in time to the punishing rhythm of his strokes.
Their bodies slapped together, wet flesh against wet flesh. Tiny flutters feathered across his cock. She was close. He was close.
She cried out his name on the verge of her climax. He wanted…no, he needed to hear his name on her lips again in the throes of passion, as desperately as he needed to breathe.
“Say it again,” he rasped. “Call my name again. I want to hear my name on your lips when you come.”
“Adonis…”
She cried his name, then she screamed it as she splintered apart in his arms.
“Adonis!” It came unbidden from her lips on a ragged, panting moan.
In all his years pleasing others, no one had ever called his name as he’d made love to them, as he’d fucked them. He’d specifically instructed them not to. Not until Selena had he allowed another to call his name in the midst of climax. No one else but her.
Selena’s orgasm ripped through her, at the same time his own roared through him—his name stealing from her soft, sweet lips shattering him.
He clung to her, his fingers gripping hers tighter as he continued to spurt his seed deep inside her on a harsh, jagged groan.
“Selena.” Her name was wrenched from him, tortured and needy as he poured his fluids into her waiting flesh, as he filled her with his warm essence until he was spent and had nothing left of himself to give.
It was a long while before he noticed the water was freezing against his back—longer still before he found the strength to leave the warm, safe haven of her body and pull out of her.
When he did, they both felt the loss of contact as if their joined bodies had anchored them.
He turned off the water and, with her in his arms, he stepped from the shower. Silence stretched between them as he towel-dried her body and then his own. Neither one wanted to speak for fear of breaking the tenuous, fragile bond that now connected them, the truce their bodies had brokered.
When he finally did speak, his statement was perfunctory. “I will leave you to dress. When you are done, you can join me for breakfast if you wish. Otherwise, we can get an early start.”
“An early start?”
He nodded. “You said you know little of your mother’s estate. I say it is time we change that.”
* * * *
Ares’ domain was the very antithesis to Adonis’, yet it epitomised the man who governed it. Towering skyscrapers of dark-paned glass dominated the skyline, while the threat of death and violence was ever present in the air. There were few residences in the southern district—few could ignore the cold, harsh landscape of the architecture. Business was conducted in the southern district, and many came to enjoy the fleeting pastimes the sports teams offered, but, when night fell, most returned to their homes in the other districts where shadows did not encroach upon the light.
During the day, Ares’ domain was tolerable, despite the army of buildings that blocked out the sunlight and the routine fire crack of bullets, reminding all of the military’s presence as they trained daily.
Woodward Gowen’s attorney kept his office in the heart of the southern district, so that was where Selena and Adonis found themselves just before noon. McGurie and Associates was located in a small suite on the bottom floor of an eleven-storey, nondescript black building, which, Selena decided, was not quite as oppressive as the others.
As Selena stepped inside his office, she did not question Adonis as to how he’d discovered the identity of her father’s lawyer or if they even had an appointment. Adonis was a man of vast resources. Information he wanted, he got. As to whether they had an appointment, it did not matter. Adonis was a man for whom appointments were unnecessary. Rutherford McGurie would simply make one for them.
They were greeted by a pleasant-looking secretary, whose cheery face clouded with confusion then dismay when Adonis brushed past her desk. Selena had no choice but to follow.
“Sir, you cannot go back there—”
“Do not worry,” Adonis said to the fretful woman. “He’s expecting us.”
“But, sir—”
Adonis’ booted foot sent the door crashing inward. Again, Selena had no choice but to rush inside behind him. He slammed the door in the woman’s face.
“What is the meaning of—”
“Sit down, Rutherford.”
Rutherford McGurie was a jolly-faced, portly man. His expensive suit was too tight, the fat from his neck spilling over his designer shirt. His ruddy face reddened some more as he sputtered, but in the end he sat back down in his seat.
An imposing man in both stature and bearing, Adonis was even more so as he towered over the quaking attorney and Selena felt sorry for Rutherford, but she did nothing to ease his discomfort as she stood beside Adonis.
“Wh-who are you?” Rutherford questioned. “And wh-what do you want?”
“My name is Adonis. You may not know me, but I am certain you’ve heard of my father.” That got the man’s attention. Everyone had heard of Adonis, just as there was no one who resided in La Ville des Dieux who had not heard of Dieu.
Rutherford’s fear was palpable, the terror in his eyes unmistakable. His jowls wriggled as he gulped. “H-how may I help you, sir?”
“I need to see whatever documents you have on the estate of Selena and Serena Gowen, and their father Woodward.”
The man’s ruddy face turned pale white. “H-he is a client. I am not at liberty to disclose—”
The feral smile Adonis gave him made Selena’s blood run cold. She could only imagine what it did to the simpering attorney. “I am sure you will make an exception.” He glanced at her. “Besides, this woman is Selena Gowen. If I am correct, you are in possession of specific stipulations regarding her estate, which she is entitled to see.”
Rutherford’s attention snapped to her, and he plucked his glasses from the table, set them on his portly face to study her closer.
“Miss Gowen?”
She nodded.
All of a sudden he began rummaging through papers on his desk. Not finding what he searched for, he took his search to the file cabinets behind him. All the while, she could still smell his agitation in the air. She wondered what had him so riled, but soon found out.
He brandished a folder from the cabinet as if he was upon a stage performing magic. After several seconds of flipping through the large folder, he pushed it across his desk towards them.
What she read ignited the dark fire of rage inside her, setting her blood to boil. When the words began to swim before her eyes, she looked up, treating the man to the full weight of her angry glare.
“I am Selena Gowen, and I assure you I am very much alive.”
The blustering, blubbering attorney tugged at his tight collar as if he wished he was anywhere else. It wasn’t his fault, but that did not ease her fury.
“I am sorry. I was presented with a signed and triple sealed death certificate two days ago. In accordance with your mother’s will, your estate was transferred to your father.”
An estate worth millions—of which she knew nothing, and she was certain Serena
was just as ignorant. When Woodward had kicked them out, he’d disowned them, so they’d believed nothing of his was theirs.
The tragic events of her life began to fit themselves together in her mind as she skimmed through the documents before her, growing angrier with each piece of paper she read.
With Rosalind Gowen’s death, Woodward had retained guardianship of his daughters’ portion of their mother’s estate. Yet, Rosalind had made certain their apparently shiftless father could not touch a single dime of what was theirs, even as he was the guardian of their holdings. On her thirty-fifth birthday she would retain full control of her estate unless she was dead. With her dead, everything would become his.
Selena wasn’t dead, but Woodward had made it appear as such. Contained within the file were the pictures of the corpse found at the convent. There was no one to deny her death… except her.
“You said someone presented you with a death certificate. Who was it?” she demanded to know.
He hesitated. “I-it was your brother. Jarrod.”
She pursed her lips into a thin, tight line. Jarrod. The brother she didn’t know. The brother she’d never met. She was starting to understand some of his role in this treachery, but she wondered if he was an equal player or an innocent victim.
“How do we correct this?” It wasn’t about money. Selena didn’t need it, she didn’t even care. It was that her mother, who’d loved them, had left something to her only daughters, her only children, that her father had taken away, a man who’d never once shown them a measure of love, a man she was starting to realise didn’t love her or her sister at all.
Rutherford’s face was as helpless as it was hapless. “You could show me your birth certificate to prove your identity, but it is already too late. I transferred the money into the account I was given.”
Selena curled her hand into a fist and prayed she did not lose herself and slam it into his desk or worse.
“What about Serena’s portion?” Adonis asked, and she was grateful for his question because it reined in her fury, for a moment at least, and allowed her to focus on something else.
The attorney shuffled through a few papers. “As far as I can tell, it is still here. And it will be here until she is ready to claim it.”
She exchanged a brief look with Adonis that required no words for either of them to understand.
Serena’s portion was still there, but not for long. Either Serena would die, or someone else. It did not matter.
They needed to warn Serena to be on the alert. If someone could enter Adonis’ home, trap her within his bathroom and set it on fire, they could do the same to her sister. She turned to leave. There was nothing else Rutherford could do or say to help them.
Adonis apparently disagreed.
With almost superhuman speed, he was across the room, behind the large oak desk and dragging the wide-eyed man to his feet. Adonis pinned him against the wall, his fists curling into Rutherford’s already strained neckline.
“I am not entirely certain you are not protecting Woodward’s interests, or even that of his son’s, so before I leave I will need you to do two things.”
As much as Rutherford could, with two fists pressed to his neck, he shook his head.
“First, you will assure me that if anyone besides Serena Gowen walks into this office to claim her portion of her mother’s inheritance, you will turn that person away, and then you will contact me with his identity. Will you do that for me?”
“Y-yes. Of c-course,” he squeezed out.
“And second, you will reverse the fraudulent transaction that was made and return Selena Gowen’s inheritance to her—”
Selena protested. “Adonis, that is not necess—”
“I-I cannot do that,” Rutherford sputtered.
Adonis’ expression was lethal, deadly. “You cannot do it, or you won’t?”
“I do not have that authority—”
Adonis flung the attorney away from him as if he disgusted him. “Fine. I will see that my brother strips you of your licence, and then denies your lease until your practice is closed. I imagine that will take…oh…about a week? Only a negligent or incompetent attorney would allow something like this to happen. And which are you, Mr McGurie?” Adonis’ glare did not falter. “I suspect you are both.”
“No, no, there is no need to be so rash.” Rutherford McGurie chased after Adonis who was already headed for the door. He stopped to peer down at the bumbling man. Once McGurie had his attention, he poured forth a wealth of knowledge. “I cannot reverse such a transaction personally, but I am sure, if I give you a letter stating that I was just as much a victim of this fraud as Ms Gowen, and you take it to your brother, it will be well within his purview to see to this matter.”
Adonis did not hesitate in marching back to the attorney’s desk. He pulled something out of his suit jacket that caught a glimmer of light. She didn’t realise what it was until he placed it firmly into Rutherford’s fleshy hand.
“Then by all means please get started on typing this letter, and here is my pen for you to sign it.”
* * * *
Adonis made two calls as he left Rutherford McGurie’s office with an official, signed letter in his hand. The first was to Apollo—warning him that Serena was in even greater danger than they’d first suspected, and their homes were no longer safe.
“Take her somewhere even we wouldn’t suspect you to take her and have Eros go with you. Ares can stay with us. Only contact us if there is an emergency. I do not trust our cell phones.”
Selena did not realise until much later that Adonis meant for Apollo to disappear with Serena so that none of them would be able to track them, find them, or communicate with them.
His second call was to Ares and consisted of telling him to locate the transfer of money, and redirect it into his account. By the time they pulled away from Rutherford McGurie’s office, Adonis was pocketing his phone.
“What now?” she asked once they’d merged into traffic.
He glanced at her, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Adonis rarely smiled, if ever. It was disarming in a breath-stealing way.
“I am hungry. I would like to stop to eat. You?”
She was incredulous. “We just stole money back from whoever took it—”
“We know who took it.”
That wasn’t the point. “And he is going to want it back. You just told Apollo to take Serena and hide. Meanwhile, you want us to go out for lunch?”
“Yes, because he is already searching for Serena. He won’t be expecting us to reclaim the funds. We have maybe one day, even two, before either your father, Jarrod or both double back—”
“And then what? All hell breaks loose?”
His smile was grim. “I assure you, it will probably feel like worse. I believe money is just the foil. What has driven your brother and your father to seek your death is something far deeper.”
She scowled at him. “That is not comforting.” Selena looked away to stare out at the passing landscape.
She turned back around when he sighed. “Fifteen minutes. I only mean to stop at a restaurant to pick up something to eat. It will give you and I a break from being closeted in my father’s home, and all of us a welcome reprieve from Eros’ cooking.”
She didn’t want to smile, but she couldn’t stop the small grin from inching its way across her face. Eros’ culinary skills were lacking.
“Tell me the real reason why you want to stop for a while,” she said after she’d sobered.
He did not look at her, he didn’t have to. Selena knew what demons plagued him. She simply wanted to hear it from his lips.
“After I left, I swore I’d never return. My father’s home holds nothing but painful memories.”
“They were not all painful. There was a softness in your voice when you spoke of your mother.”
He glanced at her. “I wondered if you would mention that again.” Thankfully he turned his attention back to the road ah
ead of them. She hadn’t wanted to mention it, but they could not avoid the subject forever. “I have not told my brothers. I wouldn’t even know what to tell them.”
“There is nothing to tell. We shared what appears to be the same mother, but we do not know that for certain. How would telling them at this point change anything, when there are still so many unanswered questions?”
“I take it you have no intention of telling Serena then?”
She shook her head. “I have no doubt there is more to this story, but until we know it—as I said before—there is nothing to tell.”
He seemed to accept her decision with silent affirmation. For now, this would be their secret.
Adonis eased his foot off the brake when the stoplight turned neon green, but no sooner had he pressed the gas than he jerked the car to an abrupt halt. A shadow fell over them followed by a series of heavy thuds, as something pounded against the top of the car to the windshield then the hood until it stopped there.
Bile stuck in Selena’s throat at what she saw. She was too sick to scream.
But the pedestrians lining the sidewalks did it for her.
Chapter Nine
It had been Rutherford McGurie’s body on the hood of Adonis’ car. His portly frame had been stretched out on his stomach with his head twisted towards the windshield so his empty, unfocused eyes looked through them, seeing nothing. Blood had seeped out from under him, pooling around his body. They discovered he’d been shot, three times in the chest.
After contacting the proper authorities and having Rutherford’s body removed, she and Adonis drove home in a car haunted by silence with a dead man’s blood stained across it.
They were greeted by more silence when they returned to the empty estate. Presumably, Eros was now with Serena and Apollo, while Ares, who had not answered his phone in the past two hours, was nowhere to be found.