by Jax Hart
My hands make quick work of my belt. I stroke myself from root to tip inches from her. She shrinks back but there’s nowhere to go. Her bare back scrapes against the wall.
“I never loved you,” she spits, straightening her spine.
The devil in me rises. Fuck her. My family and this whole fucking world. I have everything. Everything a man alive could want. I will have her love. No matter how long it takes. I. Will. Have. Her. Heart. Just so I can smash it to pieces, leaving it shattered at my feet.
I could shove my cock in her mouth. It’d be easy. But I don’t. My fingers grab her by the chin. “Open your eyes. Look at me.” I command.
“No.”
“Do it. Or I’ll fuck your face.”
“You wouldn’t. I know you, Roque. You’re ruthless in everything you do until it comes to women. You’d never force one.”
“Exception is my new pet name for you, bella. Because you just became one.”
With that promise, the head of my throbbing cock meets her trembling lips. Soon. Both my seed and my blood drips from her mouth. Satisfied, I grunt feeling the last shudder roll through me as my own seed glistens in the moonlight from where it landed on her lips. She betrayed me while I was at my weakest, practically at death’s door. She brought me back. It was her voice I heard while hooked up to beeping machines. Her soul kept me tethered to this Earth, this life. What I fool I was. Johnny was right. She never loved me. Not like I loved her. Her love was never real. All this time I wasted on a damn fantasy on some asinine belief that we were fated since that day in Palermo.
What a fucking fool. Never again. I’ll never love her again. But my revenge will be to make her beg for the days when I did. I’ll break her every day until I leave this Earth for good. I need some space from her before I do something stupid like break her body.
I turn on my heel not even sparing her one more glance. The door slams so hard my own ears cringe. I lock the door using a special code so not even my own men can get in. My fingers find the spot on my chest where the bullet ripped through me. She did more damage to my heart than an entire clip could. I take the stairs, marching up to the penthouse floor. Soon after I bought my place here in Chicago, I bought out the five floors under me for security. I tucked Romina into an empty apartment right under my own nose.
As soon as I enter my penthouse, I go for the safe. My bloodied hands find her journals then mine. I grab a bottle of vodka, my lighter and add some kindling into the fireplace. I douse the wood with alcohol then light it. In my hands is all the love. All the passion recorded over the years in my blue ink.
It feels heavy.
I let it go.
“Roque? What are you doing?’
“CHLOE?!” I spin, finding my tiny blond bay doll inches from me. She throws herself into my arms.
“I’m so mad at you! You were shot and never told me? Never called?!”
“How did you get here?”
“I flew commercial.”
“You need to go back to school.” A piece of kindling snaps, drawing her attention to the fire.
“No!!!” She lets me go, using the poker to push my diary from the flames. The edges smoke,
“Why?”
I shrug. “It was time to let it go. You shouldn’t be here.”
“Where else would I be. You could have at least called and let me now you are okay.”
“But I’m not okay, Chloe.” I whisper watching the flames. My heart is shredded, shredded and bleeding out. I didn’t die on the island but I’m dying right here. Right now. I close my eyes; my hands grip the mantle as a shudder rips through me. The next thing I know—my face is wet. She did it. Broke me. Took me down and she didn’t need the wire for the feds. All it took was four words. I never loved you.
“Oh, Roque.” Chloe’s slim arms come around me. I hug her back, letting my anguished cries out. I weep in her embrace, letting her comfort me. “It’ll be okay. Whatever it is. We’ll get through it together. You have me now.”
“I-I failed you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You asked me to get you Romina for your mother.” I reach into my pocket, taking out the flawless eight-carat cushion cut ruby set in platinum. It catches the light from the fire. Shrugging, I toss it to the flames. I pick up Romina’s journals, but Chloe puts a hand on my arm. “Those aren’t your words to burn.”
“It’s all fiction.”
She sighs, taking the books from me. Then she goes to the wet bar and douses my fire with ice and water. “We’ll save the ring later. First, we need to salvage the ending to this love story.”
“Impossible.”
She rolls her eyes. She has the nerve to roll her damn eyes as she goes back to the wet bar and dampens a cloth before coming back to me and dabbing my busted knuckles. “What happened after she found me in Switzerland?”
I suck in a breath. “She traded her freedom for mine. Cut a deal with the Feds to turn me in. She seduced the shit out of me in Miami, found me on death’s door in the Bahamas and saved my life just to crush it.”
“How?”
“She gave me her blood. My body soaked it up, her life gave me life. Then she recorded me confessing to killing an undercover agent during a raid. Only I was the bad guy raiding the other bad guy.”
Chloe takes my hand, leading me to the couch, then she fixes me a scotch, neat. “What were you doing in the Bahamas, again?”
“Saving lost, little girls.”
“Like me?”
“You, if I hadn’t come along.” She sucks in a deep breathe.
“And where does Romina fit in all of this?”
“She believed I was involved. She actually thought trafficking was part of my business and agreed to find evidence on me.”
Chloe’s brow wrinkles. “I can’t believe that. Why would she ever believe you could be capable of doing something like that?”
“You’ve read our story. I guess it is a believable plot twist. Afterall I did kill her once.”
“I’m so sorry. I’d never believe you capable of that, Roque.”
“I know. You’re my girl, Chloe… my family. Shit, I’m going to cry again. If you tell anyone you’ve seen me cry, I might have to kill you.”
She smacks my arm. “That’s what make you so special, Roque. You feel so much. Your feelings and emotions run deeper than you ever admit to yourself. It’s good to let it out. You’ll feel better after.”
“Tell that to the wall, I punched three holes in.”
“Where is she?”
I look away. “You need to get back to school. I’m paying a shit ton of tuition. I expect high marks.”
“Now you’re back to being the tough guy?”
“Sure am, squirt.”
“Where’s Johnny? And all the guys you usually have around the building?”
“I gave them the night off.”
“Ok, what gives. What is going on? You just got shot, look like your skin is tinted a light shade of gray, and you have no nurse or security?”
“I’m invincible, remember?”
“Cut the shit.”
“Go back to school!”
“Argh! You’re so impossible!” She angrily “fluffs” a pillow by punching it.
“Are you going to tell me what happened between you and Romina?” I remember the way I left her naked and chain below us wearing nothing but what I left behind.
“No.”
She punches the pillow again. “Did you…?”
“No. Killing her would be the end of what’s left of me.”
I sigh, not able to stay here. If I do—I’ll just end up back downstairs. Romina’s a dangerous drug. I might end up actually hurting her again because my emotions are so out of control.”
“I need to leave. I have business. You can’t stay here alone.”
“I’m too tired to get back on another plane. I just wanted to check that you were in fact still alive. It would really suck if you weren’t. I’d be bac
k in the system.”
“Never. Dare and Shi agreed to be your legal guardians if that were to happen.”
“Really?”
“I always look after you, squirt. Even if something happened to me.” This time Chloe’s the one choking on a sob as I pull her in for a tight hug. “Go take a shower and catch up on some rest. I’ll call your school and explain that you’ll be back in a few days. I’ll get the jet ready to fly you. Ni more commercial. That’s not good enough for my baby girl.”
“Where are you going?”
I get up. “To find the agent who threatened Red and deal with him. He showed her pictured of me with sex slaves, but he twisted the truth. His informant knew I never touched them. The informant also could’ve done the right thing when my syndicate raided the place. I was there to free them, but he sent texts saying I was there to steal them for my own profits. No matter what I do, someone is always working against me.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
I shrug. “Collateral damage of the life I chose to live is not your worry, squirt. I’ve comeback from worse. This time will be no different. Will you be okay staying here overnight by yourself?”
“Please. You have more security than a sitting president.”
“True. My building is secure and surrounded. I expect your ass back in the classroom by the end of the week, understood?”
“Yes, sir. But I expect you to answer my calls and respond to my texts, no matter what. Ok?”
My lips quirk. “Deal.”
I wait until Chloe shuffles off to her room before finishing my drink. I need a hot shower and a fresh suit. I’m going to break that fucker’s face. Whoever it was who turned Romina against me and convinced her I really was the monster in the dark is going to pay. I have her phones. When everything is in place, I’ll make contact. My team is already on the hunt. With Johnny’s family contacts in New York is wasn’t hard to track down that the agent is part of the D.C. Bureau. All I need now is a name. I pick up Romina’s phone from her bag. It’s locked. Protected by her fingerprint. I smirk. My shower can wait, getting into her phone can’t. Whistling, I place it in my pocket and exit the penthouse.
9
Chloe
It’s pretty dumb to spy on your super-villain adopted dad, but I just knew he was up to something. I went into my room, turned the shower on and got dressed into black workout pants and a matching top. I put my hair up under a baseball cap and armed with nothing else but my phone, hid inside the kitchen pantry with the door slightly cracked.
He was grinning and whistling as he left. I decided to wait ten minutes to make sure he was in the garage before I began snooping. I know he has a control room somewhere in this building loaded with cameras. Roque is kind of like God; he has eyes and ears on everything.
Just as I’m about to leave my hiding spot, he shoots me a text:
Roque: Mrs. Fritz will be there in fifteen minutes to stay with you until you go back to Europe.
Me: I don’t need a babysitter.
Roque: You’re underage. I’ll go to jail for neglect if I leave you alone.
Me: That would be funny if that of all things is what they get you for.
Roque: Go to bed.
Me: I was trying to…
As I was texting Roque back, I hear Mrs. Fritz knocking on the penthouse door. I turn the handle to open the pantry door when there’s a huge boom. The kitchen walls shake. I peer out the pantry door seeing debris spread and a bit of smoke. “We have a search warrant, Salvatore. We’re coming in. Put your arms up or we’ll shoot!”
I’m trapped. Terrified. I clap my hand over my mouth as one of the agents picks up the charred pages of Roque’s diary. All of his secret words, stolen thoughts are there. The edges are burned but the heart of his soul is still there. I checked.
“The bedrooms are clear. No one’s home.”
“Boss, there’s enough here for an arrest warrant, maybe a conviction. He left his damn diary!”
“Check out this one. It’s written by a woman. There are years of information on this guy. The stupid fuck just handed himself over on a platter in his own words, no less.”
“Check his office again. If he’s stupid enough to leave this out in plain sight, there must be more. Grab his computers.”
They move off and I know I don’t have much time. I grab my purse with my passport in it from the kitchen counter, slipping out the door. Another agent is in the hall, but his back is to me and he’s on his cell. I duck into the emergency stairwell going down two floors when I hear footsteps coming up from below. Panicked, I enter the floor where a few of his guard’s have residences. But they are also crawling with agents.
Fuck.
I call Roque. “Chloe?”
“Roque! We have a major situation! Right after you left the Feds showed up with guns and broke down your door with like a bomb or something.”
“Are you okay?”
“I hid in the pantry. I escaped. But they are everywhere. Your whole building is covered. They took the journals.”
He curses.
“Where are you now.”
I look up. “Three floors down, hiding in an alcove.”
“Listen very carefully. Go to 27807. Enter the code 5560. When you get inside go the back bedroom. Move the bed. Behind the headboard is a small door to a secret inner stairwell to the building…. Stay on the phone with me until you get there.”
“Okay.”
I creep down the hall, checking the gold numbers on the door until I find the apartment. I punch in the code and enter. It reeks of Johnny’s cologne. The man must bathe in it.
“Is this Johnny’s place?”
“One of them. Focus, Chloe. They won’t be far behind…”
“I’m in the bedroom. But this bed is huge, and I have like zero bicep muscles.”
“You can do it. You’re tiny. The bed’s on sliders.”
It takes everything I have to get the bed to move. I end up using my boney ass and squatting using my legs to power the movement, but the bed finally slides enough for me to get between it and the wall.
“Okay. I see the door.”
“Punch in the numbers 0007.”
“Are you serious? You are such a dork.”
The door opens and I step inside a small passage that leads to stairs. “This is the part where you’ll hate me. You’ll see me for the monster I am not the dark prince you hope me to be.”
“Now you are scaring me.”
“I’m sorry. I never wanted you to see this side of me…”
“What is it.”
“I need you to rescue Romina. She’s naked. Chained. Bloody, dirty… I fucked her.”
“Did she consent?”
“She hates herself because she always does. She’s in a room two floors down. You need to get her and hide until it’s clear.”
“Do you want me to keep her prisoner?”
“No, Chloe. I don’t want you getting mixed up in anything. Use the same code I just gave you to access the suite she’s in. I won’t blame you if you want out of this…our family and away from me. I’ll still pay for Switzerland.”
“Shut up. Just shut up and figure a way out of this mess.”
“I already have.”
“Okay. I’m here and I’m hanging up.”
“Chloe—"
My hands are slippery as I punch in the code from the hidden lair in the heart of his skyscraper. The door swings open. It would be pitch black, but the empty room is wall to ceiling windows. She’s crouched in a ball in a far corner with her back to me.
“Fuck off and die.”
“Ummm, I’m kind of here to rescue you…”
“Chloe? What are you doing here?”
I run forward, sobbing, suddenly terribly relieved to see an adult I know can get us both out of this. I try not to throw up at the condition he left her in. I look away from the residue left on her skin. Despite being naked, chained, and filthy she rises like a true queen. Her eye
s are strong and sure. I believe in her, despite what Roque said about her betraying us. “The building is locked-down by the Feds. They came for Roque but somehow, he’s clear. They can’t find us.”
I dial Roque. “We need the key.”
“It’ s on the windowsill.” I cross to the floor, find the key and scurry back to Romina. “Put me on speaker when you release her.”
I do what he says. “Take this.” I unzip my hoodie and place it over her shoulders. The press speaker on my phone.
“Are you there?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“I love you both. Romina you were the first person who taught me I could love. That I didn’t have to be like Constantine. Chloe, loving you was unexpected. In these past short months, you’ve given me a glimpse of what life with a family could be like…
“Roque—what are you saying?” I start sobbing. Romina places an arm around my shoulders.
“Romina. Blue, my Lady of Red… take care of her. Get her clear of this, make sure she gets back to Switzerland where no one can touch her. Dare is her guardian now.”
“No!” I scream. Romina puts a hand over my mouth.
“They’ll hear you,” she hisses. “What are you doing Roque?”
“Look out the window toward the street, love.”
We race to the bank of windows. Roque walks out from an alley into the light rain coming down. He raises his hands, kneels on the center of the street as agents and police swarm him with their guns drawn.
He looks up, knowing his building so well, to the exact bank of windows where we peer down on him on his knees in the rain.
“I’m on my knees for you, my queen. Just like you always wanted.” His cell is on the pavement still on speaker.
I turn to Romina, her beautiful eyes weep. Tears glisten like diamonds as they fall down her face.
“I love you, dad. I’ll never stop.”
He throws back his head, the anguish on his face obvious as the officers pull his arms down, to cuff him.
“Come on. We need to move. They’ll bring heat seekers and canines in if they haven’t already.” She rummages through the apartment finding a coat and her shoes. “Where did you come from?”