by Penelope Sky
He chuckled. “And they still like her?”
“It made my brother like her more, actually. That’s how we are.”
“Catalina is a lot like her mother, certainly in appearance. But I don’t think she realizes she gets more of her feistiness from me.”
“Yeah…I noticed.”
“I’m very proud of the woman she’s become. I never raised her to choose the right man to take care of her. I raised her to take care of herself. So, when she chooses a man, she doesn’t do it because she needs him, it’s because she wants him.”
I stared at the side of his face, seeing a young man in his still-bright eyes. “It took me a while to convince her to give me a chance.”
“She’s stubborn,” he said immediately. “She also gets that from me.”
“You aren’t stubborn at all,” I said honestly. “Damien is, though.”
He chuckled at my joke. “Yeah, he is.”
Catalina handed a gift to Anna. “This is for you.”
“What did you get her for Christmas?” he asked me, continuing our quiet conversation.
“Ballet slippers…in pink.”
He turned his head more toward me, giving me his entire attention. His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked into mine, like he needed further explanation.
“Ever since she got hurt, she’s been afraid she’ll never dance again. But I know she will…it’s just a reminder.”
Approval moved into his eyes. “She probably loves that more than the ring.” His eyes shifted back to them, seeing Anna pull out a top with a scarf.
I noticed he was different with me than his children. I’d heard him interact with his daughter in her apartment, and he was so kind, gentle, affectionate. He was nothing like he was now, as if there was something about me that brought out this side of him. He wasn’t even like that with Damien.
Why?
“I noticed you aren’t wearing your ring.” He didn’t glance down to my right hand where my skull diamond usually sat. “Does that mean you turned it in?”
“Not yet.” I absentmindedly rubbed the naked knuckle, feeling slightly off-balance without the weight in place. “Still tying up loose ends. But I have a successor in mind.” When I realized what he’d said, I turned back to him. “How did you know about the ring?” The Skull King always wore a piece of jewelry that symbolized his power. My brother and I got our hands on the rings and wore them as representation. But I didn’t see how he would know that—unless Damien told him.
He turned his gaze on me completely, his eyes focused. “This stays between us.” He lowered his voice further, making sure the other three didn’t overhear us.
I nodded in agreement.
He leaned toward me, his elbows against the armrests, the loose skin on his arms covered with old freckles. “Because once upon a time…I was the Skull King.”
I didn’t see Catalina the same way anymore.
Her father’s secret changed everything.
After my family went home that night, I left all the dishes in the sink to clean tomorrow, but I didn’t care about that right now. As much as I’d enjoyed having Balto and Cassini over, celebrating our first Christmas as a four-member family, my mind had been somewhere else.
Now I had a secret I could never share.
Without having to ask, I knew Damien had no idea.
If he did, he wouldn’t hate me so much. It was a secret Richard kept from his family, and he confided in me because he knew I would understand. That was why he was different with me, why he gave me a chance when Damien never would. It was why he spoke to me so easily, connected with me when we seemed to have nothing in common.
It all made sense.
When my family was gone, I was finally alone with her.
She set the glasses in the sink and turned to me, her eyes a little sleepy from the wine she’d drunk throughout the entire day. “Well, I think that was a nice Christmas.”
I didn’t listen to a word she said. I came closer to her, cornering her against the kitchen counter until my hands gripped the edge on either side, giving her no way out, even though she would never run from me.
She stilled, her back straightening with tension, the words dying in her mouth because she knew now wasn’t the time to speak.
I breathed hard as I stared at her, looking at those green eyes like they were buried treasure. She was already the love of my life, the woman who stole my heart on the night she basically quoted Beyoncé and threw me off my game. I couldn’t remember the moment I fell in love, but now I understood why. I’d always been in love with her, felt that way before we crossed paths, because those feelings had been programmed at birth. “We’re meant to be together.” I bored into her gaze with mine, needing her to understand what I was saying, needing her to believe in destiny the way I believed in it—with my own heart.
I loved the daughter of a Skull King—and it all made sense.
She was everything I wanted in a woman. She was hard like steel, feisty like a madwoman, argumentative like a pain in the ass. She didn’t put up with shit because she was royalty, a daughter of a king.
She was meant for me.
Fucking made for me.
But I could never tell her why, never betray her father’s confidence, and I would carry his secret even when he was in the grave.
She stared at the intense expression on my face, her body still rigid because she could feel the pulsing emotions inside me, the chaos inside my mind. But then her eyes softened at my words, the way I meant them with every piece of my heart. “I know…”
I wanted to believe her, but there was no way she could believe it the way I believed. “I mean it. The universe made you for me. Made me for you.” My hands moved to her face, cupping her cheeks, looking at her with such an intense form of arousal that I’d never thought I was physically capable of feeling. All our other nights together seemed tame compared to this.
Both of her hands gripped my wrists, staring at me as her chest rose and fell with deep breaths. “Why are you saying this…?”
I could never tell her, never share that fact with her even though I desperately wanted to. “I just know…and I want you to know.” My hands tilted her chin up, and I devoured her mouth, kissing her harder than I ever had, like it was the first time I got to have her, the first time she would be mine. “I fucking love you…with all my goddamn soul.”
Twenty
Catalina
I had no idea what had gotten into Heath.
He couldn’t get enough of me.
He was on top of me, his heavy body pressing me into the mattress, the sweat rubbing against my skin as he moved. He gave it to me slow and deep, his endurance better than it’d ever been. He wanted to be with me all the time these days, didn’t bother making dinner sometimes and just ordering a pizza because he’d rather do this, which wasn’t like him at all.
Christmas had been days ago, and whenever he wasn’t at work, he was doing this.
Making love to me.
He grabbed me hard, kissed me hard, fucked me hard, did everything hard. Sometimes, his body shook when he had me, like the fire in his soul consumed him completely. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth now, the sweat from his forehead mixing with our kiss. Maybe my family’s approval made him realize he would never lose me and that turned him on in a way it never had before. My ring was always on my finger, and I never took it off, even when I showered.
His arm slid underneath my lower back and lifted me, effortlessly holding me while he thrust into me, deepening the angle and making me wince as my tits bounced. He looked into my eyes as he made love to me, as he consumed me, conquered me. We weren’t even married yet, and he treated this like a honeymoon.
It hurt to have him that deep, but I came anyway because the look in his eyes was so fierce, like he loved me more than ever before and that the love had risen to new heights, unbelievable heights.
He tugged me into him, releasing at the same time, our slick bodies com
ing around each other.
He kissed me when he was finished, kissed me like he wasn’t satisfied at all. It was a kiss full of desire, the taste of his sweat potent on his tongue. When he pulled out of me and got off, he immediately went into the bathroom to rinse off in the shower, like he intended to go to work.
I lay there, feeling sore now that the hormones were gone.
Jesus, I’ve never been fucked like that in all my life.
I pulled the sheets up my body even though I was warm and sweaty. But I was ready to sleep hard.
He came out minutes later and headed for his closet. He slipped on his long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and pulled on his heavy boots. His skull ring was never on his hand anymore, so I wasn’t sure what he’d done with it. He grabbed his phone and slipped it into his back pocket. “I’ll see you in the morning.” He leaned over me and kissed me goodbye.
“Bye. Love you.”
He kissed my neck before he straightened. “Love you too, baby.”
Then he was gone.
I jolted wide awake when I heard a sound I’d never heard before in my life.
Like a train had just crashed head on into a building.
The sound was too loud to be something I’d dreamed. My adrenaline spiked, and my heart raced like my life was on the line. It was too extreme to be something I’d just made up.
Then I heard it again.
It was coming from the other side of the house—near the entrance.
I jumped out of bed and pulled on my clothes. I nearly tripped getting into my jeans, and my hair got caught in my sweater when I pushed my head through the neck hole. I snatched my phone and ran down the hallway, getting to the monitor on the wall that showed the camera feed.
“Holy shit.” I covered my mouth when I saw the group of men outside the front door, carrying a large metal cylinder that they banged against the front door, trying to break it down like they were the Romans who’d come to conquer.
I didn’t know what the hell to do.
I could open the garage and drive away, but that seemed too risky. There were probably men waiting for me to do that. I imagined they were here for Heath, or they knew he was gone…and I was alone.
I called Heath as I ran back down the hallway to the bedroom, where the guns were located.
He picked up right away. “I’m on my way.” He was calm even though he knew exactly what was happening on our doorstep. “It’s going to take them a long time to get through the door, so don’t be scared.”
“Don’t be scared?” I asked incredulously. “Jesus, there are at least twenty of them—”
“Listen to me.” He shut me up because there wasn’t time. “Grab an automatic rifle from the closet. They’re all loaded.”
“I don’t know how to use a gun. You never showed me—”
“You can do it, baby. Press it against your shoulder, not your collarbone.”
Now I was getting really scared. “Am I really going to have to shoot these guys?”
“It’s just in case.”
Oh my god, I couldn’t believe this was happening. The loud gong sounded again, making me jump and scream.
He didn’t react. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. I called Balto—”
“I don’t want him to risk his life for me.” He was going to be a father. If something happened to him…
“I called Damien too.”
No, not my brother.
“But I will get there first. I will take care of this. I promise.”
“Oh my god…oh my god.”
“Baby, come on.” He gave me tough love. “Stay in our room, aim that gun, and blow anyone to hell that comes for you.”
“Okay…”
“I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.”
“I love you.” He barked it out like he was saying it to one of his men, not his woman.
“I love you too.”
Click.
I put my phone in my pocket then grabbed one of the rifles from the drawer.
Shit, it was heavy.
I found the safety and clicked it off then held the rifle with both arms, keeping the butt of the gun against my shoulder. Then I waited, listened to the gong every forty-five seconds like clockwork. This wasn’t the same as when Heath snuck up on me at the car. He was just one guy, so I had a chance. Right now, there were twenty men trying to break down a solid steel door to get to me.
To do nothing good.
So, yeah…I was pretty fucking scared.
Then the sound changed, like the two doors had flown open and slammed against the walls.
“Shit, that’s not good…”
Shouts from the men came from downstairs, loud grunts like they’d put down the big cylinder they’d used to break down the doors and get inside. Then footsteps sounded as they ran up the stairs.
“Shit...shit…shit.” Where the fuck was Heath?
A man spoke into the house, his voice deep, taunting. “Come on out, baby. Give daddy a big kiss.”
My finger rested against the trigger, seeing the men reach the top of the stairs and step into the house.
My house.
I stepped out of sight of the doorway so they wouldn’t see me right away.
When there was no response from me, the taunts continued. “That’s fine. I love hide-and-seek anyway.”
Footsteps sounded outside the bedroom as men came down the hallway, heading right toward me like they knew exactly where Heath’s bedroom was located—and that’s where I’d be hiding.
My heart was beating so fast.
Time slowed down because I knew this could be my last few moments of life.
But I wasn’t going to go down easy.
Every minute counted, and Heath could arrive at any second. Or Balto. Or my brother. So, what I did now could really make a difference.
I went full Scarface on their asses. “Say hello to my little friend, assholes.” I stepped into the doorway, right where six of them stood, peeking into the other doors like I was there. I pulled the trigger and didn’t let go.
The power of the gun nearly made me stumble back. But I kept my feet planted hard against the wood and didn’t let go of the trigger, the machine gun firing off rounds into the guys, making them drop like flies to the ground.
Smoke rose from the barrel of my gun.
I couldn’t believe I’d just done that.
“I’m not gonna lie.” The taunting voice returned, without a face. “That was pretty impressive.”
I squeezed the trigger, pointing at no one in particular. But I was out of bullets.
“Yeah, that’s what I counted on too.”
I threw the gun on the floor and returned to the closet to grab another.
His footsteps sounded. “Baby, look at your daddy.”
I opened a drawer and found a pistol.
He fired his gun, making the glass on top of the cabinet shatter.
I stilled, breathing hard as I stood there, unable to look my attacker in the face. I felt like I was in the basement again, powerless. My face started to hurt because those old injuries suddenly felt brand-new.
“Look at me.”
I refused.
“Look at me—or I’m going to start by shooting you in the foot, then the hand, and then I’m gonna shove this barrel up your ass and pull the trigger.”
Why did I blow through all those bullets when I didn’t need to?
I slowly turned to him, forcing myself not to react when I saw his face.
His disgusting face.
With dark eyes, a scar down one eye, and maniacal look of victory on his face, he was pure evil.
I’d rather die than let him touch me.
“Get over here.” He lowered his gun and nodded.
“No.”
His eyes narrowed, accompanied by a smile. “That word has never sounded so sexy until now. I’m gonna enjoy this far more than I should.” He stuck his gun into the back of his jeans then came for me.
The
glass on the top of the shelving unit was broken, so I grabbed the pistol sitting there then pointed it at his face.
But he was too quick, knocking it from my hand before he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me from the floor.
I gripped his wrists as I struggled to breathe, the pain excruciating as my entire body weight hung from the top of my frame.
“Baby, no one says no to me.” He set me on the floor and kept his arm around my neck, dragging me across the floor to the door.
I gasped for air, my windpipe finally open again.
He dragged me forward—like a fucking dog.
“Catalina.” Heath’s terrified voice echoed through the house, sounding different than he ever had before, sounding like a man with a thousand bullet wounds.
“Bedroom—”
The man shook me hard, making me silent. “The man of the hour. I’m glad you took time from your schedule to show up.” He positioned me in the doorway, his arm around my neck as he held me close.
Heath stood with his pistol at his side, breathing hard, like every breath was painful for him. He looked unarmed—but so defeated. His face was tinted with rage, but his eyes were heartbroken, like he’d rather die than have to watch this.
“Step aside, Heath.” The man pushed me forward slightly, using my body to protect his.
He raised his pistol.
“Go ahead.” He forced my head to block most of his face. “Hope you’ve got a good aim.”
Heath’s hand shook as he held the gun, furious that there was nothing he could do. He had all the power in the world, but none at the moment.
“Step aside. I’m taking your girl with me.” He forced me forward, squeezing my neck tight so I could barely breathe. “You know what I’m going to do with her, Heath? I’m a kinky guy, so use your imagination.”
Heath was so angry that his eyes started to coat with moisture. “What do you want, Vox? You want me?” He raised his hands in the air. “Take me. She’s not the one you want.” He tapped his chest with his hand. “I am.”
“And I have you, more than I would if I were touching you.” He pushed me forward again. “Tell your men to back down. Or I could snap her neck right now. How do you want this to play out?” He kicked my knee from underneath me and forced me down, moving his hand to the roots of my hair, dragging me across the floor.