I let him pull me against him.
I let him be the revenge I needed against my husband, the man who had more power than anyone thought possible.
I let myself get absorbed in the moment.
A car door slammed, and my pulse skipped as I heard my name being shouted. I pulled away, keeping my gaze attached to Brad’s. “I’ll call you,” I whispered, putting my feet flat on the floor.
“Make sure you do,” he said in a daze, watching me as I turned.
I kept the mask in place as I sauntered down the path, seeing Mateo standing next to the open back door. I could just make out Lorenzo’s form from this far back, but the closer I got, the more I regretted what I’d done.
“Hey, Mateo,” I greeted. He’d normally talk back, but he stayed carefully silent, just like the rest of the SUV did as I got inside.
Mateo slammed the door shut and slipped back into the front, then sped away from my college. The atmosphere was icy, threatening to render me incapable, but as I sat there in silence with Lorenzo next to me, I realized I didn’t care.
I didn’t care if he was angry.
I didn’t care if I’d let Brad think we had something when we clearly didn’t.
I didn’t care if I’d just fucked up.
All I cared about was getting a reaction from Lorenzo. I needed something to keep me going. Something to explain why he blew hot and cold. Something to make me understand this entire fucked-up situation. But more than that, I just wanted him to feel even a little of what he made me feel when he fucked that woman in front of me.
The closer we got to the mansion, though, the more I wondered if I’d made the wrong move. Lorenzo hadn’t said a single word—hadn’t acknowledged me. Maybe he didn’t care? Maybe seeing me with another man meant he didn’t have to worry about me at all. Maybe I’d played right into his hands.
Mateo slowed down as we neared the gates. I grabbed my backpack, ready to dart out of the car and away from Lorenzo. He hadn’t even pulled to a full stop when I pushed open the door. And as soon as my feet hit the stones on the driveway, I ran inside the mansion as fast as I could.
I was hyperaware of the crunching stones behind me, but no one said a single word. I’d just put on a show and gained no reaction. I wasn’t sure what was worse: me pretending to like Brad and kissing him or Lorenzo saying nothing about it. I’d fucked up. I’d tried to play a dirty game, and I’d failed.
Tears streamed down my face, unstoppable in their path of pain. I didn’t make a move to swipe them away as I took the stairs two at a time. My breaths turned to gasps, my body threatening to close in on itself.
I was only a few feet away from my bedroom. Once I was inside, I could let it all go. I could scream and shout. I could hate on the people inside this house. I could—
A hand grabbed my wrist, halting me outside of my door. Long fingers tensed around my soft skin, promising to leave a bruise from their force.
I turned, meeting Lorenzo’s gaze for the first time since I’d watched him fuck that woman in his office. But I wasn’t prepared for what I would see reflected in his eyes. I wanted anger, but that wasn’t what I got.
Staring back at me was a man who waged war inside his own head.
A man who didn’t know what to do or what to say.
A man whose eyes lit with a roaring fire.
CHAPTER 10
LORENZO
I stared at her, trying to keep all of my emotions buried far down, but it was impossible as her big brown eyes stared up at me.
“You know what I do when someone takes something that’s mine?” I asked, my voice rough. I was on the verge of losing my mind and tearing everything to pieces. She’d done that. She’d managed to make me feel like this with one single move.
“I…” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I…”
I stepped closer to her, pressing her back against the wall. Her backpack hit the floor with a clang, but neither of us acknowledged it. “I take something away from them,” I growled, bending my knees so our faces were level. I saw the recognition in her eyes. She was thinking about our wedding night—remembering what she’d seen. “He took what’s mine,” I gritted out, the words so low only she and I could hear them.
“I’m not yours,” she snapped back, her feisty side making an appearance. “I’ll never be yours.”
My lips quirked. “Wanna bet on that, baby?”
“Fuck. You.” She tried to push her body off the wall, but all she managed to do was press against me. Her breath caught as I thrust my hips against her, letting her know exactly what she was doing to me.
“Is that what you want?” I asked, lifting her arm I held in my vise-like grip and planting it above her head. “You want me to fuck you?”
A muscle in her jaw twitched, her anger making an appearance. Maybe I’d underestimated her.
“I hate you,” she whispered. “I fucking hate you.”
I shook my head, pushing even closer to her. Nearly every part of our bodies touched, and fuck if I didn’t like the way she fit perfectly against me. “No, you don’t.” I skimmed my nose up her cheek, taking in a lungful of her scent. “If you hated me, you wouldn’t have done what you did.”
“What did I do?” she asked, her words a mere breath.
I placed my other hand on her hip, exactly where the college boy had, only I gripped her harder, showing her the difference between people like him and people like me.
My gaze clashed with hers, my lips so close it would only take one move to have them touching. “You let him kiss you.” Her breath flowed over my face, and shivers rolled over my entire body. “You let him touch what’s mine.” I couldn’t take another second of being this close to her, so I slammed my lips down onto hers.
Her hand pushed against my chest, but I didn’t acknowledge it. I just kissed her harder, trapped her between me and the wall, and begged her to give in. To kiss me the way she’d kissed him.
I was jealous. Jealous of the way she’d looked up at him. Jealous of the way her body looked against his. He was the kind of man she should have ended up with, not someone like me, not someone who used violence as the answer. But I was damned if I was going to give this up. Not right then.
I swiped my tongue over her lips, hoping and praying that she’d let me in, and when her body finally softened, she opened up her mouth. She swiped her tongue against mine, driving me fuckin’ crazy, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. I’d fought with myself every step of the way, but now I was giving in to it—to her.
Aida was my wife. She couldn’t escape me. She couldn’t turn on me, not like they could. So, for the first time in my life, I let myself go. I let my body do exactly what it wanted to do.
My hands grabbed at her thighs, and I picked her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I didn’t hesitate to take her into my room. I’d fucked in many places in my lifetime, but never on any of my actual beds. That was my only sanctuary, but as I stepped inside my room and slammed the door closed behind us, I made a beeline for it. I’d brought Veev up here, but it was only ever on the sofa—her bent over it as I took what I wanted from her without a second thought.