I could be on an island, a castaway, trying to survive alone. It’ll be an exciting game, a loveless dream in which to escape, but dreaming is no longer my escape. I think I’ve lost the ability altogether.
His sigh caresses my ears. I open my eyes when he buttons his jacket up over my torn dress and adjust his clothes. Getting to his feet, he offers me a hand.
I don’t accept it. I stand on my own.
I did something despicable. I fell for my kidnapper in a yearning need for affection. I opened my heart, and I did it willingly. I exposed myself to his rejection and took it like a punch in the chest.
I may have lost this bet, but I’m still standing.
From now on, it’s me on my own.
Chapter 3
Maxime
Zoe wants love. I’ll give her anything in my power, except for letting her go, but love is the one thing I can’t give. I’m not capable of loving. I care for her more than anyone. She makes me terrified that anything should happen to her, for fuck’s sake. I’ve long since dissected my fear and categorized it. I fear because I care. I’ve accepted it. But love? That’s a step I don’t know how to take.
I stole her because I wanted her hope. I wanted her secrets. I thought if I could figure out how she could survive her dysfunctional family in her disadvantaged neighborhood and still shine like a light in the dark, maybe so could I. I took her for purely selfish reasons, because I saw her as my ticket to happiness. My little experiment, but then, she became my own little wildflower in a vase, and I no longer wanted to let her go.
Of course, keeping her here is detrimental to our plan to guarantee her brother supplies us with diamonds when he takes back his mine. To my family, she’s our pawn. To me, that’s just a bonus. I promised my father I’d make sure she’d want to stay. I’ve planned everything so carefully, how I was going to make her happy. I gave her every clue she scattered around in her apartment that pointed to a dream—the trip to Venice, more pretty clothes than she can ever need, and a place in an elitist fashion design school. Yet I’ve forgotten about this crucial little detail. Love. Love features so lowly in my spectrum of feelings, I sometimes forget it exists. What did I expect? Of course, Zoe wants love. She’s a romantic. A dreamer. Above all, she deserves love. Maybe if she learns to love me she can love enough for the both of us.
My thoughts are dark as I head to my father’s office in the morning. I’m berating myself for my slipup, for overlooking such an important factor in my shrewd plan to keep her. One thing is for sure. I’m not planning on sending her back to her brother. Ever.
She’s mine.
Mulling over this new development, I walk into the office. My father is already behind his desk, even if it’s earlier than his usual arrival time. Alexis stands by the coffee machine. He doesn’t look at me as I enter, but the paper cup dents in his hand. We don’t speak about what happened in the warehouse. I practically left him and his buddy for dead. It took him more than a couple of weeks to recover. I have no idea if his buddy survived. All I know is he’s no longer around. He’s either six feet under or he bailed. My father knows about the lashing, but not about the rest. I left the details up to Alexis to share, and it seems he’s too proud to let anyone else know his fat friend came twice in his ass. He hasn’t touched a prostitute since. Point taken. Lesson learned. I’d say the unfortunate event was successful. I grin as I pour my coffee, taking pleasure from how Alexis’s jaw snaps tighter.
The toilet in the adjoining bathroom flushes. The door opens, and Leonardo steps out. I tense. What the fuck is the Italian doing here? Since my father is watching me closely, I don my poker face.
“Max.” Leonardo walks over, his eyes scanning my face like a shark. “How are you? We don’t see much of you in the club.”
I raise a brow. “I didn’t know you were frequenting the club.”
“I’ve been over on a few weekends.” He rolls his shoulders. “You know, to get a feel for the territory.”
“So you’ve said.” Sitting down, I leave my coffee on the desk and steep my fingers together.
“We have a situation.” My father indicates the free chairs facing his desk.
Leonardo and Alexis each takes a seat.
“The Brise de Mer is sending more men to Marseille,” my father continues. “Their number has doubled in one week.”
I tap my fingers on the desk. “Under what guise?”
My father’s voice is gravelly, a sign of his irritation. “An annual gathering.”
Alexis moves to the edge of his seat. “Let me take out a few of those Corsican fuckers. That should send a message.”
“No,” I say. My brother has always been too bloodthirsty, just like my father. “That’ll start a war.”
“Maybe that’s what they want,” Leonardo says.
My reply is sharp. “Then they can start it. We’ll fight, and we’ll win, but we sure as hell won’t take responsibility for a bloodbath.” That’ll put us in the bad books of our government supporters. As long as we play by the rules, no one will blame us for defending ourselves.
“What do you suggest?” Alexis asks. “That we sit on our asses and do fucking nothing while they invade our territory?”
I give him an easy smile that only infuriates him more. “That we give them the benefit of the doubt.”
My father’s chair protests with a squeak as he leans back. “It’s too soon to make a move, but I want our men to keep tight tabs on these motherfuckers. There’s no way they’re taking back Marseille.”
“We’ve kicked them out once,” Leonardo says. “We’ll kick them out again.”
The we grates on my nerves. The young fuck is already taking credit for a history that has nothing to do with him, for blood that never soiled his hands. I, however, know why my father wants him here. We’re using the legal money from our diamond business to sponsor the illegal activities, and we’re constantly looking for new ways of laundering that money.
The second reason why my father wants him here is the real thorn in my side. It’s not a done deal yet, but soon I’ll have to take Leonardo under my wing and treat him like a protégé. One, I work alone, even if I still answer partially to my father, and two, Leonardo is clever. He’s already seen what’s important to me. He’s ambitious. He’s not going to be content with tagging along in my shadow forever. At some stage, he’s going to want to climb the ladder, and he’ll use any weakness he can exploit against me. Meaning Zoe, the beautiful woman I can’t let go.
“Agreed.” My father slams a hand on the desk to indicate the meeting is over.
When Alexis and Leonardo get to their feet, he motions for me to stay. Alexis shoots me a hateful glare on the way to the door. I catch the way he locks eyes with my father before he leaves. I often think Raphael is disappointed that I’m the first-born who inherited the power instead of his favorite son.
My father waits until the door closes before speaking. “You haven’t been home for months.”
“I’ve been busy.”
His fixes me with his droopy-eye stare. “Your mother misses you.”