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Instead of responding he cupped the back of my head and gave me a bruising kiss. When we separated, I was graced with a dimpled smirk before he covered me with his comforter and placed my head on his chest.
Chapter Ten
I looked at the family hog-tied––face down on their stomachs, and continued stroking my chin, not really seeing them. They were background noise. Like a housefly buzzing around my head. An annoyance if anything else.
My brother Elias lazily leaned against the wall watching a few of our men readying the oil drums in the center of the room.
It had been a long day. Exhaustion trickled around the fringes of my mind, but in this line of work, sleep was seldom. Still, I would rather have been in bed with the beautiful woman I’d left sleeping beside me instead of handling this bullshit.
Often, while one slept their enemies were awake doing everything in their power to work against them. That left no time for breaks or vacations. Being at the top didn’t mean I got to be lazy. My father had taught me that from the time I was twelve.
He’d only recently passed the torch down––so recent no one was fully aware of it yet. And I was going to make damn sure I shouldered the full weight of my inheritance by ensuring my family always remained untouchable.
I’d been preparing for this for years. I was getting to the point where my operations simultaneously ran like a well-maintained machine.
The men and few women I allowed to have a slice of the proverbial pie were fiercely loyal to not only the Remmington name–but to me.
It was with their unrevoked dedication that things were able to move forward at warp speed twenty-four seven. Nothing ever remained the same in Vice City.
There was always money to be spent, profit to be flipped, someone who needed to find their way into a gutter or bath of acid, and new connections to merge.
“I take it things went well with my future sis-in-law?” Elias joked, knowing exactly where my mind was.
“Things are going as they should.”
I glanced down at my wrist and waited for the minute hand on my watch to make one more cycle, withholding a sigh.
I couldn’t recall the last time I’d wanted to put effort into a relationship, but then, I’d never had anyone in my life like Elena.
“She’s nothing like Eva.” I freely volunteered what he really wanted to know.
“Thank fuck for miracles.” He stopped beside me and grinned.
I could hear the levels of relief in his voice. I knew he wanted me to have someone by my side for the long haul, someone to extend and strengthen our family with. I wanted the same for him.
Family was everything in this world––with the exception of Elena’s, of course. I chalked that up to the generation gap. I came from old money––she came from new money.
They only helped solidify that the old money roulette was doing exactly what it was designed to do. Though I had to give credit where credit was due–her parent’s had been excellent players of the game. If Elena were anything like half of them, our union would be all the better because of it.
I knew how people would perceive our relationship when the news broke that she was the official one and only woman in my life.
I intended to let them think what they wanted until the full truth could be revealed.
I already knew it––my family knew it––and a few very close friends knew it. That’s all that mattered. Elena wasn’t collateral for an owed debt. She was more of a bonus gift from my Ace. She was mine––mine to fuck, mine to corrupt, mine to cherish, mine to protect, and mine to damage.
She was a breath of fresh air, a purified diamond in a pile of imitations. I refused to keep her away from this side of my life. She was naturally curious, and there was
too much she didn’t know about the life she’d b leading soon. Being the wife of a narco was hard. Being the wife of a drug lord was ten times harder.
Armed with endless knowledge and memories from watching over her the last five years, I had a good idea of what I was in for.
I couldn’t recall being this excited about something in an extremely long fucking time.
At precisely two in the morning–the large metal door soundlessly slid open and carried in a slight breeze of warm air that I deeply inhaled. My mind easily switched strictly to business mode, blocking everything else out.
Alfredo, my doorman, escorted the man of the hour inside and then promptly stepped back out, closing the door behind him.
“Joshua, I hope you weren’t too busy.” I greeted him with heavy sarcasm, taking in his mussed hair, bare feet, striped drawers, and white shirt. Elias laughed softly under his breath, reaching behind him for his gun.
