Page 46 of Vendetta

Absolutely not.

He kidnapped me and then didn’t even have the decency to knot me properly. I batted his hand away and stood up on my own. My dress was already a mess, but now it barely qualified as a rag. Cruz didn’t seem to mind as his eyes trailed down my body, his nostrils flaring slightly. Even if he hadn’t witnessed what had just happened, he certainly would’ve smelled it.

I tugged the neck of my dress up, to no avail, and headed across the clearing toward Cruz. I tried to hide it, but I winced every other step because I’d lost my fucking slipper in a rotten log and had been running through the forest with only one shoe.

When I passed Cruz, he scooped me up in a bridal carry and headed back into the trees. I grumbled my displeasure, but this was better than walking on tender feet, even if it did wound my pride a little. At least it wasn’t Nico.

Fuck him.

Chapter 31

Nico

This was a job. Where was that detached coldness I was used to feeling? I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think. She plagued my every thought. Memories of her silky skin flexing under my hands hounded my every step.

Every time I scented her, I lost my fucking mind.

She hated me? Good. That would make all of this easier.

I had to get my head on straight before my old man noticed. He’d happily replace me with Marcel, his right hand, or any of my younger brothers. This reeked of a test. He’d never officially named an heir, and if I fucked this up, that wouldn’t be me. I was going soft and that was dangerous in this business. Enemies were enemies, not fuck-toys that smelled like heaven.

As the eldest son, my entire life had been built around taking over for my father. Fuck if I was going to let some long-legged omega with curves for days screw that up for me.

This was turning into a shitshow. Who was I kidding? It already was one.

Rosa just shot fucking Bruna Parisi. In the fucking head. How the fuck was I going to explain that to my father? As far as I was concerned, one less cunt like her was a good thing, but a lot of high rollers acquired omegas through her network.

People were not going to be happy. Even less happy once Oliver went through her computer and found out exactly who they were and ruined their lives. He was vindictive like that.

It was a good thing Cruz carried Rosa back, because I was already hard again, and all I could think about was getting her back under me and shoving my knot in her. The disappointment was written all over her face when I’d held back. As much as it pained me, I couldn’t risk the time it would take to knot her right now. I felt the orgasm roll through her, but I would’ve loved spending hours watching her come all over me again and again. With an army of my father’s men on the way, I couldn’t risk it. Not yet anyway.

We cut it too close as it was, because as soon as we stepped out of the woods, a stream of trucks came rattling up the driveway past my car.

Oliver had relayed orders to them, and they knew what to do, but I needed to get out of here. I was covered in cum, sweat, and slick, which didn’t bother me, but some of the other alphas might not appreciate it as much. They were told to transport the omegas to a shelter I trusted and were ordered in no uncertain terms not to touch any of them. The soldiers we called in were trustworthy to a point and loyal, but there was no reason to rub it in their faces. Me, covered in thick omega pheromones, might give them pause and have them second-guessing the hands-off order I obviously couldn’t even follow myself.

I’d been building loyalty with my father’s men, but they were still his, not mine.

Yet.

My own crew ran my club and handled my business, but I didn’t have enough manpower to pull them for this, and I didn’t need them asking questions that I wasn’t ready to answer. Because despite their loyalty to me, they would ask.

I dropped into the Bentley, relaxing into the plush leather, and when Cruz pushed his seat forward, depositing Rosa in the back, I didn’t complain. Fuck it. Tonight was already in shambles. She immediately grabbed Oliver’s blanket and snuggled into it. Ollie was going to be pissed. He’d probably make me replace it, but Rosa looked too content for me to bother taking it from her now.

Putting the Bentley in gear, I pulled out of the driveway, back onto the main road. The car sliced through the woods as we headed into the darkness. This was turning into a long night. The trip would take hours, and now we had a major detour that had slowed us down. I had to get Rosa out of her father’s territory and safely hidden before we had any other incidents.

Interesting, though, that Bruna had set up shop in Reyes’ territory. He normally kept a cleaner house than this and would have patrols set to watch for anyone encroaching on his turf. I didn’t think Rafael was the type to support omega traffickers, but he had tortured and killed my mother, so I wouldn’t put anything past him anymore.

The Bentley cruised along, near silent, through the deepening night. Rosa’s breathing evened out after about an hour, and something inside me eased, content that she was comfortable. This was too personal. She was getting under my skin, and I didn’t like it.

Rosalina

Through the glare of oncoming traffic, I saw Cruz lean toward the driver’s seat. His words were hushed as if he were trying not to wake me. “Are you going to punish her?”

Punish me? For fucking what? I did nothing.

He must’ve thought I was sleeping, so despite my anger at the accusation, I held my tongue, hoping they’d let something slip.

“I probably should,” Nico replied, sounding tired and resigned.