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CHAPTER6
Cruz
There were wise men who believed fate intervened with every aspect of a person’s life. I wasn’t one of those people. I made my own fortune, both in business and pleasure, the power I wielded allowing me to take what I wanted whenever the need should arise. I’d reveled in the ability, although I’d always been distinctly different from my father and brother, at least in the early days. They ruled with an iron fist. I observed, learning various nuances of my opponent before commanding their attention. My keen observation skills allowed me to absorb what was necessary in order to succeed. There was no difference in how I handled a business associate or a lover.
Or so I’d thought.
Until now.
Until meeting her.
After sending my Capo to the streets to try to sniff out the snitch, I’d spent the morning going over everything I knew about Eden as well as what details I’d been able to find about her past. She’d wisely changed her name and her appearance, although there was no method of hiding her hypnotic emerald eyes, the gold flecks surrounding her irises like spun gold on a summer’s day. I’d never seen the intense color before a single day years before that had planted the seed even if I hadn’t known it at the time. The dazzling color made her more recognizable.
I’d originally found it fascinating that she’d tossed aside a future that would leave her wealthy and powerful to live in a small apartment in a less than stellar part of town. However, I doubted the gorgeous woman was as naïve and as innocent as I’d originally thought. All she needed to do was wait it out. Then she could cash in, crushing her uncle if she so desired.
There was strength behind her doe eyes, more so than I’d originally thought.
I couldn’t get the vision of her face out of my mind, which had left me on edge since the night before.
I thought about my friendship with Devon and sighed. The man had been dead to me until I’d heard he was searching for his niece’s whereabouts. He’d always been an arrogant son of a bitch, the kid who’d been an accident, his older brother already at the helm of the family empire before he’d graduated high school. We’d attended college together, the bad seeds, or so we’d been told. He was the devil reincarnate. That was the only way to describe his vicious tendencies. He’d hated his brother for no other reason that Markus never made time for him, shooing Devon off like he’d been nothing but an inconvenience.
I could only imagine his anger at becoming guardian for a niece who was only a few years younger than him. What it had allowed Devon was the opportunity to rule the Rosario Empire his way.
With total savagery.
However, it wasn’t his brutal methods or surly attitude that had ended our friendship. I’d wondered whether he’d had his own brother murdered, but he’d lost his wife as well, a woman I heard he cared for deeply. Whatever the case, I didn’t give shit whether Devon was suffering from the loss. He should. In my mind, he should fry in hell for all eternity. Hissing, I almost poured a drink, but wanted to be clear minded.
I closed my eyes, trying not to think about the woman who’d come between us. Annie had been a breath of fresh air, a sweet, innocent girl who should never have followed us around, insisting on friendship.
Spinning the ugliness of the past wasn’t going to ease the pain or alter the plan I’d already set in motion.
Eden had already become a pawn in her uncle’s vicious game of obtaining power, most of her parents’ money tied up in her trust fund, the will only leaving control of the company and a small pittance against what Eden would obtain once she reached twenty-eight, which was in a few months. If what I’d heard was correct, if she was married prior to that occurring, then the will would be broken up differently—to Devon’s benefit. If she died, the money would be left to charity.
Her disappearance had put a kink into his plans. No wonder he was desperate to find her. My plan of killing her had seemed the right decision.
Until I’d looked into her eyes. Until I’d touched her skin.
Until the beast had clawed to the surface, the hunger unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
And until I remembered the first time I’d looked into her luminescent eyes.
Fuck.
Aphrodite was the perfect name for the stunning raven-haired woman, although Eden also suited her well, more so than her real name.
It also fit just how perfect she was for the beast inside.
Fuck me, I was fully aroused.
My predatory nature was certainly piqued, my lust overriding almost all aspects of common sense.
While she appeared open in her tastes regarding art, I had a feeling there were several layers tucked behind an entirely different kind of mask than the one she wore at the party.
That added to the mystique, the increasing enticement to peel away the various layers, exposing the woman buried deep inside,
But it was more than just that.
I’d craved what I shouldn’t have. She should be considered forbidden given the peace that had been proctored between two warring families. That had been done when Markus was still alive, working out details with our father in the old method of handling business, over a rare steak and a bottle of cabernet. I neither cared about protocol nor a handshake meant to keep blood off the streets of the highways paved between Chicago and New York. Eden was not only fair game, she was also the reason I’d surfaced from the personal darkness I’d wrapped myself in for years. Even my brother didn’t know the extent of my rage or the reason I’d accepted the mission in New Orleans without hesitation.
