AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We’ll do this my way.
And by god, I’ll get all of us out the other side.
She droops, her posture slumping and her shoulders curving forward as she clasps her stomach and swallows over her sobs. There’s no way out for me, is there? I halfway wonder as I keep the sly smile painted on my face and cross the yard toward her.
Isabella doesn’t even see me, not paying attention when I grab her from behind and shove her against the side of the house with a little more roughness than is necessary. Her breath catches in her lungs when her back hits the stone of the exterior wall.
“What would you do to disarm me?” I murmur against her ear, breath tickling her hair. “How would you get out of this position? Now’s your chance to prove your moves to me.”
Rather than fight, she arches her back to press her ass tighter against me. “Who says I want out?”
My dick jumps at the contact and the mental image of lifting her skirt only high enough to plunge deep. “Dammit, Isabella. You’ve gotten yourself into this situation, and you’re not taking it seriously,” I force myself to say.
Which is another reason to not get involved with her. Not because I haven’t wanted her. I want her so badly that I get myself off to fantasies of fucking her at least twice a day. More. Even if she is my uncle’s wife’s sister.
Does that make us too close? Probably.
She squirms against me until I back up a step, if only to prevent the heat from growing between us. I take a beat to adjust my dick in my pants before she turns to face me and leans against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you can’t get enough of me, Ricardo.” She lifts a brow. “Or maybe you think I can’t manage to talk to my family by myself? I thought you were content to dump me off on my doorstep and bolt.”
I shrug. “Maybe I was curious if you tried to sell them on your bullshit plan to bring down an entire empire on your own. Tell me I’m right.”
A mottled flush creeps up from her neck, the red spots on her cheeks having just faded. Bingo.
“I’m going to say it didn’t go well,” I continue.
“I didn’t tell them,” she snaps back. “Okay? A lot of things came up, and neither Mia nor my father had the mental capacity to listen to me this morning.” She rolls her eyes.
“And why not? Because you know it’s a terrible idea to get involved? Do they even know the full extent of what my men found out last night?” If not, they will soon. If only because I can’t keep it from Carter for much longer without it damaging our combined families.
“Nothing is going to stop me from doing what I have to do.” She squares her shoulders and sets me with a look. Even exhausted, she’s full of fire. “This entire fucking problem is because of me. Remember? It’s up to me to get it fixed. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“You can’t even take me down. If I’d been an actual intruder, then you’d have been fucked. Probably literally. And if that doesn’t scare you, then your priorities are skewed.”
Better, I think, to be cruel. To let her know I won’t pull any punches and help her prepare for the fallout.
“You think I don’t understand that I’m in a bad position? That I’m at a loss, and I have no skills?” She slides a lock of dark hair behind her ear. “Not the kind of skills it will take to protect myself, but I’ll get that fixed soon enough.”
“How do you figure?” A vein ticks at my temple. “Drago will not wait to call in your debt. He’ll want you at his house as soon as humanly possible, and he’ll wring you dry before he moves on your father. It’s a wonder he hasn’t already sent men after you, and trust me, it’s within his right to do it. You’re going to need a hell of a lot of bullets to make up for the fact that you’re too damn oblivious.”
Isabella throws her hands up in the air. “I’ve already admitted I’m not prepared, Ricardo! So what do you want?”
I want to strangle her. With my hands or with my cock, I have no preference.
“I’m doing the best I can.” Her voice fractures and I’m sunk. “Okay?”
“Look. I’m going to try to come up with a way to get you out of this contract. But the less people who know what we’re doing, the better. Okay? Listen.” Against all better judgment, I reach out for her to gather her close. Isabella jerks away before I lay my hands on her. “I want to keep it between us and my inner circle at this point. The more people who know, the muddier the waters become, and I’d like to keep them out of this until we figure it out.”
Something inside her shifts, and her entire torso hunches forward. Curling in on herself, her arms tighten across her abdomen. The sight has me shivering despite the warmth of the overhead sun.
“We’ll figure it out, Izzy,” I tell her in a much softer tone. “Trust me. The two of us are going to find a way to fix the situation before he gets worse.”
How am I going to possibly resist her when she’s like this? When the fire is guttered, and the vulnerability she doesn't let anyone see is starting to show?
I fucking hate it.
And I hate feeling powerless.
