AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Speak to me in whatever way makes you feel like a man, Ricardo, but threaten me again, and we’re going to have a problem.”
Thank fucking god. It’s about time I see a little anger. I hate her looking like she’s reached the end of whatever she can mentally and emotionally tolerate, and she’s only a breath away from giving up.
I want her to fight me.
I want her to make me bleed.
The men in the car watch us, although they’re trying to be discreet about it. I slam my hands on the hood on either side of her and glare over her head at them.
“Get the fuck out of here,” I bark loudly enough for them to hear me. “Drive.”
They share a glance, pause, and I repeat the demand until the one in the driver’s seat nods in understanding. He guns the engine, and I draw Isabella against my chest as he backs the car out of the ditch.
There’s no sign of anyone else on the road when he pulls out onto the asphalt, sets the car in drive, and hauls ass away from us.
I stare down at Isabella and lick my lips.
She’s glaring at me, ready to sling her fist my way a second time and see if she lands a hit. Every thought ticking through her brain is visible even before she winds her arm back and sends it flying. I catch her fist in mine and use her own momentum against her, sending her forward until her stomach hits the trunk. I bite my lip to keep from biting her when her ass comes in contact with my already thickened cock.
“What did Drago want you to give him?” I ask again.
She glances at me over her shoulder, and her head starts to shake.
“You’re not getting out of this until you tell me.”
She freezes, her gaze locked with mine, every nasty thing she wants to do to me written on her face. “He wants me to give up the identities of our middlemen and distributors. Okay?” she bites out. “He wants everything.”
I feel like my legs have gotten knocked out from underneath me. Cut off at the knees. “Tell me you didn’t agree to it.”
“What do you think?” She's unmoving. “I had no choice. I told him I’d work on it because I’m not at that level of clearance, and he doesn’t give a shit.”
“For fuck’s sake! You’re fumbling this, and for what reason? You want to try and prove you’re strong enough to handle it on your own?” I release her. “How childish.”
I’d known he’d want something big, but targeting the middlemen? I should have seen his move. Drago is three steps ahead.
Rage and fury straighten her limbs further, and Isabella grows before my very eyes, made of nothing but those two emotions. “You have a lot of nerve. You realize that, right? You want to talk about childish? You’re content to hide away in bars getting lap dances from your employees and probably fucking them stupid while your uncle carves out a place for you in this world. You’re only in the place where you are because of him. You had nothing to do with it. You are a nepo baby the same way my sister is, except she actually works for every mile she gains. You’ve still got your training wheels on, Ricardo.”
Something cold and hard drops into the pit of my stomach. “You want to insult me like it will take the spotlight off of you?” I ask.
My hand itches for the gun at my back only to remind her of what I’ve actually done, how far I’ve come from the little kid who used to dig in the dirt and play with dinosaurs. What I’ve created for the clubs despite fucking my employees stupid.
She’s not wrong.
She’s not wrong about any of it, and her anger and frustration are only tapping insistently against the wounds I’ve been ignoring.
“Go ahead and do it,” she says as though she hears my thoughts out loud. “Take your gun out and show me what kind of a man you are.”
“Sure, talk to me about nepotism, Isabella. You’re something worse,” I throw back at her. “Because you had a chance to get out there and actually make something of yourself separate from your parent’s empire. Use their money, sure, but do whatever you want. Wherever you want. And you chose to stay here, beating your head against a brick wall. What kind of a fucked-up person does something like that?”
She sucks in a breath. “How dare you.”
“I’m just as right as you are. Because it’s insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That’s exactly what you’ve done with this whole business, and look where it got you.”
I step up to her and grind my erection against her, imagining I can feel her wetness through the material. We want each other. There’s never been any question about the want. And now I have to wonder if there isn’t something equally dark and fucked up inside of her. A mirror to my own shadows and storms.
How is it possible for me to want her this badly? From the get-go. Yet we’ve managed to stay in the same room time after time without falling on each other like animals in heat, the way I wanted to. The way she’s wanted to. She’s never been subtle about hiding her needs, and I’ve done my best work yet in keeping her at bay until now. Now I’ve tasted her, and I can think of nothing more than having her, even when she’s insulting me. Her eyes say yes. Her body says yes.
I’m so damn tired of fighting.
