November 28th 2013

 

I COULDN’T BE reasoned, stopped, or controlled. My ascension to power had been paved in my father’s blood, but only with Theo’s blood could I secure my place as the Bandit and the Knight. For a month, Theo managed to remain off-grid.

Until today.

I tailed the rust bucket he drove through the streets of Chicago. Two days before, he called Victor to set up a meeting in which Victor had relayed the information to me, proving his loyalty to my father even after he was dead. Theo, unaware he had fallen into a trap, had come alone because he had no options. Without my father, he was nothing, and he’d bit the hand that fed him. It took every grain of control to stay hidden and let the meeting happen without interfering. Victor was as clueless as I as to what the meeting was for. My guess was that he’d try to convince him of his innocence. It was too bad for him that Victor already knew the truth about that night and would protect my mother. He’d offered to kill him, but there was no way in hell I was giving him the honor. Letting someone else avenge my father would be disgracing the birthright my great-grandfather seized.

I’ve waited weeks to feel guilt for framing my godfather, but my mother hasn’t been the same since that night. The fragmented piece I had left of my mother was the reason remorse eluded me. I’d had to hire a nurse just to ensure she wouldn’t wither to dust. Lately, however, Victor had been overseeing her care. I had a lot to thank him for it seemed.

My thoughts drifted to Mian. Theo had hidden her well. The smartest thing Theo had ever done was keep his life before my father secret. Z had found his parents living on the outskirts of Illinois, but it had proved a dead end. A perverse part of me had entertained the idea of killing them an eye for an eye, but framing him and then killing him would have to be enough. When he was dead, Mian would need somewhere safe to go… if I didn’t find her first.

I’d found the engagement ring and dress I sent to her for the party in their abandoned home. The ring was now tucked away in the locked compartment of my glove box.

We were ten minutes away from the outskirts of Chicago when Theo made an unexpected stop at a small neighborhood park. I strangled the steering wheel, eager to get him alone, but also hoping he’d lead me to Mian and save me the trouble of hunting her.

He unfolded his long frame from the car holding a small duffel, and a few seconds later, shook hands with a man I didn’t recognize. I’d only gotten a brief glimpse of him before he was hidden from view. Theo was out in the open, unaware and completely vulnerable. I could take the shot, leave Theo bleeding on the concrete, and get the fuck out of dodge. But then I remembered the other half of my objective.

To find his daughter.

The meeting between them ended quickly, and the man disappeared down the street. Theo watched him go until he disappeared around the corner. I noticed the slump in his shoulders and the worry in his eyes after he turned toward his car. His hand was on the handle when he stopped. There was tension in his body as his gaze moved around the busy area. He could feel me watching him.

I had a clear shot at him, but I knew I couldn’t kill him here. I could hear my father’s voice in my head, warning me not to be sloppy.

I made the decision to slide down in my seat and hide a moment too late. Theo was now staring at my car parked across the street. He couldn’t be sure it was me. The tint was too dark, but it didn’t matter to a man desperate to live.

He was already reacting.

Reaching behind his back, he pulled his gun and took aim. I was prepared to do the same when we both heard, “Sir, drop your weapon down and get down on the ground!” When Theo didn’t obey, the officer screamed the command again. The other pedestrians screamed and ran to get away from danger. I watched, enraged, as Theo lowered his gun and the officer immediately cuffed him. 

My only window to silence Theo forever was gone.

 

 

* * *

Present

 

“WHY DID YOU frame my father?”

I was running my nose over every inch of her skin, breathing her in and enjoying her scent, as she voiced her question. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have naked in bed, but I could hear in her voice there was no avoiding it.

“There had been a witness that night who knew the only two people with my father when he died was Theo and my mother. Killing her wasn’t an option since she had already reported the murder to the police. I had to protect my mother. My father wouldn’t have expected any less. Even for Theo.”

“So let me get this straight.” She pulled out of my arms to face me. “Your father fucks another woman—my mother—your mother pulls the trigger, and my father gets screwed?”

“Theo wasn’t just there to confront my father. He was there to kill him, and he succeeded. He also destroyed what was left of my mother, and I couldn’t let her live with the consequences.”

“My father didn’t destroy your mother. Your father did. Why can’t you see that?”

“When you thought you killed me, did you feel different? Like your humanity had been stripped from you the moment you plunged that knife inside me?”

Her gaze lowered, shielding the pain in the jade. “Yes.”

“My mother loved my father, and not only did she kill him, but she learned he’d been unfaithful with the woman she used to call a friend. It changes you. The woman I was left with wasn’t my mother. I had your father to thank for that.”

“So your mother’s mental state helped you feel less guilty?”

“I didn’t feel guilty at all,” I confessed. “Not until I saw you standing in my father’s home ready to kill me to free your son.” I couldn’t handle the way her eyes bore into me, so I pulled her back into my arms and laid her head over my heart that didn’t deserve to beat.

“I kept waiting for you to show up and tell me you didn’t blame me, but then you never did, so I never let myself think about you.”

My hand slid between our bodies until it reached her breast. I slid my thumb over the nipple and grinned at her gasp. “You weren’t so easy to forget.”

I was seconds away from pulling her under me and making sure she’d never forget me again when she grabbed my hand and laid it on my bare stomach. “My father wasn’t the only one you condemned that night. Did you ever once consider what it would do to me to lose the only parent I had left?” I could see the answer she wanted to hear in her eyes, but I couldn’t hand her the lie.

“Yes.” She wasn’t expecting my answer, and I wasn’t expecting to give it to her.

“You’re such a hypocrite,” she breathed. She shoved me away, hopped up from our bed, and faced me with tears running down her face. “You hate my father for the same reason you betrayed me. You chose her over me. But why wouldn’t you? She’s your mother. Don’t you see how unfair that is?”

“I didn’t—”

“You did!” she screamed. “You put my father in prison knowing what it would do to me.”

I sat up, ripped the covers from my waist, and stood on the other side of the bed facing her. “I knew I would hurt you, but I never meant to lose you. I searched for you, and after some time, when I couldn’t find you, I figured your father hid you so that never would, and then I accepted that you’d be better off.”

“Except I wasn’t. Should I blame you for that like you blamed my father?”

“Being with me wouldn’t have been any better.”

“I know. Look how your mom turned out,” she answered with a curled lip.

“Careful,” I warned. My voice had gone deep, demanding submission. As always, Mian wasn’t willing to give it so easily. We ended up in a staring contest that I broke. I decided I’d rather continue this argument without my dick out.

“Victor said he was the one to show my dad the video. That day, I heard my father speaking to someone just before he left. It all makes sense now.” She paced the floor of my bedroom as I slipped into gym shorts. “It had to have been Victor. I was trying to ask him about the party, but he was so angry. He raised his voice when I asked questions. He never raised his voice to me. He told me he had a job, and a few hours later, he told me he was leaving Illinois. Not us. Him.” I could hear the hurt and frustration she felt three years ago.

“He wouldn’t have wanted you anywhere near him if I found him, and I did find him.”

Her eyes widened. “What happened?”

“I fucked up. He came back to Chicago to meet with Victor. I trailed him after the meeting, but he spotted me and pulled his gun. A cop noticed him before we could kill each other.”

“I can’t believe you were going to kill him after what you did.” She looked at me as if she had only just realized I was a bad man.

I shrugged feigning casualness. “It needed to be done, Sprite. I didn’t know if he’d talk.”

“You mean prove his innocence?”

“Yeah.” I held her gaze. She needed to know how ruthless I truly was. My family prospered by taking what we didn’t deserve, and her father had been at the head of it all until the tables were turned.

She shook her head, and a single tear slipped down her cheek. “We can never be, Angel. There’s too much bad history between us.”

Was I mistaken or did she mourn the truth?

I wanted her father dead for causing my father’s death and my mother’s destruction, and now both my parents are dead. Theo was the only thing left to fuel my vendetta, but looking at her, I realized I had every reason to give it up.

“Come here.”

“No.”

I sighed. “One day, this cat and mouse game will get old,” I lied. It would never get old. I’d always chase her, and she knew it too.

“It’s not a game. You scare me, Angel.”

I crossed the room until I towered over her and then slowly ran a finger over her naked hip. “My wife doesn’t have to be afraid of me.”

“But I’m not your wife. Our fathers were fools.”

“They’re far from it, Sprite. They knew exactly what they were doing when they forged our marriage. They used us for their interests, and now we’re husband and wife.” I wrapped my hand around her nape and pulled her body into mine. “Till death do us part.”

Her green eyes blazed with irritation. “You should sleep with one eye open, husband. We wouldn’t want to part sooner than later.”

“I should heed that seeing as you’ve tried to kill me once before.”

“It would be wise.” I felt myself harden at the possibility of her murdering me in my sleep and chuckled. Her scowl deepened as my cock pressed against her bare stomach. She tried to pull away, but I swiftly wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

“You don’t need to run away from what’s yours.” I took her hand and slid it under the waistband of my gym shorts. Her small hand closed around my cock, and with her head tilted, keeping our eyes connected, she petted my beast with small strokes. I couldn’t resist taking advantage and pressed my lips against hers. Her lips moved with mine, but she was still holding back. “Let me have that sweet tongue, baby.”

“If I do, you’ll fuck me.”

“I’ll fuck you harder if you don’t.” She couldn’t hold back her reaction. Her body trembled in my arms, and I tasted her moan. “You want to sin with me, don’t you, wife?”

Her answer was to grip my cock tighter in her palm. I backed her up to the nearest wall and lifted her. “Then again… it’s not a sin for a man to fuck his wife.”

“Unless she’s unwilling.”

“Are you unwilling?”

She answered by wrapping her legs around my waist while I pushed my shorts down enough to free my cock. “This doesn’t mean anything,” she moaned as I slid inside her. She was soaking wet and taking me greedily inside her.

“Is that right?”

“It’s just sex. An itch to scratch.”

I chuckled as I moved her hands from my shoulders to the wall above her head. The pain in my chest her words had created would have to wait. Right now, she was oblivious, completely vulnerable.

I moved inside her skillfully, drawing out her pleasure, and convincing her she’d do anything to have more. I tasted the sweat on her skin and smiled at the sound of her sweet moans. The sound was nothing compared to her screams when she was overwhelmed by what my body did to hers.

I wanted that again.

Before I could consider control, my hips moved with a mind of their own, turning our fucking from slow and easy to frenzied. “Am I scratching your itch, Sprite? Huh?” She could do nothing but take it as I pounded her. Her squeals of pained pleasure spurred me on. “Tell me, have I reached the mother fucking spot?” I moved my hand between our bodies and found her clit. Her mouth fell open, and her head fell back. She convulsed violently, shocking me and scaring herself. She had never come this hard before. I was forced to let her hands go and wrap my arms tight around her to keep from losing control.

“You…bastard,” she gasped with harsh breaths. I could still feel the tight heat of her pussy pulsing around me.

“A bastard couldn’t make you come that hard.”

“Why did you—”

“Fuck you until you saw stars?” I was already moving inside her again. She gasped and clutched my shoulders.

“Don’t make me come like that again.” The tremble in her voice sounded like real fear.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I lied. It didn’t take long before I felt my balls tighten. I was still feeling vengeful, so I waited until the very last moment before pulling her to her knees. I used her slender neck to pull her head back and came all over her pretty innocent face. Her mouth fell open in shock, and a drop of cum slid over her top lip. “Lick it up and swallow it,” I ordered when she gaped. Her tongue obediently swept her lips, taking more of my cum when she closed her lips.

“Good girl.” I pulled my shorts up and backed away from her before I gave in to the urge to take her again. “Let me know if you get an itch again.” I headed for the bathroom. I needed a shower and space to think. I had a war to win and I all I’ve done was find my way between Mian’s thighs.

“Asshole,” I heard her mutter just before the door closed.