The rain is falling, making me drenched.

I don’t fucking care.

My energy is laser-focused…on her.

This kidnapping better go according to plan, or there’ll be hell to pay.

I’m waiting in the back alley of the Capulet fortress.

This is so unlike me. I don’t really go out of my way to break into places. I have men to do that for me.

But tonight is different. She has to see it’s me.

I tried to earn her trust so that she wouldn’t be afraid when I come pounding on her door. But something tells me Isobel Capulet is not gonna be too happy when she finds out I’m a Montague.

Benny waits with me in the alleyway, and soon, Merc is opening the door from the inside.

We have guys everywhere. It’s almost sad how shallow loyalties lie. Wave some money in front of a person, and they’ll switch sides in an instant.

But I’m not complaining. Tonight, these spies of ours have really come in handy.

I go into the building and leave Merc and Benny to sort out the details of how we’re gonna get home. One of the bodyguards tells me which apartment she’s in, and I go find her.

Soon, I’m standing in front of her apartment door, and I find myself having to take a deep breath.

She just does that to me. She’s electrifying, and she sets my heart on fire.

What can I say? She’s the most beautiful goddamn thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

I knock on the door and don’t hear anything, so I knock louder.

And then I think, What am I doing knocking on her door? I’m here to kidnap her. I might as well break the damn thing down to get what I want—her.

And so I pound on the door, and something just tells me she’s in there. It’s too quiet. I realize this might be her worst nightmare coming true, but I have hope that when she sees it me, things will change.

If she’s a good girl, she’ll go with me willingly. Otherwise, we’ll have to do things the hard way.

I knock one more time and then easily bust the door in. I see her standing there with a white blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and her eyes widen to see that it’s me.

Then things start to register. She sees that I’m a potential enemy, and she takes a step back as though anything could keep me from her now.

Fuck me.

Is it possible that she looks more gorgeous wrapped in a blanket than she does wearing a ten thousand-dollar dress?

She’s a sight for sore eyes. I never expected to see her like this, undressed and vulnerable. I have to fight the urge to snatch the blanket off to see her beautiful body uncovered.

“What are you doing here?” she demands.

I smile at her in a devilish way. The moment has come for her to find out.

“I’m here to help you make your escape.”

“Um, you could’ve just knocked. I was gonna answer it.”

“I’m impatient,” I shrug. “Now come with me.”

She looks at me like I must be kidding.

“Listen, we may have shared a kiss, but that gives you no right to do this. Do you even know who I am? Who my father is? And how’d you find my apartment anyway?”

“Go pack a bag. Now,” I say as I look around the hallway making sure all’s clear.

She stands up to me and says, “You can’t be serious. I only just met you tonight. I don’t even know your name.”

My heart flickers with momentary hesitation as I think how she’ll soon turn away from me in hatred when she finds out who I am.

This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. She’s about to find out the truth.

Gone are the last vestiges of trust she may have put into me. I am her sworn enemy.

“You want a name? How about Tristan Montague?”

She backs away from me in suspicion. The little princess finally understands who it was that kissed her tonight.

I’m her biggest fear realized. I’m the man who she was taught to despise—Dark Lord, crime boss, and murderer.

“You can’t be…Tristan,” she says almost inaudibly.

“I am. Now go pack a bag. We don’t have much time,” I say, feeling impatient because any moment now the guards could realize what happened.

Merc and Benny won’t be able to keep this quiet forever.

“You were lying to me! Y-you kissed me, and you knew all along that this would happen. How could you?” she asks incredulously.

For a moment, I’m taken aback by her pure innocence. She looks at me like I’ve committed the biggest act of betrayal in the world.

What can I say? It’s fucking endearing.

“None of that matters now. I said pack a bag,” I say, fully expecting her to obey me.

“I’m not going anywhere with you. You led me on. You lied about who you were.”

“I didn’t exactly lie. You shouldn’t have found yourself in a darkened corner with a stranger, Isobel,” I say to her, feeling possessive as ever.

“I can’t believe you did this to me,” she says. “So that kiss, all of it was just an act?”

My heart beats in my chest a little harder. Now is not the time to tell her the truth. She can’t know that she has any kind of hold over me.

She can’t know that I already feel like I’m in love.

“Maybe. Now quit questioning me. Go pack a bag. I won’t say it again.”

She looks around the room like maybe there’s something she can do.

There’s nothing. Her father left her with no bodyguards. It’s his own downfall.

And it’s her fault for trusting me so quickly.

I know I’m being an asshole. But right now, business is business, and I need this Capulet princess to come with me.

I grab her arm and walk her to the closet. She has a nice little place. But it pales in comparison to where I’m going to bring her.

I pull the blanket from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor.

There she is—my angel, wearing only lingerie and diamonds. What a fucking sight.

She’s light and lithe and perfectly curvy. My cock strains hard against the tuxedo pants I’m wearing.

I think of how it would feel to have her sink to her knees in front of me here and beg to have my cock inside her.

Instead, her eyes fill with tears, and it breaks my fucking heart.

“I can’t believe you used me like that. I’m not going anywhere with you.” She says the words like she’s trying to be brave but I can hear the tremble in her voice.

I grab a Louis Vuitton duffel bag and start to throw her clothes into it.

“Fine, if you don’t want to pack, then I’ll do it for you.”

I swipe some garments off the hangers in her closet and push them into the bag, and then I go to her bathroom and empty the cabinets for her. I see that she’s only wearing heels, and so I grab a couple pairs of boots, and we go.

I’m nothing if not a caretaker. Even during a kidnapping, I make sure my baby has all she needs.

That’s enough crap. I can buy her anything else she might need for her extended stay with the Montagues.

“Why don’t you cover up before we go outside?” I ask her.

She stares at me, unmoving.

This girl. My heart is on fire, and electricity courses through my veins. God, how I want to fuck her.

I envision bending her over the tufted ottoman and sinking my cock deep into her virgin pussy. I know she’s a virgin. Isobel Capulet has a reputation, and I doubt if she’s done wrong by it.

“I said I’m not going anywhere with you,” she says calmly.

Her defiance turns me on, but it also makes me angry.

She needs punishment. I’ll be sure to deliver that later.

I grab a white silk robe that I see hanging in her closet and throw it around her shoulders before grabbing her arm to lead her out of the apartment.

I don’t have much time. I have to get this deal done.

Daddy’s little princess was left unguarded, and I found a way in. I’m pretty fucking proud of myself.

“Why are you doing this?” she says as I pull her into the living room.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out. Stop asking questions.” I tug at her arm. “Let’s go.”

I take my tuxedo jacket off and put it around her. Who says I’m not a gentleman?

“Say goodbye to your apartment, Isobel. You’ll never see this place again,” I say the words and know it’s the truth.

I will never let her go. She’s good for me—both personally and professionally. She just has to realize it.

She looks around the apartment, her eyes full of tears, but not a single drop falls.

Then she puts her arms into the sleeves of my jacket and says, “Fine. Do what you will with me. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care if I live or die.”

Her words pull at my goddamn heartstrings. I don’t want her to feel like that. I want to own her, to claim her, and for her to be happy with me.

We’re a long way away from that, I know.

To her, I’m just a stranger that betrayed her. I’m Tristan Montague, infamous criminal. Why should she trust me?

I can tell she’s upset. Tears threaten to fall.

I’m not the stranger she knew in the hallway. I’m not the tender guy that was willing to listen.

I’m a Montague. That must come as a shock to her.

I lead her out the door and down the hallway.

She says, “You know I could scream, right?”

“I know you won’t, Isobel.” I say. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t. Because as soon as you make a noise, I’ll stop you and I’ll use my tie as a gag if need be.”

She decides against screaming—and it’s a good thing, too. I have my security guys and my spies all over the place. Even if she were to scream, no one would hear her—or care.

I’ve set this up perfectly. Her parents are all the way upstairs in the penthouse suite, unable to hear me slip their daughter out into the night.

I have my guys all over this floor, and it’s easy to walk her directly out of the building and into the alleyway where Benny and Merc are waiting with the limousine.

“Welcome to your new life, Isobel,” I say.

She glares at me and gets in the limo.