Page 3 of His Prize

“Mhm?”

“Do you want my uncle’s empire?”

“It’s your empire now.”

I looked over at him. “But do you want it?”

He tossed me a glance. “Do you have a point to what you’re talking about?”

“If you want my uncle’s empire, I’ll marry you so you can inherit it. I’m sure that’s been your goal all along.”

He slowly looked over at me. “You think that’s my goal.”

“Yes.”

“The Moretti family business.”

“Isn’t that why you married Brianna in the first place? To assume the role as head of the family eventually?”

His eyes slid down my form. “If you really think that’s what I’ve been after this whole time, then you’re going to have to get better at figuring out what your enemy really wants.”

“Is that what we are now? Enemies?”

“We run enemy families, yes.”

“But, does that makeusenemies?”

He turned away from me. “Doesn’t matter what I think.”

“To me, it does.”

He chuckled. “I need to take care of my own family first, Bonnie. My brother and my father will be the death of me if I don’t do something. So, while your offer is generous, I’m not taking you up on it.”

I leaned against the seat. “Fair enough.”

And as we rode home in silence, I wondered what the future would bring me.

I also wondered if this meant I had to choose between the family business and the man I loved.

2

Israel

“I thought we were going home,”Bonnie said.

I nodded. “We are. I have to stop off to pick something up first.”

“Fair enough.”

The aloofness with which Bonnie had been addressing me lately had me on edge. With everything swirling around us, she was only a few steps away from becoming one of the most powerful influencers in the underground world. The shockwave of Pava’s arrest rattled the community. People were already whispering about who would step up to the plate: Brianna or Bonnie. It wasn’t a competition, though. Bonnie was the rightful heir to that seat with her father being the eldest sibling.

Which also meant there would be a lot of people trying to gun her down in order to get her out of the way.

I kept getting pulled between protecting her and protecting myself. Because as much as I hated to admit it, there was the smallest part of me that wondered if this was all still some grandly-concocted plan. The rational part of me understood it wasn’t. No one could possibly predict human behavior out that far nor with that kind of accuracy. But, there was the possibility that Bonnie was playing some sort of secretive endgame and silently twisting every situation to her advantage.

And I wasn’t sure which side I sat on right now.

As the vehicle pulled up to my warehouse, I threw open the car door. I needed to get some space between Bonnie and myself so I could think even if it was only for a few minutes. But, when I heard her car door open as well, I drew in a sobering breath.

---