Page 18 of Sins of the Father
“Scatter the team. I’m bringing her home myself.”
The monitors showed Mia pressing a hand to her smiling mouth as the credits rolled. Luc reached out, tracing her glowing face on the glass. He could order his jet and have her within hours. But for now, he would let her keep her illusions of happy endings.
Tomorrow, he would shatter them.
The apartment carriedthe soft trace of floral shampoo, laced with the faint sweetness of lavender—the same delicate scent he had noticed on Mia the first time they met. Luc stepped inside without a sound, gloved fingers trailing over the chipped counter. A mug still steamed by the sink. She’d been here minutes ago.
He was taking her to New York. Two layers of private security protected the family estate in the Hamptons; she wouldbe safe there. There, under his mother’s watch, Mia could be taught about their life properly and be protected thoroughly. His mother, Rosina Valachi, had a gift for taming wild things without breaking them. She would know what to do with a frightened woman who didn’t yet understand who she’d been promised to.
His phone buzzed once. Thomas:She’s on her way up, boss. She only collected a delivery.
Good. He flicked on the light by the stove. The lock turned. The door cracked open.
She hummed a song under her breath.
“How lovely you sound,mia colombina,” he drawled.
Mia gasped, then froze in the threshold like a startled doe. Her keys slipped from her hand as the small grocery bag hit the floor—apples scattered, forgotten. Luc caught the tiny hitch in her breath.
“How did you find me?”
It nearly made him laugh. She wore a simple blue dress with thin straps, the kind that skimmed her figure with effortless grace, accentuating every soft curve without seeming deliberate. The color deepened the glow of her skin, and for a moment, she looked almost serene—beautiful in a way that asked for nothing yet commanded every glance.
Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in loose waves, and there was no trace of makeup—yet she was so lovely his damn heart lurched like he was a fucking teenage boy again. Fire burned in her eyes as she glared at him. Still, she seemed small yet defiant. Good. He preferred her like this. Unvarnished. Real.
Luc crossed the room slowly, savoring each step as anticipation curled through him. She didn’t retreat—smart girl. When he reached her, their bodies brushed, the faintest contact sparking through him. Her scent rose to meet him, soft and feminine, a whisper of lavender and something uniquely herown. Heat coiled low in his gut as his chest pressed to the delicate curves of her body, the shape of her waist fitting perfectly beneath his touch.
“Mia.” He murmured her name into her hairline, lips grazing her skin. “I never lost you.”
“What?”
Her choked gasp whispered through him. Luc could feel the thrum of her pulse, rabbit-quick. He felt the fight coiled tight under her skin. “You heard me… I knew every step since you left the convent.”
She jerked back and lifted her gaze to his, fury brimming in her dark blue eyes. “Get out! If you knew where I was…” Her voice was soft but sharp. “Why didn’t you come sooner? Why did you let me believe I had a chance?”
He tipped her chin up so she did not look away from him, let her see the truth—that he’d watched her test her leash like an unbroken filly. That he’d allowed it. That her false freedom had entertained him as much as it infuriated and also charmed him.
“Did you enjoy it?” he asked, tracing the fine line of her jaw. “Your little taste of running.”
“It wasn’t freedom,” she said, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears. “I looked over my shoulder every day, and now I understand why this feeling of being watched and hunted never left me alone. You were there… in every shadow.”
She whirled to run through the still-open door, and when he grabbed her hips, she rammed an elbow into his ribs. Pain bloomed, sharp and fleeting. Luc laughed into her hair, spun her to the wall, wrists pinned high, her pulse pounding so loud he could taste it.
“Still fighting?” He nudged her thighs apart with a knee, the motion unhurried, humiliating in its certainty.
“I’ll never stop,” she choked out, her eyes flashing with anger.
His hand cruelly fisted in her hair, jerking her head back to bare her throat. He sank his teeth into the delicate curve, hard enough to make her gasp, then soothed the sting with a slow lick.
“I haven’t touched another woman since I laid eyes on your picture,” he growled against her skin. “Keep testing me, and I’ll shove up your skirts and bury my dick inside your virgin pussy and ride you right here.”
A strangled sound slipped from her lips, her body going still. He lifted his head, his gaze locking with hers, feeling that dark, merciless throb. “Perhaps I should do just that,” he murmured.
Her eyes widened. “Don’t youdare.”
“Do you command me?”
Her cheeks flushed red, and her eyes glistened with an emotion he couldn’t name.
