Page 2 of Owned
Suddenly, I don't give a fuck about shaming Laurent anymore. All I care about is making his daughter mine...forever.
It's an unwelcome and inconvenient shock to my system.
This young woman, this symbol of the man I despise, is making me feel something I haven't felt before. Something dangerously close to compassion. To desire. To possession.
I need to get a handle onthis, whateverthisis, and fast.
Her gaze flickers, assessing me. She looks just as shocked as I feel, her tears stop as her mouth falls slightly open. Elena can't look away, and neither can I.
In what is surely less than a minute, I see the well-thought-out plans I made fall to pieces in my mind, and something new, something foreign to me, takes its place.
I am a Marchetti. I take what I want. When I want.
And I want Elena.
My mind races--this is a reckless, insane, emotionally-driven deviation from my plan, but suddenly I can't stomach the idea of this woman in a miserable marriage to a fossil, or humiliated when I tear her father down. I can give her something else. Something real. My mind races frantically as I think this through.
My revenge can wait. Laurent will suffer more, watching his daughter disappear into my world, than he would from a simple business deal falling through.
This is better. This is personal.
My decision is made in the space of a single heartbeat. I take a deliberate step forward, and the movement breaks the spell between us.
Elena flinches back, her hand flying to her throat. "Who are you?" Her voice is a shaky whisper, but she's trying so hard to sound steady.
"I'm Adrian. A friend, if you listen well." I move close enough to see the dusting of freckles across her nose. "I hate to see you out here crying, Elena. All alone."
Her chin lifts, a flash of pride showing through her distress. "I'm fine. It's just...cold feet."
"Or is it that you're marrying some old fuck when you're only twenty-four? In the prime of your life, but relegated to nothing but a pawn in your father's schemes." I grin, and I know it looks sharper than I intend, but it's too late. I'm enjoying this too much. "Good thing I'm here to change that." I don't wait for a reply, reaching out to grab her bare arm. Her soft skin makes my mouth water, even as she tries to pull away.
"Let go," she hisses. “You…”
"Not a chance, princess." I tug her gently towards the shadows at the edge of the patio, her heels clicking against the flagstones as she stumbles along beside me, her wide eyes fixed on my face.
"Who are you? What do you want?" she repeats, her voice a little stronger this time. "My father is Laurent Moreau."
"I know exactly who your father is," I say, my voice low. "And I know exactly what he's done. Now you're going to come with me, because that bastard owes me something, and I've chosen what the payment is going to be. You." I'm moving us quickly, my long legs eating up the ground. I don't care if her shoes get ruined. She won't be needing them where we're going.
I steer her towards a service gate I'd noticed as my car swung around the ornate fountain on the driveway in front of the mansion on my way in, one that leads out into the woods beside the estate.
"My dress...," she whispers, looking down at the expensive silk of her gown. “…Stop!” She’s terrified and grasping at anything she can think of that might encourage me to let her go.
"Forget the dress. I'll buy you ten of them when we get where we're going. Now walk, or I'm going to carry you."
Her resistance falters for a second before she hurries forward, and I use her confusion to pull her faster. I take out my phone, juggle it with one hand, sending a quick encrypted message to my driver to meet me now. He’ll see and track my location.
Once we're deep enough into the woods that we can no longer hear the string quartet or the murmur of the party, I finally stop. I turn to face her, my hand still wrapped firmly around her arm. She looks up at me, her blue eyes wide and luminous in the dappled moonlight. She's stopped fighting me, but she's not submitting either. She's a caged animal, her eyes darting left and right, waiting for her chance to escape.
Unable to resist, I gently swipe a thumb over her flushed cheek, taking an errant tear away with the caress, "I'm not going to hurt you. But we've got a long trip ahead of us, and this will go a lot easier if you don't fight." My other hand rests possessively on her waist, pulling her flush against me, feeling the soft curves of her body against the hard planes of my own. It sends a bolt of pure possessiveness coursing straight through me.
"I'm not going to just let you kidnap me!" It's a valiant effort, but she's wasting her breath. "My father will hunt you to the ends of the earth. He will, he’ll find you, he’ll hurt you”
Chuckling, I let my hand drift to the back of her neck, making her suck in a breath. "I hope he does. I want him to know it's me who has taken you. Laurent will find I'm not as easily fucked over as my father."
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ELENA
