It’s her.
My woman.
My light.
She’s gone.
I walk to the corner of the room and tear away the cushions hiding the camera.
What the fuck?
Who put this here?
And why?
CHAPTER TEN
Lena
I sit on the crummy couch in my old apartment, my legs spread out before me and my arms draped to the side like I’ve been injected with some sort of sleeping agent. I feel half dead, sitting here as the sun rises, beaming into my apartment as it catches dim motes of dust.
I came here last night after I saw that camera, the lens staring at me with a glint that was like an evil smirk, telling me that all my worst fears were actually true.
It was a trick.
All of it.
Lorenzo was going to record me and then probably do something horrible and twisted and David like with the recording.
Even though I saw the camera myself, I have to work hard to hammer the fact of it into my mind, to convince myself that my Lorenzo was going to embarrass me like that.
It doesn’t make sense, because I felt so secure that we were sinking blissfully into … into what?
Love?
I can’t hide from the fact that yes, that was what I was starting to believe. When I told him about the high school douchebag David and the humiliation I’d suffered and he went full protective caveman on that weird modern art installation, I just knew he’d always protect me from the evil parts of this world.
But then I saw the camera pointed at me like the scope of a weapon, ready to fire its painful betrayal right into my heart.
I barely slept, curling up on the reeking couch for about an hour before waking fitfully, nightmare fueled tears making my cheeks sting and ache.
I stand up and wander to the window, looking through the dark clouded glass to the street outside. Just like the last time I checked, Lorenzo’s men are parked right outside the apartment building in a jet black sedan. They’re both wearing the sleek suits of the Mafioso, and I’ve got no doubt that they’re waiting for orders from Lorenzo.
“She didn’t fall for the plan. Go in there and take care of her.”
I shake my head, turning away and returning to the couch, dropping down with a huffing breath.
It just doesn’t make sense.
There was a spark there.
I know there was.
Why the heck would he extinguish it like that?
I must fall asleep, because this time when I open my eyes, I can hear knocking at the door to go along with the pounding in my chest.
I peel my eyes open and sit up, a thread of fear coiling around my body and squeezing onto me sharply.
Is it them? Is it Lorenzo’s men?
But I still can’t set the idea that Lorenzo would do anything to hurt me.
We have a connection, a bond that goes beyond the time we’ve known each other. When I first saw him in the garden, I dared to let my mind dream that there could be something between us, a spark that might become a flame, and then a smoldering inferno.
I rub sleep from my tear stinging eyes as I walk to the door. The apartment is filled with dim yellow light now, and I guess it might be around ten o’clock.
“Who is it?” I say, hand on the door lock.
“It’s me,” Lorenzo growls, voice deep and gruff.
Just hearing his voice sends surges of belonging through me, my womb doing backflips and my hymen going tight like overripe fruit in anticipation.
I think about last night and how amazing it could’ve been, his manhood sliding up, prodding at that precious vermillion juicy spot inside of me, bursting it open and drenching him.
I could’ve taken his seed, closed my thighs around him and silently urged it to swim deeper inside of me, to make a home and blossom and create.
I wanted it.
I still want it.
“Open the door, Lena,” Lorenzo growls, his voice brimming with billionaire’s authority.
“And what if I don’t, huh?” I snap right back. “Will you huff and puff and blow this house down? Are you the big bad wolf, Lorenzo?”
He sighs, a trembling sounding deep in his chest.
“I’ve spent all night figuring out how that fucking camera got into our suite and taking steps to make it right. Just open the door so I can explain.”
“Wait … you didn’t put the camera there?”
“Of course not,” he says. “I’d die before I let anybody else see you like that. That’s just for me. Just open the door.”
I pull the door open and draw in a gasp.
Lorenzo’s face is tight with tension and his moon specked hair lies in a wave across his forehead. He’s wearing a dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, no jacket, and his forearms bulge and writhe like they’re separate, living creatures.
“Have you slept?” I ask.
“No,” he says, walking into the apartment. He turns to me, his eyes roaming over my body. “That camera was put there by my rival, a man named Diego Romano. He’s been making plays on me for a while now. He bribed the hotel manager to find out what suite I’d rented, and then hid a camera in there, hoping to get footage he could use to blackmail me with.”
I shut the door, my hand trembling. My heart thunders and suddenly my mouth is dry, as though all the moisture has been sucked out of the air.
“You mean you didn’t …”
“Of course I didn’t.”
He moves closer like a natural force, his movements fluid despite his Goliath’s size.
David and Goliath, a voice whispers in my mind.
Only if my Goliath ever met with the high school jerk, it would go nothing like the story.
He raises his hand and smooths a strand of greasy hair from my forehead. I back away, the idea that I look unpresentable and icky firing in my mind.
“I need to take a shower and change,” I mutter.
He growls through a smirk.
“You’re beautiful,” he says, grabbing my shoulders and pulling
