Her eyes were puffy and red rimmed. Light brown hair pulled into a messy bun that highlighted the sharp cut of her cheekbones. A loose sleeveless T-shirt and denim shorts with pink flip-flops completed her ensemble.
No makeup touched the flawlessly boned face, no designer clothes showcased her stunning beauty, and yet she looked like a million dollars.
Hurt shimmered in those eyes as she held his gaze without blinking. As if she meant to look straight into his heart. As if she was trying to search for a speck of honor within him.
But she would fail. There was no honor in him. None at all.
He swept his gaze over her entire length and found a little satisfaction in spotting the diamond still shimmering brilliantly on her left hand.
Mine, she’s mine, he wanted to growl like a savage beast.
“Running away without a word, Princess? This marriage thing is new to both of us, si, but we clearly need some ground rules,” he mocked, refusing to acknowledge the two men standing there like sentinels, guarding her.
Leonardo Brunetti, CEO of Brunetti Finances Inc. A financial conglomerate that was synonymous with prestige in the rarified circles of Milan, the man he intended to replace. And Massimo Brunetti, the brilliant, technical mind behind the highly successful cyber arm of BFI—Brunetti Cyber Services—and the man that had captured his past associate Natalie’s heart.
Men who had everything that should have also been his.
Men he intended to take everything from.
“You think there’s any ground to stand on after what you’ve done, V?”
If she’d yelled it at him, he would’ve felt much more in control of the situation. But the shaken whisper… He didn’t quite know to handle it, to stop it from disarming him. “Come, cara. Whatever questions you have, I’ll answer them in privacy.”
“You had numerous chances to do it in privacy. To explain what the hell you’ve been doing to my family. To at least…hint to me that you’ve been turning their lives upside down. You lost all those chances. You lost…” She bit her lip, her chest rising and falling. A wet sheen coating her eyes. “Just tell us…why.”
“Why what?” he said through gritted teeth. Maledizione, he shouldn’t have waited to explain it all to her when he so badly needed her to understand his point of view.
“Why’ve you been targeting them?” Frustration raised her voice. “Why did you arrange for Natalie to take down BCS before she fell in love with Massimo? Why did you use Neha’s bullying stepfather to spy for you? Why did you buy up BFI stock until you could square off against Leo for the position of CEO?”
“I thought all those actions were quite self-explanatory,” he said smoothly.
Alessandra stood up and took a step forward, breaking away from the group. The subtle scent of her hit him, bringing with it such vivid sensations of entwined damp limbs and sinful pleasure. Of long, warm nights and warmer sheets and soft gasps. Of intoxicating smiles that chased away the web of loneliness he hadn’t even realized he’d woven around himself.
He saw the pulse at her neck flutter rapidly but when he raised his gaze to hers, the sheer depth of dismay in her eyes was a stinging slap to his senses. The same eyes that had looked at him with such affection and desire…
“You think this is all a joke?”
He tucked his hands in his pockets to stop himself from reaching for her. “It is not a joke, Alessandra, least of all to me. If it’s still not clear, then let me make it so.
“I have spent most of my life working toward this moment. Moving people and contracts and money like chess pieces just to arrive at this point.
“I intend to take over as the CEO of BFI. I intend to own the company outright. I intend to drive every Brunetti from the company until it’s all mine. Only mine.”
One lone tear drew a path over a sharply defined cheekbone. “Why?”
“I believe in taking what’s mine. Especially when it’s been denied me for so long. Especially…” He lost the fight against himself and reached out to catch the tear with his finger. Skin like silk beckoned a deeper touch, and he gave in to that too. Damn it, he’d never intended to hurt her.
He rubbed the line of her jaw with the pad of his thumb, marveling again at how much he wanted her to lean into his touch, how much he wanted her to take that last step and mold her glorious body against his. How much he wanted her to look at him as if he were her hero.
But he’d never aspired to be a hero in his life.
In fact, he was the furthest thing from being a hero. He didn’t believe in self-sacrifice or putting someone else before him or in the happiness of others enriching his own.
No, he believed in taking, possessing, having. And keeping hold of what was his.
“Especially…when I’ve made a commitment to having it in my life in the first place,” he finished slowly, his voice gone all deep and rumbly.
A quick intake of breath. A parting of those luscious lips. A quick rush of color into her cheeks. She swallowed and looked up. And for an infinitesimal moment, he knew she was as lost in him as he was in her. In the magic they created together. In the indescribable, illogical thing between them that had made him take such a big step.
That made him stand here explaining himself to her even after she’d run away from him without a word.
“Alessandra?” Greta broke in, puncturing the magic.
Alessandra laid those doe eyes on him. “You think BFI should be yours?”
“Si. Since it was Silvio Brunetti that seduced my mother with a hundred lies, got her pregnant and then discarded her like yesterday’s trash.
“Since my mother was called a whore, and she and I were accused of being beggars and
