"It's for the best," Chloe said. "There was something seriously wrong with him. Who stares across the street at a woman like that? Fucking creeps do, that's who."
I bit my bottom lip, knowing that in any other circumstance I probably would have agreed. But creepy felt like too mild a word for the man I hadn't seen, and the thought that he might do the same thing with other girls made me want to stab someone with a fork.
It was ridiculous, because he would never be mine.
I glanced out the window wistfully, staring at the space he'd stood before and the now empty parking spot where the SUV had been, as a man stepped into Donak's diner and smiled tightly before taking a seat a few tables away.
"What are you getting?" I asked Chloe, trying to turn my attention away from the man I'd never see again.
He was far too dangerous for anyone to get involved with. A girl like me would burn with desire from a single look, let alone if he actually touched me.
Responsible girls didn't get involved with phantoms from the shadows.
And I was nothing, if not responsible.
4 Rafael
The girl’s friend nudged her, hissing something in her ear, and they turned and made their way into the restaurant behind them. “Come on. She isn’t here,” Enzo said, making his way to the SUV. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she looked over her shoulder to watch me while her friend dragged her into the illusion of safety the restaurant offered them.
Did she understand the danger she was in? Or was she too young and innocent to comprehend that she’d stumbled into the path of a nightmare?
“Rafe!” Enzo barked, demanding I get in gear. Only the knowledge that his woman was missing prevented me from ripping out his throat. I suddenly had an inkling of understanding for what that might be like.
I turned to Santiago, nodding to him and gesturing across the street. “Follow her. I want her name,” I growled. Santiago looked like he might argue, given his place was to protect me at all times, but one stern glare telling him I meant business sent him scurrying across the street to do as I’d ordered.
“You can’t touch her, Rafe,” Enzo warned. “Matteo won’t tolerate it, and we both know she’s young. Too young for the way you looked at her.”
I was silent as I climbed into the passenger side of the SUV, staring at the restaurant until it faded from view when Enzo pulled out of the lot and made his way back toward Indulgence. The sharp ring of my phone filled the silence that echoed between us, and I answered with disinterest. “Yeah? Got it.” I ended the call and looked at Enzo, relaying the information from Calix. “They found your Sadie. A block away from Indulgence in a coffee shop eating a scone. They have eyes on her, but Matteo told Calix you’d want to deal with her yourself.” He sighed in what I had to guess was relief that she was alive and well, even if he might kill her himself for the worry she’d caused.
He turned his attention back to me once he knew she wasn’t in any real danger, likely suspecting that the same couldn’t be said for my princesa. “Please tell me you understand that you can’t take that girl, Rafe,” Enzo murmured. My jaw tensed as I prepared for the fight I suspected was coming. I was no pedophile, but nothing would stop me from taking what was mine when she came of age.
“Do you often tell one another not to claim your women? Why is it you think I will tolerate your interference?” I asked, violence ringing in my blood as I turned to face him, silently warning him that he should back off if he knew what was good for him.
“It’s different. She’s too young.”
“I’ll discuss it with Matteo, and we’ll work out an arrangement. I’ve no interest in rape, Enzo. Particularly raping a girl who has not yet become a woman. But we monsters can be patient, can we not?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and daring him to deny the truth. Matteo waited twelve years to make Ivory his once more. Ryker stalked Calla for four years before he plucked her from her mundane life. Lino waited close to a lifetime.
Good things came to those who planned.
"Isa," I said finally, after my phone dinged with a text. "Her friend calls her Isa."
Strolling through the Bellandi estate, I ignored the sputtering man at my back in favor of making a beeline to Matteo’s office. I cared little for the woman and children playing in the yard, that I could see through the windows. There would be time for Matteo to introduce me to his family later.
All that I cared for in that moment was the pulsing need to establish my rules for Isabel Adamik in the sixteen months that would pass before I could claim her as mine in a permanent fashion. “You can’t just barge in there. He’s on the phone!” the man protested at my spine. I smirked at him over my shoulder, taking the doorknob in hand and turning it. Matteo’s furious eyes met mine as he glanced up from his desk, heaving out a sigh of frustration before he nodded to the man over my shoulder with a resigned expression on his face.
“I’ll call you back,” Matteo grunted, ending the call with the press of a button as I moved into the room. Unbuttoning my suit jacket, I took the seat opposite him at
