Page 18 of Stolen Bride for the Don

“I do,” I confirm. She doesn’t like that if the glare she tosses at me is any indication.

“You’ve been watching me for a while before you kidnapped me. How long?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“How long!?” She slaps her hand on the desk between us.

“Two months.”

“Oh,” she mutters softly.

“Since around the time Ezra told me he wanted to leave the organization. I sent my man to find out everything about him. I wanted to know what had changed when I was certain that he had been content previously.” I knew he wasn’t exactly happy, but I hoped that would change over time.

“That was when he found out about Charlie’s pregnancy,” she says. “He must have wanted to protect his new family.”

He could have still done that even if he remained with me. “I don’t want to talk about your brother. Let’s talk about our–”

“First.” She raises a hand to stop me. “I’d like to know just how deep your research extended. How did you get a copy of my car fob with you? How do you know so much? Did you have your man go into my apartment?”

I study her wondering just how much of the truth she can handle. “I stopped him a month ago and took over your surveillance myself.”

She nods slowly and agrees, “Okay. What did the surveillance entail?”

I sigh, deciding to let it all out. What do I have to lose? I have her right where I want her. Nothing I say will change that. Not while she still fears for her family’s safety.

“I copied your apartment pin and the code to unlock your car, as you know.” I watch her, but she only nods for me to continue. “I had visuals and audio of all the rooms in your apartment…except the bathroom. Your car too. Oh, and I bugged your phone so I could see your texts and hear your conversations on the phone as well as in person as long as you had your phone with you.” That’s how I had heard her conversation with her father.

“You’ve been watching me in my own home?” Her eyes track back and forth frantically, clearly recalling all of the personal moments that I could have witnessed. “I had people over. Men. Once or twice. You saw me with them?”

“Yes, pet. I saw their sad attempts to pleasure a woman so clearly out of their league. Just like I saw you tend to your needs the moment you politely shoved them out the door.” She looks at me, her eyes wide in shock. “And every other time you took matters into your own hands… which I must say was quite often…” I add with a knowing smirk.

She’s visibly fuming at this point, but I continue. She needs to know the lengths I went to understand and appreciate her.

“I know everything about you, Andrea. I know how many coffees you need to function in the morning and the orgasms you take greedily to fall asleep at night. I know every little sound you make while you come. And neither of those men you had allowed into your bed were able to get them out of you.”

She stares at me, chest heaving breathlessly. “‘You’re unbelievable.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet, love,” I promise. “One of these days I’ll show you what a real man feels like because I know exactly what you desire and how to give it to you. You just have to ask.”

That last statement clearly caught her offhand because she stops breathing altogether. Should I perhaps have held back a little? I stare at her pale face with concern. She explodes out of her chair in outrage.

“You crazy motherfucker!” Just as she starts toward me, the study door opens and Crew and Eli burst in. What the hell?

“YOU!” Eli growls at her with murderous intent on his face. She spins around to glare at him. “She stole my knife again,” Eli tells me. I stare at her, waiting for confirmation. She snatches the offending weapon from her bra–a-fucking-gain–and wields it, shaking it at me and my men.

“None of you move,” she growls, her blue eyes wild with an unhinged quality. In this moment, I know if anyone gets within her reach, she wouldn’t hesitate to use the knife, consequences be damned.

“Leave us,” I tell Eli and Crew. “I’ll deal with this.” They both hesitate, as if I can’t deal with a small woman holding a knife. “Now.” They exchange glances. Eli leaves after one last glance at Andrea.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, H,” Crew stammers in Italian and leaves as well. Alone with my captive, I stare at her, wondering what sent her over the edge. Probably the proposition to beg me to fuck her. Yeah, that was probably it, I think and laugh internally.

“If I don’t go through with our farce engagement and marriage, will you really go through with your threat?” she demands.

No, but I can’t fucking tell her that or I’ll lose all the ground I’ve gained, so I give her a pointed glance. She screeches angrily and starts for me, knife raised up. All I do is lean back further in my chair and wait for this wild, beautiful–and possibly a little crazy– woman to try to stab me.

CHAPTER 13

ANDREA

---