Page 116 of Heart of a Villain

Lorenzo’s expression went from smug to complete shock. “Can’t be. It can’t be…”

“Do I know you?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. You look like this kid… Well, I guess he wouldn’t be a kid anymore. But you look like someone I used to know.”

Lorenzo was standing in the doorway.

To leave, Sayeda would have to walk past him, which was what he both wanted and didn’t want. He didn’t want her to have to share more than a continent’s worth of space with this son of a bitch, but he desperately wanted Lorenzo to touch her. While he didn’t need a reason, a reason was even better when it came with a full dose of his wrath.

“Who is Acoisa?” he prodded. “Because I speak Portuguese, and that means something in Portuguese, but you can’t be saying what I think you’re saying.”

Lorenzo grinned. “You sound like him, too.”

“Querida,” he gestured to the door, “go ahead. I’m right behind you.”

“I don’t want him to accidentally touch one of the boys,” she said.

Lorenzo grinned. “Why, Acoisa? I don’t touch boys. They have nothing to worry about.”

“And she does?” Adrían spat. “I would really enjoy it if you told me what it is she has to worry about. Querida,” he tapped her elbow, “go ahead.”

She walked to the door and all but squeezed out, making sure no part of Josiah or Theo brushed the air surrounding Lorenzo’s body. Once she was outside and waiting for him on the sidewalk, he closed the gap between him and Lorenzo. Like Rafael, he would have to control his true reaction to this man. Everything they were doing and would do served a greater purpose.

“Tenente,” he said with a slight bow of his head. “What brings you to Sweden?”

Lorenzo’s eyes lit up. “Gano! It is you! My god, we thought you were dead, kid. What happened to you?”

“Prison. Got shuffled around.”

“That’s what I told Chefe.” Lorenzo smacked his shoulder. “There was no way anyone was killing you. The thing about you that always got to me was how you keep your cool, but underneath all that frost, there’s a monster.”

He looked over Lorenzo’s head to find Sayeda carefully studying them. As his woman, he hoped she knew him well enough to see that he was trying to sell an act. There was no way in hell that he would do anything but murder the man who’d done to her what Lorenzo had done to her.

“Well, I’m glad to see you well and alive, Gano, but I thought I should let you know. The woman there that you are with? The pretty one? Chefe gifted it to me.”

He returned his attention to Lorenzo. “If he gifted her to you, why is she here in Sweden? Gifts don’t have rights, especially not to travel.”

“Do you want something I’ve already had my way with? Gano, you can’t imagine the things I’ve done to that woman.”

He nearly ground his teeth down to his gums. “I’ve claimed her as mine. If you relinquish a gift, she’s free game.”

“There’s a process.”

“That I would gladly go through, but we are not in Brazil. And, as of this moment, she belongs to me.”

Lorenzo licked his lips. “What all have you done with my property? Have you touched it?”

“I’m not obligated to tell you what I’ve done with her.”

“Chefe will be happy to know you’re alive.”

“I would rather tell him myself.”

“That would take coming to Brazil.” Lorenzo’s mouth stretched in a smile so wide that his bottom lip turned white. “If you come to Brazil, you’ll be forced to relinquish what is mine.”

“Via a process.”

“You may not be as much of Chefe’s golden boy as you once were, Gano. You have been gone for years, while I’ve married Alessandra.”

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