Page 38 of Bound to the Crime Lord

I waited for his voice to move through the air and ask me where I was going, but it never came. I looked over my shoulder to find him turned away from me.

I breathed a sigh of relief and continued on my escape attempt.

The floor was littered with his clothes and my dress.

Vivid memories of the night before passed through my mind, but I tried not to hold onto those thoughts.

I tiptoed across the room, getting into the large walk-in closet to retrieve my scrubs. I wasn’t on shift today, but I needed somewhere to go that wasn’t here. I couldn’t face, Manuel, at least not yet. I made quick work of getting them on and then I shuffled my way out of the room without waking him.

I hurried to the living room to pick up my bag and made my way out of the penthouse. It was only when I was in the elevator that I allowed myself to breathe. I pressed my back against the mirror and looked to the ceiling.

The last 48 hours had been nothing short of a whirlwind. It had been bad decision after bad decision.

He was the leader of one of the most notorious gangs in Chicago. He spilled blood for a living and contributed to the wounds I repaired. We didn’t make sense in any way. The smart thing to do would be to stay away from him and keep those boundaries I had set from the very beginning.

The only issue was that my heart craved him. I couldn’t explain it.

It was more than just a carnal desire; it was an emotional one, too. I craved his presence and his touch.

Sex was easy to navigate. It was animalistic and could be chalked down to simple human desire. But issues of the heart? That was a whole other battlefield that I was not sure I would survive.

Chapter Seventeen

Manuel’s POV

She was avoiding me. I could tell from the way she was behaving.

Fuck.

I stared at my phone like a hopeless teenage boy waiting for the girl he wanted to text back. She was picking up extra shifts at the clinic and sleeping at the hospital.

The sex had been good; had it been bad, she would be speaking to me right now. She was scared it was so good that she wanted more, and so did I.

One simple taste of her was not enough for me. I wanted more. I craved her the same way a dehydrated man craved water.

“Dammit,amor.” She had my head in a fucking bind.

There had never been a moment in my life where I had been left by a woman in the morning. They were always the ones clinging onto me to stay longer. How had the innocent doctor managed to play me and make me the desperate one?

I stared at myself on the mirrored wall of the elevator.

I walked down the hallway as I made my way to the office.

I stared at Juliette’s name, willing myself to not call her like a deranged teenager.

“Morning, Boss,” Leo greeted.

“Morning, Leo.”

“Savina and Andres Valdez are here to see you, Boss.” Leo stood at my door, holding guard. “I took them inside.”

Fuck. I forgot about those two meeting me. It had been such a spur-of-the-moment meeting that I didn’t even think of it. My mind was littered with all things…doctor.

“Graçias, Leo.” I stood at the door and pocketed my phone. Juliette would have to wait for now. I had business to attend to.

I walked into my office and found Savina and Andres sitting on the leather loveseat. Andres had a glass of whiskey in hand, while his wife sat beside him rubbing her round belly.

I never thought I would see the day when Savina Baratelli softened, but married life had done wonders to her calloused persona. She had been known in the mafia world as the she-devil. She made even the most heinous of the Brotherhood look like girls scouts.

---