Page 26 of Bound to the Crime Lord

I was horrified at my actions. The goal was to detach myself further from this man, but instead, here I was fucking myself while thinking of him.

I withdrew my hand and just laid on my bed, completely and utterly appalled. Why did it have to be him?

You will be begging for my cock soon enough,amor.

He had a lot of nerve to say that to me. But my actions of only a few minutes ago had proved that Manuel Gomez was a far greater danger to me than I had realized. It was one thing to find him hot, but another completely to think of him while getting myself off.

I needed to tread lightly and with far greater caution if I wanted to win this game we were playing.

Chapter Twelve

Manuel POV

Iwalked into the penthouse feeling spent from the day I had endured. Not only was The Triads a far greater nuisance than I had anticipated, but they were also getting bolder.

I had a delivery in my office this morning with a letter warning me to make sure to keep an eye on Juliette. I still didn’t know the connection between the rebel group and her, but I was going to find out.

Juliette was no gangster, and if her past was to be believed, she was as close to Mother Teresa as possible.So why is The Triads interested in her?

The house was uncannily quiet. Juliette should be home since she wasn’t on call tonight, but she could have also gone to the clinic to volunteer.

“Dammit, Juliette.” I dug out my phone from my back pocket and called Rigo.

“Yes, boss?” he answered on the first ring.

“Where is Juliette?”

“She’s at the penthouse, Boss. She only left today to go to thePet Kingdom, and then she was back within an hour.” He recounted what her guards had seen her do. “Adam and Simon have been watching her the entire time.”

“ThePet Kingdom? Why the hell did she go there?”

I walked further into my house and made a beeline for the kitchen. I came to a staggering halt when I noticed a small purple cage with what I could only describe as a rodent in it.

“What the fuck?” I guessed I knew then why she had gone to that store. I hung up the phone and approached the small box with caution. I was not one for pets, let alone small rodent-like ones.

The small thing was nibbling on what appeared to be a small apple slice in its hands. My nose scrunched in disgust the longer I stared at the thing.

“Such an ugly little thing.” I straightened. It was only then I noticed a small card on the countertop. At closer inspection, I realized that it was a note addressed to me from none other than my roommate.

Meet Wilbert Ballard! He will be joining my family. He’s cute, isn’t he?

“Juliette!” I roared.

“In here, Manuel” I heard her voice come from the direction of my study.

I picked up the stupid pet and stalked down the hallway towards my study. My irritation was already high, but it was morphing into annoyance. I hated pets, but most of all, I hated little rodents. They were not cute little creatures that deserved love. They were small, ugly sewer urchins that had no place in homes.

I pushed the door to my study open and found the very source of my annoyance sitting behind my desk, looking far too comfortable in my chair.

Her face was void of any makeup, and her wet hair had been put up into a messy bun on top of her head. I had never seen her so relaxed and laid back.

“Good evening, amor.” She used the exact words I had used on her a few nights ago in the kitchen. “How was your day?”

“You think you’re funny, don’t you,amor?” I walked into my study with the little hamster cage in hand. “You want to bring a rodent into my home?”

“Wilbert is not a rodent; he’s my pet, and I love him.” The amusement in her voice did nothing to quell the irritation in my system. “Rodents deserve love too, Manuel. Don’t you see how Rodrigo loves you?”

“Ha, funny.”

---