Page 49 of Bound to the Crime Lord

I didn’t want him to leave, but I knew it was for the best.

“When do you have to leave?” I traced my finger over his bare chest. My eyes watched the sun peak beyond the horizon of the city. The midnight sky slowly lightened as the seconds ticked by and night gave way to day.

“Within the hour.” He buried his nose into my hair and breathed in my scent deeply. His strong arms wound their way around my body and pulled me in even closer.

The soft cotton of the sheets wrapped around us creating a small cocoon which I never wanted to leave. I wished that we could simply exist like this. Just the two of us in our little bubble of bliss.

Happiness was such a fleeting and feeble thing for me. I had come to learn to not become attached to things or people as they never lasted. But Manuel had caused me to throw my entire rulebook out the window. Caution had been the last thing on my mind when dealing with this man, and now here I was, falling into something that I couldn’t turn away from even if I wanted to.

“When will you be back?” I lifted my head and looked at the side of his face. My eyes traced the fine lines of his profile. He truly was a magnificent sight to behold. I often had to remind myself that this man was real and not artwork.

“My hope is to be back within the week,” he said. He moved his gaze from the large floor to ceiling windows. He grabbed my chin between his forefinger and thumb. “No pouting,amor.”

I forced my features to ease. “I’m not pouting.”

His face split into a soft and tender smile. His eyes dazzled me, leaving my heart weightless. “Yes, you are. I made you a promise, and I am a man of my word. I’m going to find my way back to you.”

“You can promise me all of this but you are still just a man. You can’t stop bullets, Manuel.”

He lived his life like he was invincible, and why not? He had the power and the resources to make himself a god here. But out there, I feared that the world was colder and meaner.

“I’ve cheated death a dozen times over, Juliette.” He pressed his lips down onto mine, successfully stealing the argument that wanted to pass through my lips. He coaxed my lips into responding, and I did.

I allowed myself to get lost in him for a few seconds. When we pulled apart, my heart was soaring, and my mind was a chaotic cloud of worry and growing desire.

“I’ll be fine,amor. I need you trust me on this.”

I had no army or power to my name, but still I felt like he was better off staying in Chicago with me. There was this large pit in my stomach that I couldn’t shake. It felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

This wasn’t about me. The small voice in my head rang loud and true.

I forced my lips to curve into a smile. “Okay, I trust you.”

“Good.” He pulled me in. “Now come here. I think I can fit us in for a quickie before the car comes to get me.”

He rolled on top of me and kissed his way down my body until he came to my core. I knew what he was doing—trying to distract me so I didn’t worry myself to oblivion. I wasn’t going to protest his attempts. But I knew that, once he left, I would be left with only my thoughts and the worst-case scenarios that my mind would definitely conjure up.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Manuel POV

The journey to my homeland was shorter than I had remembered it being.

Leaving Juliette behind had been a hard choice, but she was safer in Chicago than she was with me here in Guadalajara.

The sun beamed down on my skin, scorching my back as I walked down the long, dirty road.

We had come to a small village in the south of the city. It was a village that I had visited often when I was a child. I could barely remember the finer details of this place, but I had all the important things I needed stored in my memory.

Children screamed with laughter as they barreled the way down the hill I was climbing.

I used to be one of them. I laughed and played with the neighbors every time I came here with my parents. My fondest memories had occurred in this place. After those 8 years of life, my entire world shifted when my father integrated me into the business.

I swiped away the sweat that had gathered on my forehead.

I could have driven my car up the dusty mountainside to reach the village, but I needed to keep under the radar while I was here. The last thing I needed was The Triads realizing I had walked into their den willingly. It was not lost on me that this could all be a trap. But I was willing to risk the chance of retrieving my mother and it being a trap.

I had promised Juliette that I would come back to her in one piece, and I had never broken my word before.

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