Page 49 of Inevitable

“I am just going to come out and say what we are all thinking. This Gala trap is a shit plan,” Mario says.

I turn around and swing, landing a clean shot across his face. Mario stumbles backwards stunned into silence before he looks at me and scowls.

“Do not ever challenge my decisions. I am the Boss; you work for me. You would do well to remember that.”

Mario grits his teeth and nods tersely. I look to Gio and raise an eyebrow, but he just stares me down. I know he is thinking the same thing, but I don’t give a shit. It has to work; I can’t sit around and do nothing. We can’t find them, so this is the best option we have right now.

“Cut his head off. Leave it at one of their properties and dispose of the body. I want them to fully understand what will happen to them if they dare to attack us again,” I say to the room.

A few of the men get to work on his head and I turn to start walking towards the car. I slide into the back before we make our way back home. Once we get closer to the house, I check my watch and notice that it is a little after midnight. Shit, Ashlynn is probably freaking out. I wanted to be home with her hours ago, but the little fucker wouldn’t budge.

Overall, we didn’t learn much. But what he did say intrigued me. He said they are watching us, waiting. Where could they be to watch us that we haven’t already looked? Unless they keep moving.

When I get home, I find Ashlynn tucked in to bed, sleeping soundly. I smile at the sight and gently kiss her full lips. She lets out a soft sigh but that is all that she gives me before she drifts back to sleep. I peel my dirtied clothes off and climb into bed in my boxers, pulling her tightly into me. I breathe in the sweet smell of cherry blossoms as I bury my head into her neck. Our enemies are closing in on us and I know that more than a few good people will die in this fight, but she is worth it. I will burn down the world for her.

-

When I wake up the next morning, I notice that Ashlynn hasn’t moved a muscle. I take the opportunity to admire her. She is so gorgeous. I will never get tired of seeing her golden hair splayed across my pillow or her ruby lips pushed out in a slight pout as she sleeps. I can’t believe I almost lost her yesterday, again.

I know I need to do something for her. After almost a decade of being apart she is finally mine. No secret rendezvous or wondering if someone will catch us. No keeping her at arm’s length out of some ridiculous delusion that it would keep her safe. I am all in with her, and it seems she is all in with me.

After her little get away stunt she seems much more accepting of the life I live and what it demands of me. I know she needed a break from the constant lock down, but all I could think about while she was missing was that if the Farelli found her first we would only ever see her again in pieces. That was something I couldn’t afford to put too much thought in to.

My men thought they had seen me angry before, but never like that. Once she was found the first thing that I did was take care of the men that let her get away in the first place. We are in the middle of a fucking war and they were so complacent as to let her drive right through the front gates? I couldn’t let them live after a mistake like that.

Now I have a trick up my sleeve to show her that when the time is right, it can just be me and her like old times. I sneak out of bed and leave her a note telling her that I have work to do in my office and that I would see her at dinner.

I do spend some time in my office in the morning but only for a little while. Since then, I have been setting up for her surprise, well Marisol and a few of the other maids have been setting up, but I have been supervising.

Finally, everything is ready to my liking and I go out to search for Ashlynn. I find her in her studio furiously sketching with a concentrated pout. She has her hair in a high ponytail and is wearing a white tank top and some yoga pants. Even now she still steals all of the air out of the room. I will never know what made me so lucky to have her love almost 8 years ago. I really have no idea how I was lucky enough to receive her love a second time now. All I know is that I am not letting go for anything, ever.

She is so focused she doesn’t notice me come in. I walk up behind her and place soft kisses up and down her neck. A smile blooms across her face and she leans back in to my touch, tilting her head up slightly and letting out a sweet moan.

“How is work going, Angel?” I ask softly in her ear.

She lets out a content sigh and shakes her head. “It’s not. Camila is shooting down everything I send her, so I am putting it off for now. This is my own pet project to let out some stress.”

I peek over her shoulder to see half a dozen wedding dress sketches. They are all different, but they all appear grand and elegant, like they were made for a queen. She is so talented it amazes me sometimes.

“Got weddings on the brain?” I tease.

We haven’t talked about what the future will look like for us. I think we both assume that we will be married one day, but maybe she is not thinking of it coming as soon as I would like it to. If it were up to me, we would have gotten married when I first proposed to her. Granted it was more of a desperate plea to have her to myself and with the promise that we would run away together but I meant it.

Now my interest is piqued though. Does she want it like I do? I will go out and buy her a ring right this minute if that is what she wants. She is my forever. I knew it from the first moment I saw her.

She lets out a soft laugh. “No, I have actually been working on a wedding gown collection long before you came back in to my life. Camila says, ‘it doesn’t fit our brand.’ I think she is just trying to shut me down because I am passionate about it. She can’t stand that I will be her boss in less than a year, so she tries to undermine me at every step I take. It’s a shame that she is causing the company to suffer for her own petty agenda. I think the company could be really successful from it. I know mom would have loved having a wedding collection. She used to talk about how she would design my wedding dress for me one day.”

A far-off look crosses her face before she shakes her head and gives me a forced smile. I know that her mother’s death was really hard on her. I had kept a close eye on her during that time. I watched as she would break down out of nowhere, like the idea or reminder of her mother would come up and it was too much.

It was the hardest thing in the world to walk away from her every time I watched her fall apart without being able to kiss and hold her until the tears stopped. I wouldn’t let myself back then, but nothing is stopping me now. I scoop her into my arms and cradle her to my chest. She doesn’t cry, just sits there with her head in my chest and breathes slowly.

“I have a surprise for you, Angel,” I murmur against her silky hair. “Will you come with me?”

She looks up and gives me a small smile and a nod. I place her on to her feet and intertwine our fingers as I lead her down the stairs and out the back door. I grab a coat for her and slip it over her shoulders. She gives me an appreciative smile that makes my heart leap. I am a goner for this woman, there is no going back.

“Where are we going?”

“You will see,” I wink as I pull her along.

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