Page 51 of Hunted Vengeance

I snort. “I think I’ve had more than enough for tonight. I went a little crazy.”

I can feel my cheeks grow hot, and I know they’re likely bright pink with my embarrassment. I made a whole pig of myself, and if I’m being completely honest, I really could eat some more.

It feels like I’m eating for the first time in my whole life. Maybe I was just surviving for my entire life, but right now, I want to live. My world was in black and white, but now that I’m free, everything is in color.

Food tastes better, looks amazing, and fills me. I don’t want to stop. I want to keep going, and then I want to try anything and everything that I can think to try and see if it’s just food or maybe if everything tastes more amazing now that I’m free.

Freedom is something that I didn’t realize was tangible. It is. It’s a taste, a smell, a breeze that is constant. I love it, and now that I truly have it, I never want to lose it. I understand why people are willing to die for it.

MERRICK

Colette eatsenough food for three people, and it’s fucking beautiful to watch. However, she does slow down as she devours chicken marsala and truffle risotto, and then finally, she ends her meal with a second dessert, a chocolate torte with an Oreo-looking crust.

We still have footage to go over, and I know that I need to focus on that, but I can’t tear my attention away from my woman. She’s so fucking beautiful. She’s so fucking at peace. I still have so many questions that I need answers to, but not today. Not right now.

Hopefully, I never have to ask her. I want her to tell me because she trusts me, and I know that we’ll have to do that on both sides. I need her to trust me as much as I need to trust her.

We’ll get there, but until then, I’ll be doing whatever it takes to keep her safe, and until I can figure out who the fucker is who thought he could marry her, she’s not a hundred-percent safe.

The guys and I start to talk about our schedules and when we’ll be leaving here. Who will go to work and catch up at the office, and who will take whatever shifts need to be taken. I look over and see that Colette has fallen asleep.

She’s lying down, her knees pulled up to her chest, her eyes closed, with her head resting on a pillow. I can’t stop the smile from playing on my lips at the sight of her. She needs the sleep.

As much as I want to pick her up and take her to the bedroom, I know that if I do, I won’t make it back out here to work with my brothers. I’ll be too busy fucking my woman. Being inside of her again is all I can think about, and I need to shift my focus right now.

I jerk my chin toward Theron. His brows snap together, and I mouth that she’s asleep. A few moments later, we gather all our things and move into Theron’s room. I drag a chair behind me and set it up in the corner.

We all finish watching the front door of the church footage and see nothing. Not a single fucking thing. The man has his head tipped the whole time. Zero distinguishing marks. I don’t even see the license plate on the car that drives him away.

“What the fuck?” Boden asks. “How in the fuck can he go in one door, out the other, and we still have no fucking clue who he is?”

Pressing my lips together, I roll them a few times, but it’s Theron who speaks first. “Can we get any intel on the man who’s with him?” he asks.

“Nothing. His face is hidden.”

We don’t say anything immediately. We’re all still staring at our computers with no idea of what to do next. At least not yet. Leaning back in the chair, I close my eyes and let out a sigh.

“I guess we just go home and I’ll try to continue the search,” I mutter as I straighten.

Grayson clears his throat. “Colette isn’t safe until those fucks are taken care of.”

He’s right. I know he is. Colette isn’t safe until they’re all dead. Every single fucker will need to be ended—and slowly. I’m just not sure how to get that done. Lifting my hand to my face, I rub my chin a couple of times while I think about what to do next. What I need is for Colette to tell me who the fuck this guy is.

“Before we leave, is there any way we can get Adriano Bellucci alone?” I ask.

Vaughn clears his throat, shifting in his seat a few times before he speaks. “We’re going to have to. Think we can go now?” he asks.

“Let’s do it,” I say as I set my iPad on the floor and stand to my feet.

I’m ready to get the fuck out of here right this second, but then I remember that I’ve got a woman to protect, and no way in fuck am I taking her to her father. I don’t need him trying to pull any shit. Colette might not be my wife anymore, but she’s still mine, and I’m not giving her up this time without a goddamn fight.

“We need someone to stay with Colette,” I murmur. “I can’t take her with me, and she can’t stay here alone.”

I want to stay with her, but at the same time, I want to face her father. “I’ll stay with her,” Theron states. “She’ll just be asleep, and it’ll give me some time to call Lucille and check in with her.”

That’s that.

We all gather our shit and head out of the hotel suite, but not before I stop and take a long hard look at my woman.Mine. She is that, too. Colette is all mine now, and I am never going to let her go—not ever again.

---