Page 34 of Unruly Obsession
Lily sits beside me in the car, her floral scent wafting over and making my nostrils flare. We’ve been arguing all day regarding her family dinner. It wasn’t even a question as to whether I was going. I take my mission very seriously. But then she had the nerve to call Ara, who intervened and told me I'll have to wait outside.
We haven’t spoken a word to one another since. I don’t like the idea of having her out of my sight, not even for a minute. Anything could happen, and I don’t trust her family's security for shit, unless I’m there by her side.
I’m not someone who casually comforts another, but the moment she took that call this morning, I knew something was wrong. Watching her withdraw into herself was awful. A woman like her shouldn’t crumble in any way, especially not because of someone else. Before I knew it, my hand was reaching out to hers. The action wasn’t missed by Ara, but I don’t give a shit. She was the one who encouraged this whole fake dating thing anyway, and I’m certain hand-holding is what people do in relationships.
But the moment our hands touched, it brought memories to the surface that I’ve pushed away for over half my lifetime. A time when I was barely a teenager, reaching out to the hands of a small, frightened girl who would never make it past the age of five.
Lily reminds me of my younger sister, whom I wasn’t able to save, and it slowly unravels something uncomfortable within me. I shouldn’t be having flashbacks of the life I left behind so many years ago. I fucking hate it.
Watching Lily bow to her father's whim is something else I fucking can’t stand. She could flourish more than she knows if she’d just free herself from the shackles he's chained her in. I find it infuriating that it’s affecting even me. I just want to shake her, but after this morning, when my hand seemed to move of its own accord, I need to remind myself that I’m not here to save Lily Taylor.
Well, technically I am, but only if she’s in physical danger.
I glance at her from the corner of my eye. Her arms are folded over her chest, and her expression is set in a pout. And she has the balls to be furious with me, telling me I’m overbearing, when it’s literally my job. She doesn’t even know to what extent I could be overbearing. And besides, I prefer the termdiligent.
As I pull up to the Taylor estate, I can tell by the way she stares at the thick metal gates that she doesn’t want to be here. But she takes a deep breath and then places her hand on the door handle with an air of indifference.
If she doesn’t want to be here, she should just say no, instead of trying to please every fucker.
“I don’t like it,” I growl.
She doesn’t even bother looking over her shoulder at me. Instead, her nose points higher, and she says, “I told you, my family, my rules.”
“You could still be in danger there,” I grit out.
She rolls her eyes. “From choking on a lettuce leaf? Stop being ridiculous, Lorenzo,” she scoffs. Then she opens the door, climbs out, and slams the door behind her. I glare at her back as she waits for the grand gates to open upon her arrival. She won't even let me drive her up to the house. And as soon as the gates close behind her, I curse under my breath, hating the physical barrier that comes between us.
I check my phone and then bring it to my ear. I can hear the small stones of the driveway crunching under her feet.Good.
She might not let me join her for family dinners, but it doesn’t mean I’m above bugging her to make sure I’m alerted to any shift in the household.
Nothing will come between me and my job, not even Lily Taylor herself.
My phone buzzes, and I answer on the first ring.
“Any update?” Luca requests. “I’ve just been on the phone with Tony, and nothing seems out of the ordinary so far.”
My jaw tics because I don’t like the idea of him consulting with anyone before talking to me. But considering his top priority is Ara’s safety, I can rationalize it.
“No, boss. No signs of anything out of the ordinary. What have you discovered on your end?” I continue watching Lily until she walks into the house. Not being able to see her puts me even more on edge.
“Let’s just say I’ve given a bloody reminder to the families here of why they conduct business with me in the first place. But so far, no names. Only a few know about the attack, and that’s because one of my guards at the house got too loose with his tongue. It’s fair to say he doesn’t have a tongue anymore.”
As expected.
“What have you found out about the Taylor Empire?” he asks, and in the background I can hear the muffled cries of someone who is most likely bound to a chair, ready for"questioning." It fills me with unease that I’m not there beside him. I’d give anything to be torturing someone right now, as opposed to dealing with a woman who goes out of her way to argue with me on everything.
Even punishing her hasn’t seemed to train her the way I thought it might, and it seemed to have more of an effect on my cock than her.
My dick twitches at the memory. My jaw tics as I try to push away the visual of her bent over my knee. She's fucking perfect in every way. And that temptation is the fucking problem, and why I’ve tried as best as I can to keep her at arm's length since that night.
Fuck. I readjust myself.
Telling Luca Mr. Taylor is a dirty player in business wouldn’t be news, but I have dug deeper into his transactions. “In the past two years, he hasn’t expanded the business, and his profit has gone down significantly. However, in the past six months, the companies his son has taken over have boomed. The others Henrith runs himself plateaued after declining at an alarming rate.”
“Do you think his son is that much of a capable little shit to revive the companies he took over?”
“Or a fairy godmother is financially assisting them,” I suggest. It’s not uncommon for families like the Taylors to look into alternative loans when they can’t flourish in the current economy.
