Page 100 of Captured Fantasy

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

COSIMO

The beginning of February was a blur. Lucien had given up on trying to reconcile Federico and I. Now he was just trying to prevent bloodshed by keeping us apart. I was feeling angsty and ready to fight at any minute. Perhaps because now everyone knew I was fucking Lorenza, after all they’d seen it with their own eyes. Or perhaps it was the spring coming in warm and fast that had my blood surging. I wanted to fucking fight, to end this, and if it wasn’t for Lucien holding us both back, I’d have risked everything to do just that.

I went to her at the middle of the month, eager to take her to my bed, but she refused to go back to my condo with me. It was a late night and we were at odds for the first time. We stood in her hall, her on the defensive with her arms crossed over her chest.

“I’m not fucking you,” she whispered, her eyes wet.

I blinked, unsure what was going on. “I understand that you don’t want to fuck Federico, but I thought you enjoyed fucking me.”

“Lucien said he had a solution and until then, I shouldn’t sleep with you.”

“Oh, you’re taking advice from Lucien on your sex life?”

She clenched her fists and whirled, storming down the hall to the kitchen. I followed her, regretting the harshness of my tone. “I’m sorry, Enza.”

She turned sharply, her eyes glittering. “I’m sick of this, Cosimo. I know you’re in a bad position, I know you don’t have a say in what to do about Rico. But I’m done with this until Lucien figures it out.”

As I looked down at her, I realized I was finally done too. Not in a hypothetical sense. I was fucking done with the waiting, with knowing that she wasn’t mine to possess. I seized her arm, pulling her against my body, wrapping my hand around her throat to keep her still. She struggled, but I held on, caging her little body between mine and the counter.

I kissed her mouth hard enough to draw blood and she twitched, moaning beneath me. Fuck, she got me so hard.

Her fingers tangled in my shirt, drawing me in. Her tongue was a little spark of fire against mine and she tasted so hot and sweet. I pressed my groin against her stomach, my cock throbbing, and she jerked back. Her violet eyes burned deep blue, her lids narrowed, and her mouth parted.

“Get the fuck out of my house,” she breathed. “And don’t come back until you have Lucien’s blessing.”

I deserved that look, but it still stung like fire. I dragged my mouth over hers one more time, sucking hard on her tongue to pull it into my mouth before biting it. She moaned even as her fingers curled in my shirt and she pushed me off her body. Without speaking, I took my coat and left her house and went out into the dark.

I called Lucien as soon as I got to the car and he picked up on the fourth ring.

“This had better be important,” he snapped.

“Who is it?” came Olivia’s soft voice from the background.

“Cosimo,” Lucien said. “Go upstairs, baby, it’s probably outfit business.

I heard Lucien cover the phone and they had a muffled conversation before he returned.

“What is it?”

“Enza said you had a solution,” I said. “I want it now. I need this to end. Tonight.”

There was a long silence and Lucien sighed.

“I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but you’re leaving me no choice. I’ve had this conversation today with Rico already,” he said. “Tell me, Barone, are you willing to die to settle this? Would you risk that to have her?”

“Yes,” I said, without hesitating.

“Would you kill Rico to have her?”

“Yes.”

“God, you’re both more bloodthirsty than I imagined,” Lucien remarked, almost gleefully. I heard a door close in the background and I knew he had entered his office. A chair creaked.

“Respectfully, sir, what would you do if it were you and the woman was Olivia?”

“Oh, I’d have slit his throat the day I found out he was fucking her,” he said, without a hint of hesitation. “I’m in a position where I can do that. You are not.”

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