Page 17 of Vicious Heir

Instead, I snagged the clothes that I’d chosen from the closet and headed for the door. Calling over my shoulder, I said, “Whatever that shrimp dish was with the rice. I had it a few times when I was in the other room? That’s what I want.”

As I walked back to the bathroom, I remembered what Lili told me: make him work for me.Messed that one up, didn’t I?

CHAPTER9

Angel

Emma was not a speedboat person. She spent the first three hours of the trip between Miami and La Isla Castillo, their private island situated in international waters, with her head hung over the side. There was motion sickness medication somewhere, but I couldn’t step away from the wheel to help her look for it, and she couldn’t stand upright for more than thirty seconds to find it herself.

What a way to start a honeymoon.

I rolled my eyes at the thought. If I’d had my way there wouldn’t be this farce of a honeymoon, but Padre wanted me to handle a shipment drop-off and going with my new bride made an excellent cover. Having Emma around was already working in our favor, according to Padre.

“You should just kill me,” she shouted over the wind. “It would be a mercy.”

I bit down on the smile that threatened at the corners of my mouth.Sabihonda, I thought. “I can get there in twenty minutes,” I called back. “But it’s going to be rough. Can you handle it?”

She was quiet for a moment. “I’ll do my best,” was her weak reply. The smirk I had been trying to curb spread across my face. Emma played at being meek — especially in front of Padre — but there was always a fire in her eyes whenever she looked at me. Everything about her was a challenge, and I couldn’t decide if it was exciting or infuriating. Or both.

I pushed the throttle, skipping us over the waves even faster than before, and Emma groaned out loud. Within a few minutes, the island came into view, and I had to pull back so that we wouldn’t ram into the dock.

I rounded the small island so that I could swing into the right position, and when we finally coasted to a stop, I was able to throw the tie-off around the metal cleat on the dock. Three of the men that Padre sent ahead of us to ready the house were waiting and finished securing the boat in place. They jumped aboard to grab our bags.

I climbed down to where Emma sat, fully upright for the first time in hours. Her face still had a gray, ashen look. “Come on,” I said and helped her to stand.

“What is this place?” Her eyes took in the small dock and path that led to the beach house some two hundred yards up. Our island wasn’t large by any means, but Padre kept it well-maintained, and I could remember spending many summers here before I joined my father.

“La Isla Castillo.”

“Someone spend a whole two seconds on the name?” Emma asked, rolling her eyes.. “Why am I not surprised in the least that your family owns a private island?” .

“Ourfamily,mi esposa,” I reminded her. “Our family owns a private island.” I stepped from the boat to the dock and held out my hand to her. Emma stared at it for a moment, as if she didn’t quite trust me, but then she put her hand in mine, gripping me as she stepped back onto solid ground.

I could see the men’s eyes on Emma, dragging down her curves, and I contemplated throwing her over my shoulder. Taking her to the house and claiming her again. I glared at them, daring them to keep looking at my wife, and put my hand on the small of her back as we walked up to the pier together. The men’s eyes dropped away, and they slowly went back to unloading the bags from the boat.Good, I thought.They don’t get to look at her. Only I was allowed to do that.

As we cleared the dock and stepped onto the brick path that had been laid before I was ever born, the building beyond the house — the holding facility that my father had built after deciding that the island was good for more than just a vacation spot — came into view. “What’s that?” Emma asked. I grit my teeth in irritation; of course she would notice.

“Don’t ask questions,” I advised her. “Especially if you don’t want to know the real answer.”

“You’reassumingI don’t want the real answer.”

I moved my hand from the small of her back to the back of her neck, squeezing until she made a noise of complaint. “Watch your tone,” I hissed.

“You made the assumption, but I have to watch my tone,” she snipped; her eyes were filled with fiery defiance. For a split-second, I imagined dragging her to the holding facility and showing exactly what kind of business her husband was a part of. I desired to see the horror on her face, and I wanted to fuck her. Instead, I ignored her and kept my hand on the back of her neck, and we continued our climb to the house.

“The house is beautiful,” she said after a moment.

I looked at the white house, set high on pillars to avoid flooding damage during storms, and tried to see it from her perspective. It was all white with deep blue hurricane shutters, and I knew the inside was tastefully decorated in the style my mother preferred, all creams and pops of color. We came here so often that I barely noticed the stately beauty of the house anymore.

“It is,” I agreed, and then glanced at Emma. “If there’s anything you’d like to change, just tell me,” I said.

Emma couldn’t quite hide her surprise. She cleared her throat and said, “Thank you,” as we made the climb up to the first floor of the house.

* * *

Emma

Stepping into the house, I immediately liked it more than the compound in Miami. It was simple and tasteful and bright. Our bags were stacked in the front foyer. “I’ll take those upstairs,” Angel said. “I didn’t want the men trampling through the house.”

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