8

ELENA DUVAL 

I pressed my lips into a smile, and with my heart almost in my throat, my gaze shifted from the guys, moving slowly, yet impatiently to the windows.

Every nerve ending sparked with awareness sending goosebumps down my spine and oxygen out of my lungs as our gazes met.

A shiver ghosted through me.

Something in me cooled instantly, I felt my body frozen under the weight of his stare. He had his usual dark, cold gaze. But somewhere deep in his eyes, I could see a spark of fire in his eyes. It was tiny, just a shadow of flame, but it was enough to fill my stomach with flutters. Strange.

I inhaled slowly. And released it.

His eyes held mine for the briefest second before they flicked over me. I felt instant heat as his eyes roamed down my body, stopping briefly at where my dress stopped a few inches above my thigh. I was wearing one of the new dresses Tiff and I had shopped for.

James shuffled in his seat, clearing his throat suddenly. The action seemed to cut through the tension in the air, pulling me back to the room.

“Woah, Elena, you look absolutely stunning,” James whistled, pushing off from his chair. He strolled closer.

I offered one of my dazzling smiles, shifting my attention back to him. “Thanks, James,”

“Did you get that for me?” He asked with an amused smile.

“Shut it Savio,” One of the other men leaned against the wall as he said to James, referring him as Savio instead.

My eyes flicked over to Dimitri and I knew this might be the chance I needed.

“I promise I'll get you something nice next time, but this is for Dimitri,” My instant words caused James's brows to shoot up, and his smile cut deeper and he sent a bemused gaze to Dimitri. Before anyone could speak, I shifted my gaze to Dimitri.

“Could we talk? Just for a minute,”

He regarded me for a second, and without taking his eyes off me, he nodded to James and the other two.

I remained on my spot until one of the men from last night shut the door behind me. I wasn't sure if it was Luca or Torin.

Now with a closed door, a ceiling, and four walls surrounding us, it felt like there wasn't enough oxygen in the space for us both.

“You wanted to talk?” The rough drawl of his voice drifted and settled low between my legs. “I'm all ears, Elena,”

Dimitri didn't take his eyes off me, and his attention somehow touched every inch of my body until it came alive.

I took in a shaky breath, moving closer to his desk, and stopped only when I was a few steps away from him.

“I got you something while I was out shopping today,” With your money of course, but that didn't matter. It was the thought that counted.

As I spoke, Dimitri's eyes landed on the gift bag. Without hesitating, I pulled out the box from the bag and opened it.

It was a Rolex watch, almost similar to the one he had on his wrist. I had been running out of options at the store. It was hard to pick out a gift for someone who could literally own the world if he wanted to.

The look in Dimitri's eyes remained the same, I couldn't even guess what was going through his mind. 

When he only gave me a dry stare, I stretched my hands towards his and began to unclasp his watch to put in the new Rolex I had just bought. Frankly, I was half expecting him to stop me, grab my wrist, and tell me to quit being annoying like his stare proved I was. But he did none of those things and only watched me.

My breath grew dense in my lungs. I was simply removing his watch, yet somehow, it felt like I was undoing his belt.

I forced down my sick thinking with a hard swallow with my eyes trained on his wrist, placing the new Rolex around them. 

“Elena,” I lifted my head at the call of my name, and he leaned closer to me. So close that I held still, afraid to breathe as the tip of his nose was almost touching mine. So close that I could count the individual stubble shadowing his jaw. So closed that his body heat enveloped mine and my lungs were filled with the manly scent of his custom-made cologne. “Are you drunk?” I felt the heat of his sweet minty breath, causing my lips to part in a breathless gasp.

“What?” My voice came out breathier than intended. “No. I'm not drunk,” I inhaled but that was a wrong move as the air itself was drugged by his scent. “But I had a little wine,” I breathed out.

There was no answer like the truth.

He raised a brow, cocking his head a little sideways before he pulled away, giving me back my own air and a little of my sanity.

I grew a little distracted as he continued my previous work on his wrist, putting on his watch. 

We stared at each other, and a thick, suffocating tension filled the air.

“Is there something else you want to say?” His casual tone clashed with the tension brewing in the air.

And while I would have seized the chance and said what I really wanted, the only word that managed to leave my lips was a breathless “No,”

I couldn't think clearly with him next to me. And now my heavy breathing matched the suddenly frantic beating of my heart.

“I'll be in the bedroom,” I said, taking a couple of steps backward and turning for the door when he called out to me again and I turned around.

“Elena,” I turned around, and his stony gray eyes locked with mine for a lasting second. “Rest well,” He added. Though strangely, I had a feeling that was far from what he had wanted to say.

I nodded, hurrying out of the office and shutting the door behind me. I took a minute to get as much air as I could in my lungs, one that didn't carry Dimitri Castello.

I had no idea what had happened to me back there. I was supposed to charm my way into his heart and ask about the gala, but somehow it felt like something quite the opposite had happened.

*****

DIMITRI CASTELLO

I ran my thumb down my bottom lips, with my eyes on the new Rolex watch on my wrist which Elena had gotten me, with my money of course. Now that was surprising. 

The Elena I knew would rather see herself burn than spend a dime of my money. But she did today, spending almost more than three hundred grand on shopping with an old friend of hers. Tiffany West. Daughter of JK media. I wasn't that close to him, but I had a few strings over him. In the world I lived in, connection and power were everything.

I shut my eyes, taking in a deep breath. But even after five minutes, I could still taste her sweet apple scent on my tongue and once again, without permission the tempting image of her in that short dress filled my mind, fucking up with my mind in ways I couldn't deal with. 

But that still didn't change the fact that she looked far much different. Not just tonight in that short dress, but the other day as well. I still have had no luck in forcing out the image of her looking so perfect in nothing but my shirt the other day and what was worse, it looked more perfect on her than it ever could on me.

I felt the instant heat that traveled down my groin.

That sinful image of hers had managed to haunt my consciousness and it still does. Elena had always been a damn beauty.

That truth was pretty much established two years ago when I first met her in one of my business meetings at Luther's house. She looked so beautiful, and a fire that burned brightly in her eyes. She was so innocent and proper she begged for corruption.

But I knew my limits. She was a close associate’s daughter and I never mixed business with pleasure. Not especially in the kind of world I lived in. A kind of world Elena would never survive.

I was a mold my father and Cosa Nostra created. A bad combo of gunpowder and a little flame. I wasn't one of the good guys. I never was and never trained to be. I grew up faster than normal kids. At age ten, I could already speak business and assemble a .45 ACP. At thirteen I had already lost count of my body counts and was old enough to fuck anyone wearing skirts.

My mama did her best to teach me how to respect women. But frankly, it never stuck. It was hard to respect a woman you had to pick up wasted against the bathroom floor high on whatever she had been smoking in a rolled-up dollar note and besides, I didn't really need charm and respect to get anything. I'd had most things I wanted handed to me since I was old enough to ask. My impending wealth and status had given me everything I'd wanted.

Well, except for one thing. And it started with an E with long silky brown hair, perfect curves, soft eyes that were much capable of killing a man faster than a bullet to the heart, and a round ass that would no less be the end of me one day. 

When Luther had first begged me to marry his daughter I had outrightly refused. Not because I didn't want to, nor because I had never had fantasies of seeing her curled up in my bed, naked. But because I knew exactly what Elena would be to me.

She was my vice. A weakness of mine that had managed to drive me crazier in the last two years than anyone could. Not even the Morello's could, a Slovakian crime group who had shot a bullet right into the heart of my father and my entire family, including Rino. My brother.

But then again I'd rather unwillingly accept to marry her than to have her married off to someone else. Luther hadn't sold her off, nor any of his daughters but he was desperate at that time. Desperate enough to keep them safe, and he knew to some extent I was the best option. Luther wasn't like us. He was my late father's trusted and best friend and knew to some extent the kind of lives we lived, but he was never one of us. 

He knew what marrying Elena off to me meant, she may be safe from the clutches of those who wanted the Duvals gone, but she was only stepping into a world that was more dangerous than the one she was fleeing from.

I had more enemies than the US president. Enemies that would want to see me burn and wouldn't hesitate to go through those around me. Like those I considered family and Elena.

I was hardly concerned about my family. They all grew up in this crime-riddled life and they could defend themselves.

But Elena was different. She was an outsider.

Before what happened to her family she'd probably thought life was filled with sunshine and rainbows. And even her notion of an ugly and unfair world after the destruction of her family was nothing compared to the world I lived in.

She'd break before she even learned how to walk. With the look on her face when those two idiotic cousins of mine were fucking around with their guns in my house, right before her, I knew she'd never survive my world.

I hated the way she had easily broken two years ago, the life and fire that had once burned her brown eyes had died. But at least, she remained alive and safe within the corner walls of the mansion.

And now, something in her has changed since her accident. I could see a flicker of her old self, maybe it was due to her lost memories. Maybe. And while I would have loved to say I was a fraction pleased with this new change, it was also risky. 

My little wife was up to something, that much was obvious. And that was the problem. She may have survived the accident but that didn't mean there won't be any more attempts on her life, especially since we haven't still caught Ricky yet.

Ricky had been one of my security men and Elena's bodyguard, but somehow he had compromised and tried to murder her. I still have no idea why.

At this point, I still wasn't sure if Elena's accident was linked to whoever had masterminded the whole incident relating to her family two years ago, or if her accident was all because of me. Maybe someone with a grudge against me had gone after her instead.

But there were two things I never forgave.

First, when someone stole from me, and the second when someone touched what belonged to me.

And Elena Duval was the clear definition of what was mine.