Chapter 4

Eleanor’s POV

The man protectively pulled me up from the bed, gently pulling me behind him.

In a different situation, I might have defended that I could protect myself, but seeing how quickly things had escalated and become hopeless—I was incredibly grateful the man I slept with was still in the apartment.

When River finally recovered from his daze and managed to bring himself up from the floor, he looked dead at the man who kicked him and his face twisted with rage.

“So, the affair bastard’s still here?” He spat. “What, did you pick him up from some gigolo club?”

The man grabbed him by the throat, eyes cold as he lifted River from the ground.

“What did you just say?” The man growled threateningly.

River’s face turned red as he struggled to breathe.

“Let me go!” River choked out.

The man seemed to tighten his grip and River’s hands started grabbing at the man’s hand—but the man didn’t even react to it.

As River started making choking sounds, I realized he might actually suffocate.

I put my hand on the man’s shoulder and squeezed it.

“Let him go.” I commanded.

Only then did he release River.

River fell to the floor, coughing and hacking in an attempt to catch his breath.

I sidestepped so I was right next to the man I’d spent the night with like he was my personal guard dog.

I grew up as a mafia boss’ daughter so I knew sometimes to get your point across you had to show some muscle, and this man was pure muscle—I wouldn’t let him kill River, of course, but River had no idea who the man was which meant it wasn’t as dangerous for the man to act.

I bent slightly so I was at River’s level, keeping myself in a position that clearly was looking down on him.

“There’s no ‘affair,’ River.” I said firmly. “I just didn’t want you to see him because I knew you’d go running to my father with rumors to save your own skin. You cheated first, and we’re already over. I can be with whoever I want.”

I stood back up and crossed my arms.

As if to emphasize my point, the man I slept with cracked his knuckles and sent me a grin.

River, now pale and shaken, glanced at the man’s build and the sharp, dangerous look in his eyes. He realized immediately this wasn’t someone to mess with and this was not a fight he would win.

Still furious, he picked himself up and stormed toward the door.

“You just wait,” he snapped. “Your family will find out soon enough. Let’s see how they feel about you canceling the engagement and sleeping around like trash.”

River slammed the door behind him and I released a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding.

There’s one fight over for now, about a hundred more to go. I’d take the win.

“I suppose I should say thank you.” I said turning back to the man.

He didn’t respond, he merely cleared his throat and started looking around the room for his things. I watched him curiously, he was acting as if nothing had just happened—not the reaction I would expect.

He briefly glanced down at my chest to see that I was still wearing his shirt and I figured he was about to ask for it back. Instead, he calmly reached into his pants pocket and handed me back the piece of paper with my phone number on it.

“I don’t want to get involved in whatever you have with your fiancé.” He said, turning to leave. “It seems more complicated than what you told me last night."

I was disappointed, but I didn’t even try to stop him or explain—I understood. It was only natural to want nothing to do with something so messy. It was dangerous to get him involved to begin with.

The thought reminded me of how our night together had started in the first place.

“Don’t go back to the hotel.” I said before he could leave. “They’ll be looking for you.”

He turned back to me and nodded.

“I wasn’t planning to.” He said. “I will start a new job for a mafia family today.”

That was an odd coincidence. My heartbeat picked up as the thought crossed my mind that I might see him again someday, maybe just in passing. I shoved those thoughts from my mind, this wasn’t a time to be fantasizing about another night with this man.

“Which family?” I asked to test him.

He shook his head. “Can’t disclose my employer’s name.”

That was a good sign. He knew when to keep his mouth shut, so maybe he and his family wouldn’t be in danger from the River situation, River still didn’t know who he was.

“Smart.” I said with a smirk. “We have the same rule.”

He nodded his head politely and turned to leave.

A blatant curiosity swarmed in my chest that I couldn’t fight, and I knew it was a bad idea, but it spilled out of my mouth before I let the feeling wash away.

“And what about your name?” I asked.

He paused at the door and looked over his shoulder.

“Can’t disclose that either, sweetheart.”

He turned back around and left, shutting the door behind him as though he was never there to begin with.

I couldn’t help but feel my heart beat a little faster, that was incredibly smooth. He was mysterious and dangerous and something about that made him all the more attractive to me.

I shook my head, shaking all the ridiculous lust-filled thoughts for a stranger out of my head.

I kept reminding myself as I stepped into the shower that it had been a one-night stand, nothing more and nothing less. I had to remind myself even harder when after stepping out of the shower to get dressed, I put his shirt on and made it look like my own—the shirt just so happened to match my work clothes, that’s all.

I didn’t have time to think about all the things from the night before. I had responsibilities waiting for my attention—financial operations, diamond smuggling routes, and all the other key parts of the family business that I managed.

I took a breath and checked my phone again, seeing dozens of missed calls—mostly from my assistant.

I tapped on my assistant’s number, calling her back to ask if something urgent had happened. When the ring stopped, to my surprise, it was my father who answered the phone.

“So now I have to reach you through your assistant?” he said coldly into my assistant’s phone. “Get home. I’m waiting.”

My father hung up without another word, and I knew immediately that today was definitely not going to be easy.

I waited a few minutes to give him time to separate from my assistant. Then after I figured he must have left her to go back home, I texted my assistant. I instructed her to investigate the people who had been with River the previous night.

Several hours later, she finally sent me the report.

I had everything I needed to put up a fight and finally decided to go home—ready to face my father.

I steeled my nerves and went right to the house. I walked straight to my father’s closed office in the back of the house and paused at the door, chewing my lip. I heard faint voices down the hall that gained my attention.

There was a group of bodyguards way down the hall away from me. One particular guard caught my attention—a guard facing away from me and speaking on the phone.

He seemed to have the same build, same color hair, and the same nice butt as the man I’d slept with last night.