LOGINAlejandro's POV
“Is it too late to go back on this?” I thought to myself as the lie wasn't looking feasible. I had come so far and I wasn't going to turn back now. “Why don't we go inside?” My eyes were fixated on Miguel. I could read cynicism in each step as he approached the door. I watched him exhale as he walked through the door. Maybe he expected some sort of ambush and rightfully so. With the short period of time we've spent together, We've been ambushed more than three times. I did not expect anything less from the Mafia Prince. “So about the office?” Juan continued as he followed us closely. My brain went numb for a brief moment.This was one thing about me lying. They roll off my tongue without restraints like water under a bridge, the problem is, it requires a lot of work just to get it right and I needed to work harder if I wanted them to add up. My eyes strayed to catch Miguel's dreamy eyes, they looked like they would kill me soon if I didn't proffer a solution quickly. “That's what I get for helping” I thought “The office is—” Miguel stepped in front of me, his hands pushing me softly behind him, “None of your business Juan. Like you said, I am awfully tired and I barely got out of hell's gate” I took a breath of relief but I got more than I bargained for. His musky scent was like a drug and it had my blood pumping. The scent wasn't some polished cologne, it was a chaotic, jarring mix of everything the accident left behind, laced with his own desperate heat. First, it was the weirdly pleasant tang of cold sweat and fresh blood, sharp and intense, immediately overridden by the thick, choking smell of burnt oil and scorching rubber clinging to his expensive leather jacket. Then, deeper, beneath the wreckage and the adrenaline, was the true him: a dark, animal anchor of smoke, expensive worn leather, and that specific, heavy musk he always carries, the one that makes me think of old bourbon and midnight meetings. It was raw, dangerous, and utterly necessary. It was the smell of a man who I had just cheated death with. I buried my face in his back , inhaling the fear and the fierce, possessive relief. “Hmm” Juan hummed, “whatever you want to do in your free time is entirely up to you. Clean up yourself, Father would need a report of the task assigned to you. You have twenty minutes” He turned and walked away, his heels clicking rhythmically on the marble tiles. I stood in that position,my head still buried in Miguel's scent, so long that it felt like forever. “What do you think you are doing?”Miguel asked as he jerked away. “What?” I asked with the intention of feigning ignorance at first but on second thought I realised that I did not know what he was asking for.” The soft buzzing of the electric bulbs in the hallway filled the air and Miguel took his bloody time to respond. I, on the other hand, took the time to really study him. Not once in my life did I ever think I would look at the face of a man who captured me for some weird reason and go”wow!” I had survived this long, thanks to the distraction of the attempted murder, but my luck might just run out if he figured out what goes on in my head when I look at him. “Are you trying to get us both in trouble?” He asked. Something about his tune brought me out of the fantasy I wallowed in. like what the fuck? “Ummm,hello?I was trying to get us out of trouble.” “An office? Really?"Miguel growled, taking a step towards me. I took a step towards him too. I wasn't going to let his domineering height and build intimidate me "As opposed to telling him how you were almost murdered by your assigned driver and how the journalist you were supposed to get rid of figured it out and told you about it?” I barely got the last word out my mouth when he rushed to me and covered my mouth with his hands. “Ugh!” I moaned as I melted in his embrace. I had always been a stickler for personal space but I didn't mind a little bit of sweat. He took me by surprise and now I was back to square one. Yearning. “Now I am certain that you're out to get us both into trouble. What is wrong with you? Do you have a problem with keeping your lips sealed ?” I managed to get my mouth free, “I am a journalist, do the maths!” I felt his grip tighten around my lips as he looked me in the eye. This time, only one word could describe them. Danger. He replied with his chest heaving slowly “I am the Mafia, do the maths!” The sexual tension vanished just as it appeared and he released my hands with a forceful jerk that I almost tumbled to the floor. “Get ready,father might request your presence at the dinner table and I don't want him to be kept waiting if he does want you” I stood still,heart in my throat as I watched him walk down the hall towards the stairs that led to his room. I looked around to see if there was anyone around who might have witnessed this embarrassing moment but there was no one in sight. I could hear his slow calculated climb up the stairs towards and could hear them stopping. “What now?” I thought to myself as he walked down the stairs. I waited patiently,it was a long excruciating wait, but I did it anyway. There was nothing left to do. I caught sight of his lush dark hair poking from the bend that led to the stairs down the hall first before his Beady eyes that threatened to be my obsession and death. “Are you coming along or?” I tried to contain the fluttering that filled my stomach but I couldn't help grinning. Thank God that he didn't wait long enough to see me smiling like a child. I followed him closely behind as I took the time to look around and observe and one thing caught attention. His wing of the house was the only place in the entire mansion that seemed to have life. Various art pieces hung around the wall each being separated either by a sculpture or some expensive looking vase. “Never knew you as someone who was into the arts”I muttered under my breath. “There's a whole lot you don't know about me.” He said without stopping or looking at me, “and don't touch that!”he warned. I froze in the middle of touching the jade vase. I looked up to find him walking into his room with the door wild open. I waited. Wondering when he was going to show me to my room. “What if you were to stay here with him?” I heard myself thinking “No!”I countered the naughty voice in my head. That won't work. There's no way we would sleep together in the same room. Perhaps he needed to slip into something comfortable before showing me my room. But I was dead wrong. “Come inside!” He commandedMiguel's POV.The workshop was too small for the two of us, or perhaps I was just too aware of every inch of space Alejandro occupied. The scent of CLP oil usually grounded me, but tonight it was tangled with the smell of his skin—something warm and clean that made the back of my throat ache.Watching him struggle with the slide was a test of my own restraint. I moved in, not because he needed the help, but because I couldn't stand the distance anymore.When I placed my hands on his hips, it wasn't just to square his stance. It was to anchor myself. He was soft where I was hard, and the way he breathed—that sharp, hitched intake of air when my thumbs brushed his belt—sent a surge through me that had nothing to do with marksmanship. I forced my voice to stay level, a low vibration meant to teach, even as my own pulse hammered against my ribs.I moved to his shoulders, feeling the knots of tension. I squeezed, wanting to feel the muscle beneath my palms, wanting to pull him back agai
Alejandro's POV It did not take me long to start making observations. The house was a lovely space, I dare say it could rival Miguel's father's place. Their choice of decor was impeccable, if I had stumbled here without Miguel, I would not be surprised to come across a couple of reverend fathers and priests. It gave off the vibe of a cathedral, inside and out. Soft music played in the background without any speakers in sight. “Oh man, it's nice being here again—” Miguel muttered. His face showed no excitement but I could still hear it in his voice. He was happy here “I was wondering when your old man would send you over and the one time that he does, he sends you without prior information?” “He has his reasons, Don Lorenzo.” “That's your father for you.” The godfather said as he led us across the hall. My brows instinctively went up at how lovely this man seemed in comparison to Miguel's father. In my opinion, he was more of a father than Miguel's father was. His mannerism
Alejandro's POV The engine died slowly, bringing the car to a halt. I guessed what Miguel was about to do and before I could even try to talk him out of it, he gave his instructions. “Stay in the car, and no matter what, don't come out.” His hands squeezed the semi automatic tightly in my palms, “this shouldn't be hard to use if the need arises but before you do, try to get away from here as far as possible. The map would lead you back to the house. Tell father exactly what happened immediately you get home”My heart beat quickened with fear of the unknown. But above that lived the fear of losing him just when I thought things were working out with us. I have learned enough to keep quiet now. I could only pray that nothing bad would happen to him.He stepped out of the car without another word and slammed the door gently behind him.The sound of the locks clicking only aggravated my anxiety. I took a look out the side mirror and I could see him tactically place his hand on his gu
Alejandro pov The air in the small workshop smelled of CLP oil and woodsmoke, a heavy, masculine scent that seemed to trap the heat between us. I held the frame of what he called a semi-automatic in my hands, the steel cold and unforgiving, but I couldn't focus on the mechanics. All I could feel was Miguel standing directly behind me. “Focus, Alejandro,” he murmured. “I'm trying to i thought, you're not making it any easier for me.” His voice was a low vibration that settled right at the base of my skull. “It’s about the alignment. If you force it, it resists.” I felt his hands long before I saw them. He reached around, his palms settling firmly on my hips to square my stance. The contact was brief—just a grounding pressure through my denim—but when his thumbs traced the line of my belt before sliding away, my breath hitched in my throat. “Hold the slide,” he instructed. He stepped closer, the heat of his chest pressing against my shoulder blades. His hands moved up, grip
Alejandro's POV “From now on, you don’t speak unless I tell you to” he instructed, his words coming in low tones.I stopped in my tracks. This was a turn on for me even though it goes against the way I have lived my life, I always hated being told what to do, worse if you told me how to do them. I still hate that but here I was taking it all in like a good boy, like a champ.“You don’t move unless I say so. You want to stay alive? You follow me.” he barked “Then teach me how.” I said, trembling whilst wondering why I said that. I saw the way he recoiled when I said those words. It was a double edged sword after all, changing him and me at the same time.He was tongue tied and the silence that followed after proved that.I cleared my throat to get things moving as we remained silent long enough to make things awkward.“Oh, right.” Miguel snapped, “Come with me.” He grabbed my hands and pulled me with him, I made my mouth to tell him he was shirtless.“Did I hurt you?” He asked a
Alejandro's POV Luckily, Miguel stepped in. “He was new to the house and got lost when he overheard the conversation and I made him tag along as the accusations were unbelievable even to me.”“I see” Miguel's father said, “same pattern with the accusations of the food being poisoned. Was he lost then too?”“Yes.” I responded“A coincidence don't you think? Eh Miguel?” “Beats me” I thought.His father had directed the question to him and he stayed silent. “You have nothing to say? Well. What about the office Juan talked about.”“That was a lie to get him off our tail. We did not know who to trust, at least not till we were cleared.”His father let out a small grumble.“I wonder how we got this far without the proper introduction. Tell me about yourself Alejandro.”The entire room felt airtight the moment he dropped the question.This was what I dreaded all along.I remembered Miguel's plan for this, “when he asks, just tell him I approached you during one of my assignments. You had







