010

PIERRE

I was angry. I shouldn't have reacted that way. I wanted Tessa to feel safe with me, but I ruined everything by killing human beings like animals in front of her.

She was on a drip, and a nurse had attended to her after that gory sight she witnessed. She vomited a lot until she became weak and cried so much she developed a fever.

I lay beside her on the bed, stroking her soft hair as she slept deeply. It was the early hours of the morning.

She twitched her eyes slightly before opening them slowly and panicked when she saw me, so I retracted my hand immediately. She tried to move away from me but was too weak, so she lay back.

I felt dirty. Unfit to touch her. I was doing everything wrong, and I wanted to correct it.

“I'm sorry. I lost my temper yesterday and went an extra mile—”

“How often do you do that?”

I was silent for a while. “More often than you can imagine.”

“You know I'll never love you, right?” she said, and the words stirred up pain in my chest.

“I know. That is why I've decided that I'll let you go.”

Her eyes lit up instantly, and she tried to turn to face me.

“Hey,” I held her still. “Please don't move, you're not strong yet.”

“You'll really let me go?” She asked, in case she heard wrong.

“Yes.” I nodded and sat up at the edge of the bed, looking away from her. “But on one condition.”

“What?” She asked softly as she propped herself up.

“Spend six months with me,” I said and waited for her to retort, but she didn't say anything. I turned to look at her and couldn't decipher her expression.

“I'm not asking you to fall in love with me again. You clearly hate me, and I'll live with that,” I said and moved closer so I touched her feet through the duvet that covered them. “All I'm asking is that you stay with me for six months to compensate for all the years of loving and waiting for you in vain. You can pretend you don't hate me for those six months, and I promise I'll let you go.”

She looked at me for a while and nodded hesitantly.

I took a deep breath and nodded too.

I lied. God knew I had no plans of letting her go, but this was my way of apologizing. I was going to do things right, and I had six months. Six fucking months to make her fall in love with me.

And if she didn't? We'd cross that bridge when we got there.

“Are there any rules you'd like to set for a peaceful co-existence in those six months?” I asked, and she sighed, then locked her gaze with mine.

“A lot.”

“Tell me,” I said.

“Firstly, you'll return my property to me—”

“I don't have any of that, unfortunately.”

“What do you mean by that?” She asked, anger taking over her face.

“Your ring and phone are in your handbag which is back in my estate in New York.”

She opened her mouth to say something but stopped, shutting her eyes tight. I almost snickered at her self-control.

“Firstly,” she continued, “you'll call my people and let them know I'm alive and—safe,” she spat out the last word. “Secondly, I'll have freedom of movement. Thirdly, you won't touch me. And lastly, no more killings. Please.”

I waited patiently for her to finish speaking before I spoke. “I will call your people. You will be free to move around, but with security. I will touch you. However, I will never force myself on you. I respect you that much. And finally, I won't kill people myself, but people will die when need be.”

She rolled her eyes and lay back, closing them.

“I have one rule only. Don't mention him in those six months.”

“Pierre?” She called as her eyelids flung open and she tilted her head to face me. “What did those chained men do that warranted you to injure them so brutally?”

“They took what was mine.” That was all she needed to know.

“What business do you do?” She asked after a few minutes of silence.

“I think we should talk about these things over a date, no?” I said as she stared boringly at me.

“I run multiple businesses. I own import and export companies, multiple nightclubs, restaurants, and hotels. I work on construction, too.”

“And in the shadows?” She asked, and I laughed at how absurd her question sounded.

“Escort rings, smuggling contraband, gambling, money laundering, and loan sharking,” I answered truthfully but her face was void of any expression.

“How about human trafficking?”

“We don't do that. It's against my policy.”

She turned her head back up and closed her eyes again.

I liked talking to her peacefully. And I knew she judged me inwardly, but I liked that she didn't show it.

I fell back on the bed and shut my eyes tight.

I wanted to tell her about my addiction, but that would only scare her more.

I was a sex addict. I had kinks, and I wanted to explore them with her so bad. I was a Dom, and that was why I loved my women submissive.

Women. That was one thing I had in abundance. But now that my Tessa was here, I would have to curtail my giant appetite.

Don Alejandro was an addict himself, and unfortunately, his empire wasn't the only thing he passed on to me.

“I'm hungry,” her voice snapped me out of my reverie.

“Breakfast in bed or downstairs?” I asked her and she stared blankly at me.

“You really don't know one thing about being a gentleman, do you? Besides, how do you expect me to come downstairs while I'm still on a drip?”

“I'm sorry, love. I'm willing to learn to be a gentleman if you'll teach me.”

“Read books, Pierre. Watch YouTube and make your research. Or rather still, employ someone to teach you. I don't have the time or energy to teach a twenty-nine-year-old man how to treat women right,” she said.

If only she knew how rough I handled women in bed. I stared at her, my mind zoning out again as I imagined giving her a taste of my good stuff.

“Ow!” She groaned dramatically as she held her stomach.

“Breakfast in bed it is, love,” I said and left the room.