Lazaro’s POV
“Congratulations, man! You’re a proper family man now.” A slap on my back, one I did not appreciate, follows the compliment, and I narrow my gaze to the side, my jaw working terribly. I’m very mindful of the people that come around us, especially my new bride, Seraphina, as we walk out of the reception garden, to where our car is parked in the driveway. My new bride… Despite my resolve, I like the way that sounds, and the idea of it. “You have to seal the deal tonight, brother!” Another one of them call out, and the throng burst into a raucous laughter, hoots and whistles going up in the air. “Yes! Make sure you plant a couple seeds tonight!” I turn my head slightly to the side to see Seraphina’s cheeks stained with pink dust, and I bite back a curse. Stupid bastards getting so raw and foul mouthed, fucking unfiltered, at my own wedding. “Stay close to me,” I whisper under my breath, under all that noise, to her, simultaneously tugging her close. I really do not want their bad blood on her. But it is an inevitable occurrence. It flows in her veins already, and would soon mix with mine. We barely make it to the car amidst the throng of extended families with intentions of passing their fucking blessings, and I throw my gaze her way to see she is barely holding it to together. Hot and bothered. Cursing under my breath, my jaw twitching, I nudge some of them to the side and pull the car door open, firmly guiding her into the backseat with one large arm, careful not to graze the injury on her palm. I slam the door shut behind her, keeping her locked and safe from the many predators I could sniff out from amongst the throng. My eyes find my father in the front of the crowd, and I tilt my head in a small nod. “We’ll be on our way, then.” Without waiting for some form of acknowledgment, I breezed past him to the other side of the car, my eyes catching my bride’s father behind a couple heads, straining his neck to gain my attention. My jaw tightening, I pull my gaze from him and get into the car, slamming the door shut. “Start the fucking car,” I direct at the driver, leaning into the headrest and finding his eyes in the rearview mirror, “now.” “Head to the private suite.” The next ten minutes pass in complete silence, except for the occasional bumping of the tires, and the rumbling of the engine. And although I appreciate it, it’s a tad bit uncomfortable. Seraphina has remained unflinching, her head held high, and her jaw clamped tight in a deep frown. I clear my throat, adjusting on the seat, and at my very movement, she scoots away, close to the door. Then she shoots me a biting look. “You do know we’re not sleeping together tonight, right?” She asks, watching me with a certain caution in her eyes. “I don’t know whatever your family’s told you, or whatever the traditions are, but I’m not—“ “Who said anything about sleeping together?” I cut in bluntly, fixing her a sharp gaze, and she stutters, seemingly taken aback. “I-I mean, didn’t you hear what they—“ “You sound like that’s such a bad thing,” I interrupt again, then lift my palms in surrender when she glares at me, obviously enraged. “But I’m not saying I want to sleep together. If I wanted to, I would.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” She retorts in a sharp voice, her lips curling back, and my eyes trail down to them. “This is not something we want, Seraphina,” I murmur, my eyes leaving her bottom lip to trail down to her throat that bobbed as she swallowed. “This alliance is a pact between our families. We’re just the pawns in the game.” I lean in towards her so suddenly, that she sucks in her, her eyes widening. “Now why would I want to play with a fellow pawn?” Her eyes grow ever wider than saucer pans, and she pushes at my chest, seemingly offended. “Well you better not go against your words, then.” My lips curl back in a slight scoff, as I lean away from her, loosening my tie. “You have nothing to worry about, Seraphina Leone. But have it at the back of your mind that you belong to me.” I ignore her burning glare in the side of my face throughout the rest of the journey back to the suite, and the minute the car rolls into the driveway, she opens the car door and flies out in silent fury. I walk into the suite minutes later, after making a few phone calls, to find her halfway undressed already, a bottle of vodka in her hand. As soon as she notices my presence, she instinctively throws a hand over her exposed cleavage. “They didn’t teach you to knock or something?” I scoff, sliding onto the sofa and reaching down to pull off my shoes. “This is my house, Seraphina, in case you forgot.” I pull off both shoes, kicking them to the side and pulling my gaze up to her face. “You don’t expect me to go around knocking in my own house, do you?” Letting out a loud hiss, she storms over to the grey-curtained room divider, and gets behind the curtains, taking a swig of the vodka in her hand. Sighing silently, I reach up and tear off my tie, the exhaustion settling in. Sitting there for a few moments, I whip out my phone, trying to get away from distracting thoughts of a certain grey-eyed girl, and amidst the scrolling, the sound of a rolling bottle rises and catches my attention. I lift my head just then, and I’m a bit taken aback by the sight that meets my eyes. Seraphina is standing at the edge of the curtains, gripping onto it with one hand. Stripped down to just her panties, her fingers hooked in them. And I trail a dark gaze up her belly button, past her lace bra, to her face, to see she has a glint of amusement—and mischief in her droopy eyes. “I see it in your eyes, you know,” she murmurs, smirking, “how much you want this.” She nods downwards, and it takes me quite a while to realize what she’s insinuating. I scoff silently, keeping my dark gaze on her face. “And what exactly do you see in my eyes, Seraphina?” “Desire,” she slurs, and it clicks in my head that the vodka was getting to her head now. “I see desire in them. Lazaro. De Luca.” She scoffs, a belch following almost immediately. “Well, if you want this,” she continues, pointing again at her pussy, “you would have to come get it yourself.” She laughs, sliding the curtain to the side and revealing her dusky-gold skin in its full glory. My breath hitches in my throat, my eyes growing darker as they roamed over her supple frame. “Goodluck with that, Mr. Lazaro,” she mimics in a thick, annoying Spanish accent, moving out of the divider, towards me. As she breezes past, I impulsively reach forward and grab her by the wrist, and she tumbles into my laps, gasping. Her exposed cleavage pressed against my chest. I stared down at her slightly open mouth, swallowing a lump in my throat. Feeling a stir in my suit pants. Stomping hard on it. “I have to warn you, Seraphina,” I start in a gruff voice, “do not tempt the devil. Unless you’re ready to burn.” ---------Lazaro’s POVMy fight with Aric continued into the bushes that surrounded the dilapidated house, as we rolled all the way over down, clawing at each other’s neck.It was a sloppy area, so rolling was inevitable. I had to stick my foot between a cluster of bushes to stop myself, slamming a fist hard into the side of his face as I did.“Fucking bastard!” I cursed, driving a knee into his skull. “You have a death wish, don’t you?”“You’re the one with a death-wish, Laz. I promise you, you’d regret ruining my plans today.”“Go to hell, Aric.” I shoved him off me just then, further down the shrubs. But then, to my surprise, he never stopped going down. As he realized that too, his pupils dilated in fear, and he reached a hand out to me. “Laz, no—“A snap went off and he tumbled all the way down, disappearing from sight, his screams of terror filling my ears. What the heck just happened?Well, my greater concern lay with Seraphina back at the old house. So I had to get back to her… Carefully
Seraphina’s POVI sat at the only table in the cold, empty room of an old building in Santa Fe, my gaze zeroed into the distance, my thoughts running wild. This was the place I’d chosen as the meet-up joint for Aric and I. According to him, the plan was that he shows up, sets my brother free in the air, and I leave with him. No problems. No casualties. No troubles. Simple. But I would be crazy to just go along with that absurd plan, don’t you think?That was why I had a few burly farm workers from Martha's, hiding in the small bushes behind the dilapidated house. A whole different plan drafted out. If Aric decided to move funny, more than I could handle, they would intervene. That was my own plan. But in all this, I couldn’t afford to get my brother injured.So I had a plan for him too. A ferryman would be waiting to pick him up to the boat as soon as he arrived.The sound of a car pulling up to the house immediately snapped me out of my thoughts, and I bolted to my feet, anxiety
Jaxon’s POVWe touched down at Monaco sometime before noon, and as the hunter led the way to the arrivals lounge, I cautiously trailed behind him, my eyes roaming about in a vigilant sweep.My jaw twitching every now and then.My gut feeling about Seraphina being in Argentina was strong enough, and that was why I’d offered to go there in search of her.I couldn’t bear the thought of her being hurt, or in a difficult situation over there.I was eager to see her. But then, as if Lazaro had seen right through my plan, he’d shattered it, sending me to fucking Monaco, when we both knew it was a lost cause.And although I knew, a small part of my mind still wished the one in Monaco here, was the real Seraphina.I sighed, my grip tightening around the duffel bag I carried, as I watched the hunter flag down a cab.We got in, and the hunter gave the address, and soon, we were on our way to fake Seraphina.“So,” the hunter cheered his throat, leaning into the seat next to me, “you’ll be the on
Aric’s POVI sat at the top pew of the grandstand, cracking my neck from side to side, as I watched the brown-haired boy that danced around energetically on the field, in the game of rugby.He bore a striking resemblance to his sister, and sitting here, watching him play, I concluded he was the key I needed to unlock this unforeseen mess that had rolled out.The same mess his sister had created.Seraphina had disappeared all of a sudden, two weeks ago, disrupting the string of plans I’d had in place to reclaim my father’s legacy. And I’d beaten myself up for days, wondering why I hadn’t moved any faster than I did.Racking my brain to string another plan together.Well, I believe I wouldn’t have found a solution by now if I hadn’t decided to show up at Lazaro’s suite unannounced the previous day.It was fate, yeah. I had overheard Lazaro’s phone call with the boy, and I’d known instantly, that this was the heavens offering their support to help me reclaim my father’s legacy in the fu
Lazaro’s POV“The bounty hunters have returned.”I looked up from the journal in my hands, to find Jaxon there. I’d been reading the journal non-stop for days, since I found it. Biding my time for whenever the bounty hunters returned with news of their search. And that moment had finally arrived. Thank heavens.“Send them in,” ‘I ordered, slamming the journal shut and pushing to my feet. He left and returned seconds later, with three men trailing behind him, all of which their appearances screamed their profession.“So,” I started as they spread out in front of me, their heads tilted in slight curtsy, “what do you have for me? Did any of you find her?”The burly man with a heavily tatted face stepped forward, clearing his throat. “Take a look at this,” he said, lifting his phone to my eyes. “Saw someone with a striking resemblance to her in Monaco,” he continued, “although this one’s married to a lawyer.”I squinted my eyes at the picture on the phone, taking in the fiery red hair a
Lazaro’s POVI sat at the desk in my study, my eyes pinned on the picture I held in my hands. It was a picture of Seraphina and I, one we’d been obliged to take after our wedding months back. As my eyes burned into the picture, my chest constricted painfully. It’s been two long weeks since she disappeared, leaving behind her ring and that stupid note. And after searching everywhere for her, without a trace of her identity, I crawled into a cave of dark despair, staring at her picture all day long. That was all I could do at the moment. Wait. And stare longingly at her picture. Until I found her someday.The search around the neighborhood had spread to other households, ending in violent house raids and chaos. I let out a deep sigh, raking my fingers through my hair in frustration, and just then, a knock sounded on the door. Jaxon walked in seconds later, his shoulders moving stiffly as he approached my desk.“What’s the update?” I demanded, glancing up at him. He shook his head, h