Anyone watching me as I sit behind my desk, scanning emails, would imagine I’m present, Working, focused, and managing my empire. In other words, they would never think I’m fantasizing about a particr young woman who owns my every thought, dream, and breath.


    There are times when my thoughts of Caterina are so vivid I would swear she was here in the room with me. I can smell her perfume, as if she’s walking past me. Light and fresh, so powerful can almost believe I can be young and fresh, too. Like she has the power to wipe away the ugliness and darkness surrounding me.


    I shouldn’t have touched her, tasted her while she was here, on my desk. For now I can’t get the image out of my head. All I can see is the arousal that gushed from her, pooling beneath her ass, her writhing and moaning. She was helpless to my touch.


    My dick is so hard it aches. So fuckin hard, I have no choice but to run my hand over the straining bulge and consider taking it out to elevate the pain. I rarely give in to temptation in the middle of the day, not when Roger or anybody else coulde walking through the door, but if I don’t find a way to release the tension, I’m going to explode.


    What I wouldn’t give to hear her whisper my name while I undo her with every sweep of my tongue. While every pump of my slick fingers makes her muscles flutter and tighten… I’m barely able to stifle a groan of mixed desire and difort. It’ll snap in half if it gets much harder.


    The ringing of the desk phone shakes me out of it enough to identify the double ring that makes it an internal call. The words Front Gate sh across the narrow ID screen before I pick up the receiver. “Henry? What’s the matter?”


    “There’s police on the way up to the house.”


    Looks like a painful erection is the least of my worries. I jump from the chair and carry the phone to the window, expecting cruisers and shing lights to be trailing up the driveway. Instead, all I find careening up the winding road is a single, dark blue


    Acura.


    When a pair of my guards hold up their hands, signaling for the driver to stop or at least slow down, they have no choice except to jump out of the way as the car barrels past them. Fuck. I grit my teeth and m the phone into the cradle. Marching into the hall, I let out a sharp whistle to signal for Roger to follow. He has to jog to catch up to me, his footfalls echoing loudly on the polished wood.


    “What’s going on?”


    “Trouble.” I round the corner into the entry hall. The front door is directly ahead of us. Voices carry from the outside, with one belligerent voice rising above the others. It’s male, and he’s full of rage. I clench my hands into tight fists. What idiot would be dumb enough to show up here screaming obscenities?


    “Are you sure you should go out there?” Roger asks when I touch the doorknob, his voice bordering on concern.


    “Yes, however be on the lookout. This is my house, and I won’t stay inside to hide from some asshole trying to ambush us. Nobody in an Acura is going to get the jump on my men. There’s a reason I pay them like I do besides, if the guy were really that dangerous, they would have already taken him down.


    half tucked in and uck, this is worse


    I’m not sure what I expected when I opened the door, but nothing could have prepared me for seeing a familiar face on the other side. There’s a wall of armed men standing between him and me. He’s red–faced, snarling, with his shirt an empty bottle of Jack Daniels lying on the ground near his car door. It probably fell out when he opene than I thought.


    “What the hell is going on?” I demand once I’ve taken in the scene


    I wave a hand, calling off the guards. Charles looks different. I used to recognize the man he was. The version before me bears a slight resemnce. He’s put on a few pounds and is not as polished <b>or </b>put together as he used to <i>be </i>when we had to see each other at an event, like the girls‘ graduation.


    Nheless, he would stare holes through me back then, too. Simr to the way he is now. It goes to show that a person can


    change physically<b>, </b>but their hate for you can never dissipate.


    “Charles,<b>” </b>I fold my arms across my chest<b>, </b>slowly looking him up and down, “you look like shit<b>.</b>”


    “Shut the hell up,” he snarls, his voice slurring. “I don’t want to hear your bullshit.”


    “That’s very rich of you as <b>you </b>fly up my driveway, rushing toward my house like a bat out of hell while nearly running down two of my men. In what world do you live in where you think that is eptable?”


    Another question lingers. How did he get past the front gate? I imagine he shed a badge and knew the right things <b>to </b><b>say</b>. Either way, I’m going to have a talk with Henry.


    My men eye me wearily, waiting for mymand. It would


    effortless to nod my head only once and be rid <b><i>of </i></b>this obstacle forever. It’s a tempting thought. Getting him out of the way and allowing my little bird to live her life unencumbered by her domineering father.


    Unfortunately, it’s not an option, nor will it ever be. I shake my head slightly, but enough that they know to stand down. He’s no threat–at least, not to me. He’s too busy hurting himself by the looks of it.


    “Why don’t you exin to me why you’re here?” <b>I </b>suggest in a cool voice. Let him rant and rave. It’s not me that’s making a fool of myself. Nothing is saying I need to sink to his level of childishness.


    “dly.” He’s bleary–eyed, swaying on his feet. Drinking this early in the day? It shouldn’te as a surprise after what I heard Caterina tell Tatiana. He’s made a real mess of himself, this man who’s spent so much of his life thinking he was superior to me. I can’t pretend there isn’t a sense of gratification in seeing him this way. Watching him sink to new lows.


    It’s almostughable that this is the man who thought he could take me down. What a sad joke.


    He lifts his lip, his narrowed eyes glittering with rage when they lock on mine. “You. You and your daughter. All these years, I knew you were no good for her. Nothing but a bad influence. That’s what I told myself at the time. I only wish I had the backbone to nip this shit in the ass. But…”


    He lifts his chin defiantly. “I told myself she needed people in her life. Friends. She had already lost so damn much, and it’s all thanks to you!”


    I touch a hand to my chest. “Thanks to me?” He’s not making any sense, not even close. I can barely keep up.


    “And then I have to sit here and watch her make these mistakes. Every minute she spends in your presence, she moves further away from what’s right.”


    He swings his arms wide enough that my men have to back away, and I don’t think he notices. His gaze never wavers from mine. “How can you convince a kid to do the right thing when they see all this? I let her get closer to your daughter, and this poison seeped into her. I bet she sees how you live and thinks this is what she wants. I bet she wants your world. She wants to live like your Tatiana.”


    Pain pinches his features. “Now you’ve ruined her. I barely recognize her anymore. This is your fault. Once again, I’m reminded that I should’ve killed you years ago.”


    “That’s right, detective,” I encourage with augh. “Say it out loud, with witnesses all around us. You wanted to kill me years ago. What, you didn’t have the balls to go through with it?” I’m goading him<b>, </b>my own anger bubbling to the surface. I hate the


    he treats Caterina. The way she feels responsible for him.


    way


    Dwa


    Beneath my anger, rational thinking tells me he knows about us. That’s what I’m gathering from his speec No<b>, </b>she couldn’t have. Even if she didn’t, how else could he have found out?


    I she tell him?


    his arm trembling. <b>“</b>If it weren’t for <b>“</b>I’ll show you some balls right now, Rossetti. Don’t you fucking test me.” He points at me, you<b>, </b>everything would be different. But that’s what you do, isn’t it? You take what’s good, and you destroy it Rip it apart, piece by piece<b>, </b>until it’s just as ugly as you are on the inside. You’re a destroyer, a locust! You take, and you take, except you add nothing to the world. All you do is destroy lives. Orphan children. You spill blood, and you collect the money.”


    “Are you finished?” I can only shake my head. “Why don’t you try pulling yourself together, Charles? Maybe when you do, <b>it’ll </b><b>be </b>easier for you to see why everything in your life is falling the fuck apart. Or would you rather be weak and continue to me


    <b>60 </b>


    <b>your </b>fuck–ups on everybody else?”


    “You’re my only fuck up,” he snarls. “Letting you go. The fact that


    60


    your fuck–ups on everybody else?”


    “You’re my only fuck up,” he snarls. “Letting you go. The fact that you’re breathing right this second.”