He Chose the Mafia Princess, So I Chose Her Father Chapter 02
The stranger carried me into a suite larger than my mother’s apartment.
He locked the door behind us.
For one wild second, fear returned.
Then he placed me on a sofa instead of the bed and stepped away.
“Your name.
“Tessa Ward.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty–four.”
“Address?”
I gave it to him.
His expression did not change, but something in his
shoulders eased.
“Good. Stay awake.”
He gave me water and crouched in front of me while
the room slowly stopped turning.
He had blood on one cuff.
Not his.
“Those men,” I said. “What will happen to them?”
“They’ll tell me who paid them.”
“And if they don’t?”
His dark eyes held mine.
“They will.
I should have been terrified.
Instead, I felt safer beside that dangerous stranger
than I had felt during an entire year with Roman.
The fog in my head lifted by degrees. The humiliation remained.
Roman kissing Arianna.
Roman declining my call.
Roman watching her hand me the glass.
I began to laugh.
The sound broke halfway through.
“He told me to wear red,” I said.
The stranger remained silent.
That somehow made it easier.
“I thought he was going to choose me.
“He chose someone else.”
“In front of everyone.
“Then he was never worth wearing red for.”
I looked at him.
His face was made for hard decisions. Strong nose. Severe mouth. A pale scar disappeared beneath his collar. He wore a black ring on his little finger, stamped with a symbol I did not recognize.
“Do you always bring drugged women into your room?”
“No.”
“Do you always break men’s wrists for strangers?”
“They touched you in my hotel.”
As if that explained everything.
He stood and loosened his tie.
My gaze followed his fingers.
He noticed.
“The car downstairs can take you home.”
I should have agreed.
Instead, I asked, “Do you have a wife?”
“No.”
“A woman waiting for you?”
“No.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Should I?”
Relief moved through me.
For one night, I did not want to be Roman’s hidden mistake or the poor girl everyone pitied.
I wanted to be the woman this man could not stop watching.
I crossed the space between us and caught his tie.
“Tessa.”
It was the first time he had said my name.
It sounded like a warning.
“I know where I am,” I said. “I know you’re a stranger.
I know I should leave.”
“But?”
“I don’t want to.”
His hand closed over mine.
“This isn’t revenge.”
“No.”
“And it isn’t the drug.‘
My mind was clear now. Painfully clear.
“No.”
“Tell me what you want.
I pulled him down and kissed him.
For one heartbeat, he did nothing.
Then restraint disappeared.
His hand slid into my hair. His mouth opened over
mine, hard and hungry. He kissed like he fought:
without wasted movement and with complete certainty that he would win.
I wanted to lose..
He lifted me against him. My legs locked around his
waist as he carried me toward the bedroom.
“Last chance,” he said against my throat.
“Stop talking.”
His low laugh vibrated through me.
He set me on the edge of the bed and pulled the red dress over my head. His gaze moved down my body slowly enough to make my skin burn.
Roman had always rushed.
This man watched.
He learned every reaction before he gave me more.
His mouth closed over my breast through black lace.
My back arched. One large hand spread over my
stomach while the other slipped between my thighs.
“Already wet,” he murmured.
“Don’t sound so pleased with yourself.
He pushed one finger inside me.
The answer died in my throat.
“I haven’t earned pleased yet.”
By the time he undressed, I was shaking.
His body carried scars across the ribs and one shoulder. He looked less like a businessman without his suit and more like the reason other men carried guns.
He rolled me beneath him.
“Look at me.
I did.
He entered me slowly, filling me until pleasure blurred the last trace of Roman from my mind.
Nothing about him was gentle except the hand cradling the back of my head.
He held me there while he drove deeper, each thrust controlled until I begged him to stop controlling it.
Then he gave me what I asked for.
The bed struck the wall. My nails marked his back. His
name almost left my mouth before I realized I still did not know it.
“What do I call you?” I gasped.
He caught my lower lip between his teeth.
“Tonight? Anything you want.
I woke alone just after sunrise.
My dress lay folded on a chair. A black car waited downstairs, but the stranger was gone.
I told myself that was better.
No names. No promises. Nothing to regret.
At noon, I stood backstage at Lakeview University waiting to receive the Carbone Foundation Prize for Child Development Research,
My body still ached pleasantly beneath my clothes.
“Tessa Ward,” the dean announced.
I walked onto the stage.
The man holding my award turned toward me.
The world stopped.
He wore another dark suit. The black ring remained on
his hand. Behind him, armed men stood beside the curtains.
The dean smiled.
“It is an honor to have Corrado Carbone present this year’s award.
Corrado Carbone.
The head of the Carbone family.
The most feared Don in Chicago.
His eyes lowered briefly to the mark he had left above my collar.
“Congratulations, Tessa,” he said.
He knew my name very well now.
Before I could answer, a familiar voice rang from the aisle.
“Dad.”
Arianna hurried toward the stage with Roman at her side.
She kissed Corrado’s cheek.
Roman offered him his hand.
“It’s an honor to finally meet my future father–in–law.”
I stared at the man I had slept with.
My ex–boyfriend had traded me for Corrado’s daughter. Gaugintel.
And I had spent the night in her father’s bed.