Chapter 41 Stuck between
Alexander's POV
Ezera stood before the glass walls of the hotel, naked with a cup of hangover tea in her hand as she gazed at the city.
I watched her from the bed. She was beautiful, too beautiful. My heart raced as I watched her. How did I manage to fall for this woman? It was supposed to be a one-time thing.
I slipped out of bed, also naked as I walked towards her. As I reached her, I wrapped my arms around her, placing my chest against her back; the light from the sun glistened against her red hair.
“How are you?” My voice came out raspy.
“You are not…hurt anywhere, are you?” I added.
She shook her head and sipped tea from her cup. “No, I’m fine, Alex.”
I placed my hand on each sides of her shoulder and slowly turned her to face me. Gosh, her body was beautiful; she was beautiful. “Are you sure? After all that sex i would assume you were sore”
She scrunched her nose, and her face turned red. “Stop.”
I chuckled; being here alone with her made me the happiest man in the world. Was I crazy for wanting to let go of the revenge Celeste and I had planned just for this woman? I got burned last time with Charlotte; I tried to save her, but it came back to haunt me.
Would I be making a mistake if I did it again with Ezera?
I placed my hand on her chin and tilted it up to meet my eyes. The way the light bounced off her grey eyes made my heart race. “You are a beautiful woman.” My voice was barely above a whisper.
Her eyes squinted as she smiled. “Thank you.” She paused, and before she added, “handsome,” she pressed her lips together after she said it, like the words felt forbidden.
“Why did you do that with your face after you said that?”
“What?” She asked, her face still squinted.
“Do you think I'm handsome?”
She sucked in a deep breath and looked away. “Yes.”
My laughter exploded through the air. “You are shy.”
“No, I’m not,” she said defensively.
I wrapped my arms around her, pressing her tightly against me. “You are shy; I like this side of you.”
She tilted her head back. “Stop, I’m not used to saying stuff like that.”
My brow raised as I suddenly thought of something. “Have you…never had a boyfriend?”
She swallowed nervously. “I…”
“Wait,” I chuckled, “I'm your first?”
“Alexander, stop.” She slapped my hand in annoyance.
“I'm sorry…. I’m sorry.” I reached for her face and gently tucked her hair behind her ear, gazing at her eyes. I wondered what she would say if she found out about my plans with Celeste. “You know I would never hurt you, right?”
Her face twisted in confusion. “Why would you suddenly ask that?” She scoffed.
My expression turned more serious, and her smile fell. “Oh, we are rival Mafia families,” I spoke.
“Yeah…. I know.”
“I'm going to do some things…..” my voice trailed off as I thought for a second, was I still working with Celeste? Or had my feelings for Charlotte turned my heart away from it? Gosh, I was confused. “I might…” I corrected, “Do some things to Damien, and I just wanted to let you know that it's not a war against you…it's him.”
Her hands pinched my shoulders. “You might? Or will it?”
I swallowed. “Fuck, I don't, Ezera.”
“How can you not know?” She scoffed.
“Because of you!” I explained. She was startled by my sudden outburst; her eyes widened, and she took a step back. “I'm sorry…” my voice dropped lower. “I didn't mean that…”
She shook her head. “It's okay.” She moved closer and patted my head. My mother used to do that years ago when I would get either angry or sad; I reached for her hand and pressed it against my chest.
“Is it really okay?”
“Do you and Damien have to be enemies?”
My jaw clenched. If push comes to shove, would she pick him over me?
“Yes…. Ezera,” I said, but my voice faltered. Did I mean that? Because I swear I was ready to drop it all for her.
She leaned closer and placed a soft kiss against my chest. “I don't want us to be enemies.”
I stroked her hair. “I don't want that either.”
She kissed me again, this time on my neck. “I love you; I mean it.”
I cupped both sides of her face in my hands and pressed my lips against hers; being alone with her at this moment was all I wanted, nothing about Damien or Celeste.
She wrapped her hands around my neck as I lifted her up and carried her in my arms. I slowly walked to the bed and sat. “I want to make this work with you.”
She tilted her head. “Make what work?”
“Us”
“What are we? What's us?”
“You are my woman,” I spoke calmly.
“Hmmm… am I?”
I looked up at her, almost as if I wanted to kiss her with my eyes. Does that make sense? “Aren't you?”
“I am,” she smiled.
I pressed my finger against her hips. “Don't break my heart…please, you hold it in your hands.”
Her expression turned serious, and she blinked. “Of course,” she whispered.
As my lips parted to speak, a phone on the bed started ringing. I reached for it, but it wasn't mine.
“It's mine.” She grabbed it. “Shit, it's one of Damien's soldiers,” she spoke as she slid across the screen to answer.
“Yes?”
I couldn't hear what the other person was saying, but I knew it was serious; her gaze flickered up, and her lips parted. “Are you serious?” She asked. “Is he home yet?” She added.
Her gaze landed on mine, and she swallowed. “I'll call you back,” she spoke and hung up.
“What is it?” I asked, a concerned look on my face.
“There's trouble….” She clenched the phone tightly in her hand. “Damien got arrested.” My heart dropped. Would she hate me if she found out I was behind it?
“Really?” I asked; my heart raced, but I couldn't explain why.
“He’s in trouble with the FBI; somebody submitted evidence to them, and they are going to come back.” She tried to get off me, but I held her and pulled her back against me.
“Hey…” my voice trailed off. I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn't find the right words.
“There was CCTV footage of a man who snuck in, and I feared he was one of yours…..”
My chest heaved. I didn't want to lie to her; I wanted her to trust me. “It was”—the word felt like a knife on my tongue. The look of betrayal on her face hurt even more. “Ezera, this isn't meant to hurt you.”
“It's meant to hurt Damien….”
“So you still love him?” I inquired.
“This isn't about him!” She shouted in anger, her eyes darkened with anger, “He is family; if you hurt him, you hurt me!” She pulled away from me.
“You love him.” I stood up.
“I love you!” She pointed at me with her index finger. “You claim to love me, but you are hurting my family?”
I tried to take a step closer to her. “Ezera, please,” I begged as she picked up her coat and wrapped it around herself.
“Don't come close,” she ordered as she walked to the door. As she reached for the door handle, she suddenly froze and her head spun to face me. “My feelings for Damien died the moment we slept together on that ship. If you doubt it, then you don't know me all Alexander,”
She stormed out and slammed the door behind her.
I clenched my fists as I slumped into the bed.
As Ezera barged out of the room, I quickly picked up my clothes and threw them on. As I attempted to rush out after her, my phone suddenly began to ring.
I hissed and walked towards it; it was Celeste. I slipped on the screen and pressed the phone against my ear. “What do you want?”
“Ugh…that's hardly a friendly hello, don't you think?”
“Get to the point Celeste,” my teeth grinded.
“You are on a bit of a rampage, aren’t you?” She asked.
My brows pinched together. “What do you mean?” I pressed my fingers against the door; I was growling impatiently.
“My men reported that you killed some men at a club last night.”
I felt a flash of anger, “Are you watching me?”
She clicked her tongue. “I just happened to find out.”
“What do you want, Celeste?”
“Damien is smarter than we thought; he found a way to convince the FBI that the evidence we sent was AI generated.”
I didn't know if I wanted to be hearing anything about Damien right now. “Okay.”
She froze for a few seconds. “Is that all?”
“You knew he was smart, Celeste.” A soft puff of air escaped my lips.
“Well, I have a bigger plan; I can't let this fail.”
I bit my lower lip and raised a brow. “What plan?”
A few minutes after the phone call, I quickly went out of the room and sharpied on Ezeras' door. I knocked...once. Twice. Thrice. But there was no response.
“Ezera, come on,” I shouted. “Can we talk?”
There was a response.
As I knocked again, a hotel staff member walked towards me with a tray in his hand. He gave me a puzzled look. “The lady left a few minutes ago.”
I turned and spun to face him. “What?”
“Yeah, she seemed to be in a hurry too,” he added.
“Shit,” I cursed as I walked back into my suite. I paced around and immediately picked up my phone. I dialed her number and pressed the phone against her ear;it rang, but there was no response.
“Fuck,” I cursed under my breath.