26 ELIJAH

I take a long sip from my Macallan bottle while I'm lost in my thoughts. I had to leave Alicia because I couldn't be near her without hurting her. I cursed myself over and over for not stopping and hurting her in that way.

I'm a monster who can't be satisfied with simple pleasures. Vanilla relationships seem bland to me. I enjoy dominating, pushing women to their limits, and Alicia, being my woman, I want her to discover what true pleasure is.

From where I am, Rome looks absolutely fantastic. Its cobblestone streets, historic monuments, and unique atmosphere create a magical environment that captivates me. However, despite the beauty of this city, I feel an emptiness without her by my side right now.

The reason for my trip to Rome is purely business. Some of my men in Italy have informed me of certain irregularities with Greek magic and how much they want to take away our smuggling route.

Our relationship has the peculiarity that our senseless arguments, those little trivial fights, are an essential part of what we share. Making her angry or seeing her rage may seem absurd to some, but for us, it's a way to keep the spark alive in our relationship, a reminder that we are alive and together, even when we argue about the most trivial things.

So, while I enjoy Rome and my work here, I can't help but wish she were by my side to share these moments and engage in senseless arguments about anything that comes to mind.

"Sir," Harold stands in front of me, blocking my view. "We have a problem."

"What's going on, Harold?"

"The house cameras have captured several moments when the lady has been visited."

"Visited?" I make an uneasy face, then take another long sip from my bottle. Harold hands me a tablet where I monitor each of my properties.

I play the video, and immediately my blood starts to boil, anger and the urge to kill Michele surge again.

"He's been visiting her every day for the whole month," Harold adds.

Alicia seemed quite confident and happy next to my brother, but she didn't really know him. He was probably manipulating her, as he does with everyone. Michele is an expert at evading people to gain their trust.

In an excessive act, I throw the tablet to the ground and unleash all my anger on it, pounding it over and over.

"Prepare the plane; we're going home."

"Sir, but we haven't closed the deals with the Greeks yet."

"To hell with the Greeks," I snarl. "We're going home, and Michele will be a dead man."

I understood that I shouldn't let anger consume me as we flew to New York. However, I couldn't help but let the video of Alicia and Michele, laughing together and sharing moments, play in my mind like a horror movie.

It was evident that Michele was doing all of this deliberately to provoke my anger. I realized that his charisma and his beautiful face had been the traps that had ensnared my ex-girlfriends in the past. I didn't want Alicia to suffer the same fate as them, but I was struggling to keep my calm and not fall into Michele's manipulative game.

As the plane headed to New York, I realized that I needed to find a way to protect Alicia from Michele's schemes. I didn't want her to suffer like the others had before. The situation was complicated, but I was determined to do everything I could to keep the woman I loved safe and prevent her from falling into the manipulator's traps.

Hours passed, and we were now on solid ground. My car and my fleet of bodyguards were there, ready to give their lives for me.

The nights in the big city were simply insane, Times Square filled with tourists and the bright lights of the huge screens hurt my eyes with their brightness. That's why I preferred to live away from the downtown chaos. As we got farther away, the lights became smaller and looked like stars on the ground.

Upon arriving at the gates of our villa, they opened immediately, and in a matter of seconds, I slammed the front door open, only to be met with a surprising sight.

I began to see red with anger at the sight that greeted me, and without thinking twice, I drew my weapon, and I noticed his presence because he drew his as well.

Alicia and Michele were in the living room watching a movie as if they were a damn couple in love.

"Elijah!" Alicia jumped up and moved away from the scene. "Both of you, lower your weapons!" She exclaimed, visibly scared.

"You have one minute to get out of my house!" I spoke in a threatening tone.

"Lower the gun," Michele didn't hesitate to point it at me. "I should kill you for being here."

"Well, I was resolving something you couldn't handle."

A sinister smile appeared on Michele's face as he looked at Alicia, who was noticeably worried about the situation.

"Harold, please take their weapons away!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Alicia running behind Harold in search of protection.

"Harold, take Alicia away from here," I said.

"As you wish, sir."

"No, no, no, no, no," Alicia positioned herself in front of me. "I'm not going to leave you to do something crazy."

"Now you're going to defend your lover?" My fury was only increasing.

"Lover?! What the hell are you talking about!?"

"You fell for Michele's charms," I asserted. "You probably slept with him."

"You're definitely an idiot," Alicia shook her head, visibly saddened. "Take me away from here, Harold. I don't want to witness these two killing each other."

Alicia disappeared from my view with Harold, leaving me alone with Michele. Neither of us lowered our weapons.

"You're an expert at leaving everything within reach," Michele taunted. "It was a great month with Alicia. She's a great girl, you definitely chose well this time. But if you keep acting this way, you'll send her into my arms."

"I don't know what you're planning in that psychopathic head of yours, but I can assure you of one thing, I'll undo it with a snap of my fingers."

"Not this time, little brother, not this time." Michele never stopped smiling but holstered his weapon and tucked it into the back of his pants, then put on the top part of his suit. "She's a great girl, it's a shame she fell into the wrong hands."

And just like that, Michele walked past me and left the house, leaving me infuriated. Despite wanting to kill him for entering my home and making me angry with my wife, I couldn't kill Michele, not while my father was sick and still the head of the family.

However, I pushed aside all those thoughts of hatred and prepared to leave the house, following Alicia and Harold. I picked up my phone and dialed my bodyguard's number.

"Sir..." Harold spoke from the other end, which was clearly on speaker.

"Where are you?"

"We are..." I didn't hear anything, but it was Alicia who spoke:

"Listen to me carefully, Elijah. I don't intend to endure these kinds of confrontations you have with your brother. I'm not cut out for this life you lead. I just want to be with my father and take care of him. I can't handle this kind of stress anymore."

"Alicia, if you don't tell me right now, you'll pay dearly."

"Dearly?" She laughed sarcastically. "You've treated me like trash when I felt so damn alone because the man I care about left me alone in a mansion just because I'm a virgin."

"Ali, I..."

"Don't call me Ali, you don't deserve it," she exclaimed, her voice breaking. "Harold, please don't tell him where we're going."

"Harold, you're going to tell me right now where they are; you work for me," I said in a threatening tone.

"If you tell him where we're headed, I'll jump out of the car," Alicia declared.

"Don't you dare do that, Alicia Star!"

"Then forget about me!"

"I will never do that; you're my wife," I reminded her. "You're mine and no one else's."

"Your sentimentality won't change my mind."

The call was cut off.