Chapter Thirteen

Naz

" L et me get this straight," I say, my eyes narrowed at Brynna. "I tell you that we can go anywhere, and this is where you choose?"

"Yes."

I stare at her for a long moment, fighting to urge to tell her I changed my mind. In the three days she's been with me, she hasn't asked for much. She's been quiet, withdrawn. The only time she comes alive is when I'm inside her, fucking my way into her soul, claiming it. The rest of the time, she's lost in her own mind, her own worries. I thought getting her out would get her mind off things.

I may have to draw a goddamn line in the sand here, though.

I flick my gaze out the window again, sizing up the line of people waiting outside. Most have their heads down, staring blearily at the ground, lost in their own worries, in their own fears and anxieties. None of them look like much of a threat, but…

"What the fuck are we doing here, little one?" I ask, genuinely mystified why she chose a soup kitchen of all places.

She glances over at me, quiet for a long moment, and then she sighs. "Do you know why my dad gives so much money away, Naz?"

"To hide the shit he does."

She shakes her head, smoothing a wrinkle in her skirt. "No," she whispers. "It's because, despite all his flaws, despite everything, he's Irish. And one thing we understand is what it's like to go without, to be forgotten, to go hungry, to have nothing. He doesn't give because he wants to hide who he is. He gives because, despite what he does, giving is part of who he is. It's in his blood." She shrugs, one shoulder bouncing. "I guess it's in mine too."

Well, fuck.

I kill the engine, resigning myself to the fact that I'm going to be spending the afternoon slinging soup. The god of war…doing fucking charity. Nicolas would lose his mind if he knew. But fuck it.

Better this than another afternoon questioning my own people. I've spent the last two days doing that bullshit, pouring through every name, looking through every piece of information. So far, we've found at least three with ties to Rojas. Three. And who knows how many more we'll find before we're done before we're done.

But I'm not sure any of the three I've ripped apart have been the one doling out my fucking secrets to Sullivan. They're enforcers, drug-runners. No one with enough information to make the kind of mess this prick is making of my empire.

"We can do something else," Brynna says softly. "I just thought maybe we could use a little time away from our own problems for once." Her shoulder bounces in a shrug. "And maybe a little good fortune."

My lips tip up at the corner as I reach across the console, stroking her cheek. "You believe in karma, mi alma ?"

"What we do always comes back to us one way or another, Naz."

Fuck. Part of me really wishes I'd killed her father a year ago, the first time he snatched a company out from underneath me. She wouldn't feel the way she does now if I had. That guilty goddamn look wouldn't be stamped all over her perfect face.

Dio . What am I thinking? She'd be down two parents instead of one. And as someone who knows what the fuck that's like, as someone who knows exactly how it feels to lose a parent to violence and bloodshed and this world…I don't want it for her. Not even if the prick does deserve it for breaking her heart.

"Come on," I murmur. "Let's go feed your homeless."

"They aren't my homeless, Nazario. They're the city's homeless," she says primly. "And you should care about that too, you know. You may be a criminal, but that doesn't mean you can't be human, too."

A smile twists at my lips, my cock stiffening at the way she calls me out without hesitation, without compunction. Fully grown men wouldn't even dare, but this little princesa ? She fears nothing, least of all me. I fucking love it.

"Out of the SUV, princesa . Before I decide to show you just how big of a degenerate criminal I am in front of all these people," I growl, smirking at her. "Think they'll try to stop the big bad cartel boss if he stuffs his cock down your throat on the sidewalk?"

"Probably." Her pulse thrums against her pretty little throat, her eyes darkening. "But I won't."

Jesus fucking…

The shrill ring of my phone rips through the SUV, freezing me as I reach for her, intending to drag her into my arms.

"Motherfucker," I growl, snatching it out of the console. My mood plummets when I see Nicolas's name on the display. "I need to take this."

Brynna nods.

"What?" I snap as soon as I have the phone at my ear.

" ?Se nos creció el enano !" he growls. The dwarf has grown on us—our problems have gotten bigger. Fucking great.

"What the fuck happened?"

"We're on the verge of losing another shipment, príncipe."

Anger slices through me, sharpening to rage. "How the fuck are we going to lose another one, Nicolas?"

"Our ship was quarantined as soon as it docked in Aruba, Naz."

"Motherfucker," I swear, slamming my head back against the seat. This is the last thing I need right now.

"They're going to want to hear from you directly, príncipe ," Nicolas says. "They won't negotiate with anyone but you."

I flick my gaze in Brynna's direction, guilt sliding through me. She needs a day away from this shit. But if we don't get this sorted out before they board the motherfucking ship, they'll rip it apart and take everything. And docking another ship in Aruba will cost two or three times what it does now to keep them looking the other way. We need that port.

"I'll be there," I sigh, a wave of defeat coursing through me. This empire is a yoke around my neck…but it's still my responsibility.

Cristo . Burning it to the ground looks better and better every day.

I disconnect, dropping the phone into the console.

Brynna meets my gaze, hers worried. "What's wrong?"

"Issue with a ship," I mutter, scrubbing a hand down my face. "I have to deal with it, mi alma."

"Okay," she says softly. A moment later, her hand slips into mine, her fingers lacing through mine. "It'll be okay, Naz."

I glance over at her, startled. "I'm supposed to be the one telling you that, Brynna."

"Yeah, well, I think maybe you need to hear it sometimes too. You're carrying the whole world on your shoulder. Now, you have help. You have me." She smiles at me, so sweet I want to crawl into her fucking skin and pour myself into her veins. Cristo . The way she looks at me, the way she makes me feel… It's terrifying and exhilarating, setting me on fire.

I lean over the console, devouring her lips. I lick into her mouth, claiming every corner of it. And then I pull back, reaching for the door handle. "Stay right here, mi alma . I'll be right back."

Her brows furrow with confusion. "Where are you going?"

"To do a little charity and get you that good karma, mi luz ." I wink and then slam the door, striding toward the entrance to the soup kitchen. The fact that she thinks she needs to pour more good into the world to balance the scales for herself is fucking heartbreaking. So is the fact that Sullivan is too goddamn blind to see the damage he did to her.

He put her on a pedestal and turned her into a target, and then killed anyone who took a shot at her. And she's the one who suffered for it. He should have handled it a long time ago.

The moment the first enemy made a move against her, he should have gone scorched earth, burned their fucking worlds to the ground. No one else would have dared try. She wouldn't feel so guilty now if he had. But he let it continue, instead picking them off one by one like it was a game.

I won't make the same mistake. I won't lock her away. She won't be a target. And she'll never know just how brutal and monstrous I'll be to ensure it. Those sins will be mine, carried in secret so they never touch her.

"I need to see whoever the fuck is in charge around here," I mutter to the man standing at the door, letting people in one by one. "I'm about to make his day."

He flicks his gaze up at me, a smile already forming on his lips, and then he realizes who I am. It freezes, half-formed. "Uh…"

"Just go get whoever the fuck I need to write the goddamn check out to," I sigh, not in the mood for this bullshit. "Now."

Shock flares in his eyes. But he's smart enough not to ask a single damn question. He darts inside, running to do as he was told.

"I'm sorry," Nicolas says, scrubbing a hand down his face as we stride back toward my office a full four hours later. "I should have been paying better attention."

He's right. He should have. So why the fuck wasn't he?

I just had to work a miracle, threaten to build my own fucking port in Bonaire, because he failed to notice that the payment to our contact in Aruba hadn't been sent. Greased palms pave the way. Dry palms are a motherfucking problem.

I cut my eyes in his direction. "So why weren't you, Nicolas? What was so goddamn important that you forgot what the fuck I pay you to do?" I growl, trying to figure him out, to pin him down.

Suspicion is a cold, hard knot in the pit of my stomach. I don't want to believe it. He's been ruthless over the last few days, cutting through the ranks without mercy, killing without remorse when necessary. And yet…the knot remains.

Where the fuck do his loyalties truly lie?

"You, príncipe ," he says, dropping his hand from his face to meet my gaze. "You are the reason I forgot."

"Excuse me?" I hiss, my hands clenching into fists.

"I do not mean it like that," he says. "I mean only…you are what was more important, Naz. You have had too much on your plate, too many things pulling at you. We have Sullivan, and the war with Rojas, and the men he's planted here." He shrugs. "It's been a busy time."

I grit my teeth, not buying the excuse. Nicolas isn't careless. And he hasn't seemed all that concerned.

"Your concern is touching, Nicolas," I say, a bite in my tone.

Nicolas hears it, a protest forming on his lips.

I throw my hand up, silencing him. I don't want to hear it. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's more bullshit. "I don't pay you for your concern. I pay you to do your job. So do your fucking job or get out."

Nicolas stares at me for a long, silent moment, his dark eyes inscrutable. A muscle ticks in his jaw, his lips pressing into a thin line. "You've changed, Naz," he says finally, his voice soft…disappointed.

"Yeah, I have," I mutter, meeting his gaze. I'm not ashamed of it. I won't apologize for it. If that's what he expects, he's forgotten who the fuck he's dealing with. And perhaps that's precisely the problem. He's forgotten who he's dealing with. "And it's about goddamn time people realized it, Nicolas. This is my organization, my crown, my rules. If I want to burn it to the ground, that's my decision. Don't like it? Not my fucking problem."

He shakes his head, opening his mouth to say something, but whatever it is…I don't care anymore. I've heard everything I need to hear, seen everything I need to see.

Nicolas is my motherfucking rat. He's working for Rojas. And I have to kill the one man in this city I trusted like a brother. But not here, not now. I need one night to process this shit first because this one? This one fucking hurts.

Cristo . If this is what charity buys, Sullivan can keep it.

"I want this little fuckhole," I growl, pressing my thumb into Brynna's asshole as she writhes on my cock in bed two hours later, sobbing my name.

"Naz," she whimpers, rocking back against me, her cunt clamping down around my cock like a perfect vise.

I crane her head back, tugging hard. "I'm taking it, mi alma ," I snarl against her throat, pumping my thumb in and out of that perfect hole. "Don't tell me no."

We both know she isn't going to deny me. She was on my cock as soon as we walked through the door, begging for it. And I'm a greedy motherfucker, desperate to stay lost in her. She's peace. The only part of my world that has any light left in it.

I'll purge my darkness in her. She can take it. She was fucking born to do it.

Her juicy pussy clenches around me again, wet enough that I don't even need lube to spread her little asshole open. But I use it anyway. I won't ever hurt her. Fuck that.

I squirt it down the crack of her ass, watching with satisfaction as she squirms all over my cock, moaning, groaning, my eager little slut. My fucking world.

"Keep fucking me, princesa . Work those hips and take my cock while I split you open for me," I order, slapping her ass. The way it bounces and jiggles… Cristo , what a sight. So I do it again.

She sobs in ecstasy.

"You like that, little one? Like having my handprints painted across your skin?" I spank her again, harder this time. Her alabaster skin flushes red. So goddamn pretty.

I slip a finger into her asshole with my thumb, working her open. She rocks back against my hand, greedy for it.

"Filthy little princesa ." I twist and plunge, fucking her with it. "You like having my fingers in your asshole? Like having both of these little holes stuffed full of me?"

"Yes!" she shouts. "Yes, Naz."

"Tell me why, Brynna." I add another finger, groaning at the eager way she takes it. Fuck. She was made for me, made to fuck, made for this.

"Because I'm yours," she sobs. "I'm your little slut."

"That's right." I nip her ear, soothing the sting with a swipe of my tongue. "And you're such a good little slut, too. So sweet. So eager. So greedy."

I slam my cock into her, pounding her perfect cunt until she's trembling on the edge. When she's right there—right fucking there—I pull all the way out, leaving her little hole clenching around nothing, begging and desperate.

She wails brokenly.

"You're not coming until I'm buried in your asshole, Brynna." I haul her into the middle of the bed with an arm around her waist, putting her right where I want her. "I want your asshole strangling me when I come."

"Naz, please, please…"

"Keep begging, mi alma . You know how much I love it," I whisper, running my cock all up and down her ass crack, letting the lube coat it. "Let me hear you plead for me to claim this little hole."

I line up at her tight little asshole, rubbing the slick head of my cock around and around it, teasing her with it. "Beg for it, princesa ," I growl. "Beg me to claim this filthy hole and make it mine."

She moans, pushing her hips back, trying to impale herself on my cock. "Please, Naz. Please fuck my ass. I need you inside me, stretching me open."

Goddamn, I love that sweet voice begging me for the most filthy, depraved shit. It's almost psychotic how much I love it. But then again…no one ever accused me of being a virtuous motherfucker, now did they?

"That's it, mi amor . Beg for my cock in this virgin hole," I rasp as I push forward, applying pressure. Her greedy hole resists, fighting me. "Relax and make it easy for me, little one. Let me in."

She whimpers, relaxing beneath me. The tight ring of muscle slowly gives way, allowing the head of my cock to slip inside. Fucking hell.

She gasps, tensing at the intrusion. Strangling the head of my cock in her perfect ass.

"Shh, princesa . Just like that," I croon as she slowly relaxes beneath me again. "You're doing so well."

She whimpers and pants as I gradually work myself deeper, groaning at the way her tight little ass strangles me. The pressure and heat are perfection.

I slip my hand beneath her, sliding through her drenched cunt to her swollen clit. I grind my thumb against it, keeping her right on the edge…right where I want her.

"Breathe, mi cielito ," I remind her as I impale her inch by inch. "Take me deep. This perfect ass was made for my cock."

She moans brokenly as I stretch her wide and stuff her full, my gaze fixated on the way her tiny hole swallows me up. Cristo , the sight alone has me ready to lose it. But I grit my teeth and fight against it, determined to make this good for her.

"Your needy little hole is squeezing me so tight," I groan as I slip in deeper. "Does it feel good, little one?"

"Yes," she moans, already trying to rock beneath me, so fucking eager. "Oh, God, Naz. It's so fucking good. More, please."

"Such a perfect little ass slut," I praise, bottoming out in her. She's completely full, completely owned. Completely fucking mine. "Already begging for more."

She trembles and pants, her muscles clenching wildly around my cock. I stay perfectly still, grinding my thumb against her clit, letting her get used to the feel of me stretching her open like this.

"Please, please." She thrashes beneath me, clawing at the sheets.

I flex my hips, making my cock throb inside her. "Is this what you want, mi cielito ?"

She wails my name, pushing against me, trying to force me to move. "Please, Naz," she sobs, wrecked and ruined for me already. "I need…I need…" Her pussy drips, soaking my fingers.

"Tell me," I demand, fighting like hell to hang on. The need to move, to fuck into her is overwhelming. But not yet. Not until she says it.

"Fuck my ass, Naz! Please!" she sobs. "Please!"

I pull out slowly, relishing the drag of her tight muscles around my shaft, and then slam back in, burying myself balls deep. She screams, her head thrashing against the pillow, crimson hair fanning out in a wild tangle.

I do it again and again, banging the headboard against the wall. Brynna wails beneath me, lost to the pleasure. The sight of her spread out beneath me, taking every inch of my cock and wailing for more, is the most erotic thing I've ever seen. I'll never get enough of her like this— wrecked and ruined and completely mine.

"That's it, princesa ," I growl. "Be a good girl and take my fucking cock like the greedy little slut you are."

Her pussy drenches my fingers, her muscles clamping around my cock every time I call her a slut, every time I praise her. Cristo .

Possessive pride surges through me. She's mine, stripped bare and broken open, every fucking inch of her consumed by me, obliterated by me.

And she owns me the exact same way. Killing for her would be easy. I do that shit every day and don't regret it. But for her? I'd die, give up everything. That's how completely I'm hers.

"Come for me, Brynna," I order as I plunge into her perfect ass over and over, the headboard slamming into the wall with every thrust. "Let me feel this greedy hole strangling my cock as you shatter. Milk me dry."

I grind my thumb over her clit a final time before pinching it between my fingers.

She screams, her body tensing as the sensation sends her hurtling over the edge. Ecstasy crashes through her veins exploding, making her writhe in the sweetest torment.

Her asshole clamps down around my cock like a vise, squeezing me so tight it's almost painful. I roar at the sensation, giving in to it.

My own orgasm rips through me, the intensity stealing my breath. I spill into her in hot spurts, filling her up, marking her from the inside out as mine. Always fucking mine.

She collapses onto the bed beneath me, trembling and gasping. I follow her down, pressing open-mouthed kisses across her shoulders and the back of her neck, worshipping her sweaty skin with my tongue.

She reaches for me, threading her fingers through my hair. "I love you," she whispers, turning her face to meet my gaze. "I love you so damn much, Naz."

" Mi alma ," I rasp, my voice raw. " Mi cielito. Mi todo ." I never want to move, never want this moment to end. I want to stay buried inside her, right fucking here, forever.