Elias

"Fuck!!"

How the could I be so stupid? I shouldn't have let her found out this way...

No, don't get me wrong. I was going to tell her... I was definitely going to say something but not this way.

Now, everything is messed up even before it begun.

Closing my eyes and balling my fist, I could feel her skin on my fingertips, remembering the way her body curved so deliciously.

You know what Elias? She's too young for you.

I'm forty-one and my son is twenty-three. I had Ethan when I was as young as eighteen and now I'm going for a girl a little over eighteen?

I get it, she's twenty-one but that's not even it. She's struggling with things I'm not supposed to get involved in.

Ethan doesn't know I'm back in New York. Nobody does, because I've kept a low profile for the past six months trying to get things done my way.

I wasn't even supposed to approach her in the club but when I saw her? I knew there wasn't going to be any peace until I was sure she was safe.

I found out about her and Ethan when I was stalking Ethan's page on IG and realized she was always tagging him to their photos but he never responded.

I hate to say it but the signs were there.

How did she even put up with him? He's my son, yes but I didn't raise him that way.

I barely even raised him and that too, is not my fault. His mother did everything she could to keep me away and filled his head with too many stories of me that I could depict from the way Kim reacted to me.

My attention suddenly got diverted to Manio who has been my eyes outside.

He goes out to wherever the hell I want him to, gets the information and returns back to me.

My glance remained on him running his hand through his long hair as he smoked a cigarette.

"Smoking isn't the best for your health. You know that?"

"I also know you're not my father," he responded rather arrogantly and then swallowed hard. "I don't mean no disrespect."

"Hell you do and I'll tell you, if you ever speak to me that way... You're not going to make it past an hour in pains."

Getting the message clearly, he nodded. "All clear."

It's been two days since Kimberly left and there's been no word from her. Not like I had expected her to call me, or text but shit— I didn't expect her to go all silent on the man who gave her the best orgasm of her life.

She probably needs some time but I also need some information and that is why I sent Manio to the exact place I figured she'd be.

I’m not a fucking stalker, but when you’re as addicted to perfection in human form as I am, you have to take certain measures.

I don't like to assume things neither do I presume. I like to operate with factual information because in my dictionary, information is deadlier than any gun.

It’s a weapon of mass destruction, and if there’s anything I learned from my psycho mother, it's that you need information.

That’s what I should be focused on—getting information. My main mission with Kimberly isn't just to get information. There's so much more with that young woman.

Everything I ever thought about blurred somewhere between her erotic moans and the way she looked at me while she came apart around my fingers.

I know she was scared. Who wouldn't be? But I meant it when I said I found the woman I wanted to marry.

I've never been married before. In fact, I never thought about it until a few months ago when all of these started.

She might not have a single clue about what’s happening, but her life and mine are intertwined closer than she’ll ever know.

Having Ethan at eighteen and losing him at barely twenty-four shaped me in such a way that I never saw coming.

I thought I knew it all, that I had it all but shit got out of hand.

"You're okay?" Manio asked from where he was sitting.

"Yes, why?"

"Because we're home, Boss."

Oh.

The automatic light went off in the entrance as soon as I was inside.

The penthouse spans the entire top floor— glass-walled and steel edged.

My abode— the kind of space you feel before you even step into it.

Everything in here was built to specification. You walk in, and you understand. This place does not accommodate chaos, it commands it.

I took off my jacket and fell to the couch, letting out a small sigh. I wasn't sure how I managed to sleep off, but I did. Half-asleep ln gnf couch with my shirt unbuttoned, tilting my neck.

My body has given in before my mind. I wasn't deep in the sleep, I was just... disconnected, enjoying the warmth of the empty house until the beep sounds of the security alarm pulsed.

My eyes flew open and I stood up immediately, sensing that something was wrong.

Adrenaline flooded my system and I moved. From the concealed drawer beneath the bookshelf, my hand gripped the cool metal.

Who the hell would bypass my security?

I took one step forward and my jaw dropped.

Impossibly long legs covered in tight-fitting light-blue jeans was barely three inches in inside the door.

And just like that, the world narrowed to Kimberly.

Heat surged me as my eyes raked over her. She was wrapped in a black top that looked like it had been tailored onto her body.

She straightened, her dark curls falling down her back, and the scoop-neck black top exposed a good amount of cleavage.

"Kimberly?"

"I'm here to talk."

I should have demanded to know how she got past security but all I said was, "You came."

I needed to know why she was here and without waiting a second more, I looked at her.

"Are you in?"