by Sofia Romano
Lucas Miller. I know that name.
I watch as his other hand pulls a knife from his pocket. I rush out of my chair, knocking it against the wall.
“Mr. Miller,” I shout from my doorway. Every head turns to me. Even his.
I close the distance between us before he has time to speak. Rage boils inside of me.
“If you don’t let go of her right now, I’m going to have to make you myself.”
He laughs in my face. The little snot.
My fist connects with his nose with a satisfying crunch. Alexandra gasps. Another woman near the back of the room screams. I grab a fistful of his shirt and drag him into my office. I throw his limp body into the chair across from my desk. I look down and notice a stream of blood across my knuckles.
Disgusting. I rub it on Lucas’ shoulder as I pass him to sit at my desk. I pick up the phone and dial a number I know by heart.
Chapter 20
Alexandra
It’s been half an hour now. Gideon still hasn’t left his office. After another half hour, his next appointment comes up in the elevator. I know I’ve seen him before, and his name matches the one on the schedule. When I bring him to Gideon’s office, Gideon is there, smiling and greeting the man as though nothing happened. I peek around the room as fast as I can, but Lucas is nowhere to be seen.
The day moves by with agonizing slowness. I don’t know how Lucas found me. I”m not sure I want to know. I just don’t want it to happen again.
At the end of the day, as others file out the door, I slip into Gideon’s office. He’s flipping through a binder, highlighting pages, looking like nothing happened at all.
“Lucas Miller is never going to bother you again,” he says without looking up.
“What do you mean?”
He gestures at me to close the door.
“I have some friends at the NYPD. Lucas was foolish enough to be carrying illicit substances on him. That, combined with his laundry list of prior offenses and the hefty donation I made to their department means that you will never have to worry about Lucas Miller again.”
“He’s in jail now? But he never left.”
“I had them take the freight elevator so that you wouldn’t have to see his face again. I didn’t want to upset you more than you already had to be.”
He leans forward and places his hands on mine.
“You’re safe now, Alexandra. You’re safe, and you’re all mine.”
Epilogue
One Year Later
Gideon
Now that she’s with child, Alexandra is more beautiful than ever. I watch her from our bedroom as she wriggles into a tight-fitting blue dress. It hugs her swollen belly perfectly. I rise and approach her, running a hand over the curve of her stomach as she examines herself in the mirror.
“I have half a mind to stay home and keep you all to myself, love.”
She giggles and kisses my cheek.
“Don’t you want to show me off?” she teases.
“Mmm. Of course. But I might need a break.”
“Likewise.”
She is nervous on the ride over, tugging at the edge of her skirt, asking questions about preparations that she already knows the answer to.
“Relax,” I say, stroking her hair. “You’re going to be perfect.”
And she is. We arrive at the gallery again, back where things began, in a way. But tonight, it’s her work on the walls. Once we were married, Alexandra got back to painting as she had always wanted. It only made sense for her to have her debut show at my gallery. She blends seamlessly into the crowd. She laughs at all of their stupid jokes, tossing her hair over her shoulder. I stand side by side next to my amazing wife. Now, she’s the one who leads me around the room, introducing me to buyers and other artists. It’s so strange to think how much she’s grown, how she’s fit into my world in such a short time.
But she’s still the same woman I fell in love with, the same woman I claimed.
While she chats up a buyer, I slide my hand across her back, dipping lower and lower. I grab one thick globe of her ass. She pushes her hips against my hand without missing a beat in the conversation. She even laughs at a joke as I massage her ass. When she has an opportunity to move on, she does.
“Take me,” she whispers in my ear as she leads me down the hallway.
And now, she has her own office in the building, with a door that we can lock behind us.
A Man Who Knows What He Wants
Book 1: Claiming Alexandra (this book)
More to come...
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