Heavy breathing and feral growls echoed throughout his bedroom. Lucas slammed his fist on the top of the armoire and whimpered like a wounded animal as his cock pumped hot cum into Bella’s mouth. His entire body jerked violently with every ounce of semen that pulsed from his dick. His breathing hitched each time he heard Bella swallow. Out of breath, Lucas collapsed against the armoire, resting his head on his arms.
“Bella,” he croaked, out of breath. “Oh, Bella…” Lucas worked on controlling his breathing and regaining the strength in his legs. “Oh, fuck,” he panted, pushing himself of off the armoire. Lucas reached down and pulled Bella to her feet. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed his forehead to hers. “Baby, you are… Oh, baby.”
Lucas gave up on speaking and held her against him until he was sure that he could walk. Savoring the feeling of Bella in his arms, Lucas was in no hurry, because he had every intention of honoring her tight pussy all night.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
BELLA
Bella was applying her lipstick in the mirror of Lucas’ gigantic bathroom. He walked up behind her and smacked her on the ass, causing her to jump and smear lipstick on the side of her face. Bella frowned at Lucas in the mirror. He laughed and handed her a tissue. As Bella wiped her face, Lucas pulled the headphones from her ears.
“You’re becoming obsessed,” he warned.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Bella admitted. “But there is so much going on with this case.”
“Bella, sweetheart, that case was closed when the senator died. You’ve created a dozen more cases for yourself.”
“Lucas, I’m telling you they’re all related.”
Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his chest.
“Maybe they are. But, right now, we’re gonna be late for dinner.”
Bella rolled her eyes. She would’ve preferred to stay in and watch TV or better yet, continue listening to the senator’s tapes. But she and Lucas were taking Rosemary home to her dad, and she had insisted that they stay to have dinner with her and her father.
Lucas kissed the side of Bella’s face and smiled in the mirror. “I have an idea,” he mumbled against her face.
Bella covered his hands with hers and melted against his chest. “I’m listening.”
“Well, since you’re off the next couple of days, I was thinking that after dinner we could drive straight to my family’s lake house in Benton Harbor, Michigan. It’s quiet, secluded, and less than two hours away. We could get a whole lot of quality time in.”
The look in his eyes told Bella exactly what Lucas meant by quality time. Bella turned around in his arms, snaked her arms around his neck, and kissed him on the chin. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Lucas’ brows furrowed. He seemed surprised that Bella had agreed so quickly. Hell, Bella was surprised that she’d agreed so fast.
“Really?”
“Really,” Bella affirmed.
Lucas’ smile prompted Bella’s. For some reason, she loved being the source of his happiness. For the last few weeks, he’d definitely been the source of hers.
Bella stood on her toes and gave him a quick peck. “Now, move. You done fucked up my makeup.”
She gave him a gentle shove and turned back to the mirror. She grabbed the lipstick, and just as she was about to reapply it, Lucas slapped her ass again.
Bella whipped around. “Lucas!”
She was ready to attack, but Lucas had already fled from the bathroom in a fit of laughter.
****
“So, sweetheart, how does it feel to be home?”
“It feels amazing. I have missed you so much, Daddy.”
Phillip Bloomberg smiled at Rosemary and covered her hand with his. They were seated at the dining room table waiting on one of his many young housekeepers to serve dinner. The wealthy lobbyist seemed to have surrounded himself with young, beautiful women. Bella looked around, amazed by Phillip’s Barrington home. It was massive, especially for a man who lived alone. Rosemary had told her that her mother had died during childbirth and her father had chosen to never remarry. So, she wondered why a person would need so much space.
Bella took a sip of the nastiest wine she’d ever tasted. She would bet her paycheck that the bottle was worth more than her paycheck. She looked over at Lucas. He was rich, so maybe it was a rich people’s thing. The frown on his face caused Bella to chuckle. Apparently, money couldn’t buy taste.
“Lucas, I’d like to thank you for keeping my little girl safe.”
Lucas placed his wine glass on the table and nodded. “Rosemary is family,” he told Phillip. “We take care of family.”
“Yes,” Phillip agreed.
He went on to talk about his own family. He mentioned how his beloved wife had died giving birth to Rosemary. If Bella wasn’t mistaken, she could sense a hint of resentment in the older gentleman’s tone. But she was no psychiatrist, so she kept her observations to herself. She did, however, take notice of how familiar Phillip seemed.
Bella sat quietly, battling with her memory as Phillip’s housekeepers finally served dinner. She was staring, and she knew it. But Bella couldn’t help herself.
“Is everything alright, Detective?” Phillip asked, obviously noticing that Bella was staring.
Bella blinked out of her haze and cleared her throat. “I-I’m sorry, Mr. Bloomberg. You just seem so familiar to me,” Bella admitted.
Phillip smiled and sipped more of the nasty-ass wine. “That’s because we’ve met before,” Phillip revealed.
Bella was confused. She and the stupid rich didn’t hang in the same circles. Well, other than Victor and Lucas. But, then again, there was Jack and Victoria. Because of Taylor, they seemed to bump into each other often.
“Yes,” Phillip continued. “We met at Victor and Taylor’s pre-engagement party.”
Bella smiled. It had come back to her. They were introduced at Taylor’s private engagement party; the one that she and Victor had held at Taylor’s house.
“That’s right,” Bella reminisced. “I remember now.”
A young pretty server placed a salad made with arugula and a bowl of lobster bisque in front of her. Bella picked up her soup spoon and stirred the soup. It didn’t have much substance, just tomato sauce, and corn. But it smelled really good. Bella tasted the soup and decided that she would stick to the salad.
Over the next thirty minutes, Bella endured a mediocre meal. She couldn’t help but wonder if the bland meal was the result of Phillip being Caucasian or rich. Again, she looked over at Lucas for a reference. He was both rich and Caucasian. And, again, the frown on his face made her chuckle.
Lucas leaned over to Bella and whispered in her ear. “We’ll get tacos on the way home.”
Bella nodded and raised the napkin to her lips. She needed something to hide her laughter. She looked over at Rosemary. The woman had been living in Louisiana for years. Surely, she wasn’t content with tasteless food. Sure enough, Rosemary hadn’t touched the food on her plate.
Phillip tossed his napkin over his plate and leaned back like a man who had just enjoyed a hearty meal. “Let’s have a drink in the parlor, shall we?” Phillip grunted.
Bella was starving. She wanted to get out of the pretentious mansion so that she could get something decent to eat. Hopefully, Popeye’s was still open.
“Thank you, sir, but we wouldn’t dream of keeping you any longer. We’re gonna be going. Thank you for dinner,” Bella said, graciously.
“Nonsense,” Phillip argued. “Come with me.” He stood and walked toward the arched doorway that led to the parlor. “Right this way,” he instructed.
Lucas stood and straightened his tie. He held his hand out for Bella. She reluctantly put her hand in his and stood from her seat. She looked up at Lucas, pleading with her eyes for him to rescue her from the evening.
Seemingly, reading her mind, Lucas looked over at Phillip Bloomberg. “Phillip, Bella and I are gonna call it a night. It’s been
an eventful couple of weeks, and we have a weekend planned.”
Phillip seemed as if he wanted to convince them otherwise, but Rosemary mercifully intervened. She hurried around the table to Bella’s side. She grabbed Bella by the hand and rubbed her forearm.
“Daddy, the lovebirds have a getaway planned. We mustn’t stand in their way. We’ll dine again together soon.”
Phillip wasn’t moved. His demeanor was strange. Bella couldn’t pinpoint why, but he seemed to be stalling. All of a sudden, the hairs on the back her neck stood straight up. It was like a Spidey sense had been activated. Something wasn’t quite right. For some reason, Bella sensed danger. And, then, it came to her. Bella knew exactly why Phillip seemed so familiar to her. And it wasn’t from Taylor’s pre-engagement party.
It was from the tapes!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
BELLA
Rosemary’s father was on the tapes that Bella had confiscated from Senator Henry Craven’s house.
Phillip Bloomberg, the wealthy lobbyist, was one of the voices on many of the tapes. So, it was more than reasonable to believe that he had something to do with hiring a professional to kill his own daughter.
Bella pulled her hand from Lucas’. As discrete as she could, she slipped her hand into her purse. Her plan was to grab her gun and get her, Lucas, and Rosemary out of the house as fast as she could. Bella had no idea what kind of muscle Phillip had in the massive house.
“The gangs all here,” a feminine voice taunted from behind.
Bella whipped around and nearly stumbled at the sight of the woman from the restaurant and Taylor’s garage.
Lucas had only seen the woman briefly. But since she and Rosemary had had physical encounters, they gasped at the same time. Bella could only imagine how confused Lucas must have been, but she couldn’t take the time to fill him in on what was happening. She kept her eyes trained on the threat in front of her.
Bella was able to get a good grip on her weapon. She didn’t pull it out of her purse because she didn’t want to set the violent woman off. She planned to wait for an opening and take her best shot. Unfortunately, her target was already pointing a weapon in their direction.
Bella knew that the woman had no problem taking them all out, so she needed to stall.
“So, it was you,” Bella directed at Phillip. “You commissioned the death of your own daughter.”
Phillip narrowed his eyes and crossed his chubby arms across his chest. “She means nothing to me!” Phillip spat, heartlessly.
“Daddy?” Rosemary gasped, painfully.
“Shut up!” he seethed. “I won’t lose another thing over you!”
Tears filled Rosemary’s sad blue eyes. She was completely taken off guard by her father’s hateful declaration. Learning that the monster that she’d been running from was her own father had to be devastating.
“No, Daddy, please don’t tell me you—”
“Didn’t he say shut up?” The woman interrupted. “You are a pathetic, naïve little brat! This is the real world, princess. Your daddy could care less whether you live or die. He’s a monster. Did you know that? Your daddy sells children. He makes his money off the backs of the weak. Did you know that?”
The woman shook her head and frowned as if she was repulsed by the idea.
“I didn’t know that either. You see, I am a hit woman, and I do kill people for a living, but I have never asked why a person needed to be hit. I carry out jobs with no questions asked. But, after running across Taylor Montgomery and her cop friends, I did a little research. For years, your father here has enslaved young and even underage girls and boys. He sells them for profit. Just look around this house. Every last one of his servants is a victim of human trafficking.”
Bella kept her mouth shut during the killer’s rant and eased her gun from her purse. She stepped in front of Lucas. But Lucas placed his palm to her side and forced her behind him. Gun or no gun, Lucas planned to keep Bella out of the line of fire.
“Daddy, no,” Rosemary whimpered.
Phillip gave the murderous woman a stern look. He didn’t seem pleased by her description of him. “Kill her!” he ordered.
Bella froze when the woman fired her weapon. She fired a round but not into Rosemary. She shot Phillip. She put a bullet right in his head. The shocked look remained on his face as he fell. His dead body made a loud thud when it crashed on the hardwood floor. Rosemary screamed.
Bella was shocked as well. The woman turned her gun to Rosemary and said, “Sadly, I have known many like your father. They don’t deserve to breathe. Unfortunately for you, I have never missed a target, and I won’t start today. I’m sorry, but you gotta die too.”
Rosemary was crying hysterically, staring at her father, but she didn’t say a word. She simply dropped her head as if she had resigned to her fate. She seemed content and ready to die, but the killer diverted the direction of her weapon from Rosemary to Bella and Lucas.
“No witnesses,” the killer declared.
Bella dropped her purse to the floor and pointed her gun at the hit woman. Her intention was to end her. But, surprisingly, Rosemary leaped in front of her and Lucas just as the woman pulled the trigger. Her leap into the line of fire shielded Bella from the bullet that was meant for her. The look of sadness and betrayal on Rosemary’s face would probably haunt Bella forever.
“Oh, fuck!” Lucas gasped.
He caught Rosemary before she could hit the floor. He held her close to his chest and lowered her gently to the floor. Bella aimed her weapon and fired at the assassin. Blood spurted from the killer’s chest, but she wasn’t down.
Unfortunately, Bella was. When she fired, so did the woman. Bella had been hit in the chest. Her breath hitched, her heart raced as her body went limp. The pain was indescribable. It was like fire. Bella had no control over her limbs. Even though her life didn’t flash before her eyes, she had a feeling that her life was over. She’d wanted so much more for her future, but the life she lived was the one she’d chosen. Bella thought of her family. She thought of her friends. But the idea of what her life could have been with Lucas was saddening.
At the sight of Bella’s wounded body, Lucas gasped and tossed Rosemary aside. He caught Bella in his arms and grabbed her weapon with his free hand. But the assassin wasn’t done. She fired at Lucas hitting him in the shoulder. But Lucas was strong and determined. With the speed of lightning, he pointed the .45 at the female assassin and shot her right between her eyes.
For a second, Bella took solace in the fact that the killer was down, but she was having trouble focusing. She couldn’t command her body to do anything. She couldn’t move her limps. Her breathing was labored, and she was weakening by the second. And it was cold…so cold that her body trembled involuntarily.
Lucas crawled over her and promised that she would be okay. But Bella knew that wasn’t true. She suddenly thought of her twin. Could Donatella feel her pain? Could she sense that Bella was dying? Lucas pressed his palm against her wound. He was pretending to be calm, but Bella could tell that he was panicking.
“You’re okay,” he assured with a whisper.
The way he looked, like a lost little boy, made Bella want to make everything okay for him. She clutched the hand that he had on her chest and did her best to smile.
“I know, baby. T-thank…thank you. I-I…I’m okay,” she promised.
Lucas pulled his phone out of his pocket. As he called for help, Bella closed her eyes. She was so tired. She could fight no more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
BELLA
The sound of something scraping against the floor caused Bella to stir. Her eyelids fluttered in a struggle to open.
“Welcome back, sleeping beauty,” a familiar voice whispered in the darkness.
Bella’s eyes flew open. Without moving her body, her eyes roamed the room.
I’m alive! Thank God!
Bella looked around and realized that she was in a hospital. She said a silent prayer to
thank God before focusing on her unexpected visitor.
“Victoria Price,” Bella mumbled in a weary and hoarse tone. She wasn’t too weak to fuck with Victoria.
“Storm,” Victoria corrected.
“Whatever. What are you doing here? Where are the people that I actually care about?”
“Now, is that any way to talk to the woman who saved your ass?” Victoria asked, smiling down at Bella.
“Ha,” Bella scoffed. “Where were you when this hot lead went through my chest?”
“I can’t be everywhere now, can I?”
Not in the mood to entertain the witty tete-a-tete with Victoria, Bella closed her eyes and whispered, “Lucas.”
Regrettably, it was clear that Rosemary was dead. But, before she lost consciousness, Lucas was very much alive. Bella needed to see for herself that he was okay.
“Your boyfriend is in surgery. He should have had surgery yesterday when you were brought in, but he refused to go under until he knew that you were going to be okay. He’ll be fine. Your family and very large extended family is in the waiting room. The doctor said they could visit when you woke up.”
“Then, how the hell did you get in here?”
“I’m rich and over-privileged.” Victoria chuckled.
“It must be nice to have snagged a rich man.” Bella snickered.
“Yes. Yes, it is. Is it nice for you too, Bella? Because the last time I checked, Lucas Creed was the Stanford-educated, genius, millionaire CEO of Brothers’ Creed Incorporated.”
Bella chuckled and regretted it immediately. She cringed from the sharp pain in her chest. “What do you want, Victoria?” Bella grunted.
Victoria leaned over Bella’s bed. Her expression turned serious. “We need to talk.”
The change in Victoria’s demeanor caused Bella to worry. She was attempted to sit up when Victoria placed a firm, but gentle, hand on her shoulder. Having no other choice, Bella calmed and relaxed against the pillow.
Creed 2: Black Widow Page 15
