Old Money Roulette: Complete Trilogy

by Natalie Bennett

  He didn’t stop until his come was coating my taste buds and he had to force me to quit milking him for every extra little drop.

  I smiled up at him, certain I looked like a disaster, but not really giving a damn.

  He helped me stand, pushing my hair away from my face. He didn’t say anything, just looked at me the way only he ever could.

  Stepping into him, I pressed my ear against his solid chest, right above where his heart beat. We stayed like that until the water ran cold, both of us lost in our own thoughts.

  Chapter Fourteen

  My mother wanted me dead.

  That was my first thought bright and early in the morning.

  I wasn’t sure why, seeing as the last time I saw her I’d been a little girl with unicorn barrettes in my hair. Then again, how much did logistics really matter? My mother wanted me twelve feet under; the reason wasn’t all that important.

  I thought back to the day before and what I’d done.

  My uncle—Samuel—was gone.

  There wasn’t a point trying to be sad, and I didn’t regret what I’d done. In my humble opinion, he deserved nothing less.

  As for Grams, well, she wasn’t a main priority. More like an afterthought.

  Propping my chin in my hand, I looked around the bedroom, wondering what to do next. I glanced at the nightstand to check the time, and saw my box of ashes was missing.

  “Goddamn him.” I shoved the comforter off with my legs and hopped out of bed. Snagging my robe off the footstool, I made my way into the hall, smoothing down my hair as I went.

  Mateo had slipped away a few hours ago, so I wasn’t sure if he was even home. I decided to check the office first. He practically lived in there.

  The doors were open and I heard the shuffling of papers before I reached the room, letting me know he was inside.

  “What did you do with my sister?” I asked him, walking right in.

  “Good morning to you, too,” he mused, looking away from the file folder spread out on his desk.

  Making my way to one of the winged back chairs across from him, I took note of a pretty area rug that hadn’t been here before.

  As I sat down, the wall behind him caught my attention. Hanging in a row were three framed customized cards. From left to right was the deep blue queen of diamonds, almost burgundy king of hearts, and an emerald green ace of spades.

  “Your sister’s in the living room on the mantle,” he said.

  I stared at the cards for another few seconds, and then settled my gaze back on him.

  “On the mantle?”

  “I moved her from the box to an urn.”

  I blinked, finding that gesture unexpected, but oddly thoughtful.

  “Why did you hate her?” I finally asked him.

  “I didn’t. Hate is too strong a word. I didn’t know her well enough to hate her. Let’s just say I was on to your mother a long time ago. When she told Eve to seduce me, I’d already found you.” He leaned back, rubbing his chin. “You two were cut from a very different cloth. You got the best parts of your father, and she got the worst traits of your mother. You weren’t just like her, anjo, but Eve was. Her true fault was never standing up to the woman trying to hurt you until it was too late.”

  Until it was too late… “The money and the book,” I said to myself.

  “I believe she was trying to give you a chance. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to get away from all this and hold a bargaining chip. You can…dump or bury her in a special place whenever you’re ready,” he added.

  I hadn’t considered doing anything like that.

  Letting out a small laugh, I shook my head and smiled at him, strumming my fingers on the leather arm of the chair. “Knowing Eve she’s exactly where she’d want to be.”

  He nodded his head in understanding.

  “Well, while you’re here, these are yours.” Pulling open his middle drawer, he took out a sleek black box, a pill bottle, and a slip of paper.

  He laid them out in order. The box was slid across to me first. An image of a red iPhone was on the front. The prescription bottle was next, and then the paper.

  There was a sum written on it—the same number that had been on the promissory note. With furrowed brows, I looked to Mateo for an explanation.

  “The money your family was indebted…it wasn’t to me. It was always to you. Your father left you everything he could save from your mother.

  “I’ve been running it through the real estate and casino so she would never know where it really was.

  I wanted you to know you have money. Not mine—yours.”

  Damn. I blinked, feeling my eyes burn a bit. It took me a beat to will the onslaught of tears away. Taking a small breath, I folded the piece of paper in half and placed it on top of my new phone.

  This wasn’t the time to be getting emotional. Instead, I focused on what I knew needed to be done next. “What do we do about my mother? She’s never going to stop. We both know that.”

  He steepled his fingers beneath his chin and slightly smirked. I knew right then he already had an idea on exactly how to handle her. Did I get the full detailed plan?

  Of course not. Nothing with Mateo would ever be that simple.

  “Why don’t you invite your friends for dinner tomorrow night?”

  “Um…okay,” I replied, unsure what they had to do with any of this. I was pretty used to his sporadic subject switches, though.

  “We’ll discuss it then. In the meantime, I have a few calls of my own to make, so why don’t you get yourself something to eat, and I’ll find you in a bit.”

  With a lack of anything else to do, I nodded and gathered my things off his desk. I was halfway out the room when he spoke again.

  “What would you do to stop her?”

  Pausing, I thought about it just as I’d been doing since I found out she was Ace, only to come back to the same resolution. My father, my sister, Mateo, Camilla…I refused to let everything we’d been put through because of one person all be for nothing.

  My father didn’t leave me everything just so I could turn around and allow an evil bitch to take it from me. And that’s exactly what she would try to do.

  I had everything she wanted. I had the man, the money, and the empire. If she couldn’t have it, neither could I. That’s how she operated. I would put her in the ground before I ever let her take any of it.

  This was my life; I was over my family…No—I was over her fucking it up.

  My father gambled his cards with the devil, and I was going to make sure he won.

  “I’ll do whatever I have to do,” I finally replied, walking out of the room.

  Chapter Fifteen

  He was not someone you wanted to fall in love with.

  Lust, yes, but not love. Whoever found themselves confused between the two needed to run like hell, get as far away as they could, and beg some other divine entity to save their asses from the pretty devil dressed in a three piece suit

  I’d done the opposite and ran towards him.

  He could have been skinning someone right then, making more stew, or flooding a neighborhood with bud and blow—I didn’t care.

  I was stretched out on a plush lounger by the nicest pool I’d ever seen, in a little black bikini with the sun beaming down on my shades.

  I’d sent a group text to Melody and Peyton, and after fifty-four responses back and forth, it was confirmed they would be at dinner tomorrow night.

  I double checked the living room and found he’d been telling the truth. A royal blue urn, which could have passed as a vase, with pretty gold trim was sitting on the mantle.

  I trailed my fingers along the rim before gently lifting it up. After sitting with it a minute or so, I unscrewed the lid and saw the ashes were safely inside.

  Reaching around, I unclasped her necklace and placed the jagged heart inside the urn. We’d always worn them, never took them off.

  Even in the end, when I couldn’t recognize her anymore, she was
still one half of me and that wasn’t going to change because she was gone.

  Swallowing down a bubble of sadness, I put the top back on, ensuring it was secure before placing the urn back on the mantle.

  I took my holy meds and programmed my phone whilst eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes, settling in by the pool when I was done, which was where Mateo found me.

  He didn’t say anything when he approached, so I never actually saw him until his hand touched the side of my face.

  I slightly jumped, lifting my glasses to the top of my head. “Don’t sneak up on me. And…” I trailed off and sniffed. “Why do you smell like lighter fluid?”

  “I had a thing.”

  “You had a thing?” I eyed him suspiciously, belatedly noticing his suit jacket was gone.

  “I thought you were going to be making phone calls. What happened to that?”

  He rolled his neck and turned around, beginning to unbutton his shirt.

  “Are you hot?” he asked, tossing the shirt to the side and starting on his slacks.

  “Yes, I’m hot; it’s like a hundred degrees.”

  “Me too.” He pulled his pants down, exposing his fantastic but extremely naked ass, and the kicked off his shoes and socks.

  “What are you doing?” I started to laugh, stopping short when he turned back around and practically hit me in the face with his cock.

  “My face is up here, amada,” he laughed, sporting his signature cocky smirk. “Let’s cool off.” He reached down and tossed my phone onto the opposite lounger, scooping me into his arms before I could make an escape.

  “Put me down,” I laughed, wriggling against him.

  “I hope you can swim,” he said before launching me into the pool.

  The cool water enveloped my body as I went under. I pushed my hair out of my face and swam back to the top, breaking through the surface with a glare.

  “What if I couldn’t swim?”

  “Then you’d drown, obviously.” He shrugged, diving in before I could respond.

  “Fucking asshole,” I muttered, scooting away from where he’d splashed, feeling a hand on my ass. Smacking it away with a laugh, I turned in a circle, coming face to face with him as he surfaced.

  “Do you always swim nude?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck.

  “I haven’t used this pool in a year, but no, I usually swim with my brother, and I don’t think he’d appreciate the competition.”

  “Oh my god, you’re such a man,” I grinned.

  He returned my smile, hooking my legs around his waist.

  We floated to the side of the pool and he turned so my back was against the mosaic wall.

  He looked down at me and I melted. Mateo looked at me the way all women yearned to be looked at. Maybe he wasn’t a morally righteous man, but this guy was perfect in my eyes.

  “I think I sort of love you,” I mumbled, placing my hands on his face.

  “Sort of? Do you need to hear those three little words from me to speak the truth?”

  “Psh, I know you love me. What’s not to love?” I joked.

  “I do love you, Elena. Enough to make you my wife, my partner, and my queen.”

  My mouth dried, and desire went right between my thighs. I wasn’t expecting him to so readily admit how much he cared about me. That was Mateo, though.

  He was either cold as ice or hot as fire; there was never any in-between.

  “Pull your bottoms to the side,” he lowly demanded when I remained silent.

  His voice brooked no room for argument. My perverse curiosity had me doing as he said.

  “You are so damn beautiful,” he murmured, running his eyes from my face downward to where I’d exposed myself in the water. “You have the prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen.” He reached out and gently touched my lips with his index finger.

  Without warning, he spread my legs and disappeared below the water. His mouth covered my pussy and I found out just how long he could hold his breath.

  His tongue slipped inside me until his nose was pressing into my clit. I gripped the wall with one hand to stay afloat, and his hair with the other.

  At any second, one of his staff members or falcons could stroll right past and see him eating me like I was prime rib.

  It felt way too good for me to care. If they heard the sounds leaving my mouth, it wouldn’t be hard to put two and two together.

  When he finally came up for air, water was rolling off every defined muscle he had, and a bright dimpled smile was on his face.

  He moved to the side and pulled himself out of the pool, reaching down for me next.

  “You know I can walk?” I breathlessly asked, holding onto him.

  “I’m far from done with you.” He sat me on the wooden lounger and positioned my legs over his slick shoulders, placing his mouth back between my thighs. He blew a warm breath on my throbbing clit and then moved his tongue lower.

  I jerked slightly in surprise.

  The sensation was foreign, but it wasn’t a bad one. His moan of appreciation had me doing the same.

  “Mateo,” I breathed. I felt like I was on fire. My body never had enough; it always wanted more.

  “Play with your pussy, anjo,” he commanded, spreading my cheeks apart so his tongue could delve deeper into my ass.

  Throwing my reservations completely out the window, I gripped his hair with one hand and moved the other to between my legs.

  If death by orgasm was possible, I would surely find out. Using a fistful of his silky locks, I shoved his face deeper into me so that his nose was on my slit while his tongue fucked my ass, and my fingers rolled my clit.

  I rocked against him, chasing a release. My thighs began to tremble, and my stomach tightened as my core exploded, sending heat flowing through my body.

  He tore away from me, rising up with his hard cock already in his hand. He watched me try and catch my breath with a calculating look on his face.

  Leaning down, he placed his mouth by my ear and began to whisper.

  When he was done, I stared up at him, utterly speechless, but impressed nonetheless.

  “I’m going to fuck you now.” And with those words, he slammed his mouth over mine and did just that.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I could hear the voices from below.

  Glancing at the clock, I saw it was an hour before Peyton and Melody were due to arrive.

  Smoothing down my black cocktail dress, I re-checked my reflection for the hundredth time and then went to investigate.

  Gerald, the cook, had the mouth watering aroma of fetuccini alfredo wafting through the air.

  I followed the sound of conversation to the mancave-ish room with the pool table. The last time I’d set foot in here, I’d wound up with my face smashed into the velvet felt and Mateo’s dick inside me.

  I breifly paused in the doorway and quickly surveyed the scene.

  Mateo stood on one side of the pool table with Elias and Sergio. Two undeniably gorgeous men in suits stood on the other, and a skinny man in a way too large plaid shirt sat on a barstool. There was a single wooden crate and a kilo on the pool table between everyone.

  I normally would have retreated, but I had every right to be there now, so I made my way to Mateo. He stood up straight and pulled me to his side, wrapping an arm around my waist.

  “Gentleman, this is my beautiful fiancée, who I’m sure you’ve heard about. Elena, these are the men who run that resort in the mountains I was telling you about.”

  I smiled and went along with what he was saying.

  Neither of the men offerd up their names, but the one closest to me with dark blonde hair reached out to shake my hand, making tattoos peek out from beneath the sleeve of his jacket.

  “Nice to finally meet you,” he said, giving me a smile full of pearly whites.

  Mateo’s grip slightly tightened on my hip, and I pressed myself further into him.

  The dark haired man shook his head and popped the lid off the wooden crate,
revealing a compressed bundle of fuzzy green marijuana. “Perfect,” he said, more to himself, shifting the buds through his fingers.

  “Clark,” the blonde called, waving over the man on the stool. He then removed a needle, lighter, and spoon from his suit. He dumped a little bit of coke onto the spoon, lighting the flame beneath it.

  I knew from Eva that the drug could be liquified, but I’d never seen someone actually do it.

  Once it was melted down, he sucked the drug into the syringe.

  Clark walked over with his sleeve already rolled up and arm ready to go.

  “He’s testing the potency,” Mateo explained as he was injected with the needle.

  In less than sixty seconds, his dark pupils dilated, and he sucked in a deep breath. “Woo, that’s good. Good stuff,” he nodded, teetering backward.

  “I’ll take four of these,” the blonde said with a satisfied grin.

  Not a second later, the doorbell rang.

  I pulled open the front door to greet my friends, ushering them into the house.

  “Smells really good in here,” Melody groaned, taking a few deep breaths.

  “You look about ten times better than the last time we saw you,” Peyton enthused, pulling me in for a hug.

  Hearing the sound of footsteps, I stepped back and started leading them towards the dining room.

  Once there, we sat down and I filled them in all that had happened, sparing the gory details of what I’d done to my uncle.

  They hung onto my ever word, especially the part about my mother.

  “You know, Mommy dearest being a completely psychotic bitch sucks, but it really does make a lot of sense,” Peyton said. “Once you put all the pieces together, and take into account what kind of a person she could be, it seems rather obvious. I just never thought…”

  “We don’t have to talk about it,” Melody said softly, reaching across the table to give my hand a squeeze.

  “So you and Mateo, you’re the real deal?” Peyton asked, switching to a lighter subject.

  “Everything between me and Elena has always been nothing other than real,” a deep voice wrapped in honey interjected.