Queen of Hearts (Wonderland 2)

Chapter Three

Nick

Iwatch Lyriope and how she glances around awkwardly as if nervous she’s doing something wrong. She’s in a beautiful country, sitting on a veranda of a stunning villa, and she can barely sit still. She’s not comfortable in this world. She doesn’t know how to play the game of pretend and act like the wealthy and respected Sasha Morelli. She’s a fucking imposter and she knows it. She’s panicked that others will also know. I can smell her fear from here.

One, two, three… ready or not, here I come. You want to play hide-and-seek?

Well, I just found you.

And it wouldn’t be hard to find me in return. An Aston Martin stands out like a sore thumb in the Tuscan countryside. At least it’s black and not the cherry red the rental office at the airport tried to pass off on me. All it would take is for anyone in the Morelli villa to look out the window to notice someone foreign is on the property. I tried to park off to the side, hidden by a large bougainvillea shrub, but I’m not exactly incognito.

But it’s not like I give a fuck if they do see me. I don’t plan on staying hidden for long. Once I get a feeling of the surroundings, and I study Lyriope, I’ll be yanking her out of the villa before she can even blink. She’ll be back in my possession wishing she never escaped me.

When I got on my jet the minute I heard of Lyriope’s location, I didn’t have time to formulate all the steps in my plan. There was only so much I could do while traveling across the world to catch my runaway captive. But as I sit in the car watching her from afar, I’m doing my best making calls and using every favor card I’ve collected to arrange for what happens next.

“Please tell me that your ass is not in Italy right now,” I hear Harrison’s voice say to me through the phone.

I remain silent as I stare straight ahead. As I watch her. As I try not to storm into the house and rage against her for leaving me. I don’t want to approach her until I’ve regained my cool. Irrational Nick Hudson would act stupid and careless. I need to be level-headed, calculated, cunning, and… I can’t reveal to her the emotions she causes inside me.

“Nick! Seriously? You leave for another country before I can even get back from Sasha Morelli’s?”

“You didn’t expect me to just sit in Bishop’s Landing knowing where Lyriope is,” I finally say, grinding my teeth.

I’m fucking furious, and yet, as I wait in my car, watching Lyriope walk out on her veranda and breathing in the fresh air, another part of me—the hungry animal inside that’s been on a hunt—wants to take her in my arms, throw her to the ground on all fours, and fuck the shit out of her so she’ll never dare leave my presence again. I want to pull her hair, nip her neck, and mark her body. I need to take, claim, possess what is mine. My cock needs to be buried so deep inside of her that we may never be able to break free. Our sexes will be knotted together in an unbreakable tie.

I want to hear her screams as punishment for what she’s done. I want her howls to morph to the mating call that bonds her to the primal beast that I am.

And she’ll have no one else to blame but herself for this.

She forced me to become the hunter and she the prey.

“I think you’ve lost your fucking mind,” Harrison says, bringing me back to the present.

“A long time ago, my friend,” I mumble.

“This girl has fucked with you to the point where you aren’t the Nick Hudson I’ve always known. You would have never acted on impulse like this. You would have planned; we would have strategized every step of the way. You would have never just hopped on a plane solo without so much as mentioning it to me. What the fuck is this?”

I don’t say anything but rather watch Lyriope. I watch… my obsession growing by the second.

“It’s messy,” Harrison continues. “You’re a hot mess of… Jesus. I’m flying over there now to join you.”

“That’s a good idea. Bring Martha too,” I say. “We have Wonderland to plan. We haven’t done Italy for years. It’s time.”

“The fuck we do,” Harrison shouts.

I’m pushing the man to his limits. I get this. But I don’t give a fuck.

“I appreciate this little chitchat of yours, but get your ass here, and bring Martha,” I state, making it clear that I’m done with the lecture, and he needs to respect my goddamn orders.

I hear him sigh, but he doesn’t say anything else.

“Let me know when you land, and I’ll give you directions to where our new headquarters will be,” I say before hanging up.

I refocus my attention on Lyriope. She’s standing now. Pacing. Her eyes scan the area, and for several moments stares at where I’m sitting in the sports car. I’m not nervous that she’ll figure out it’s me inside. She’s too distracted. She’s too unaware. She’s too afraid. I can see just how easy this is going to be. Watching her from afar, not allowing her to put up her facade makes me realize just how terrified this girl is. She’s out of her element, and right now, when she thinks she’s all alone and no one is watching, she reveals her truth.

Her dark hair, her dark eyes, her entire aura belongs in Italy. It’s as if she came home to her roots and the Tuscan countryside is welcoming her with open arms. The setting sun reflects off her rich chocolate strands, her skin seems to shimmer against the humid air, and—

I can nearly smell her heady scent of pussy as it tempts me to her. Her calling card beckons, and I’m losing the battle of not answering.

I’m watching her like a goddamn stalker who can’t get enough.

I’m craving her. I have a hunger like I’ve never had before.

She shouldn’t have left me.

Never. Should. Have. Left.

It’s time she learns this lesson.