Zaria doesn’t respond, she shoves her phone at my chest. The device hitting me right at my heart, and I grab it with my free hand while I lead her to her bed. With a flop, she falls to the mattress, and then curls up as if she’s been punched in the gut. I use her hand to unlock the damn thing and see the article that’s been splashed across her screen.
“He’s been around all my life,” she tells me in a whisper. “He was at my sixteenth birthday party.” The man photographed with her mother looks familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. The headline states that her mother has moved on from her father’s untimely death. The happy couple are walking out of the courthouse, and it’s clear that the large diamond on her mother’s left hand is a wedding ring.
I’m pulling my phone out and tapping dial on a number to our PI. We have a few who work for us, and I know that Harris will be able to find out who this bastard is. There’s something so familiar about him, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. The dark hair and tanned features aren’t all that I recognize though, it’s his eyes. They look so much like Nesrin’s, it’s startling.
“Hello, Mr. Thorne,” Harris answers before I have time to let my brain wander too far down a path I may not like.
“I’ve told you before, I’m Finn.” Even as I say this, the chuckle comes through because he knows it annoys the fuck out of me. “I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” is his response, because he would do anything for us. He’s been like family and knows us far too well.
“There’s someone I need information on. And I mean everything you can dig up. There may be some hidden files,” I tack on because my gut tells me there’s more to this stranger than meets the eye. He’s now married Zaria’s mother, which means he knows about the Thornes, and he must know that I’m about to marry Zaria.
“Send me the info and I’ll get to it. Is there a deadline?”
I grin. “I’ll give you a couple of hours,” I throw back, because I know that Harris will have it to me in less than that. I hang up and send him what he needs before I turn my attention back to my little princess. “Get up,” I tell her, the order is cold, swift, and commanding.
Her eyes lock on mine, but she doesn’t move. She doesn’t respond to me. I’m not sure what the fuck she drank, but she’s out of it. I didn’t expect to see the well put-together woman like this. But I can’t deny if that were me, I’d be a mess too. Granted, when my father remarried, I didn’t blame him. He was alone for years before Marcia came along.
I know I’m going to regret this, but I stalk to the bed and scoop Zaria up, throwing her over my shoulder. Now that she’s hanging upside down, and she’s drunk, I’m expecting her to throw up before I reach the bathroom. But I’m impressed when she doesn’t. I flick on the shower after setting her on her feet.
“Take your clothes off,” I tell her as I wave a hand at her outfit. When I first saw her in the dress earlier, my cock responded and wanted to know what she had underneath. And even now, as the possibility of her getting naked is presented to me, I can’t deny I’m hungry to see her curves.
“What?” Her brows furrow as she regards me. “No.”
“You’re my wife, take your fucking clothes off, or I’ll take them off for you.” My voice has turned to ice, and I see her shiver at my tone. When she doesn’t comply, I take a step toward her. The steam has filled the room and it billows around us as I near her. Once I’m inches from her, she dips her head back to regard me.
“What are you doing?” she whispers as she watches me. She’s still wobbly, but I quickly grip the dress she’s wearing and tear the material from her body. There was no other way to get it off her, because I did ask her to undress, and she refused me. “Finn!”
Ignoring her, I point to the shower. “Get in.” I half expect her to refuse. She’s fire where I’m ice. But with those sad eyes on mine, melting me slowly, she complies and steps under the spray. The fact that she’s not wearing underwear doesn’t go unnoticed, but I’ll talk to her about that when she’s sober. As much as I do enjoy alcohol, I’m not one to stick my dick anywhere near a girl who’s inebriated so much that she can hardly stand.