Empire of Lust: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

The first time I met Aspen was during a night that I was fully prepared to turn to debauchery, arson, and an adrenaline fix.

Little did I know that the femme fatale who spoke nerdy as a favorite sparring method would offer all of those and more.

I never took anyone to my mother’s cabin, not even Nate. Even my father had forgotten about the property a few years before he divorced my mother. I was the only one who paid the place a visit, whenever my mind got too loud.

And because it was my safe place, my secret place, I had no business taking a stranger there. But maybe the fact that she was a stranger was what allowed me to let go, even temporarily.

But what I didn’t count on was how much she’d get under my skin. I’d intended to only be physical that night, but those thoughts soon turned into more. She was a free spirit in my stifling world. A breeze of fresh yet bold innocence that was rare to find in a time when everything was a copy of a copy.

And even though I was drunk, I couldn’t let go. I remember planning to not let her go. I remember my decision to keep her so well.

So imagine my fucking surprise when I woke up the next morning and found out she’d disappeared from my life as suddenly as she’d appeared. For a moment, I thought maybe it was all a figment of my imagination and my demons had seriously lost their minds. But that thought disappeared when I found blood coating my dick.

My first reaction was anger. How dare she leave without telling me? I was almost sure we’d shared a connection, but that was only me, because she’d had no qualms about disappearing.

So I decided to forget about the whole fucking experience, even if that didn’t stop me from asking around about a certain femme fatale in a black mask. No one seemed to remember her, and the night remained in the background.

That is, until Gwen showed up at my door.

I knew without a sliver of a doubt that the femme fatale from that night was the mother. She was the only one I’d ever forgotten to use a condom with.

And the obsession to find her started all over again.

Twenty-one years.

It took twenty-one fucking years to put a name and a face to the girl from that night.

And while I’d intended to exact revenge, to punish her for abandoning Gwen, it became so much more.

It became an uncontrollable lust, an unhinged obsession, and the darkest feelings.

What started as a hate-fuck, as a need to get her out of my system, gradually turned into the most peaceful, balanced time of my life.

She matches my fire, but she also tames it. Douses it. Sings soul-soothing lullabies only she knows the lyrics to. And for the first time in my life, I want someone to be there for me.

Someone who doesn’t shy away from my destructive energy and, instead, stands tall in front of it and me. A woman who can be my partner, my lover, and my submissive all at the same time.

And I’m only getting started with her, so there’s no way in fuck her father or the damn universe will be able to take her away from me.

Nicolo himself joins me with a dozen of his guards. I knew he’d taken Bruno’s betrayal personally the moment he didn’t let his underlings handle the job and summoned his best men. The men he usually doesn’t allow to peek from the shadows.

He’s also the one who guided us straight to the old building that should see its maker sooner rather than later.

“Are you sure she’s here?” I ask as his men disperse all over the property with a mere nod from him.

“He is.” He slides a cigar to the corner of his lips, but doesn’t light it. “He’s a poetic one, Bruno. He might not have chosen her birthday as I thought he would, but he’d definitely bring her to the place she betrayed him in.”

I march to the stairs, my spine crowding with tension and each step echoing with the buzz in my ears.

A hand drops on my shoulder, but Nicolo doesn’t stop me. He merely walks alongside me. “Where do you think you’re going, rich boy? Let me take care of this.”

“Like fuck I’ll trust you to.”

“Bruno will be taken care of. I give you my word.”

“I will be there.”

“Don’t blame me if you accidentally get shot.” He releases me with a mere shrug but strides alongside me. Or half jogs, because I eat the stairs in no time.

But the scene that greets me nearly sends me tumbling back down. Gwen is tied to a chair, trying to roll to the edge, where Aspen and Bruno are.

My chest explodes with a myriad of fucked-up emotions that start and end with fear.

The all-encompassing type.

The type I’ve never felt in my goddamn existence.

“Mom, no!” Gwen’s loud shriek rattles the walls and I don’t even think about it as I sprint to where Aspen is trying to shove Bruno off the edge.

And succeeds.

The world pauses for a second as they both tumble down and I dive, grabbing anything I can touch.

Her arm.

My fingers dig into her skin and I flatten myself on my stomach to grab her with both hands.

She’s fucking heavy.

I find the reason behind the unusual weight that’s definitely not Aspen’s when I stare down to find Bruno holding on to her waist, with both his arms and looking up with a maniacal expression.

Aspen, however, isn’t. Her eyes are closed and there’s a gash on the side of her head that’s streaming with blood.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

My shoulders nearly snap from their sockets, but I still try to lift her up. It’d be better to throw a rock at the parasite’s head and get rid of him, but if I release Aspen, she’s sure to follow him.

A shot pierces the air and I freeze, thinking something has happened to Gwen, but then the weight becomes lighter as Bruno releases Aspen. A hole is lodged between his vacant eyes as he falls, and his head smashes against the ground.

“No one fucks with me and lives to talk about it,” Nicolo says nonchalantly from his standing position, slowly hiding his gun away.

Then he gets on his knees to help me pull Aspen up, but I already have her halfway on the edge. Once she’s completely on solid ground, I make sure she’s breathing, then tap her cheek. “Aspen, sweetheart, open your eyes.”

“Mom!” Gwen falls to her knees beside us, probably having been untied by one of Nicolo’s men. “Daddy, is she going to be okay?”

I cradle Aspen’s head against my chest. “She will be.”

She fucking has to be.

I’ve been pacing the length of the hospital hall, back and forth like a caged animal.

The shuffling of nurses buzzing around, coupled with the rancid antiseptic smell closes my throat. Now, I understand why the fuck Aspen hates this place. It smells of death, blood, and the worst nightmares.

No.

I’m not going to think about death under such situations. I simply will not.

The doctors have been with Aspen for what seems like an eternity, and the nurse who came out earlier didn’t say anything, even when I threatened to sue this place and have her fired.

“Dad…”

I come to a halt and stare at Gwen, who’s sitting on a chair, rocking back and forth like when she was distressed as a child. Her shirt is torn at the collar, but her shoulders are covered with my jacket that I draped on her earlier. Her face is dirtied, streaks of dry and fresh tears mapping out her cheeks.

“What if…what if she doesn’t make it? What if…she goes into a coma like you did?”

“Hey.” I sit beside her, wrap an arm around her and adopt my soothing parental tone, even though her thoughts mirror mine. “She’s strong as hell and won’t let this bring her down.”

“But she’s not immortal.” She cries into my chest. “And she seemed resolved about dying, too. Her father…made her choose between you and me, but she chose to sacrifice herself, Dad. She chose to throw herself off the edge instead of seeing any of us die. But what if we’re the ones who lose her? I just found her…”

My chest quakes from the haunting force of Gwen’s sadness, and I continue stroking her shoulder to try and stay calm.

To try to delude my brain into thinking that Aspen will be fine.

“I just found her, too, and I won’t let her go that easily. She’ll come out of this.”

“Promise?” Gwen stares up at me with eyes that flood with tears.

“Promise, Angel.”

The door slides open and both of us spring to our feet as the doctor steps out, removing his cap.

“How is my mom?” Gwen asks in a quivering voice.

“She’s stable now, but we won’t know until she wakes up and we run more tests.”

My daughter staggers against my side as the doctor tells us about her head injury that’s not critical and the tests they’ll be running.

By the time he leaves, Nate arrives. I called him so he could take Gwen home. She’s had too much stress for one day and can barely stay on her feet.

“Nate.” She throws herself in his arms. “Mom is hurt and she’s not waking up.”

He wraps a protective arm around her and looks at me over her head. Probably thinking the same as me.

Since when does she call Aspen Mom?

Now, apparently, because she’s only ever addressed her as such today.

“Take her home. She’s exhausted,” I tell him, not sure how the fuck I even sound normal.

“I want to stay,” she protests, staring at me.

“Go change and get some rest, then come back, Angel. You don’t want her to see you looking like a survivor from a horror movie, do you?”

“No,” she grumbles.

“Will you be okay?” It’s Nate who asks.

I release a vague sound and wave him away.

Three minutes later, they’re gone and I’m breathing heavily, bracing a hand on the wall. I just need to get it together for when she wakes up.

And she will fucking wake up.

“The cleanup is done. No police business will be happening.”

I stagger from the wall to find the source of the voice. Nicolo stands in his usual nonchalant stance, a hand in his pocket. His three-piece suit he wore earlier is still pressed and clean with no dirt or blood on it.

“What are you doing here?” I stand to my full height, facing him.

“Thought I would deliver the good news myself. You won’t have to deal with Bruno’s body, blood, or the questions the police could ask. As for the redhead, I’m sure she’ll survive.”

“Yes, she will, and when she does, you’ll release her from your dirty business.”

“We had a deal, King. My protection for her services.”

“A sloppy protection that put her in fucking danger. Either you release her or you can kiss my billions goodbye.”

He raises a brow. “You would put that much money on the table for her?”

I’d give my whole fucking fortune up for her, but instead of admitting that, I say, “You’ll release her.”

“And you’ll keep your investments.”

“Yes, but I will not be your acting defense council anymore. Go find someone else to clean your messes.”

“Deal.” He turns to go, placing a cigar between his lips and lighting it, then stops and faces me again. “Are you sure she’s still not your woman?”

“She is my fucking woman.” The only woman I’ve ever wanted to be mine.

He gives a slight nod, a smirk, and leaves. A nurse stops him, probably to tell him he shouldn’t be smoking in the hospital, but he blows a cloud of smoke in her face and continues on his way.

Me, on the other hand? I pray for the first fucking time in my life. Not to a god, but to the woman sleeping inside.

Don’t even think about leaving me, witch.