Chapter 13

Khalid stared down at the thick envelope on his desk without seeing it. His thoughts were all for the curvy, baffling woman that currently occupied his penthouse. The smile she had given him this morning after he offered to take her into the city for a meal was like a punch in the gut. He had thought just having her would be enough. Now, he wanted her smile too. He wanted to own her happiness and take her heart.

He had no idea how a mobbed up son of a bitch like him was going to get a woman like Shania to fall for him. The task seemed insurmountable. He had learned work ethic from a young age, clawing his way out of the gutters of Kabul and making a name for himself in this section of America. He had fought tooth and nail for the respect of his soldiers. He had embarked on countless successful ventures, both legal and illegal. But he had never wooed a woman. Hadn't had the time or inclination. He had always fucked his women and then left them behind. He thought that was how he was built, that relationships were for the weak and foolish.

From the moment Aiden had shown him the picture of his wife, Khalid had been lost to her. The shy, innocent smile, the glow of her rich, brown skin, the fullness of her lips, the honesty of her eyes he had been hers before he had even met the woman.

Like an idiot, he had pined for the untouchable woman from the photograph. He had personally beaten Aiden for presuming to sell such a goddess, taking pleasure in the other man's suffering. Then, his princess had walked through the door of his casino. Like the villain in the story, he had captured her and kept her locked in a tower. How could she love a man like him?

He was disgusted with himself, but resigned. He couldn't change. He couldn't become her prince. He knew no other life than the one he had been leading and he was terrified of getting her involved in such filth. She could be too easily hurt by his competitors. He would protect her, including her happiness, at all costs.

Picking up the envelope, he texted Ash. Make sure she's ready, have the car out front in 15 minutes.

Within seconds, Ash texted back his acknowledgment.

?? Khalid left his office, desperately hoping that this sojourn into the city would tide Shania over for a while. He craved her gorgeous smile and wanted her to gift him more of the same. He was a greedy enough bastard to dangle the hope of more freedom in front of her to gain her sweet affection.

Shania approached him in the lobby with a shy smile on her face. The sight of her in a floor length red satin sheath stunned him. The design was classic and simple, with a halter neckline that hovered over her cleavage, but didn't look cheap. The gown hugged every mouth-watering curve with a long slit from the floor to the top of her thigh showing off her gorgeously curved leg. She wore black heeled sandals and held a slim black clutch in one hand. Her hair, swept to the side in a large jewelled clip, cascaded over her bare shoulder in a black waterfall of wavy curls.

He very nearly changed his mind about their night out. He wondered if he could even get her into the elevator before hiking the dress to her waist and burying his face between her thighs. He wanted to yank the modest neckline down and make her scream her orgasm for him.

She gave him a heart-stopping grin when he stopped in front of her and placed hesitant fingers against his crimson tie.

"You look amazing," she said, breathless.

Khalid captured her fingers with his and brought them up to his lips. He pressed a kiss to the pads and flicked his tongue against them. Smiling mischievously down at her, he said, "Let's go upstairs, princess. We can do dinner another night."

She knew he wasn't entirely kidding.

She laughed. "Not on your life! I'm starving, and I can't wait to get back into the city."

She tugged his hand down and led him toward the doors to the massive parking lot of the casino. She knew that if Khalid had insisted, she would be back upstairs in his bed. He was allowing her to lead him. She felt a tiny rush of pleasure, understanding that he was working to give her what she wanted, a small sampling of freedom.

Khalid had decided to use the limo for their night out, so he could have easier access to his woman on the ride. Several light touches and whispered comments along the way once again tested his resolve not to turn back and just finish the night buried deep in her gorgeous body. The pleasure and the promise sparkling in her amber eyes held his impulse in check.

The meal, taken at one of the city's finest restaurants, was a true test for him. He hated feeling publicly exposed, much preferring to haunt his own establishments, where any potential threat could be swiftly and brutally dealt with. But this night was special. His woman deserved a taste of fine things and freedom.

He watched her, fascinated, as she licked clean a spoon that had been dipped into a crème br?lée dessert. He wanted to capture that tongue and suck it deep into his mouth, tasting the sugary sweetness within, while he sank his fingers into her pussy and made her cry out for him. It nearly killed him to sit and watch silently as she finished her dessert with zero molestation, except for a good eye fucking from him. And half the men in the restaurant, he realized as he glanced darkly around him.

His eyes stopped on a familiar figure. Vladimir Sitnikov. The man owned this city's underworld. The parts Khalid didn't own, anyway. While the majority of Khalid's business interests were legitimate, Sitnikov tended toward the opposite. The majority of the cruel Russian mob bosses business was dirty, with only a few legitimate enterprises to launder money through.

Khalid and Sitnikov maintained an uneasy alliance. Both had strong presences in the city and rarely crossed boundaries. Neither wanted to go to war. It was unnecessary. He caught Sitnikov's gaze and nodded in acknowledgment. The Russian's eyes flickered over Shania, interest flaring, before he returned the nod and turned back to his dinner companion.

"Who was that?" Shania asked in her soft voice, letting her spoon rest in the empty dessert dish.

"An acquaintance," he said shortly, shutting the conversation down.

Sitnikov was dangerous. The less Shania knew about the man, the better.

If Khalid had simply ended their evening there, taken her from the restaurant, made love to her in the back of the limo and again in the penthouse, the evening would have been perfect. Instead, he pulled the envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. She frowned slightly before automatically reaching for it.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Open it."

Pushing her plate aside, Shania opened the envelope and pulled a bundle of papers from it. She smoothed them out on the table and began reading. Within seconds her ruby lips parted in a gasp. She glanced up at Khalid with shocked disbelief, then back down to keep reading. She flicked through the rest of the papers before turning stunned eyes up to him.

"How did you get these?" She asked in a low, pained voice. "Did Aiden give these to you?"

Khalid shook his head. "No, although he'll have a similar copy by now."

"But" She shook her head in disbelief. "How did you do this? It usually takes months, sometimes even years!"

Khalid reached into his jacket pocket and pulled a pen out. He snapped it open and placed it on the papers in front of her. "Anything can be obtained on short notice with the right connections. Even a divorce. Sign the papers Shania."

She continued to stare at him, her quick brain clearly racing in thought. Finally, with a small sigh she pushed the papers and the pen away from her. "No."

Khalid raised a thick brow and asked very carefully, "No?"

Shania could sense the tightening of his body across the table and knew he was incredibly angry with her. Remembering what had happened the night before, after her aborted escape, she shivered at the thought of pissing him off again. But she had to make him understand that he couldn't continue to make decisions for her, to run her life without regard for her opinions, even if it meant putting herself on the wrong side of his temper.

"No, Khalid, I won't sign the divorce papers," she answered as steadily as she could. "I'm not ready yet."

Khalid's fist came down on the table causing her to jump. With a glance up, Shania caught sight of the dark, sinister man watching their exchange with some interest. Her eyes widened at the man's perusal. He was almost as elementally frightening as Khalid. His dinner companion, a petite woman with chicly died black and blue hair, chatted animatedly, unaware that his attention had strayed elsewhere.

"You still love him," Khalid growled, drawing her focus back to him.

For a moment, she didn't know who he was talking about, before she realized he must mean Aiden. Of course he would jump to that conclusion. He had no faith in her. Because he kept her locked up in his penthouse and didn't give her a chance to prove that she was capable of loving him too.

"I don't love Aiden," she denied. "Not anymore."

Khalid stared at her, anger smouldering in his dark eyes. "Then sign the fucking papers Shania."

"I won't," she whispered.

"Why?"

She shivered. His demanding voice gave no quarter. He wasn't willing to listen to her.

She tried anyway. "I want to have the choice, Khalid. Divorce is a big deal. I'm not a quitter and I hate the idea of a failed marriage. I won't be rushed into a decision like this, not without seeing Aiden and talking to him, making sure that we're both on the same page."

"You will never see that fucked up lowlife again!" he snarled with such vehemence that she instantly believed him.

The breath caught in her throat at the look on Khalid's face. She thought that if they had been alone in the room he would have grabbed and shaken her and then forced her to put pen to paper and dissolve her marriage to another man.

"We're leaving," he snapped.

She didn't want to go with him, not in this mood. But she didn't have a choice. Nodding, she stood up and allowed him to escort her to the front of the restaurant where he collected their coats. Without pause, he led her outside and pushed her into the waiting limo.

In a chilling move, he pressed the button that enabled the security screen between them and the driver. She watched desperately as the screen went up, leaving her completely alone with the furious man. He tossed their coats, the divorce papers and the pen onto the seat between them.

Khalid reached up and loosened his tie, yanking it off. He unbuttoned a few of the buttons on his crisp white shirt. "You keep disappointing me, Shania."