Caught In The Crossfires - Spinoff

17

CHAPTER 17

Alessandro

It was late by the time I got home. All the lights were still on, and my brother's office door was wide open. It struck me as unusual because Cristo had his routines—leaving doors open and unlocked definitely wasn't part of them.

Obviously, my curiosity was piqued, so I stepped inside. After briefly skimming over some files on his desk, I found nothing of any interest to me. I flexed my jaw in frustration, sighing through my nose. I knew he was still hiding shit from me. Sitting back in the swivel chair, I closed my eyes and dragged a hand over my face.

Cristiano and I had always been open with one another about everything. It was a shame I had to resort to violating his privacy to know what the fuck was actually going on, but I wouldn't apologize. My nagging curiosity was what led me to find out about him and Lola in the first place. What was he thinking? She's a Mariano, for Christ's sake.

A few weeks ago, I was absolutely livid when someone dick head rear-ended my brand new Lamborghini Giallo Evros. Furious, I jumped out of my car, ready to take the asshole's head off. Yeah, that's what happened. It didn't.

To my surprise, the person responsible was an attractive young woman who immediately caught my interest. It had already been a trying morning, and I needed some stress relief. Grumbling under my breath, my cock twitched in my slacks when the stunning young woman stepped out of the badly damaged car. Her long jet-black hair tumbled in the wind as she walked towards me—warm cinnamon scent smacking me in the face. She almost made me forget why we were standing in the middle of a circle k parking lot. Almost.

The first thought that entered my mind when I saw her was how badly I had the urge to punish her. The girl was my type to a tee. Small enough to throw around with long dark hair that would look incredible wrapped around my fist while I struck raw her pale as snow skin with my cane. Then she opened her mouth, and I knew I needed to punish her. I usually steered clear of brats. They were too much work, and these days, I was extremely short on patience.

Yet, for some incomprehensible reason, I wanted to put that smart-mouthed little brat in her goddamn place while she fought me every step of the way.

After years of owning Envy with Cristo, I could spot one from miles away. Being a brat tamer was more his thing. I liked my arrangements entirely submissive to me. My dear brother thought himself a better Dom. Please. Though he'd never ever actually come out and say it. I knew it was true—a brother can always tell.

Cristiano has never made it a secret that he disapproved of the way I handled my girls. Sure, I was a bit on the rougher side—all consented. But I guess that came along with the territory of being the eldest, the judgment. He thought that because I'm already a hot head that I might snap, blow a fuse and kill a broad one night. But that's where he was wrong.

During a scene was the one area where I never lost control. It was a place where I could fully exercise my demons without the risk of losing my temper and injuring a sub—safewords were put in place for a reason. But beyond that, I had my own rule: No scenes when angry. No exceptions.

He did things his way, and respectfully I did things, mine. Period. Point. Blank. So I gave two fucks about his righteous indignation, lest we forget, him and I started the club together. So my demons were aware of his own. He just thought he was better at hiding them than I was. He wasn't.

Speaking of exercising demons, that's exactly what I wanted to do to the loud-mouth girl yelling at me. She was going on and on about the damage to her beater while threatening to call the cops. That was the last fucking thing I needed. So I agreed to cover the damages. Fuck, I'd buy her a new goddamn car if that meant she'd shut the fuck up. Or maybe I let her keep going and find ways to shut her up later.