Page 141 of Wicked Villain

I don’t understand why Corrado didn’t allow her to do something so simple as following her natural talents. There are so many ways he could have still protected her without shutting her down completely.

I guess that’s a lesson I need to learn myself. I’ve become another captor in her life, no different from her miserable father, or… the motherfuckers who took her. The monsters she keeps dreaming about. The only difference between me and them is I open the cage door from time to time.

And that’s only because I’m obsessed with her.

Wow, I really fucked myself over with that one and got caught in my own trap.

I don’t even want to break free. The little mouse has me wrapped around her finger, and now the predator has become the prey.

At the very least, spending my time with my wife is the one thing that’s kept me sane.

I’m back to playing the waiting game with Moretti again.

Morocco panned out. He was there, but Cassian and the guys couldn’t move in on him because he would’ve escaped. The fucker was right there within their grasp, but they didn’t have the right opening to ambush him. Had they done anything other than what they did, we would’ve lost the element of surprise and secrecy.

From what we’ve discovered so far, it seems Moretti doesn’t know we’ve caught onto his base in Morocco.

He’s aware we’re trying to track him through Petr, but that’s it.

What we’ve been able to establish so far is that Moretti is planning another shipment from Morocco in a couple of weeks.

It looks like a smuggling operation he can’t afford to lose. We plan to intercept that.

While we’re catching our breath, I’m deliberately choosing to be selfish with my wife, and I don’t give a fuck that I’m only digging a deeper hole for myself with this woman.

At this point, I’ll dig my own grave if it means I get to touch her.

On Sunday afternoon, I decide to take her out. I haven’t said where, though. After Zoya makes us lunch, we get in my car, and for the first time since we’ve been together, I’m the one driving.

There’s no Roman, Konstantin, or any of the other guards. It’s just her and me, though I always arrange to have someone near enough in case there’s trouble and I need backup.

I don’t date. If I did anything close to it in the past, it was never like this. Once again, my wife has proven to be the exception to every single rule I’ve ever created.

Gabrielle was excited from the moment she got in the car and saw that it was just going to be us. Then her excitement took on a life of its own when we reached the city.

She’d been staring out the window, but now she’s back to looking at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch her watching and assessing me the same way I do with her.

“Where are you taking me, Lev?” she asks for the millionth time.

I’d told her it was a surprise back at the house.

I grin, purposely avoiding those sultry eyes. “You’ll see in a little while.”

“Can’t you just tell me?”

“Nope.”

“Ugh, you are insufferable.”

I look at her fully now, and she smiles. She’s been doing that a lot more with me lately—smiling. I find myself wanting to say or do things just to see it happen.

Fucking hell, I don’t know what the hell kind of magic she worked on me, but what’s done is done and can’t be undone.

“Can I try to guess?” She rubs her dainty hands and leans closer.

“There’s no point. I won’t tell you.”

“But that’s mean.”