Duncan’s driver drove up to the Moretti mansion and parked. “Thank you,” he said to the driver.
“You’re welcome, sir.”
“We shouldn’t be too long.”
“Very good, sir. I’ll be here.”
The front door opened before he got to it.
“We expected you,” Trent said. “Come on into the office.”
Duncan didn’t think the man looked upset. “Where is Angelica?”
“We’ll tell you after we talk to you,” Trent said.
Duncan gritted his teeth but followed the man. Trent closed the door behind them, and Duncan stopped a few feet from Aria’s desk. Her men were in the room. Trent sat on the corner of her desk, and Mateo leaned against the wall behind her with his arms crossed.
He stood waiting as she finished a call. When she hung up, her attention went to him. “Are you having an affair?” she asked.
“Fuck no.”
“Then explain to me why my daughter thinks you are.”
He told her about Larissa, and she nodded a few times.
“I figured that might be the case. Some women can be vindictive.”
“No shit.”
“Now, about ignoring her? She said you won’t talk to her.” Aria asked.
“You know why I’ve been gone, Aria. We finally got the last of the girls early this morning and dropped them off at the center.”
“Yes, we guessed that was what the problem was, but I needed to make sure that was all that was happening.”
“Then why the third degree?” Duncan asked.
“Because she’s my daughter.” Her voice turned harder than he had ever heard before.
“I understand that. But she’s my wife.”
“But she’ll always be my daughter, Duncan.”
“And she’ll always be my wife.”
Aria studied him. “She’s hurting badly. Worse than I’ve ever seen. Do you know what that means?”
“What?”
“That she cares deeply for you.”
“Good, because I love her with my whole heart.”
The men finally smiled. Aria didn’t look one hundred percent convinced, but she finally nodded. “She’s up in her bedroom napping.”
He turned to leave.
“Duncan,” Aria called out.
He turned back to her at the doorway.
“Don’t hurt my baby. Not ever. Do you understand?”
Jesus, the deadly tone of her voice made the hairs on the back of his neck stand out. The mama bear was coming out, and you didn’t mess with one of those.
“I understand, and I accept it. I’ll be taking her home.”
“All right. I’ll call her in a few days.”
Duncan nodded. “That’s fine.” He flew up the stairs and down the hall. When he got to her room, he took a deep breath, opened the door, and closed it behind him.
The room was dim because the shades were down. He could plainly see his angel on the bed, facing away from him. He slipped off his shoes and crawled into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her.
“Hey, Angel.”
“Mmmm.” She cuddled against him.
“Do you know how much I love you?”
“Mmm, maybe as much as I love you.”
The knot in his stomach loosened. If she loved him, it would be okay.
Duncan shoved the blanket down and pulled up her dress. He unbuttoned his pants and pushed them down enough to get his cock out.
He pulled her panties to the side, lined his cock up to her cunt, and started to push in. She was always so hot and wet for him that he thought about her and about being in her body twenty-four hours a day.
She moaned and pushed back against him.
“You like having me in your cunt, don’t you, Angel?’
She nodded.
Finally, he got his cock inside of her and held her still.
“Will you ever run from me again?” His tone was hard and dominant.
Her body jerked. “Duncan?”
“Yes, baby. It’s your husband. No one else better ever touch what’s mine.”
“Duncan?” She sounded more awake.
“Yes, it’s me.”
She tried to push him away. “Get off of me.”
“No. That will never happen.” He pressed his hand against her stomach to hold her in place as he started to thrust into her cunt from behind.
“Go to your whore.”
He growled and grabbed her face to turn her head enough to see him. “Listen to me carefully. There has and will never be another woman in my life but you.”
“She said—”
“You’re going to fucking believe a fucking whore over your husband?” he said between his teeth.
“You’ve been gone so much.”
“Yes. I’ll tell you all of it later, but my brothers and I have been helping your mother disassemble the human trafficking your father started. We were finally done with a shipment of girls that the fuckers were trying to get out of the country.”
“Oh, God. Are they all okay?”
“I hope so. Physically, the women will heal. Emotionally, I’m not sure.”
“And the men?”
“Are taken care of.”
Angelica relaxed. “Good.”
He started pumping into her again because he couldn’t take another moment of staying still. “This is going to be quick, and then I’ll take you home where you belong, and you’ll never run from me again.”
“Okay.”
He almost rolled his eyes. “No more bullshit about a mistress because it will never happen.”
“Okay.”
Duncan snorted because he wasn’t sure she was really hearing him. He set a pace he knew would throw her over quickly because he wanted her stripped bare and under him in their bed.