Chapter 19
“You wouldn-” Morris spat blood onto the concrete floor as Jules easily covered the distance between them and landed a slap, a sneer contorting his features despite his precarious position. “You wouldn’t dare kill your own brother, Jules. Not even you are that cold.”
“Kill you?” Jules laughed, the sound echoing off the warehouse walls. “That would be too
merciful.”
I stepped forward, a strange calm washing over me. The fear that had gripped me moments ago evaporated, replaced by white–hot rage as I looked at the three people who had threatened not just me, but my parents.
“Before you decide their fate,” I said to Jules, my voice steady, “I’d like a moment.”
Jules’s eyes flickered with curiosity, but he nodded, stepping aside.
I approached Morris first, standing tall despite the trembling in my legs. “You thought you could use me to destroy him? That I would be his weakness?”
Morris glared up at me, defiance etched into every line of his face. “You are his weakness, whether you admit it or—”
The crack of my palm against his cheek silenced him mid–sentence. His head snapped to the side, a red handprint blooming on his skin.
“I’m not his weakness,” I hissed. “I’m his strength.”
I turned to Vella next, who cowered behind her husband despite the laser sights trained on her. “And you-”
“Please,” she whimpered, her earlier bravado gone. “I was just following Morris’s orders. I didn’t want any part of this.”
“Liar,” I spat, remembering how she’d grabbed my hair, how she’d threatened me in Jules’s home “You’ve wanted me gone since the moment we met.”
My hand connected with her face so hard that she stumbled backward, her designer heels skittering on the concrete as she fell.
Finally, I faced Hank–the man I’d once thought I would spend my life with, now reduced to a pathetic, vengeful shell.
“Monica,” he began, his damaged face twisting into what might have been a pleading expression. “We were together for six years. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“It meant everything to me,” I replied, my voice dropping to a whisper. “Until you threw it away.”
I slapped him with every ounce of strength I possessed–for the betrayal with Lola, for abandoning me in the rain, for never noticing I was gone, for daring to threaten me and my family. The force of it sent him sprawling to the floor.
“That,” I said, stepping back, “was for calling me a used whore.”
Jules moved to my side, his arm sliding around my waist. “Feel better?”
I nodded, leaning into his strength. “Much.”
He pressed a kiss to my temple before addressing his captives. “You know, I could kill you all
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right now.” His voice was conversational, as if discussing the weather. “But death is quick. prefer my punishments to last.”
With a snap of his fingers, Jules’s men emerged from the shadows, grabbing Morris, Vella, an
Hank.
“Take them to the underground facility,” Jules ordered. “Level five.”
Morris’s eyes widened in genuine fear for the first time. “Jules, no. Not level five. Anything bu
that.”
Jules’s smile was chilling. “You wanted my empire, brother? Now you get to see its darkes
corners.”
As they were dragged away, Jules turned to me. “Your parents–where are they?”
I showed him the video Hank had displayed earlier, and Jules immediately dispatched a team to search the building. Within minutes, they’d located my parents in a storage room and brough them to us, both shaken but largely unharmed.
“Monica!” My mother cried, rushing into my arms. “Thank God you’re safe.”
My father embraced us both, then turned to Jules with a mixture of respect and gratitude “Thank you for coming for us, Mr. Prime.”
Jules nodded, his expression softening slightly. “Family is everything, Mr. Wells. I protect what‘: mine.”
After ensuring my parents were safely on their way home with a medical team, Jules led me tc his car. The drive back to his mansion passed in comfortable silence, his hand resting protectively on my knee.
.
Once inside, he poured us both a drink and joined me on the sofa. I took a sip, gathering my courage.
“So,” I began, “the god of the underworld, huh?”
Jules’s lips quirked into a half–smile. “Is that what Morris called me?”
“Among other things.” I set my glass down, turning to face him fully. “Why didn’t you tell me who you really are?”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I wanted you to know me–Jules–before you knew what I do. What I am.”
“And what exactly are you?”
“I run the largest criminal organization in the country, in the world” he admitted without hesitation. “Everything from protection rackets to high–level financial crimes. The legitimate businesses are just the surface.”
I nodded slowly, processing this. “And my father? Morris said he launders money for you.”
“He does. Has for years. That’s how we met.”
“Is that why you arranged our marriage? As some kind of business deal with my father?” Jules’s eyes widened. “No. God, no, Monica.” He took my hands in his. “I fell in love with you eight years ago, at your father’s Christmas party. You were helping a server who’d dropped a tray of glasses–everyone else just stared or laughed, but you got down on your knees and helped
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clean up the mess.”
The memory came back to me suddenly–the young server’s terrified face, the broken glass, the whispers of the other guests.
“I remember that night,” I said softly. “But I don’t remember seeing you there.”
“I stayed in the shadows. I always did, back then.” His thumb traced circles on my palm. “But saw you. Your kindness, your strength. I knew then that you were the one for me.”
“So all those times you saved me-”
“Not coincidences,” he confirmed. “I’ve had men watching over you for years. When Hank pushe you into traffic, when that drunk attacked you–I was already nearby.”
“You’ve been stalking me,” I said, but there was no accusation in my voice.
Jules winced slightly. “I prefer to think of it as protection. I never interfered in your life. I just.. made sure you were safe.”
“Until now.”
“Until now,” he agreed. “When your father mentioned you were ready for marriage, I couldn’t pas up the opportunity.”
I studied his face–this dangerous, powerful man who’d killed for me, who’d watched over me fo years from the shadows.
“You know this is crazy, right?” I whispered. “Normal people don’t fall in love this way.”
Jules laughed softly. “I’ve never claimed to be normal, Monica. But my feelings for you are the most real thing about me.”.
I leaned forward, resting my forehead against his. “I should be terrified of you.”
“Are you?”
“No,” I admitted. “I’m not afraid at all.”
