Chapter 12
Zephyr
She’dgottenoutof the jeep after a short bumpy ride and made her way down the stone path covered with trellises in an arch, the scent of flowers and foliage strong as she walked through the space, enjoying the swish of her dress against her thighs, the sound of water rushing somewhere close by. As she’d reached the end of the path, the view became clearer, and she’d frozen.
When they’d told her he lived on the edge of the jungle, she’d expected a cottage in a clearing, maybe a large house. What she’d not expected was the architectural monstrosity that stood before her. Zephyr leaned her head back, her jaw-dropping at the marvel of something like this actually existing just twenty minutes away from the city, much less being lived in.
“Welcome home.” Hector smiled as he received them, carrying one of her boxes inside the… compound. That’s what they’d referred to it as.
It was a beast, like the man who stood beside her. He’d made this?
“Holy shit,” she breathed as she took everything in, and there was a lot to take in.
Three tiers of construction were done in levels on the hill. The first and lowest level had over twelve little cottages with slanting roofs that had eroded with time to a light sandstone shade. She could see a few women, men, and even two kids around the level. On the other end was a gray single-story building, outside which she saw two guards lingering. The second level had larger but fewer cottages of the same build, more spaced out and evenly spread. But it was the last and highest level that had a gasp leaving her lips.
A large mansion sat atop the highest point of the hill, wood and stone and glass that she was dying to see up close. Stone stairs from the bottom led to the top, a black metal railing running parallel to it on the sides, connecting all the levels with each other.
Having just visited the Maroni property, she’d not thought anything could have been more extra than that. She’d been wrong.
Standing there, seeing the empire he had created for himself, a wave of emotion burned her eyes.
‘I’ll get out of this shithole one day. You'll see.'
He had. He fucking had. He’d done it. It hit her then that he truly had lifted himself out of his circumstances, left behind the boy on the streets, and become the ruler of the city, with his own compound.
Her heart full, she wiped away an errant tear, aware of his gaze on her.
She looked to the side, locking their eyes together, something so acute sitting heavily on her chest as she watched him watch her, suffocating the words in her throat.
His large hand came to her chin, tilting her face up as he trailed the line of her tears with a golden eye, his thumb touching the wetness.
“This is not a reaction my home has ever had,” he spoke softly, the puzzlement on his face clear.
Zephyr sniffled once. “I live to surprise.”
He wiped her tear with the pad of his thumb, letting it linger on her cheek where her dimple appeared. “I don’t like these.”
Poor man, he’d have to learn. She was a crier.
She wiped her face with her palms and took a deep breath to steady herself. He left her chin and led the way to the stairs; Hector took the lead with one of her boxes in his muscular arms, Victor taking the Jeep away to park somewhere, she assumed.
The sun shone brightly on the entire hill, coating her skin with a sheen of sweat even though it was almost spring. The heat would be brutal in the summer.
“We have over two hundred guys in security in total,” Hector began giving her a tour as they climbed the stairs. “A few fighters too, and most of them stay in the city. Our main training happens in the industrial district. All the cottages on Level One are for the in-house staff. There’s a housekeeper and her family, her husband who’s the chief of security, and her kids. You’ll meet them all later.”
Zephyr took it all in, completely in awe. “And the other staff?”
“There are the guards, of course,” Hector informed her. “Five guys who maintain the grounds and keep the jungle from taking over. A cook, other helpers around the place, and so on. They all live on Level One. That—” he pointed to the gray building on the side “—is for them to relax, enjoy time together. More like a communal building. Boss doesn’t really intrude on their time, so it’s chill there.”
The wind got stronger as they got higher, whipping up her dress, and she covered it with her hands on the back of her thighs, not wanting to flash anyone who climbed behind her. Zephyr watched Alpha ahead of her, his ass solid and very biteable in those jeans. The urge to grab it suddenly gave her an idea.
“Hubby,” she called him sweetly, watched his back still as he turned to give her a questioning, slightly exasperated look. “Do you mind walking behind me?”
The unscarred side of his face frowned, matching the scarred side, but he sighed, moving to the side so she could precede him. Zephyr gave him her sweetest smile, making sure the dimple popped, and moved her hands from her ass, letting the wind do the rest of the work.
She heard his little inhale as he got an eyeful of her backside, one of her best assets, and smiled to herself, glad she’d worn the sexy red thong, as uncomfortable as it was. She added an extra sway to her hips, knowing from his vantage he’d be looking up her dress, seeing her ass cheeks being split by a line of red lace that was wedged in her crack, but he didn’t have to know that.
Oh, she was enjoying this.