Evil couldn’t have agreed more. Hehad to make it up to Noelle. Had to make her see how much he loved her.
There was no time to think as Franco himself and several of his men arrived to greet him.
Evil was tense, as were his own men.
Franco looked pissed. Probably because Evil pulled himaway from one of his many mistresses.
“Tell me now why I shouldn’t endyou,” Franco said.
Evil laughed. “Go ahead, try it, but I can guarantee, once you leave here, your days will be numbered.”
“No one holds that much loyalty,” Franco said. “For the right price, your men will be mine.”
Arnold and his men laughed. “Not happening, old man. Evil’s right. We don’t fight for fucks like you. You and your entire operation would be dead within a week, if not sooner.”
“You see, Franco, I make sure my men are taken care of. They’re not bullet fodder. They’re people to me, and I do what I can to keep them alive.” Just like he was doing this now for Noelle. She deserved to have a life exactly like the one she wanted when she was a kid.
He loved her so damn much.
“What’s it going to be, Franco?” Evil asked. “We can end this now, and sure, you can take me down, take my woman down, but in the end, you will regret it all because I will make sure your life and your legacy are wiped out.” It was now on Franco.
****
Noelle was so stupid. So fucking stupid.
She had told Evil that she loved him, and what he had done? Disappeared into the night.
Again, she was clearly stupid.
Noelle paced his penthouse suite and occasionally put her hand on her stomach, wondering whatshe should do.
She was pregnant. With his baby. She was also in love with him, and he didn’t love her.
The sound of the apartment door opening drew her attention, and she stepped into the hallway to see Evil coming toward her.
“Hi,” she said, nothaving a single clue what to say.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t be afraid to talk to me, or to say what you want to say.”
She nodded, but then shestill didn’t know what to say to him. The last time she spoke, they’d gone to bed and she woke up alone.
“Where have you been?”
Evil cupped herface, tilting her head back, and stared into her eyes. “First, I want to tell you that I love you, and this feeling is not something I am used to. It’s not something I was prepared to feel, but I do love you, so fucking much that it scares me. I have loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you, and I knew you were going to be mine. It was just a matter of time. I’m not saying this because you’re pregnant. I wanted you to get pregnant, Noelle. I wanted every single reason for you to belong to me cemented. All I want. All I will ever want is you.”
Noellewas still drawing a blank on what to say. This was what she had always wanted to hear. Her love for Evil was absolute.
“Why did you leave?” she asked.
Helaughed. “I’m spilling out my heart here and you want to know why I left?”
She chuckled. “I thought, er, I don’t know what I thought, but I guess I figured you didn’t want to be around me anymore because of the baby.”
“No,” he said. “I’m going to be a good father and I’ll be an awesome husband.”