Whispers of the Damned

I lost consciousness for a few seconds, and then the broken pieces came back together. I opened my eyes, my chest still rising and falling from the rush of the orgasm he gave me. My eyes blinked wildly, my head moving to and fro. I stared at the man who rolled over to my left side, looking down at me while smiling broadly. His deep dimples were visible. This is wrong.

Very wrong.

He is my boyfriend's brother. He should be off-limits. Even I had never done this with Jason.

What's more...

He is my enemy.

He was the one who had killed my best friend and had ruined my life.

Zane Bernardi, who...

"I should have found you earlier," he whispered, and his embrace on my body made me stiffen.

I immediately moved to sit up and looked at him, who raised an eyebrow. His features were so relaxed, like nothing had happened, like the fact that I was his brother's girlfriend didn't bother him. I frowned at Zane Bernardi and tried to figure out what had gone wrong in his head.

Well, he couldn't possibly be thinking like that. Because he doesn't have a brain.

"It's a mistake," I immediately moved off the bed, picked up my clothes that were apparently on the floor and looked at the digital clock on the nightstand, which still showed eleven o'clock at night.

I have to go home now. This is Los Angeles. I've got my three overprotective brothers with me and Ariana, Oh God... what about her? Did she return to Abraham's house and tell my brother's that I disappeared or slept with a man? Fuckity fuck. Fucking shit.

I put on my clothes while my mind is so full of chaos and panic. I looked back at Zane Bernardi, who was still lying relaxed... and naked. He was lying on his side, resting his head on his fist and watching me with an expression like I was his entertainment.

His body, which was so athletic and... sexy, bothered me a little, but my wits that had returned slapped my other side that was so stupid.

"You... are such an asshole," I cursed at him. "You let me get drunk, knocked me out and dragged me here? You're a total asshole." I cursed at him.

I reached for my phone on the nightstand and found two messages from my cousin. Ariana simply said, 'Have a good night. He's so handsome!' along with a blinking eye emoji, and then followed by 'I'll be here and wait for you two to finish having a great orgasm. I won't tell your three stupid brothers. Take it easy.' And then the laughing emoji.

Well, fuck her.

"What did you tell her?" I asked.

"Who?" he raised one eyebrow.

"Ariana. The woman I was with." I said.

He shrugged. "Something that can't get in my way." He replied.

I closed my eyes and felt my head throbbing. I forced my feet towards the door even though my legs were still shaking and my heart was still beating loudly in my chest. "Where are you going?"

"Leave you. Going home. Go away from you." I replied sharply as I jiggled the doorknob in a chaotic motion because it didn't open. "Why so soon?" he asked.

I sighed in annoyance. "Because I don't want to spend another five seconds with you," I replied.

I looked at him, and he was still where he was, smiling sweetly. Something that could attract a woman to crawl into his bed. I'm sure he must be pleased to find me to be one of those women. Well, making the woman he once destroyed bend her knees again was an achievement. "Hurry up and open this door. I have to go home."

"Have you been in San Francisco all this time? Jason told me that." He said, narrowing his eyes at me. "If I had known you were there all along, I probably would have spent my time in San Francisco looking for you. Unfortunately, your family seemed to cover your radar so well." He chuckled. "And you fell into that hole yourself? Dating a Bernardi?" his tone was scornful.

"If I had known that you were Bernardi.." I paused to let out a rough breath. "...I wouldn't be dating Jason." I continued. "Unfortunately it's too late, isn't it?"

"Not for me. I'll-"

"You can't run away from me, Daniella Rodriguez." He cut me off, his eyes looking at me deep and penetrating. "You realize that."

"I don't know what you want from me." I reply. "You destroyed me, and you killed my best friend. It looks like you've gained power in Cosa Nostra now that you've managed to take the Mexican cartel with you. What more do you want?" I shot, and then I gasped as I stared at his silence. "Did Carlos Garcia put you up to this? Trap me and take me? Is it going to be me who gets killed this time?" I continued with my heart beating chaotically.

He said nothing but remained silent and looked at me intensely. Is that right? So he's going to take me? And kill me?

"I don't have sex with people I'm going to kill." He said.

"Yeah, because you're not the one who's going to kill me. Carlos Garcia is going to take the fun out of it."

Zane Bernardi laugh and shook his head, then chuckled like he had just found a good joke. "Your assumptions are so wild. Five years ago you were so quiet and sweet-now you're like a fierce little cat."

"You don't know anything about me, and let me add that it was only one night," I replied, snorting in exasperation. "Get me out of here," I continued.

He tilted his head, pulling a smile. "You don't want to let go of homesickness with me?"

"Ew, no." I replied with disgust.

The laughter that came out of him was so loud. He got off the bed, put on his boxer briefs and then stepped towards me with an inviting gesture. The problem was that his physique was arguably so tantalizing. I told you he was like a devil with a handsome face to trap many people into sinning. The tattoo adorning his chest made me frown and urged me to ask what it meant.

But damn it, I restrained myself.

"From the look of you, it looks like you don't want to leave this room," he smirked.

I rolled my eyes.

"I like how your eyes roll," his seductive voice.

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Now, I was really annoyed. "Hurry up and open this door, Bernardi. I don't want to spend the next two seconds with you." I bit down sharply.

He was in front of me and sighed. "What if I'm not here because of Carlos Garcia?"

"I don't care."

"Look, Senorita, whatever assumptions you made from five years ago are wrong."

I folded my arms across my chest, "Wrong? It was obviously you who leaked my identity to them. You brought me to Rodriguez's hotel because you knew that I was Rodriguez. You knew me from the beginning which is why you approached me at the pub."

No one in the city knew where Rodriguez's hotel was because it was in another city thirty minutes away. I was the only one who knew, and everyone in my father's cartel had told me not to take anyone from there. It was the hotel and the place where my father's men operated everything. If I took one person there from the small town where Garcia ruled, it couldn't be an innocent person, maybe that someone is a spy for Garcia or the Mexican government.

But I foolishly escorted the person who was Garcia's bridge to find all of us. The man in front of me.

I shouldn't have told a man who was working with Garcia where the place was. I should have, but I was stupid and still innocent, still so naive and too easily influenced by a man's beauty.

If I didn't do that, and became intelligent for just a little while, then Magnan wouldn't be killed and my identity would remain hidden.

I was so stupid.

He said nothing after that but pressed his forefinger on the small box beside the door. The box instantly turned red, and then the door opened.

A fingerprint.

And then the clicking sound of the door opening.

"You should run if you want to get out of my room because I will lock you up when I catch you."

And I ran.