Forty One.

As I push Trent's body away from me, I scream.

Tumbling down the side of the bed, scurrying to the room's corner, I peer down at myself.

I am covered in his blood.

The blood of the man I hate with a passion is smeared all over me, staining my clothes and body with utter filth.

As I rock back and forth, I raise my knees to my chest, tucking my head and grabbing fistfuls of my hair.

"Please, please, please be dead.." I sob as my body trembles with shock.

I hear footsteps approaching towards me and I try to press myself against the wall, wishing it would swallow me.

"No, please!" I kick and scream when a pair of hands reach for me. "I'm sorry, please." I whimper, realising I've just killed the Esposito Don and his goons are here to finish me off.

[Kitten] "Kedi yavrusu, it's okay. You're safe now." A rich accented voice says.

I stop fighting against him as I peer up and look into his stunning eyes, throwing my arms around his neck.

I cling to him.

Never wanting to let him go as I breathe in his intoxicating scent.

"Shh, I've got you." He picks me up bridal style, leading me into my ensuite.

He kicks the door shut behind him, and he turns the shower on.

He attempts to put me down, but I shake my head.

"Please don't let me go." I whimper, my body still trembling with shock.

[Okay.] "Tamam,"

He kicks off his shoes and enters the shower with me, standing silently while the water rains down on us. I watch as the crimson-stained water flows down the drain, I feel numb, I've possibly just killed a man and I feel devoid of any emotion.

We're both silent for what seems like a lifetime, both unsure what to say in case we trigger one another.

I don't want to upset him too much as I'm already walking on thin ice where Sandro is concerned.

I break the crucial silence between us first. "I'm sorry." I breathe out loud enough for him to hear me.

"About?"

"Killing Trent has possibly cost us the location of where Sandro is." I gulp, trying to swallow back my tears.

"He's not dead, not yet anyway." He growls, his fingertips digging into my hips.

"He's not?" I pull back, looking up at him with a confused look on my face. "I shot him in the abdomen and then another shot was fired before he slumped over and went limp."

He sighs loudly, "The bullet you shot went through him, missing his vital organs and the second shot hit his shoulder. Once the Irishmen patch him up, they'll be able to take their revenge on him."

"And Sandro?"

"I have asked Liam to postpone killing him until Neriman enters the country to question him herself."

"Wh. Who is Neriman?"

"She is a cousin of mine. Sedar's twin sister and she is a trained assassin who will safely return Sandro to us." He declares in a firm tone not to be questioned with.

"Please reconsider taking him from me." I plea. "He's all I've got." I sob.

He puts me down, combing his hair back with his fingers and stares at me with narrowed eyes. "He is my legacy and you have failed him as a mother to protect him." He growls as his emerald green eyes turn icy.

"Failed him?" I scoff, feeling deeply offended. "You have no idea what I've been through and -"

"And if you were strong enough, you would have abandoned the mafia. However, some ladies are suckers when it comes to enjoying a luxury lifestyle, and it makes no difference where the money comes from." He studies me from head to toe as I stand in front of him in my lacy cream silk nightdress.

"You know jackshit!" My voice cracks.

"I know enough that you love being the victim-"

I draw my hand back and swing it forward, slapping him across the face. Between us, the loud sound of wet flesh colliding with wet flesh resonates in the air.

He slowly turns his head back to face me and I gulp as I stare back at him with wide eyes. He pins me against the shower wall, flicking the water off, towering over me.

"Ay..Aydem, what are you doing?" I stutter, worried I've unleashed the monster within him.

He runs his hand down the side of my face, a ghostly smirk curving upwards as he leans in closer towards me, "I don't like being touched violently if there isn't a happy ending." He whispers against the shell of my ear. "Is there going to be a happy ending, Miss Starkk?" He draws back using my birth name for the first time.

"I will not lie, Mr Burak." I pant as I become absorbed in the depths of his magnificent eyes. "However, there have been a few nights when I have found myself masturbating just thinking about you." I bite my low lip as hot flashes of him taking me against the shower wall consume me.

As he licks his lips, a deep growl vibrates from the back of his throat. I'm assuming my confession caught him by surprise, which does not happen very often, if ever.

I blink, snapping out of my daytime fantasy. "But I wouldn't touch you with a broomstick you egotistical jerk!" I hiss while shoving him and when he steps back, I exit the shower with tears streaming down my face.

Entering my room, I come to a halt. Trent's body is no longer on my bed and my bed has been stripped of the bloody sheets and replaced with a clean set.

It's like it never happened.

Good, wonderful..

I run my fingers through my wet hair, storming towards my closet and I pull out a blouse and a pencil skirt, throwing them on the bed. I open my top drawer and pull out a bra and matching thong, slamming the drawer shut.

I pull my soaked thong down my thighs, slipping a new pair over my hips and quickly rid my body of my wet nightdress, putting my bra on.

I glance up just in time to see Aydem storming out of the ensuite with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist and a raging hard-on evident beneath it. He doesn't stop until he reaches me, eating up the distance between us like a hurricane out of control.

I swallow loudly, pressing my back against my dressing table as he comes face to face with me and I try to keep my eyes on his, not on his scorching hot body.

I move sideways, my back sliding along the wall and he places his hand on the wall beside my head, caging me in his embrace.

He watches me. "I have contemplated on how I would fuck you the next time I got to have you. Whether I'd make you bounce on my cock so I could watch how badly you wanted me. Or, if I'd take you slow and steady, making you writher and scream for me to fuck you harder as you tumble over the edge and cum all over my cock." He says in a husky tone that sends a wave of tingles to my aching core.