Accidentally Yours (Merffy Kizzmet) novel Chapter 74

Chapter 74

A quiet, dangerous satisfaction settled low in his gut.

Nothing in my life has ever felt that good.

He pressed a kiss to her temple, slow and deliberate, letting the spray soak them both.

When she woke, she’d probably try to mouth off again.

And he’d probably let her.

Lola

Lola curled into Enzo’s side, his palm tracing idle circles over her hip like he owned the map of her body.

“You know,” she murmured, “I was supposed to tell you this morning. Right before breakfast turned into… a cat chase.”

He smirked. “The chase.”

The chase,” she echoed, rolling her eyes. “You have this ridiculous ability to completely shut my brain down. And I don’t mean in the dumb, giggly way. I mean–you get my body going and my brain just… stops braining. Which is refreshing, honestly. But-” she tapped his chest, “-it’s back online now.”

One brow arched. “Should I be worried?”

She tilted her head back, watching his profile in the low light. “I’ve been thinking about the Zhangs.”

That earned her a slow blink. “And?”

She exhaled, letting her fingers trace the faint bruising along his knuckles. Kevin. Dom. The chase. All of it had built into something molten in him earlier, and she could still feel it.

And now, she was about to pour gasoline on the fire.

“Don’t just clean out the port,” she said softly. “Don’t just replace their guys with yours. Watch them. Every Zhang. Their wives. Their cousins. Their grandmothers if they’re still breathing. Anyone they talk to, anyone who talks to them.”

He didn’t move, but she felt the stillness sharpen around him.

“Track where they go, who they meet, how often. Build a map so detailed you could walk into their lives and know what they’re doing before they even think about doing it. And if they ever start sniffing around for retaliation?”

She shifted onto her elbow so she could look him dead in the eye. “You show them. Show them just how far your reach goes. Make them understand–one wrong move, and it’s not just them who vanish. It’s every single person who remembers their names.”

Her own heart thudded hard in her chest, not from fear, but from the weight of it.

“You can’t just block their moves,” she murmured. “You have to own the whole board.”

The words of her old Mandarin tutor slipped through her mind like a ghost: You don’t protect the king by blocking attacks. You protect the king by controlling the board.

And in her head, she answered him. I’m going to do everything I can to protect my king.

“Send someone you trust to live down there for a while,” she went on. “Manage it. Keep the workers loyal to you. If the Zhangs‘ people so much as blink wrong, you hear about it before they’ve even thought about acting. No threats. Just proof you’re everywhere. That you could erase their whole network tomorrow if you wanted.”

5:57 pm P PPP

Chapter 74

Enzo’s eyes darkened, like he was already picturing it.

“I like waking up next to you,” she said simply. “And I’m not ready for that to change.”

For a moment he didn’t say anything–just watched her like she’d handed him a weapon sharper than steel.

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