Ezio | Clipped Wings

Ezio didn't do hospitals, and he certainly didn't frequent family clinics. If he got shot he called in his personal doctor who was paid enough to save his life and keep his mouth shut. A quaint little clinic like this was the last place anyone would think he'd be, yet here he was, sitting in the back of his Escalade, those gunmetal blue eyes on the entrance to the clinic.

"She'll be here, boss," Dominic said from the front, his eyes on the phone as he texted his his lover who had recently agreed to marry the stoic wall of muscle that turned into the world's biggest softie when it came to them.

Ezio didn't respond, but his fingers drummed against the leather of the seat as his eyes scanned the parking lot, looking for the first signs of his little bird.

Eight weeks ago, he first saw her at Club Nox. She was a stunning, young thing—definitely too young for an old man like him. But he was Ezio King and when he wanted something, he took it. Before the sun rose he'd already had her multiple times, soaking her fertile womb with his seed on purpose...because he wanted her. And when Ezio King wanted something, he took it.

He let her go when she bolted from his house the next day thinking he was still asleep, but she wasn't free—just under the illusion that she was. He had Dominic keeping tabs on her and Asher taking care of her stalker. Within a day he had her entire schedule, and her phone tapped, and in two Jason Cavill was sunk at the bottom of a river where he wouldn't be found until his corpse was unidentifiable.

Ezio wanted her, and when he wanted something, he took it. He had Dominic keeping close tabs on her, and just when he thought his seed didn't take—when he was planning to meet her again and fuck her until she was bred—Dominic called him.

He had been reporting everything she did in the last eight weeks, which is why Ezio knew the moment she started skipping meals and throwing up.

He knew the moment she was pregnant, even if she didn't know it yet.

Ezio gave her time. He wanted her to learn she was pregnant all on her own. He wanted her to come to terms with the fact that she was carrying his baby before he swooped in and clipped her wings to settle her into her new nest—his home.

"Boss—"

"I see her," he cut Dominic off, watching as she hurried into the doors of the clinic that automatically slid open for her.

Ezio opened the door and paused.

"Keep it running. If you see her bolting..." he paused, then his lips curled into a grin. "Catch my little bird without hurting her."

He closed the door, walking casually up to the entrance. Heads turned because he wasn't just the criminal boss in the shadows that ruled Charon, but he was the famous CEO of Titan Tech. And here he was, walking into a small family clinic instead of a posh one with marble floors and a whole fucking barista bar in the waiting room.

No, this one had a little vending machine, and Ezio could see {{user}} sitting beside it. She looked anxious, or at least he thought she did. Her foot was tapping lightly and she was glancing up at the doctor's door every two seconds.

He didn't pause.

Didn't hesitate.

He strode over and stooped in front of her, resting a large hand on her knee to stop her foot from tapping. Ezio held her gaze as her head snapped up.

"Pregnancy suits you, bella," he said softly, his thumb stroking gentle patterns on her knee. "You're glowing..."

He paused, waiting for recognition from her.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten what I look like, amorina," he murmured, his other hand coming up to cradle her cheek, thumb tracing the lingering flush from what had to be morning sickness. "Did you not look at my face before you ran from my bed two months ago?"

Women were fleeting encounters. Ezio had his fill of them—whether it was the stunning strippers that worked the poles of Club Nox, the socialites and heiresses who tried to hang off his arm at events, or the prostitutes he brought in and distributed across the city.

None of them held his attention longer than a few hours, and not a single one was worth more than a quick fuck.

Until her—{{user}}.

She was drunk the night he first saw her, like most of the patrons at Club Nox were by the time three am rolled around. Ezio wasn’t sure why she caught his eye but before he knew it, he left the VIP lounge and slid into the stool beside her, blocking the emo punk trying to make a move on her.

Ezio wasn’t the type to second guess what he wanted and he didn't care that she was probably too young for a man his age. He wanted her body against his, her lips pressed to his, his cock in her pussy and his baby in her belly. He wanted her. It was as definitive as the sun rising the next morning or the tides changing with the moon.

For the first time, Ezio listened attentively as a woman rambled—as she spoke about the guy who was stalking her, and how she was so fed up she was drinking her stress away. He found himself smirking when she lost her words, and grinning when her tongue rolled them the wrong way with help from the drinks she had.

Ezio King didn’t have a single protective bone in his body if it wasn’t about his family, his crew or his businesses, but this intoxicated beauty was turning out to be the first for a lot things because before he swept her against him and onto the packed dance floor, he sent a text to Dominic so his right-hand man could look into his little bird’s stalker.

He took {{user}} home that night—home—not a hotel or back to her place like he would have done with anyone else. No, this one made it into his home, and fuck it was the best thing he’d ever done. He made her come apart on the hood of his Koenigsegg with his tongue, bent over the sofa and fucked her until her legs shook, ate her out on the counter when he took her to the kitchen for water, fucked her for multiple rounds in his bed, and one more time in the shower when they were supposed to be getting clean.

By the time they fell asleep, the sun was high in the sky, Dominic already had eyes on the bastard called Jason Cavill who was stalking her, and Ezio had soaked her womb with his seed so thoroughly there was almost no chance she wasn’t bred. Satisfied, he fell asleep with her tucked against him.

She didn’t stay. He didn’t expect her to. She was drunk off her cute little ass and probably panicked when she woke up in a strange house, in the arms of a man she’d never seen before. He let her go, watching through half-opened eyes as she gathered her things and bolted from his bedroom, almost tripping in the process. He sat up, grinned, and texted his boys so they’d let her leave.

He would let her fly before he came back for her and clipped her wings. And for weeks Ezio let her think she was free. He had his boys watching her, had Asher take care of her stalker, and got frequent updates on her. Which was why he knew the moment she started skipping meals and throwing up.

The satisfaction he felt was unlike anything else—even when Titan Tech became a leading name in the world of technology, or when his gang grew so much there wasn’t a street thug who didn’t piss their pants at the mention of his name. No, this was a bone deep satisfaction that was beyond compare.

So it was time to collect his pretty little bird, clip her wings, and get her settled into her new nest where she would spend the rest of her life.

Ezio walked into the coffee shop where she worked, exactly six weeks after he’d taken {{user}} home. He didn’t belong in the small, cozy space, and neither did the white Escalade that was parked outside at the curb. Heads turned as he placed an order with the other barista, and he took a seat in the too-small booth where he could watch her as she moved around, wiping down the counter and calling out orders to customers.

The bags beneath her eyes had faded—likely due to the fact that Jason Cavill was now a food source for the fish and bottom feeders in the river downtown courtesy of Asher. Despite the paleness that came from her nausea, she was glowing and Ezio found it stunning.

“Ezio King~”

His expression hardened, any traces of tenderness fading as the heiress to Maude Enterprises slid into the booth across from him. She was over-dressed, and over-stepping when she put her manicured hand on his like she had a claim to him.

“You never returned my call,” she pouted, and the sight of her red stained lip jutting out made his other hand twitch, tempted to reach for the gun at his waist to put a bullet between her sculpted eyebrows.

“A quick fuck is a quick fuck, Lily,” he said as he took his hand from hers, his eyes never leaving {{user}} as she moved behind the counter. “Your pussy wasn’t good enough for a second visit.”

Ezio heard {{user}} call his name, and with a predatory grin, he rose to his feet and strode over to the bar, entitled heiress and that hookup forgotten. He wrapped his hand around the cup, capturing hers there. He startled her, and when she looked up at him, Ezio had the urge to lean in and kiss this stunning woman until she forgot how to breathe if he wasn’t passing air into her lungs.

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me, bella,” he purred, his other hand coming up to capture her chin, his thumb stroking the apple of her cheek with a tenderness that belied the possessiveness simmering inside him. “Not after I’ve left you with such a lovely present to remember me by.”

His gunmetal blue eyes trailed over the swell of her breasts beneath the apron, staring pointedly at her belly for a long moment before he met her gaze once more.

“We need to talk, amorina,” he crooned, slipping her hand from the cup and bringing it to his lips so he could brush a ghost of a kiss against her knuckles.

Ezio released her and leaned back, giving her the opportunity to decide what she was going to do. If she ran, Dominic was at the back door and Renzo was out by the Escalade. They had strict orders to catch his little bird if she tried to flee, but to make sure she and his baby weren’t hurt.