“May I be excused?” I give my dad pleading eyes.
“Yes,” he responds.
I scurry out of the dining room. Nico’s deep voice rattles my heart. “Serenity.”
He can’t know. No, this is my secret. Later tonight, I’ll beg him not to pry, or our arrangement will be over.
Close to midnight, I stroll down the hallway with a bottle of whiskey and two crystal glasses. The long, steaming hot bath helped calm me down. If I didn’t pull it together, my parents would put me back somewhere I really didn’t want to go again.
Cradling the glasses in my arms, I knock on the door. The only reason I know it’s Nico’s room because of the spy I put in place to watch him.
The door opens and Nico stands there in a pair of black boxers. His medium-length hair looks like he’d run his fingers through it several times.
“How did you find me?”
I push the glasses into his arms as I step over the threshold. “What difference does it make?”
Nico closes the door behind me. I hear the lock click.
“Why were you so hell-bent on making sure security walked the grounds?”
I sit on the bed and kick off my slippers. “Nico, there are just some things we won’t ever talk about.”
He places the whiskey and glasses on the nightstand. Nico gets down on his knees before me. “I want to know what’s going on now.”
I scoot to the top of the bed and pour myself two fingers of whiskey. “It’s a private matter between me and my family, Nico. Let it go.”
He climbs over me and stares into my eyes. “Do you feel my family being here puts yours in danger?”
It’s my family that has the enemies. But I don’t say that to Nico.
“No.”
“Do I make you feel safe?”
My eyes close briefly. “Yes.”
Chapter Eleven
NICO
Did it strike me as odd that Serenity finally showed emotion? Yes. I briefly ignored it because I was infatuated with her again.
It was time to find out what broke the woman I once loved. I plan to investigate the problem not because I care, but because I plan to unlock her soul one day. Only to shatter it into a million pieces.
I sip from the glass in her hand.
“Tonight, I don’t want you to worry about anything. You’re safe, Serenity.”
She exhales before gulping down the rest of the contents.
I drag my whiskey-filled tongue along her neck. “You refused to come to me at the hotel because of your wannabe boyfriend.”
Lifting her shirt, I suck her hard nipple into my mouth. “He’s not from our world, Serenity. He doesn’t know our families torture and kill for a living.”
Her legs open wide as her fingers grip my strands.
“I’m…aware…Nico.”
