Page 95 of Vicious Temptation

Remi

Sunlight cuts through the massive windows of my condo like it’s a personal attack.

I groan and bury my face deeper into the couch cushion, my entire body aching from yesterday’s disaster. My knuckles are bruised, my side throbs with every deep breath, and sleeping on this sofa instead of my bed didn’t help.

The smell of coffee drifts through the living room along with the sound of cabinet doors opening and closing.

“You’re alive.” A man’s voice carries from the kitchen, and panic shoots through me for one horrifying second before I recognize it.

Matteo.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask, lifting my head just enough to glare at him over the back of the couch.

“Valentina,” he calls out from near my espresso machine. “She said she’d be back later and told me to watch out for you.”

Rolling my eyes, I drag myself upright, immediately regretting the motion.

I love Matteo. He’s probably the most tolerable pain in my ass after Giovanni, but he’s definitely not the person I wanted to see first thing in the morning after the night I had.

When I finally made it home, I couldn’t get into the shower fast enough. I turned the water up until my skin was red, desperate to wash away the feeling of county holding cells and stale concrete. A few hours in lockup were enough to make sure I never wanted to go through that shit again.

Valentina insisted on staying the night to keep me company and to figure out our next move with Rafe. We went over everything that happened at Furia, who might know something, and why he’d been avoiding me since the attack.

Somehow, talking about a man who may have helped set me up to be killed was easier than talking about Thiago and all the ways he’s starting to fuck with my head.

Exhaustion eventually won, but I didn’t stay asleep for long. Nightmares I hadn’t had in years crawled back, dragging me straight into the worst night of my life. Ryuji was dying in my arms again, blood everywhere as I tried uselessly to hold him together while the pavement beneath us turned red.

I left Val asleep in my bed sometime before sunrise and curled up on the couch with some random rerun of Criminal Minds playing in the background. Eventually, I drifted off again. Only this time, when the dream came back, Ryuji wasn’t the one bleeding out in my arms.

Thiago was.

Even thinking about it now knots my stomach. I force the image away and leave Matteo to fend for himself as I disappear into the shower, letting the hot water beat against my skin until some of the exhaustion finally eases.

I emerge wearing bike shorts and one of Gio’s oversized T-shirts I stole a few months ago. Matteo is sprawled across my sofa, flipping through channels. He hands me a mug the second I drop down beside him. I breathe in the steam curling from the mug, and it smells like productivity and emotional survival.

“Who else knows?” I ask before taking my first sip.

“Just me and Gio.” His attention shifts from the television to me. “But don’t you think we should tell everyone? This could be connected to the same people from four years ago, Rem.”

“I know.”

His eyebrows pull together. “And why are they only going after you?”

I shrug, then set my cup of coffee down. “I’ll fill everyone in today.”

Matteo goes quiet for a moment before glancing at the blanket still tangled at the other end of the couch.

“You slept out here?”

“Eventually.”

“With Val in your bed?”

“Why are you asking so many questions before I’ve had a chance to drink my coffee?”

“Because I know you.” He stares at me for another second. “You okay?”

“It wasn’t that bad,” I lie, offering him a smile.