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But the second I have a chance to free myself from the crooked man who likes to call himself king, I have to believe I’ll be ready to take the leap. And hell, that might just start tonight.
Chapter1
KANE
The lightfrom my office window is enough to cast a glare on the tablet, so I turn, making the body behind me huff with quiet annoyance. That huff might as well have been a shout, though, as it’s the only sound Ariel can make with his ruined throat. I know he’s been watching the feed as intently as I have, and I tilt my head up, reaching for him to stroke the back of my knuckles over his scars.
“I have a meeting in ten.”
He glances down at me and with a lazy hand signs, ‘Do you want me to stay?’
I shake my head and set the tablet down, for the moment obscuring our target. She’s not doing anything particularly interesting, which is par for the course. Alice Romano might be our way to taking Guido Romano down to his knees, but I’m still working on exactly how I want to use her for it.
She’s not dull, but she’s certainly not interesting, either.
In fact, last night was the first sign of any backbone I’ve seen in her since Ari installed the security cameras. It was obvious by the look on her face that she was scared when her cousin approached her, but something about their interactions told me it wasn’t the first time he’d done that to her.
And by their conversation, I realized I wasn’t wrong. Leo Ricci—a smarmy little fuck who I’ve had the misfortune of meeting half a dozen times—has done that before. From the sound of it, it’s something he’s paid to do by Alice’s father.
Even as he taunted her last night, though, I had very few expectations. He left her, and she spent a little while reading some of the book we left her and stroking the flower petals with delicate brushes of her fingers. It was enough to drive a weaker man wild, though for me, it was merely a case in study.
I needed to understand her better so I could use her.
James, of course, was riveted. He helped Phoenix choose the book after painstakingly going through all of her belongings and finding her stash of alien erotica under her bed, so I think he took her enjoyment of the gift personally. Phoenix sat at his tablet and listened to the description of her touching the rose he’d gifted, and he showed no signs of emotions, but he did take James to his room later that night, so I know they were affected.
The only one who hadn’t bothered was my sweet little psychopath, but I hadn’t expected anything out of Ari except maybe him plotting ways he could torment her if he ever got her in his playroom.
Which, if my plan went off without a hitch, he would.
I just need to figure out how that makes me feel. I’ve seen what my silent lunatic does to people once he has them in my chair, and I have a hard time picturing Alice there. She’s too…
Fuck.
I don’t know.
Something I’m entirely unused to.
My gaze flickers to the scattered photos on my desk. The oldest one—my most treasured one—is a young girl. Light hair, dark eyes, skin tan from a long holiday in Majorca. It was the last photo of her that wasn’t from the crime scene where they found her battered, bloody, a shell of the girl she once was.
I remember the look on my father’s face when he told me what had happened. He waited until he had all of the information about her. Alianna was a late-in-life surprise. My mother thought she was reaching that age where she couldn’t have more children. I wasn’t even sure how to feel, but I fell in love with her the second I set eyes on her in the hospital. I didn’t think I was capable of loving something so much. I was young and reckless and stupid, but I was also going to be her protector.
And I failed her.
She was snatched from school, and it took my father months to track down the man responsible. He passed Guido Romano’s photo to me. He was somber, in vestments, looking godly as any man of the cloth. And he was the one who did this.
“He will pay,” my father muttered.
He wanted blood as much as I did, but something dark and monstrous was born inside me after that. He would pay in blood, but he would pay in every other way possible too. And six months later, it began. Six months later, I cornered him in his confessional and knocked down the first domino.
My only regret is that my father didn’t live to see the end game. And it starts now, with this precious man standing in my space, ready to do anything I ask of him.
Reaching my hand up, I curl my fingers around the back of Ari’s neck and force him to bend down until his lips meet mine. The position has to hurt, but it’s a mark of what a little masochist he is for me for how long he holds it as I devour his mouth.
“I’m feeling restless,” I tell him when we break apart.
He quirks a brow at me, waiting for me to tell him what I need.
“I’m going to be late, but not that late. Go home and tell James to get you ready for me.”
