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I would shatter him bit by bit until he was begging me to end the torment.
I don’t bother knocking when I reach his door. I push my way in and settle my gaze on him as he sits behind his desk, trying to look like the king he believes himself to be. His nephew is there—the younger one. Leo. Something about him sets me off because I’ve seen the way he looks at Alice, and it makes me want to rip his heart out and make him taste his own blood before his body hits the ground.
Instead, I nod in greeting.
The Romanos both meet my gaze steadily before Guido makes a dismissive gesture. Leo scoffs and digs his heels in. “Uncle, don’t be foolish. You can’t—”
“Go,” Guido says, and after a beat of hesitation, Leo obeys. The door shuts with a small click, and then Guido sighs and leans his elbow on the desk. “Even family, it’s difficult to find obedience and loyalty.” He still has the faintest lilt of his accent left from his childhood in Rome. I remember listening to him as he recounted Bible verses in Latin during mass and how it made me hunger to hear him beg for his life in that same voice.
I wait, and eventually, he fidgets, then looks furious because he knows that I can claim victory in this moment. I smile as I sit, then pull the little thumb drive out of my pocket and set it on the edge of the desk.
“It’s been years,” I say, “so I don’t know how far your depravity has gone. But I’d encourage you to take care with how much of this you watch.”
“My daughter,” he says.
I won’t confirm it, and his eyes widen when he realizes my silence is an answer.
“Is she breathing?”
I laugh, unable to help it. “I wouldn’t make it so easy on you.” Rising, I stick one hand into my pocket and hold my phone. I’ve checked it about a dozen times, and I know that Phoenix and James are home from their date, and there’s a lot of work to be done about Phoenix’s edge into his new freedom. And I want to make time for that because I’m selfish, and I’m greedy, and I want to be thanked. “Feel free to call me if you have any questions, but do look for the invitation in the mail soon.”
Guido’s eyes darken. “What invitation?”
“To my engagement party,” I say lightly.
He sucks in a breath, but I ignore him as I let myself out, and I breeze toward the valet stand, where my car is still parked. They look nervous as they pass me my keys, and I tip them a wave as I get inside and connect my phone to the speaker.
I pause a moment, waiting to see if he’ll retaliate, but I know he’s too smart to do that here. He’ll have his moment, though he must know he won’t succeed. His kingdom is built on resentment and self-hatred. Mine is built on love, power, and the knowledge that I am far more suited to ruling our world than he will ever be.
Between Guido and myself, there is no balance. We are not God and Satan.
I am a deity, and he is a grasping, self-centered mortal.
It’s pathetic.
“Call Phoenix,” I tell my car as I pull out onto the main road. The sun is bright, and I feel a burning need in my gut as I head back to the manor. Alice is there waiting, and by now, she’ll have had everyone but James, though she must know why he’s held back by this point.
I want to take her—I want to make her the same promises I made my boys, with teeth and lips and hands and cock. I want her panting and begging and selling her soul to me just like they did.
And I will.
In just a few hours, I will.
“I’m busy,” Phoenix says by way of answering.
I laugh. “I’m sure you are. Is she with you?”
“Yes, and she can hear you,” Phoenix says. His voice is strained, so he’s either fucking her, or he’s playing with her. A part of me wants to pull it up on the screen, but I enjoy experiencing things the way he does—by sound, by touch, by taste. I can hear his soft grunts and her desperate panting.
“The file was delivered. I’m on my way home.”
Phoenix takes a breath. “Are you safe?”
My heart warms as much as it’s able, and I feel another surge of desperation to pull him into my arms. “I’m safe. He knows better than to come for me now.” I pass the city, and in the distance, there are only mountains and clouds. “I just wanted to call to let you know that I’m on my way. And when I get there, I want you in my bed…with her.”
“All of us?” Phoenix asks.
“Your choice,” I tell him, because it’s always their choice. Mostly. “But today starts our new reality, and it’s time we show Alice what it means to be part of this family. How do you feel about that, my queen?”
I hear her huff, and then her sweet voice says, “I’m not your queen.”
“Not yet,” I promise her. I glance in the mirror and see an SUV coming up fast on me. I’m in a hurry, but not enough to bother playing racing games with petty strangers, so I pull into the other lane and tap the screen. I just want to see them one time.
Phoenix and Alice’s image flashes—grainy and black and white, but there. Phoenix has her in his lap, and I can’t see below her pert breasts, but I know he’s inside her.
“I can’t wait to get there. Believe me, both of you, I plan to—”
I don’t get to finish my sentence. I’m only vaguely aware of something bumping my car, and I look up in time to see a smiling face in my rearview mirror before my tires lose traction, and I start to spin.
And then, there’s only darkness.
