Page 31 of Vicious Kingdom

My fingers curled into fists. The bandage on my hand pulled tight against punctured skin. Pain—a fitting reminder of what happened when you played with fire.

And yet the crazy desire swelled in response to the hate and anger. I wanted to touch her face. To trace the curve of her cheek, to feel if her skin was as soft as it looked.

I already knew it was.

That was how close I was to cracking.

Annaliese was the worst kind of monster. If I ever let her in, she would destroy me—and the famiglia! She would expose mysecrets for the sheer pleasure of watching me hurt. I needed to walk away while I still could.

Turning on my heel, I forced myself to leave her. I all but ran from the bathroom, my heart pounding a sick rhythm in my chest. I could not stay here. It was too risky. Too wrong. And yet, as I crossed the dim room, the sight of the bare bed caught my eye. It was stripped free of sheets or blankets, uncluttered like a guest room, as empty as my resolve to walk away. Any other time, I would have smirked at the irony. But I wasn’t about to stick around and hunt down her real room. I just needed to disappear before I convinced myself to return and wrap her in my arms again. Before I let her take over what little remained of my soul.

Already, I felt her claws sinking into my heart, raking into it in the way only she could. The cursed organ died years ago in a haze of betrayal. And while there was no chance of its revival after the agonizing death, I couldn’t risk an unwanted reanimation. I couldn’t risk the past repeating itself. How far would she go this time? Would she chew me up and spit me out? I didn’t hang around to find out.

I raced down the stairs and out into the night. Darkness swallowed me. I hoped it would devour my yearning, too.

My car waited, a haven from the pull I felt toward her. Fumbling for my keys, my hands shook. I had to get out of here. She was all I ever wanted and the last thing I needed. Even a moment longer was too dangerous.

She will leave town!The vow repeated through my mind. Just a few days, and enough pressure would force her from the city.

I sped off, tires screeching as I hit the gas.

But the farther I drove, the more my resolve slipped. Rage and longing tangled in a vicious knot. How had I let her get so far under my skin? She was toxic! And still, my mind would not shuther out. The road blurred as I sped onward. I needed to lose myself in the darkness—to reclaim some semblance of control.

But even now, miles from the mansion, she had her hold on me.

It had been the same when she was across the ocean, living half a decade in a different country. Maybe that was my curse, to always feel her presence. At least with her gone, I could exist in the ruin that was left. I’d done it before, and couldn’t wait to do it again.

Chapter 12 – Leonardo

The week started with a new resolve. The plan? Avoid the object of my fixation while driving her from the city. Being near Annaliese fucked with my head. My iron control slipped around her. But I wasn’t going to let the shiver of weakness sway the bigger picture.

As the days went by without a collision, the determination was easier to follow. I kept busy, filling every minute with work. The nights were hardest. But that was what my good friends from Scotland were for.

Which reminded me. My liquor cabinet was bare.I’ll swing by the store after this is over.

“—and the press will have a field day when we tell them. But I’m bringing the information to you first.”

This little fucker.

Peter Midget was short. With an iconic name like that, nature should have made him seven feet tall, not five-one. What he lacked in height, he made up for in idiocy.

I drug my club along the ground as I traipsed after the lost ball—leading my prey deeper into the trees. Peter padded after me,spewing threats with no sense of, caution what manner of beast he’d enraged.

“Let me get this straight.” I stopped short, sweeping a look around the trees. “You think you can steal vital information on your company, then come to me and hold it overmyhead?”

The glint in Peter’s beady eyes told me he hadn’t yet sensed the darkness encroaching. “I want five large.”

For a few thousand measly dollars, he was willing to risk life and limb.

I’d heard enough. In a deadly arc, the club cut through the air. The driver cracked into Peter’s cheek with a loudthwack.

The weasel howled.

The backstroke was deadly with such a big target. I couldn’t hit the damn tiny white balls for shit. I hadn’t been trying to send the ball into the woods! But it proved effective, letting Peter trail after me and spill the beans.

I surged forward, gripping his golf shirt and shoving him against the tree trunk. The length of my club pressed against his throat, cutting off his air.

“Shut up, you scumbag,” I growled.