HUNTERI watched Catherine kneel before me, her chest heaving and falling at an erratic pace. Fuck. I had dreamed of seeing her like this, but those dreams were nothing compared to the reality. The way she stared at my cock made me twice as hard. She reached out her hand, stroking my length with a washcloth, and I tilted my head back, hissing a curse. That woman would be the end of me.I looked down at her and saw her bite back a smile. She knew what that touch did to me, and she was ready to play. “That's a naughty game you chose, firecracker. Very dangerous,” I purred.She grinned then, pulling the wet strands of her fiery hair off her face. “I'm married to the Mafia boss,” she breathed. “Maybe I like a little danger.”She grabbed my cock in both hands before bringing her lips toward the tip. I adjusted my stance as her tongue began to draw circles around the head. I breathed out another curse, imagining all the ways I would repay her… unless, of course, I would die first.I reached
Rowan sat on the sofa, arms crossed over his chest. “I don't fucking like this.”It was almost eleven o'clock. I had to leave my beautiful wife while she was still asleep and drive here to prepare for the meeting with Grasso. It seemed that Rowan was even more reluctant to that idea than I was.“You said it already… three times, as I recall.” I gave him a look.“Then I'll say it again,” he grunted. “I don't like this deal between you and Grasso. It might bite you in the ass.”I poured more whiskey into my glass and drank it in one gulp. “May I remind you that this cunt is currently our only source of information? Find me a better one, and I will gladly end the deal and him within days.”He studied me. “And just out of curiosity… how do you plan to end this? Unless you're ready to hand Catherine over to him, of course.”My hands fisted. “I'm not giving Catherine to anyone, and if Grasso draws out his dirty hand and tries to touch her, I will fucking separate that limb from the rest of
CATHERINEWhen I woke up, Hunter's side of the bed was empty. My hand instinctively swiped through the sheets only to find them cold. A hint of sadness clenched my chest. I knew he probably had something important to deal with, but I couldn't shake off the disappointment I felt. After everything that had happened… I just wanted him next to me.My sleepy eyes found the clock standing on the bedside table, and an instant wave of embarrassment flooded my cheeks. It was past noon. I couldn't recall the last time I'd risen from the bed this late. Probably because it had never happened.I entered the bathroom, and my gaze drifted to the shower cabin. Another layer of heat coated my cheeks as I remembered how daring I'd been. Chuckling softly, I washed my face in cold water, trying to minimize the blushing. Then I focused on my morning routine, hoping to resemble a properly looking woman as soon as possible.I'd just finished dressing up when the knock on the door sounded. I rushed to open i
HUNTER “The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable…” I frowned at the screen and disconnected. Catherine's phone had been off for more than an hour. Ferro told me she was visiting her mother at the hospital, so I figured that perhaps her battery died, and she might have not even noticed it. Still, the fact I couldn't make sure she was all right placed me on the edge. A part of me was ready to leave the meeting, go to the hospital, and find out why she didn't answer her phone, but I couldn't. Not with everything that had happened in the last few hours. So for now, I had to pretend I was satisfied with Ferro's “She's fine. She's in her mother's room, and there are no threats around.” The moment Fabrizio Grasso had left my office, my instincts ordered me to run after him and end that son of a bitch, but I would have been a fool not to check that damn name first. Especially since we knew this guy was in the group that had tried to poison Catherine at the banquet. Enzo
With no time to waste, Rowan and I gathered whatever we could carry out of the apartment and stormed to the hallway. Enzo guided us through the old corridors, once probably used by the construction workers. They were dusty and barely stable, but they did the trick. It took us a few minutes, but we finally managed to escape without being noticed by the police. We were lucky… but considering everything that had happened earlier, I would rather call this occurrence not an absolute disaster. “That was a close call,” Rowan panted as we rushed back to the car, dropping everything we carried into the trunk. “It was.” I jumped behind the wheel, starting the engine as soon as Rowan placed his ass on the passenger's seat. Rowan studied me. No doubt he saw my clenched jaw and fingers curled around the wheel in a death grip. “Why do you think he had all those pictures of Catherine?” I shook my head and stepped on the gas. “No idea. It looked like someone followed Catherine around for weeks.”
CATHERINESomething soft and warm coated my body. Then strong hands cupped my head, lifting it. My eyes didn't open right away. Perhaps I was too tired to open them. I didn't know how long I had cried before curling up on the sofa and falling asleep.Someone stroked my hair, the touch gentle and slow. Maybe I should have opened my eyes by now, but nothing about that touch seemed alarming, and I… I might have needed some comfort. The stroking continued. I inhaled a familiar scent, and a faint smile tugged at my lips. Then my eyes opened. I blinked a few times before the blur of the scantily illuminated room turned into recognizable shapes.Now I knew my head was resting on Hunter's lap while he stroked my hair. I shifted to lie on my back and looked up, meeting his gaze. “Hi,” I whispered.“Doctor Sinclair told me everything,” he said, a heavy rasp in his voice. “I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner.”I rose to sit and combed my hair with my fingers. “I'm not giving up, and neither is m
HUNTERI watched Catherine's throat work on a swallow, her face turning pale. “I want to assure you that you'll be safe there. I won't let anything happen to you.”She drew a deep breath and smiled wryly. “I just… This man… Grasso gives me the creeps. I know he cannot hurt me because I'm your wife, but I still remember the way he looked at me… like he couldn't wait to break me apart.”My jaw clenched. I wished I could tell her this man would die soon, but I knew I would have to let this son of a bitch live longer than he deserved. Lying to her was the last thing I wanted, but I knew she wouldn't understand why I'd made this deal, why I signed it with blood, and why I'd agreed to mark her as the price.I forced my lips to stretch, forming a weak smile as I cupped her cheeks. “I will keep you safe,” I promised. “Grasso's days are numbered. If everything goes smoothly tonight, he might not live longer than a week.”Her eyes widened. “And what's happening tonight?”“Among the documents we
“This isn't a rescue mission,” Rowan reminded me. “I don't even know how we would transport all those people somewhere safe without being noticed. And where would we take them? To Lanaro?”I breathed in slowly, hoping to clear my mind, but my thoughts were too hectic. Too many things could go wrong, and yet…“We should retreat,” Rowan convinced. “There's nothing we can do here. As fucked up as it is, those cunts inside are the only ones who can help those people now.”Cries and moans echoed through the warehouse. They were suffering, begging, some ready to end their lives just to stop the pain. My insides twisted. There were more than thirty people, and most of them could die. I doubted those fuckers would have cared.We could take the guards out. If I ordered my teams closer, we could kill them one by one, but it couldn't be done without any collateral damage. In this case, doubtless, there would be many casualties. More would die if we didn't cut out those drugs from their bodies in
HUNTERMy head was spinning. I could barely process what Catherine had told me. Was Aleks Lagunov truly the renegades' leader? It seemed possible. Everything, including the Pink Opium, pointed at him.I hadn't known who created the camp I'd been sent to as a kid—the Camp For Traitors, as Catherine called it. I even doubted my grandfather had known about its origin… But had Marcello known? He must have known exactly where he'd sent me to. Perhaps he had thought I would have joined the renegades at some point. It had been his way of grooming me, molding me the way he had wanted.A cold chill brushed the nape of my neck as I thought about it. I still remembered the so-called training we'd received. I could still see the rage and hatred in those boys' eyes. Our trainers knew how to bring out the bloodlust in all of us—how to draw strength from it. It was the same kind of bloodlust I'd seen in the eyes of that fucker from Chicago…I should have realized that sooner. Supposedly, there had b
I drew a deep breath and slowly descended the stairs, heading to the salon. I debated whether I should dress up or keep it casual. I chose the latter, as if I paid little mind to Hunter's unexpected visit. I was determined to show him his presence was unwelcome, and I only decided to meet him so he would stop bothering me and leave.I kept repeating it in my head as I walked through the corridor with my hands fisted into balls. I raised my chin and straightened up my back while summoning my composure, anything to cover the storm of emotions coiling inside me.I walked to the doors and opened them with one confident swing. I passed the threshold, and my eyes instantly landed on Hunter. He was sitting on the sofa, two armed guards standing beside him. Logan, my new six-foot-three, bulky chief of security, decided to escort my husband here personally. Now he and Daniel, his second, watched Hunter's every movement as if he were a deadly predator on the loose.I was no expert, but I could
CATHERINEThe Pink Opium. My grandma created the Pink Opium. It was hard to accept the reality no matter how many times I had read the entry in her diary. I was certain that the completed formula was somewhere in her study. I was its new owner. I currently possessed something all the renegades would have killed me for.A shudder rushed through me. The rising panic within me encouraged me to find matches and gasoline and burn down all the documents and the laboratory. But a weak voice reminded me that Grandma created Pink Opium to help people, not turn them into a weapon.Lina helped me find several more Grandma's diaries. I brought them all to one of the bedrooms I picked as mine—at least for now—because, well… I decided to stay. Knowing I actually owned this estate and was Katerina Fedorova's only heir felt terrifying but also exciting. I was still somewhere in the middle of accepting the fact that I had suddenly become rich, but I could already feel how it empowered me.Of course, i
My mind was a fucking mess. I was slowly losing myself in the agonizing swirl of thoughts, drafting new scenarios with no good way out of this situation. I lifted my whiskey glass to my lips and poured the liquor down my throat. At least the burn helped silence the noises in my head… for about two seconds.“So what did you tell Guido?” Rowan's voice and piercing gaze shattered my momentary calm.I lowered my glass and grunted, “Nothing. I got back into my car and drove away.”His eyes narrowed as if he tried to read my thoughts. “What was your reaction when you saw Arianna again?”I drank from my glass. “It was… intense,” I admitted. “It felt like everything I've ever felt for her returned and amplified.”“Damn,” he drawled, reaching for his whiskey. “So… now what? If you love Arianna, where does it put Catherine?”“I've never said I love Arianna,” I corrected. “This… initial surge of feelings lasted a moment and then gave way to something akin to pity, I guess.”Rowan's brows inched
HUNTERMy hands at my sides kept fisting and opening. The overwhelming tension had turned my shoulders into stone hours ago, and now, the unbearable stiffness began to spread throughout my body. To say I was torn would have been an understatement. I was fucking certain the choice I had made would soon bite me in the ass, but there was no good way out of this situation, and the last thing I wanted was to let Guido Pelligrini know I had lost my wife somewhere.“Drink?” Guido placed a whiskey glass on the coffee table and gave me a knowing smirk. “You look like you need one.”Not one. Had I drunk an entire bottle or two, I was willing to bet I would have remained sober as fuck. He took my silence as a reply and filled my glass with amber liquor. I snatched it from the table and gulped down half of it. Then I sucked in a breath and started to pace around Guido's salon.Half of me screamed I shouldn't be here. I should have been heading to Bellport, looking for Catherine, making sure she w
“And here are the third floor's bedrooms.” Lina gestured at the doors in front of us. “The nicest is the one in the corner.” She let out a soft giggle.She and Ivan, her husband, had been showing me around the estate for the past three hours. My head was spinning, and my chest kept clenching harder and harder. Why had my mom thrown all of this away? Why had she allowed us to become nearly penniless when she could have had all of this?We entered another cozy chamber with a dark wood floor, bright furniture, and an amazing amount of light coming from the wall-size windows. “Everything here looks incredible,” I murmured, scanning the large canopy bed in the center.“Katerina wanted this to resemble her old home as much as possible,” Lina said, lining up with me as I walked to the window, opening to a small balcony.I gave her a faint smile before turning my gaze to the view. There was nothing but miles of woods outside—a place perfectly hidden from the outside world. “Did my mom… live h
CATHERINEPerhaps I was making a huge mistake. I didn't know if the place I was looking for still existed. This could be a trap. I could be walking straight into the lair of our enemies…“Our enemies,” I muttered, realizing how bitter the word “our” tasted.Was there even “us”? I was foolish to trust Hunter. I was foolish to believe he hadn't lied about anything else. I had heard about his meeting with Guido Pelligrini. I should have known he at least considered allying with him, and the worst part was that I couldn't even be mad at him for it. It was a wise thing to do—divorce me and marry a Princess that had an army by her side.Believing that we could have had a true relationship was naïve. Don Cartelli should have had a wife who granted him more power, and I couldn't give him that. I had known that for a long time. I couldn't stay by his side. Still, his lie felt like a stab in the heart. And I kept bleeding…I should have faced Hunter, shoved those damn documents in his face, and
HUNTERI stared at the burner phone lying on my desk, one Grasso had given me. Rowan followed my line of sight and stepped closer.“Do you seriously believe Grasso will give you what you want?” He offered me a wry smile.I gave him a look. “Do you seriously believe I could trust this fucker after what happened the last time?”He sighed in relief. “Fuck, I hoped you'd say that.”“He sent us straight into the renegades' trap. Now I'm about to return the favor.” I motioned my chin at the phone. “As soon as that cunt sends us the address, I'll call Carlo Evola and Hisa Azumi. Let them deal with Grasso, and honestly, I hope they will skin him alive.”A grim smile stretched across Rowan's lips. “Yeah… I wouldn't mind if they tortured him for days. Although I doubt they have patience for it.” Then he leaned against my desk and locked his eyes on me. “But… what if the renegades have the evidence we want? Isn't it tempting to play their game a little longer?”I loosened a breath. “I thought I w
My blood froze in my veins. I stared at Hunter and saw his fists clenching. Would he truly sell me to Grasso to get the evidence? I knew that this evidence was something he had always wanted. This was the way to avenge his parents. Was this my worth for him? I had no value as his wife. I couldn't get him the allies he needed. But now, he could trade me for something he desired for a long time.Suddenly, those words became cruelly familiar. It sounded exactly like what that man in Chicago had said to me. The only difference was that he had used the past tense...My stomach twisted into knots. Had he been referring to some previous deal between Grasso and Hunter? Had the red-haired man been telling the truth? I clamped my hand over my mouth, fearing I might vomit. Still, I had to hear it from Hunter… even if that truth could break me.“So what now?” Hunter locked his eyes on Grasso. “Do you expect me to let you leave this place freely and wait for you to bring me some imaginary document