Aleksander roared as he whirled around. A deranged fury filled his eyes that I'd never seen before. "Perhaps that's how I felt in the beginning. I won't deny that. It's the reason I wanted an exclusive contract to have you!""A live-in fuck-toy. That's all I've ever been.""No," he shot forward. Aleksander reached for my hands, yet I swayed enough to dodge his grasp. In response to my reaction, he groaned, a sound so full of despair I wanted to cave. To give in to my buried desire to slip into his arms and forgive his atrocities but my heart was still rejecting him."I fell in love with you, Rhea. I'd never had this feeling before. This yearning to hold and protect someone else. I would have done anything to keep you safe. Fuck, I'd kill God just to see you smile.""Really?" I balked at him, eyes growing larger. "Is that really the most appropriate thing to say right now? Not only have you killed people and lied to me about it this whole time, you open your stupid mouth and say someth
ALEKSANDER'S POVAlthough it should have been me at her side, they would protect Rhea at the safe house. It took a wise man, or at least a competent one, to realize she needed this space away from me. With the progression of our argument, I couldn't call myself a wise man. Not in the least.Sitting at the dining table in my family home, I weighed Rhea's wedding band in my palm. This diamond on her finger had been a brief taste of victory in my life. A sweetness that lingered on the back of the tongue and kept you wanting more and more and more...A glass of whiskey waited at the edge of the table in my peripheral. Each sip burned a fiery path down my throat, easing the ache that tore apart my tattered insides. Without her shining light at my side, I was only a flayed shell of a man.I couldn't regret the things I'd done to protect her, but I bore heavy guilt for how my actions affected her. I'd done her a disservice by keeping the truth from her. Because I'd underestimated Rhea's abil
Dust motes danced in the golden shafts of early light filtering in through the windows. Only the shuddered exhale from my lips broke up the charged silence in the dining room. Annika swiped a tear from my face, her lips trembling with her own sorrow at the pitiful sight of me."If you want to be worthy of her love, then earn it. Show her you can be the man she deserves." Annika rose gracefully to her feet, clasping her hands together."Is that what Nikolai did for you?" I regretted the derision in my tone. It came about from the alcohol, I thought. "That fucked up old man made you believe he was worthy of you?"This time when she smacked me, it truly stung. A real slap that shook some of the buzz from my inebriated state.The ensuing second of stunned silence stung worse."I know you are distraught and drunk right now, but never take your uncle's graciousness for granted. He has done what needed to be done, much like you have. You and I have always known that. Now Rhea knows that same
RHEA'S POV Flickers of memory sparked behind my eyes. Bright lights. The world spinning. Broken glass. A dull throb echoed in the back of my skull.Voices that sounded both distant and near filtered through the high-pitched ringing in my ears. Male voices that didn't seem to hide their raised argument. Yet I couldn't make out a single word they exchanged.My heavy lids refused to open. It felt like they were glued shut. Forcing them only worsened the pounding in my head. Light stung my eyes when they eventually peeled open.The walls were dark, stained with years of dust and grime. Weak yellowish light shone from a metal beam overhead. Abandoned boxes and metalwork littered the spacious warehouse.A twinge of pain in my lower back caused me to shift. A soft clink and pressure on my wrist made me freeze. Agonizingly slow, as though I didn't want to come to terms with what I already knew, I angled my heavy head toward my wrist.No surprise flared within me to find my right wrist handcu
"I'll handle it." The snarky response pulled me from my thoughts. Then the door at my back pushed open with a grating creak of metal on metal. I slammed back into reality, where I sat handcuffed to a chair in some semi-abandoned building.Every breath I took burned my chest. My body tensed with the fear running in my blood. As Luca's shadow rose ominously over the opposite wall, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move a muscle as each sinister thump of his shoes carried him closer.Luca appeared in front of me with an eerie aura. His disturbing grin slashed wider upon finding me alert.I tried maintaining my gaze at first. He lasciviously ogled every inch of me with a malicious sneer, twisting his features. The threatening glint in his eyes forced my gaze down to his expensive leather loafers crunching on bits of broken glass beneath us."You're finally awake," Luca announced, cocking his head to the side. "The accident was unfortunate, but I didn't think your driver knew any defensive ma
ALEKSANDER'S POV Nikolai burst from the front doors of the Makalov mansion. I followed hot on his heels, rushing toward the line of awaiting cars parked around the massive fountain at the end of the driveway.The very last thing Nikolai and I expected was to receive a call from an anonymous contact who worked for the Genovese. Someone in their organization vehemently opposed a potential war. Enough to give away Luca's location.Rhea was the one thing in this world I wanted more desperately than my body needed air. Luca Genovese stole her from me. Now betrayed by his own, I would take his life.The fiery glow of dusk settled itself over the horizon. A brisk wind whipped up the edges of my coat. My fingers twitched, itching for a cigarette to relieve my bristling nerves.Leaving Annika safe at the mansion, I joined my uncle in the backseat of the first car. Personal guards accompanied us. All well-trained and armed with the same pistol I carried.Savage anger writhed like a serpentine
Men screamed. Blood and brains splattered the walls and floors as they went down.A figure popped out around a corner. I fired one shot at his head, and he descended to the ground like an axed tree falling in a forest.Another came behind him. Too close to shoot from afar. My left arm shot out and blocked his. I used the momentum to force his aim up. My opponent shot and missed, bullets lodging in the ceiling. With my left hand, I pointed the gun at his stomach and fired two rounds.The last shot went into the side of his skull as he stumbled to his knees. Then he dropped like a stone on the filthy concrete.An arm emerged at the end of the corridor I passed through. I pulled the trigger, yet nothing left the chamber.Regardless of my unloaded pistol, I grabbed the arm in front of me. One twist of the wrist forced his weapon from his hand. The gun clattered away on the floor.The man grunted. When I jammed the butt of my gun into his face, breaking his nose, he screamed. As he fell, I
RHEA'S POV Every ounce of my consciousness slipped from my grasp the moment Aleksander freed me. While all the world moved around me, my thoughts stayed still within the pit of darkness consuming my mind. My awareness stayed on my pulsing veins, coursing with cold blood and the rough pounding of my heart throbbing through my limbs.Each breath cleaved through my lungs, strained and burning. Only the heat of Aleksander's hand on my arms kept me on my feet. He was my anchor to reality during a turbulent car ride, and as he swept me through the blinding lights of a semi crowded lobby.A hotel, I thought, somewhere downtown. My eyes couldn't focus on anything, from the onlooking strangers in the shadows to the overly bright glow of opulent lighting. Aleksander and Nikolai's hushed voices brushed against something inside my head. I knew they were with me, but I moved on autopilot.My body floated on a cloud. Up an elevator. Several turns down hallways that felt like a damn never-ending ma