“He’s right, Der; you need me to run you a bath?” Maeve’s hands reached for the collar of my halfway unbuttoned shirt, but I caught her wrists, eyes lancing through her in a warning. “Don’t.”
“Wait in the car,” Ronan ordered, slamming the whiskey decanter on the bar.
Used to her harsh but lavish life beside Ronan Cain, Maeve simply scoffed, patting my chest before I could stop her.
“One of these days, Derek. You’ll see,” she purred with a wink.
I gripped her elbow and leaned close to her ear. “The only thing I want from you is to know what your screams sound like when I gut you like a fish.”
Another humorless chuckle fell from her lips. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, darling.” She blew a kiss and strode out the door.
“You’re going to tell me what you’ve been up to? The clean-up team had quite the mess to take care of this morning, none other than one of Belov’s men. Are you trying to start a war? And over pussy, no less.”
I gritted my teeth as he watched, waiting for a reaction. Always waiting for me to fuck up.
“We have access to more whores and wet cunts than we know what to do with, yet you’re out here defending the honor of some woman you barely know.”
He took a long swig of his drink, eyes still fixed on me. Visions of breaking that glass over his head and shoving the shards down his throat raged in my thoughts. It was just one of the many creative ways I’d fantasized about taking his life. Hell, I’d spilled my own father’s blood, split his fucking skull in two, and went home and slept like the dead while his brain matter was still painted on the front of my shirt. Killing Ronan would be no different. It would bring me immense satisfaction, yet I knew I couldn’t. As the head of Ares, he was untouchable.
“That’s not what happened.”
Ronan leaned both hands on the marble counter. “Don’t play me for a fool, Derek. Andrey Smirnoff was the same son of bitch at the infirmary with Kiernan.” He leveled me with a poignant stare. “What? You were teaching him a lesson? Staking your claim on that tight little ass, huh?”
“Enough.”
Ronan’s grin spread wide as he lifted the glass in front of him, an accusatory finger pointed at me. “I let you go off the books with your little revenge plot against that bottom feeder, Ford. Hell, I don’t care if you cut the dicks off every bastard in this city.” He lowered the glass onto a side table, eyes steeling me in place. “ButnotBelov’s men. Is that understood?”
I tilted my head and studied him. How easy would it be to make him disappear? To tear out that black heart of his as he watched. The sharp steel tucked inside my pants suddenly felt heavy. Hot. Begging for me to reach for it.
“I see that look in your eyes, Derek. It’s the same one I saw all those years ago. The reason I knew you were exactly what I was looking for.” He moved closer until we were just a foot apart and at eye level.
I couldn’t deny there was a part of me that felt indebted to this fucker. And maybe it was the reason I’d learned to control my rage when he challenged me.
The day he walked into that run-down group home all those years ago, that house of horrors and perversion, he’d saved me.
Saved us.
“I promised you’d never be on your knees for another man again, didn’t I?” His voice was a hard rasp near my ear. And I clenched my teeth, a growl rattling in my chest at his words and the visuals they evoked.
Those tortured memories dwelled in the darkest recesses of my mind.
“And I let you have your revenge. Gave you the skills, the power to make that son of a bitch cower at your feet before you took his head.”
I squeezed my eyes closed, conjuring the face of a long-dead piece of shit named Robert. The smell of his blood, his wails, the pathetic way he begged for his life and clamored for mercy—a courtesy he never afforded me while he severed my last tether to innocence.
“Don’t forget who made you the man you are. Gave you all this—Turned you into a god.” Ronan clapped my neck. “Tomorrow, you’ll be in Marseilles. My people there will hook you up with all the top-shelf European pussy you could ever need to flush this one insignificant woman from your system.”
CHAPTERTWENTY
DEREK
Evangelina
How was your day? I’m wrapping up paperwork on a case and grabbing coffee with Sam.
Iwasn’t the jealous type. Never had to be. But something about Eva enjoying another man’s company rubbed me in all the wrong ways, especially when it had been just over a week since I’d last seen her. Meanwhile, that asshole Sam had probably been like her goddamn shadow for hours on end—day after day.
Fuck him.
