His hands on her.
His mouth on her.
His face when he was buried deep inside of her.
“Love—there’s no such thing in this life. Do you think she—” she nodded toward me “—is going to get real love?”
My hands balled into fists at my sides.
The moment I saw him, I knewthe truth.
Those eyes hid his poisonous heart.
Those lips were vessels of deception.
That body? Made for inflicting pain.
I did not listen to myself. I did not go with my instincts. I went with love.
Love couldn’t exist in this world.
My hand stilled on the kitchen drawer as I heard Uncle Tito andlo scorpionetalking right outside of the kitchen.
“The break, Corrado,” Uncle Tito said. “It’s deep this time. She can’t see past whatever she is going through.”
I almost threw back my head and howled with laughter.
They thought I was losing my mind? Had either one of them spent time with my husband lately? If they wanted to see a loss of a mind, all they had to do was look athim.
Maybe he was rubbing off on me.
Corrado took his voice down, and a minute later, he came into the kitchen.
“Turn around,” he said. “Look at me.”
I refused to. He grabbed me by the shoulders, forcing me to face him, but I wouldn’t look him in the eye.
“Look at me, Alcina,” he said.
I refused, keeping my arms up to my chest so I wouldn’t even accidentally touch him. I could smell her perfume on his body. I could smell roses and spice and something else…something I couldn’t place. The unknown scent did not matter. The rest, I could smell, and they were poking thevipere.
His eyes were hard on my face, but I did not move. He released me suddenly, almost violently, and lifted my shirt up.
I let him.
His breath picked up when he noticed the bruises. I felt his warm breath fan against my skin in faster waves. My shirt fell as he took a step back.
He stared at me from across the room. Then in a burst of fury, he picked up one of the chairs and flung it through the window behind me. It went clear through, the glass ricocheting in a hundred different directions.
I did not even flinch.
Not even when the alarms blared.
“Boss—” one of the men said, coming to stand in the doorway.
“Turn it off,” he said, not even looking at the man. He stared at me. I refused to look at him.
The man moved like a shadow in the darkness. Then another shadow appeared.
