Chapter 9
Roman
It’s been two days since the golden hero showed up at Eve’s and he hasn’t left her side since.
He doesn’t trust me. Understandable. I don’t trust him either.
You don’t grow up in the Italian mafia trusting everyone you meet, especially men you know could kill you just as well as you could kill them – and they could get away with it.
Problem is, I’ve been trying to get to know Eve and Wylder cockblocking James is putting a stop to it every. Single. Time.
Figuring out she had a son, a son that no doubt belongs to my cousin and is now the unknown heir to the Valente throne, was a bit of a shocker. I stormed away and it took me more time than I’d care to admit to cool down – but not because she had a child she hadn’t told me about. Not really.
No – it was because I had finally found a woman who matched my fire and somehow my cousin had gotten to her first. A cousin who had never expressed any interest in children now has a son when all I’ve ever wanted was a child to call my own.
It took me about ten hours to reach that realization, and my current goal.
Evangeline Patton was going to have my child next.
I know it’s a little soon for me to make a claim like that and if I told her my intentions, she would probably sic Wylder on me and run for the hills, but…I have a plan.
I may not have been able to talk to Eve much the past few days, but I have been able to watch her. I see how when she chooses something on TV to watch, it’s always true crime. I see how she loves when Wylder tells his MC or war stories and the only books she has on her shelves are the dark romance ones. I see how she watches me when she thinks I’m not watching her.
I had her wrong when I first met her floundering her way through flirting outside of Atlas’s club. She isn’t a princess at all.
Eve is my little moth.
She thrives in the dark, her eyes taking in every little detail to keep herself safe while watching for the weaknesses of any other predators. She knows I’m that predator.
She just doesn’t know how fully I’m going to consume her.
That’s why my plan is going to work.
I’m going to devour her and she’s going to love every second of it, but she isn’t going to know just how deep my fangs are in her delicate little wings until she’s falling right into my trap.
I let my eyes travel across the room to where her and Wylder dance along to some rap song in the kitchen. They’re cooking Italian for dinner, homemade alfredo and salad with fixings freshly picked from Wylder’s garden.
She looks so light right now with her bright blonde hair and her full figure bouncing around as she dances to the music playing in the background.
It’s all a ruse, though. A shield. A form ofcamouflage to keep her darkness hidden.
I wonder if the golden boy at her side knows the truth.
Standing up, I grab my pack of cigarettes off the coffee table and head to the back door. It’s glass, so I can still see inside, but it’s private enough where I can call Atlas and get an update.
He picks up on the first ring, smoke already burning through my lungs as his voice comes through the speaker. “Not really a good time, Ro.”
I roll my eyes and hear a gunshot fire off in the background. “It’s never a good time with you, Atlas. Are you almost done in Cuba?”
I hear him hesitate and two more gunshots sound off. They sound far enough away that I know it’s not him shooting, but he’s close enough to the fire that he may have to hang up at any moment. “Probably just a few more days. What’s the rush? I thought you said you had a good lawyer?”
Taking another drag of my cigarette, I look through the glass door at Eve who’s now pulling the alfredo out of the oven. “I told you, I can’t say over the phone. I just need you and Tez.”
As much as I want Eve to myself, I know that’s not possible. Atlas and Kortez will figure out the truth soon enough and if they think I was trying to keep anything from them, they’ll kill me on the spot. Hell, Kortez will probably kill me and then keep my head on his wall like some sort of fucking trophy. He’s fucked like that.
Atlas scoffs. “Bored of Denver already,cugino?”
I smile into the phone, finishing off my cigarette and immediately lighting another one.
