He shrugs. “My brother needs some excitement in his life, don’t you think? That is why he changed you, after all. For some…excitement.”
I’m about to snapHe’s not your brotherbut I refrain. That’s just Lucian talking through me.
Keeping my face blank, I dump panties into the case.
He sits up and hooks a pair with a finger. “Cotton? Doesn’t he buy you silk?”
Lucian does. Silk, satin, lace. But I’m not going to tellhimthat.
I dump T-shirts in next. He sighs as he pokes his finger in a hole in one of them.
“What do you want, Santiago?”
“I saw how he had you naked, tied up, and suspended.” He slides closer, wrapping a hand around the back of my thigh.
It feels so wrong.
I shove him away. “What Lucian and I do privately isn’t your business.”
“Still…” He stands, smoothing my hair from my face. “Just because he created you doesn’t mean you have to stay with him.”
“I’m aware.”
He moves around me, and I freeze in place. Santiago might be handsome, the visual opposite of Lucian, but I’m suddenly finding him as attractive as a gnat. When he tries to press his face into my hair, I swat at him, catching his cheek with my nails.
He laughs. “And yet you’re packing your old life away to go be with him.”
“Where else should I go?”
“With me.” He smiles. “I lust for your…talents.”
“You don’t know me.”
“And we have lifetimes. No matter what Lucian thinks, he doesn’t own this city and he doesn’t own you. I plan on making both of those things very clear.”
“You tried to kill me!”
“Not you.” He steps closer. “It would’ve made things easier if Lucian weren’t in the picture anymore, but he’ll be dealt with soon enough.”
Something ugly and incandescent surges through me.
The idea of Lucian dead by Santiago’s hand surges hotter than the fire ever did. My fingers curl, nails biting into my palms, a feral need to protect roaring up so fast it steals my breath. It shocks me how immediate it is. How instinctive.
I force myself to breathe. To slow it down. Rage won’t help me here.
I school my face, swallow the violence, and remind myself that I can use him, and to do that I can’t afford to lose control.
Kayla would hate this version of me. The sharp edges. The convincing nature. The way I’m already learning how to lie without flinching.
“You and I both know Lucian can’t satisfy the hunger coursing through you. The thirst for more,” he says. “I can give it all to you. I’d never hold you back.”
With his gaze never leaving mine, his hand slips into the open luggage and pushes aside clothes. Then he draws out one of the framed photos of me and Kayla and holds it between us.
“Who is she?”
I shove past him, out into the small living space.
It’s a mistake.
