As if she wasn’t raised on tainted money. All of the luxury she’s known all her life was born from pain and betrayal, and death. Yet she acts like she has the moral high ground. “You can stay unshackled,” I decide. “For now. Don’t make me regret it, Aurora.” Her mouth pulls into a thin line of disapproval.
Before I close the door, I look her up and down, memorizing the way she looks in her dress. How it hugs her ripe body. The way it hints at the treasure underneath but covers enough to make a man’s mouth water. Before my dick changes my mind for me, I pull the door shut, lock it, and walk away.
The celebration is already well underway by the time I reach my living room, where upbeat music is playing and laughter floats out into the hall. “There he is!” Selina holds up a bottle of champagne at my entrance. She’s beaming from ear to ear. “Our leader. Our mastermind.”
“How does it feel?” Nick hands me a bottle, which I gladly uncork. Unlike Ethan and me, Nick never lost family at the hands of Blackwell, but he did lose someone he cared about: my sister. They were pretty serious about each other before her young life was snuffed out along with my parents.
“Honestly? Pretty fucking sweet.” The four of us raise our bottles and glasses, laughing, touching them with a soft clink before drinking deep. The sugary liquid goes down smooth, icy cold. It tastes like victory.
“I hope he suffered to his last breath,” Selina mutters before drinking again, then flopping down on the couch positioned in front of the fireplace. In her skin-tight black clothes, she could be a cat burglar taking a short break. Running a hand through her black hair, she snickers. “Not that he breathed very long with all that smoke in the air.”
“I hope he had enough time to think about the lives he destroyed.” There’s something dark and intense about Ethan. He’s not in the same jovial mood as the rest of us are. We might call him Pretty Boy, thanks to those all-American good looks, but there’s been a lot of ugliness in his past—a lot of which he’ll never talk about.
“He has all of eternity to think back on that,” I remind them, then wave my arms over my head. “Enough about that fucker. Let’s talk about the spoils.”
“Let me guess. Those weak fucks rolled over as soon as they knew you meant business,” Nick declares, and a cheer rises up when I nod my confirmation.
“Of course they did.” When I drop into one of the armchairs, Selina gets up and rounds the chair to take hold of my shoulders. “Once they figured out who they were dealing with, they didn’t have a choice. I wish I could’ve been there.”
I nod, not feeling like talking about this anymore. I really don’t feel like talking at all, to be honest. I turn up the music using the remote while Selina massages my muscles. Something about the gesture sets my teeth on edge and makes me gently shake her off. I’ve never been a fan of having my personal space invaded without permission.
“I bet every single one of them pissed their chairs,” Ethan yells over the music, before draining what’s left of his bottle.
Selina leans in close to my ear. I smell the alcohol on her breath when she murmurs, “I bet the little princess did, too.”
“You’d be surprised,” I reply before downing more of the sweet champagne. Just the opposite was true. She handled it like a veteran. Unflinching, unblinking. I would’ve expected her to shriek or weep or at least shake. She would be easier to understand if she had. Instead, I can’t help but wonder about her. What will it take to break her down? I have a lot on my plate now, what with the empire I’m now running, but a man can taketime for hobbies, can’t he? Aurora might be just that. At least until her time with me is up.
Selina goes back to her chair after grabbing a second bottle. “It’s weird, isn’t it? Being on the other side of everything? No matter how many times you work it out, step-by-step, going through it in your head…”
“There’s nothing like reality,” Nick murmurs, nodding slowly. “It was almost too easy.”
“Easy?” I ask with a laugh. “I don’t know about that. I think nothing is ever going to be easy. Not even now. I still have a wife to worry about for the next two months.”
Selina rolls her dark eyes, scoffing. “Please. She’s not worth worrying about. Just an empty-headed princess.”
I take a swig from my bottle to keep my thoughts silent. That’s easy for her to say. I can’t keep the girl out of my head even now, when the champagne ought to make everything warm and fuzzy and good. I can’t help wondering what she’s thinking, locked away like she has been her entire life.
The three of them don’t seem to notice my silence while they continue drinking, laughing, rehashing every detail of last night’s ambush. All I can do is recall the softness of Aurora’s skin under my hand. The way she fell apart so beautifully when she came in front of me. What I wouldn’t give to make her do that on my tongue… and my cock.
Fuck, I need to stop thinking about her.
Nick walks up to stand next to me. One look in his face, and I know he can tell I’m distracted. He knows me better than anyone, of course.
“You good?” Is all he asks, knowing I won’t talk about anything right now anyway.
“Yeah. All good,” I confirm.
“We’ll talk later,” he says before he sits back down on the couch.
I stay for a while, even though I would rather be somewhere else right now. When I stretch and yawn, it catches Selina’s attention. “What’s the matter with you?” She laughs, slurring a little before perching on the armrest on my chair. Crossing her legs, she swings her foot to the music. “Don’t tell me you’re all worn out.”
“Now that you mention it, it’s been a long couple of days.” Standing, I finish off the rest of my bottle before placing it on the table. “And I have a hell of a lot of work to get started in the morning.”
“Come on. We all know what you’re really thinking about.” Nick elbows Ethan, and the two of them share a laugh before good-naturedly getting their shit together so they can go.
Selina doesn’t look so good-natured. “This was supposed to be a party.”
“We partied. But I’m a little beyond the point of staying up until dawn, you know?” When she scowls, I add, “Besides, I have to check on the little woman.”
