“I can’t,” I whispered.
My heart wouldn’t let me.
My soul would die if I did.
Chapter Three
Collin
Months ago. After the Romano Dinner.
I gazed down upon the fallen King of Darkness. His son, Tony, was dead.
The mafia’s allies had abandoned us, and Romano’s numbers had diminished.
This was never a part of the plan. Gwen Davenport and her goddamn revenge…
I rubbed my jaw as I stared down at Ray Romano, broken and vulnerable.
It would be so easy to just—
“Mr. Stevens?”
Clenching my jaw as well as my right fist housed in the pocket of my slacks, I turned to our doctor on staff. The Romano family liked to keep two doctors on standby. “What?” I barked, my eyes never leaving Romano.
“The girl is asking for you.”
Turning on my heel, I rubbed a thumb across my lip, my eyes assessing the man from feet to face. When my eyes met his, I couldn’t help but smile at the fear behind them and the sweat glistening across his bald forehead.
We were in the west wing of my house; its location known by only a handful of people—Romano being one of them, despite my best efforts.
The house staff was brought in through Italy, hired by Mrs. Romano herself. They were blindfolded through the last half of the trip here to keep this location hidden from the rest of the world. As for the rest of the people on this island, they were brought on by my careful selection.
“Who is asking for me?” I asked slowly as I retrieved my knife from my jacket pocket. The man trembled as I flipped the blade out, the dim light bouncing off the metal.
“The…the girl is asking for you, sir.”
Insufficient fool.
Three seconds later, I had the man by the throat, his back against the wall, his feet dangling from the ground. I pressed the blade against his cheek, right under his eye.
“Are you disrespecting my house guest, Doctor?”
He tried to pry my hand from his throat, which only pissed me off. “No—no,” he choked out.
“She has a name,” I spat. “And you will give her the respect she deserves. Do not address her as anything less again. Are we clear?”
The man nodded frantically, his skin turning a deep red. I stretched my neck from side to side as I tried to ignore the urge to kill him. Last night had gone horribly wrong, and I needed to kill someone to calm the fuck down.
I needed blood.
“The only reason you will live to see the sun rise tomorrow is because,” I hissed, pointing my blade to where the Dark King laid, “he needs to live.” I released my hold on him, taking a step back while he gasped for air, crumbling on the ground before me.
I pulled a cigarette out of my pocket and lit it up. Normally, I preferred not smoking indoors, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
After sucking in the delicious, toxic smoke, I flipped my lighter closed. “Are we clear on that, Doc?” I asked as the smoke exited my body, taking some of the tension away with it.
He coughed and nodded frantically.
