Page 81 of Captured Obsession

Luca gives me an unfriendly smile as he walks around the wooden desk and comes to stop in front of me. Our mutual distaste for one another is evident in the way that our hands curl into fists, as if we’re both holding back from this turning into a bloodbath.

Because there’s no one here to stop us.

“I don’t take orders from you,” Luca says venomously. “The Wolf has sent you on a suicide mission. You realize that, don’t you?” He looks me up and down.

“I assure you I’m exactly where I want to be. Bring me Dmitri Volkov, and I might be of more assistance to you. Until then, I’ll slit your throat in your sleep if you try to pry Sienna Falcone from me.”

A dangerous half smile touches his lips, a look of death in his gaze.

“Does your boss know about your little captured obsession?”

“Does your wife know you’d so easily gamble her friend’s life away? Took you long enough to track me down, didn’t it? If it were anyone but me who’d taken her, I wonder how much harm would’ve come to her. You’re not fit enough to protect her.”

We grab one another by the collar as he hisses, “Yet she comes to me unharmed. You’ve let yourself be compromised like a fool. The Wolf will kill her when he finds out.”

I grin wickedly at him. “Don’t worry about The Wolf. I’ll deal with him personally.” Because the truth is, I knowThe Wolf wants both of The Lion’s sons dead. He just thinks he’s clever in using me to profit from it, and assumes we’ll take one another out in the process. “What I relish most is a man who thinks he’s the smartest in the room, but he always ends up exposing his neck just a fraction, noticed only by someone who’s just a bit smarter.”

Luca’s eyes darken, and there’s a primitive recognition there. I’ve been around enough heads of powerful families, studying them carefully, to know who is being blindly led, who only care for their ego and cock, and which ones I might’ve respected in another life. Luca Armani is one of the latter. He’s careful and calculating but will also deal with things head-on himself. And even now, as both of us are certain in our control of the situation, we’re not entirely sure how the other might dismantle our plans. And I respect that.

“There’s nothing more pathetic than a man who has no loyalty and whores himself out. So tell me,Udav, are your services for sale?”

“Careful, Diablo, or I might get what I want after all.”

“And what’s that?”

“The head of a monster,” I say quietly near his ear.

The tension finally snaps, and he swings first. I let him, tasting the immediate bloom of blood on my lip, and I savor it as he lunges for me.

“Boss?” The door bursts open behind me, and Luca shoves me through it and into the hallway. He aims afist at my ribs, but I’m quick to block him and then force him back as I slip behind his back and wrap my arms around his neck. He twists out of the maneuver, and I give him credit for being able to get out of my hold. Very few can.

I raise my fists as guns are aimed at my head, but Luca snarls at his men, “Stay out of it!” His eyes are frantic, and my blood buzzes with pure pleasure.

He is the same as me, that beast beneath the surface barely hidden by a mask. Dare I say, he’s enjoying this as much as I am.

We go blow for blow before he pulls out a gun. I knock it out of the way as he squeezes the trigger, the bullet lodging in the ceiling and dropping debris around us. I pull out one of my blades, and strike low for his belly, but he jumps back, keeping his intestines intact.

I wipe at my lip, my hand coming away bloody, and I smile.

“Stop it!” Sienna’s voice carries down the narrow hallway, and everything in my being prickles to awareness as I sidestep Luca, then slam him against the wall, putting myself between him and her, blocking his view of her. “You’re both bleeding!”

“Luca!” Arabella yells, and my head whips up to find the hounds and her friends encircling us. The click of a gun draws my attention back to Luca.

“Don’t look at my wife,” he growls, and I betterposition myself to protect Sienna, but she wrestles to get in front of me.

“No! No fucking shooting!” Sienna screams.

“Luca,” Arabella repeats, more sternly than before. But it’s as good as white noise as we glare down one another in the narrow hallway. It would be so easy for them to kill me here, to take Sienna and be done with it.

“The necklace was a bluff,” Dante announces over my shoulder, and I know with certainty that they’ll shoot me dead and take her.

I know I’m the best person to protect her, but if they kill me in the name of keeping her safe, then I can respect them for it.

As long as something comes between her and The Wolf now that he’s undoubtedly set his sights on her.

“You’ve become sloppy,Udav,” Luca says, but my eyebrows dip in confusion when he pockets his gun.

“Your cheek would say otherwise.” I bare my teeth in a feral grin, and he brings his fingers up to his cheek where a cut bleeds. He seems mildly impressed.