Angelica I was starting to doubt Curtis’s infamous skilled tongue had anything to do with his negotiation skills. I had overheard enough of his conference call to know that bit was true, but that was certainly not all. After he left, I’d tried to reenact the night before, touching myself exactly the way he did. It did get me off, albeit not as intensely as he did. Then he’d dropped by in the evening while I danced in my room and made me see literal stars before he left for work yet again. It was finally clear why Siren had made it a point to warn me against sleeping with the enemy. She meant it literally. I was starting to care about things that shouldn’t be my business instead of rejoicing at the chance to explore the rest of the mansion. Heaven knew I didn’t have all the time in the world. I had no idea what time Curtis would be back and I had no excuse to ask him, so it was a pie directly from the sky when Siren decided to drop by. “What’s the special occasion?” I asked when
“You should have told me we were leaving the city for a few days. I didn’t bring anything.” I berated him. He didn’t look the slightest bit concerned. “We can buy everything we need.” I shot him a look. What kind of solution is that? “There are things I can’t replace on a whim and nana will kill me if I don’t tell her I’m leaving. Do we have to leave immediately?” I rose on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek before he could come up with a solution that didn’t involve me rushing back. “I’ll be right back.” “Do you want Dom to accompany you?” He asked. “The only Dom I want to go anywhere with is you.” He frowned in confusion while I took a few steps away to give myself a headstart. “Domenico?”He muttered a curse about Klara while I laughed my guts off. What were his parents thinking? “Take my car.” He pointed at the key in the bowl on his desk. I grabbed it and dashed out before he changed his mind. Aside from telling Nana I was leaving and saying goodbye to her, The Viper was constantl
The Viper. If I wasn’t drinking a large cup of intensely caffeinated espresso, I would think I was dreaming. I was looking right at Romanos Giannelli—or at least what he would look like if he was a young woman. Lyra took after him nearly as strikingly as Angelika took after Hyacinth. She had her father’s looks and her mother’s personality. I had been in the diner for only half an hour but I could tell it from the way she interacted with customers. Hyacinth had always been a bundle of joy with enough contagious smiles to melt the coldest of hearts. She was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dull universe. When I first met Angelika, I was dumbstruck by how cold and emotionless Hyacinth’s daughter had turned out to be. Now I saw where the genetic lottery cast all of Hyacinth’s joyousness. “Can I get you anything else?” She asked out of the blue. I was staring at her so hard that I didn’t notice her coming nearer until she was right before me. “Oh.” I glanced down at my coffee. “Ask me
Angelica The Viper’s lack of response was concerning. He was yet to say a word about The Vault I led him to and he was the last person I wanted surrpsies from, obviously. It had been an entire day since we came to Arcron and I had checked my phone so many times that Curtis had almost caught on that something was wrong. I managed to make an excuse about it but I was going crazy. What was he up to? The fact that Curtis was so busy going to meeting after meeting wasn’t helping. I spent the whole time in our hotel room on my own, which gave me more than enough time to overthink and come up with the weirdest scenarios. That explained why I froze when a bellboy delivered a parcel for me. “Who is it from?” I asked. My first reaction after the initial shock was to step away from it. If it was from The Viper, there was a very likely chance it was a literal ticking time bomb. I wouldn’t put it past him to detonate an entire building just to kill Curtis. “I don’t know. It arrived at the f
Curtis I didn’t want to bring Angelica to my meetings. She was not part of my world. I didn’t want to involve her in anything to do with Inferno or Arciero Industries and I had only brought her along because I couldn’t be certain of her safety if she was not on my side. Giancarlo strongly suspected he was being followed and I knew whoever was targeting him would pick me next. Giancarlo and I had always been each other’s strongest support system. If either of us was targeted, the other would be next. Angelica, on the other hand, was a liability. It was not unheard of for people to use wives and children as weapons against their enemies. It was even less pleasant when Arciero Industries’ partners insisted on meeting her. I would have blown them off but no one believed I was truly married. Putting aside the fact they had not heard anything about her, I was a bachelor merely a month ago. The only way to prove I had a wife was to bring her over for them to meet her. She wasn’t pleased
This was nothing like the day we met when she was trying to convince me to give her a second chance to work at Inferno. She was timid back then, trying not to come off as too obnoxious. Not this time. This time she was bringing out all her moves and tricks like she was on a mission. She locked her gaze on mine as she gyrated her hips her hands slowly caressing her skin. She tugged the hem of her crop top and pulled it all the way off her body in one long seductive move. Then she pulled her hair out of the bun atop her head and let it tumble down her body in soft, black waves. If I thought her bra from the night before was the most seductive she could ever wear, I was wrong. Today’s choice was more modest but the sight of the black material contrasting her creamy boobs was the most erotic thing I had ever seen. My cock was straining against my pants and she hadn’t laid a finger on me. She flipped her hair to her back and sashayed her way to me, stopping merely a few feet away. She h
AngelicaI knew this was a bad idea. Curtis was scrutinizing the divorce papers with way too much caution. I spoke up before he could start asking questions. “I added some alimony for me. Do you mind?”He flipped the pages and got to the clause about our alimony arrangement, which made him dart his gaze back to me in displeasure. “Half a million? Do you think marrying me is worth that little?”I didn’t. I had calculated the best amount that would make it seem like I didn’t care about his money and the clause about alimony was merely a way to keep Maverick out of our business. Even though it wouldn’t matter how soon we divorced after Curtis met the requirements to inherit his grandfather’s estate, we couldn’t put it past Maverick to sue us for fraud if he thought our divorce was too convenient to be true.But all of this was a decoy. I was not being thoughtful and covering all the bases. I was keeping Curtis’s attention glued to the divorce papers so he wouldn’t remember what he reall
“What happened last night? My head feels like shit.” I pressed my fingers against my temples and squinted. At least that part was true. I had never gotten used to The Viper’s extra special treats. They always left me feeling like my brain had been passed through a mincer.Curtis poured a glass of water and brought it to me, then poured himself one as well. “I’m going to get us painkillers. Do you need anything else while I’m out?”I shook my head. At least he had torn his attention off the divorce papers. When he left the room, I slumped back on the couch and once again let the stupid thoughts get to me.If I told Curtis the truth now and he invalidated the will, would The Viper still kill him?Would it fly if I offered to be the one to end his life and then stalled incessantly by letting my plans fail every time?A thought crossed my mind. If The Viper was confident I would be able to pull it off, he might go after Curtis now that he had left the room on his own. For the first time,