Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
But. . . my libido gasps. He’s so pretty. . .
He holds out a hand, and I almost accept it. Stop it!
My body keeps on betraying me as my heel twists under me, and I fall into my captor. He scoops me up in his arms and carries me, bridal style, to the front door. And like a simpering fool, I wind my arms around his neck, feeling safe and secure against him.
To anyone watching, we look like a newly married couple. Is he playing it up for any cameras? Building a case that I went with him willingly?
Probably not. When you’ve murdered as many people as Victor probably has, adding a kidnapping charge is no big deal.
He frees a hand for a handprint scanner to enter the building. A keypad. Interesting. It transforms this boring, concrete block apartment building into a villain’s lair. A hitman like Victor would require nothing less.
The doors open to a sleek, square-shaped foyer, empty of anything but an elevator door and another keypad to enter it.
“Almost there, beautiful,” Victor murmurs, and I blink to keep from rolling my eyes. Just because he’s carrying me like a bride doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten who he is to me. I should be fighting to get away.
Later. Victor is my best chance at getting to Stephanos. Going along with him is as good as infiltrating the Petropoulos gang. I just have to survive.
The elevator requires a third handprint before it takes us to the top floor, the doors opening directly into a dimly lit penthouse. Subtle overhead lights blink on as Victor carries me over the threshold. The air is a few degrees cooler than I expected, or maybe it’s the cold, sterile nature of the decor. Most of the cavernous space is one giant room with gray concrete floors, stainless steel appliances, and white leather couches. Everything is shiny, modern, and spotless. There’s a long table made from a single quartz slab, clean enough to perform surgery on. Victor could kill someone in here and easily wipe up the blood.
Maybe he already has.
“So, I’m here.” My voice echoes in the massive space. “Now what?”
“You know what.” His voice drops to a deeper register, and I want to roll my eyes. Except, once again, my libido is falling for it.
Since when are sexy psychopaths my type?
A strand of hair has escaped its updo, and he reaches out and winds it around his finger, rubbing his thumb over it. I resist a shiver. I am not wondering what his fingers would feel like on my naked skin. I am not.
“This is some Richard the Third-level fetish. Seducing a bride after you kill her groom?”
“You were having second thoughts. That is what you told me, no?” The more I talk to him, the more I detect an Eastern European accent. Not Ukrainian, but something close.
“That doesn’t mean I wanted him dead.”
“And yet you stood by and did nothing. No crying. No hysterics. Just rearranging your schedule in your head.” Victor’s glacier-blue eyes fasten on mine, intent on prising me apart.
“You make me sound so cold.” And even though my exact reputation in La Famiglia is as a frigid mafia princess known for her sharp-tongued disdain, it hurts to be called callous.
“No, beautiful.” He plucks at the long satin sleeve of my dress with his long fingers, and I can’t hold my shiver back. “You’re the opposite of cold.”
My blush blooms hotter. Dammit. I can hide my thoughts but not my libido, which, after years of lying dormant, has come roaring to life. It’s been a while since I’ve had a one-night stand. I seduced David by gazing adoringly up at him through my lashes and pretending to laugh at his bad jokes. I got him to the altar by promising to hand over my virginity (Ha!) once I was legally his.
In short, my sex life has had quite a dry spell, and now my body is ready to throw itself at this man, the blood on his hands be damned.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“I promise no harm will come to you this night.”
I don’t know why, but I believe him. But the lawyer in me has to close all loopholes. “And in the morning?”
He doesn’t answer right away, only toys with my hair.
“Victor?” I wait, rubbing the sword charm of my necklace between a thumb and forefinger.
“We shall see.”
This is the reason I believe him. He’s careful about what he promises. If he’s telling the truth, I have a twelve-hour window to escape.
No problem. There’s a foolproof way to stay alive and send my captor to sleep.
I’m going to seduce him.
He steps closer, and the force of his presence, his striking good looks and intensity, makes me wobble.
I cast about for something to distract him. Something other than me. I’m his entertainment for the night, but I need a minute to gird my loins and get ready to perform.