I watch them through my office window. He’s standing too close. He’s touching her hand. His gaze lingers on her lips for too long. His expression is far too entertained while keeping the company of another man’s wife.
My wife.
Jealousy is bitter and caustic as it burns my throat with every swallow. Possessiveness gnaws at me with sharpened teeth, tearing at my flesh and hitting bone. My fists are clenched claws that want to rip his fucking throat out. I should go out there and fuck her while he watches, bend her over, make her scream and mark her like a goddamn animal. I’m two seconds away from doing just that when he turns and walks away, and I can finally take a breath, only to have the oxygen torn from my lungs by a single goddamn sight.
Her smile.
She’s smiling as she watches him walk away. Why the fuck is she smiling? What did he say to her? What did they talk about? Jesus Christ.
I pull my palm down my face, biting my lower lip, chewing the side of my tongue as possessiveness poisons me, eating me alive.
Leandra’s smiles are mine. No one else’s. They’re woven into my bones and blood, yet lately, all I’ve done is make her cry. And up until this moment, I was okay with that, wanting her tears, craving her sorrow because it meant she still felt something, and something is better than nothing. But now that I’m reminded of how fucking beautiful she is when she smiles, how her dark, almond-shaped eyes light up when happiness fills her, I thirst for her smile and her laughter. Her joy is my paradise in this fucked-up world, and I just watched another man get a piece of it.
God, I need her so damn much. It’s a hunger that burns my veins and consumes my thoughts. I want her touch, her kiss, her desire. I need her passion, her lust, her body against mine. I need to feel her heartbeat, see her smile, and hear her laughter, her moans, her cries of ecstasy.
Yet, here I am, watching her smile because of another man.
Another man I’m going to…
“Alexius, here you are.”
A growl rips from my throat, and I reach for my gun behind my back, spinning around and launching at Rome, slamming his back into the wall, his breath exploding from his mouth.
“What the fuck?”
I force my arm against his chest, pressing my elbow on the pulsing vein in his neck as I attempt to stop air from reaching his lungs. I press the muzzle of my gun against his jaw. “Stay the fuck away from her,” I seethe.
“Oh, right.” His eyes widen with recognition, dark irises lit with a gleam of malice. “You saw that, huh?”
“Stay. The fuck. Away from my wife.”
“We were just talking.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I spit out, squeezing my gun harder to his jaw wanting nothing more than to paint my walls with blood and brain matter. “I don’t care that you’re family, Rome. If you so much as look at her the wrong way, I will gut you.”
“Funny,” he moans as I add more pressure to his throat. “I don’t see Isaia walking around with his intestines hanging out, and from what I’ve heard, he’s more than looked at her the wrong way.”
I narrow my eyes, and he smirks. “Rumors spread fast, cousin. Surely you know by now these halls can’t keep secrets.”
“My office sure as fuck can,” I hiss, dragging my gun up the side of his face, pressing it against his temple. “And if you choose to play games that involve my wife, I’ll wash your blood off my carpet for a week with a goddamn smile on my face.”
Nicoli walks in and raises his brows. “Why am I not surprised? Alexius, put your gun away. Let’s grab a bottle of bourbon and settle this like men.”
Rome snickers, and I snarl, pressing my gun harder against his head. “This is your first and last warning. Stay away from Leandra.”
“Seriously?” Nicoli cocks a brow at Rome. “Leandra? Listen, cousin.” He crosses his arms and steps closer. “I can try to stop my twin from kicking your ass for coming home and screwing up all our plans. What I can’t do is find a cure for being dumb as fuck.”
“I simply introduced myself.”
“One does not simply introduce yourself to my brother’s wife,” Nicoli says. “You see her, turn around, walk away, and pray to God that Alexius didn’t see you breathe in her direction.”
“Jesus,” Rome mutters. “I never would have guessed some woman would have Alexius by the balls.”
“She’s not just some woman.” As I step back, I let go of him with a jerk, aiming my gun at his forehead. “She’s my wife, and she’s pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Rome’s eyebrows almost touch his hairline as he straightens his coat collar. “She’s having your child?”
“Twins,” I reply, deadpan.
“Well, that’s great, cousin.” He holds his arms wide, glancing between Nicoli and me. “You’re going to be a dad. Hopefully you’ll do a better job than our fathers. Although, locking up the mother of your children isn’t quite what I’d call a good start.”
“You should learn to shut your mouth when you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“As I said,” he straightens his collar, “these halls talk.”
I scoff, my fists burning to mess up his smug fucking face. “You know, you have some nerve coming back after you left like a fucking coward.”
“I had my reasons.”
“You didn’t want to get your hands dirty for this family like the rest of us. Yet here you are, back to come to your father’s aid—the man who tried so fucking hard to wipe out my family but never succeeded because the worst mistake he ever made was underestimating us.”
“No one is more aware of my father’s shortcomings than I am.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be here helping him.”
Rome inches closer even though I’m still holding the gun with my finger on the trigger. “It doesn’t matter what my father did or did not do in the past. Being part of the Dark Sovereign is still my fucking birthright.”
“A right you gave up the day you decided to be a fucking coward and ran away with your tail between your legs.”
“You think you know everything, but you don’t,” he seethes.
“You showed me all I needed to know when you turned your back on this family.”
“Girls!” Nicoli calls out. “You’re both fucking pretty. Now, can we stop bickering like little bitches in heat?” I take my eyes off Rome for a second to see Nicoli take a seat on the couch, light a cigarette, and then lean back. “We can stand around insulting each other until the cows come home. It won’t solve a single fucking thing.”
“Right now, I don’t want to solve shit.” I bring my face inches from Rome’s. “All I want is to hear you say you understand Leandra is off-limits. My wife will not be a part of this game you plan on playing. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. Understood?”
Seconds tick by as we keep each other’s glare. Part of me hopes he’ll challenge me, give me a reason to slit his throat. But I’m secretly disappointed when he nods and says, “Understood.”
“Good.”
“Great.” Nicoli claps his hands, cigarette hanging from his lips. “Now, let’s have a drink and celebrate the fact that we’ve delayed bloodshed by another day.”
“I think I’ve had enough of cowards for one day,” I sneer, pressure building in my head as I keep a threatening eye on Rome for a few more seconds before stomping out of my office, slamming the door behind me. My cousin unnerves me, and the more I look at him, the clearer I see the smile on Leandra’s face. It’s an innocent act that sharpens the edge of my anger, eliciting the deadliest impulses in me. I’ve never been so close to madness as I am now. Longing for her, craving her like she’s the heroin my veins need, is lethal when combined with the venom of my jealousy. My obsessive instincts are heightened, sharp, and deadlier than ever now that I don’t have her.
I could kill a man with my bare hands for something as simple as breathing in a way I don’t fucking like. Maybe this is what it means to truly be evil, having no control over your mind and your actions, no longer fighting the darkest parts of you, because what’s the point? What’s the point of trying to be a better man when the person who owns your heart no longer wants it? All that’s left is this soul crushing rage while I go about my day being a miserable bastard.
Even my footsteps are angered, and I can hardly breathe, loosening my tie with a violent jerk and popping the button of my collar. I want to destroy something so badly, my every muscle is on the verge of exploding.
Fuck! I slam my fist into the wall, growling. My teeth are clenched, and my blood pumps violently and hard, swooshing in my ears. I’ve never felt like this before. My mind, my thoughts, my body possessed by the thought of her. She’s this delusion that lives inside my head because she sure as fuck ain’t in my bed anymore.
I punch my fist against the wall, followed by another, the plaster cracking under my rage, and I let out a roar of agony. All I see is her face, those sultry heart-shaped lips, long lashes that fan her cheeks as her eyes roll closed every time I slide my cock into her. Those soft, sensual noises she makes as I rock her body, it fucking haunts me. The feel of her nails clawing at the skin of my back, her heels digging into the flesh of my ass while her thighs trap me between her legs, forcing me deeper, not letting go. My wife consumes me. She weakens me. And not being able to touch her, kiss her, have her in every way possible has me dying a slow, painful death, my insides breaking more and more each day.
I lean my head against the wall, my mind sinking into darkness while I drown in my love for her. God. Why can’t she just come to her senses? She knows as well as I do we’re meant to be together. I saw it in her eyes. She knows she’s mine.
“Alexius?”
My heart stutters and stops. I freeze, practically gasping for breath, struggling against the whirlpool of anger, frustration, and the worst torment I’ve ever felt in my life.
“Are you okay?” Leandra’s voice is a sheet of silk around my throat, and I can practically taste her as her scent surrounds me. It’s not her perfume, or soap, or shampoo I smell. It’s a scent that’s uniquely her. An exquisite fusion of love, affection, lust, and a flurry of indecent intentions.
I glance up, and the thread snaps as my gaze meets hers. I surge forward, grab her waist, and yank her against me, spinning around and pulling her into the first room closest to us.
“Alexius, what are you—”
The door slams shut, and I push her back against it. Without thinking twice, I crash my lips against hers, kissing her as if the antidote to my suffering is on her velvet tongue. I press my body against hers, slide my tongue in her mouth, and groan as I finally taste her after being without it for what feels like a goddamn eternity.
My one hand is on her waist while the other grips her jaw tightly, ensuring she can’t move her lips away from mine. She tastes like poison and sunshine, a blend of death and salvation. And the best part? She’s kissing me back, and it’s heated, carnal, like she knows exactly what I need because it’s what she needs, too.
It doesn’t occur to me that this is a moment lost within a whirlpool of chaos. I’m out of control and don’t give a fuck about a single second we’ve spent apart. I don’t care that our reality has us separated.
“Stop,” she breathes against my lips.
“Don’t,” I warn. “Don’t say a fucking word.” I take her mouth hard, sweeping my tongue deep, kissing her like I’m fucking dying inside, like she’s the cure to every pain I’ve ever suffered in my entire goddamn life.
“Alexius, stop.” But her lips are a complete contradiction to her words as she opens wide, giving my tongue access to every corner of her mouth. Her hands press against my chest, but I grab her wrists and pin them above her head with a violent jerk, the sound of her gasp rippling down my spine. Her breasts push up as her back curves, and the second I have both her hands secured in my palm, I reach down and cup her tit, my lips sucking and teeth nipping at her nipple through the fabric of her top.
“Oh, God.” The sound of her sweet moans tears a low growl from my chest, my cock hard and aching to fuck. “We can’t do this.”
“We can.” My lips are on hers again, and I snake my hand around her hip, clutching her ass, pushing her hard against my raging cock. “We can do this every second of every goddamn day.”
“Alexius,” her voice is a strained whisper, “please…stop.”
“Don’t say it.”
“Please.”
“Fuck!” I roar, grip her hips, and swivel her around, forcing her front against the wall, pushing my body hard against her, the curve of her ass giving my dick the friction I need. “You’ve made me wait too long, stray.”
“Not long enough.”
I nip at her ear and roll my hips. “You feel that? You have no idea how I ache to be inside you. I’m fucking suffering, and I can’t take it anymore.”
“You deserve it,” she sneers over her shoulder, rubbing her ass against my hard cock. “You deserve to suffer.”
I sweep her hair over her shoulder and drag the tip of my tongue up the side of her neck. “I’m done, stray. Done playing this game with you. It’s time I make you realize that no matter what, you’re mine.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?” she murmurs, and I brush my lips up the shell of her ear.
“By using this body of yours until you can’t walk,” I tell her. “By leaving bruises on your skin, teeth marks on your flesh, and fuck that sweet little cunt of yours until there’s no question who your body belongs to.”
“I hate you,” she spits out.
“Then I’m afraid you’re going to hate me even more after what I’m about to do.”
