Page 40 of The Casella King

“How the fuck am I supposed to call my sister, or run my business?” I question.

“Henry was supposed to slip out this morning to get you a new one today,” he says as Henry slips his hand inside his jacket pocket, and hands me a new sim card with a smirk playing on his lips.

I snatch it off him and grumble.

“I had all my contacts saved on there!” I yell.

“I told you, that cockless fuck cannot be in contact with you ever again.”

Did he really just get rid of my old SIM card because of Ray? Who am I kidding? Of course he fucking did.

“I’ll be home soon.” He chuckles. “I have a surprise for you.”

I hang up without saying a word, not giving him the satisfaction of a goodbye. I throw the phone at Henry, and he catches it as I stomp inside, slamming the front door.

I spend the afternoon trying to get all my contacts back. Luckily, I have them saved on my cloud. I hear the front door open and close as Ezra walks up the stairs. I look around theroom for something to launch at his head. I’m still fuming that he had the audacity to get rid of my SIM card.

I see him enter the office, the entire room’s energy shifts as his formidable aura obliterates everything else. His eyes penetrate mine, glimmering with pure animal dominance that’s hard not to look away, and my heart pounds beneath my chest as he slowly paces toward me, leaning on my oak desk with both hands, his face an inch from mine. His large frame towers over me.

“Hang up on me again, and I will remind you who the fuck I am.” His voice sends a quiver down between my legs, and I press my thighs together.

I purse my lips, dropping my eyes, refusing to give him the satisfaction of answering back. He lifts my chin with a finger.

“Eyes on me, sweetheart,” he demands, and like a car crash, I can’t look away. His dark eyes are hungry, no, thirsty, but I don’t know what for.

I swallow. “What’s the surprise?” I ask, and he smirks, his eyes hinting at danger.

“I’m so glad you asked.”

He walks around to me, grabbing my hand, guiding me downstairs. We stop in front of the basement door, where I have never been before. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I get the feeling I am not going to enjoy this. I feel his breath on the back of my neck.

“I don’t share, Aries, and those who challenge my power will meet the monster I attempt to hide with the mask of the King.”

I swallow down my nerves as he opens the basement door.

The stench of rotting fills my nostrils as I walk down the creaky steps, following Ezra. The closer I get to the bottom, the stronger the smell gets, and I cover my nose with the crook of my elbow as my heart thumps beneath my chest, threatening to explode or escape my rib cage and run for its life.

The lights flicker on, illuminating the entire room, and the breath escapes from my lungs as I barrel over, tripping backwards over my feet as I stare at Ray hung from the ceiling, hooks digging into his back, blood spilling from the wounds. Dried blood is pooled on the floor beneath him, his head slumped over like he’s dead. I feel my stomach contract as bile rises beneath my throat. Bending over, I empty the entire contents of my stomach onto the floor, struggling to catch my breath between the retching. Ezra rubs my back, pulling my hair away from my face, as I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.

“He’s very much alive.” He steadies my swaying body, turning my face with one hand, making me stare at Ray. I swallow the bile threatening to come up my throat again.

He did this because Ray tried to contact me?

Slow realisation creeps in that the killing is not always of “bad” guys, and it stabs me in the chest that the man who can be so sweet to me could be so different to others, regardless if they are bad or good people.

Finally, I find some words. “Are you going to kill him?” I ask, my voice small.

“Eventually,” he says, pushing my vomit-covered hair away from my face. “I warned him, at our wedding, and he didn’t listen.” He kisses my cheek softly, like he hasn’t just mangled my ex and showed him to me like a cat would leave a mouse at your doorstep.

Even though I don’t particularly care what Ray does, I don’t want him to die. He hasn’t done anything to deserve it, but I don’t think this matters to Ezra because evidently, the criteria for killing someone is you either have to be part of the enemy, speak to me, or be my ex.

He turns me to face him. “My place does not reside in the confines of societal norm, Aries, nor is it a place where dimlight shines through the shadows. My home is in the darkness where the only thing you can hear is the laughter of my demons, and the only stench you can smell is the rotting of my enemies’ corpses.” My breathing accelerates at his words, a shiver travelling down my spine. “I am very well acquainted with the darkness that lives within me, but you, sweetheart, could use a lesson to see that the abyss which claws at you from within could be your liberation.”

I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything, and instead, I think about how I can escape, and I’m not sure if I want to escape from Ezra or from the darkness he ignites within me.

I feel stupid.

What did I think was going to happen when I accepted Ezra’s offer?

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