Page 62 of Malevolent King

“I’ve been down here… when looking for privacy, if you know what I mean,” Chiara said and wiggled an eyebrow at me.

“You’re kidding,” I muttered. It was hard to imagine a less romantic place than a literal dungeon.

“Needs must, and besides, we have to take what we can get, while we can get it,” Chiara said with a heavy voice. “You know how hard it was to even break those walls down… never mind worry about how romantic places are.”

I swallowed the rest of my protests. She was right. When we’d graduated high school, Chiara had already fallen hard for my older, stoic bodyguard. She hadn’t known he’d felt the same and had pushed him every single day to get him to notice her. I still remembered the day his control snapped. Luckily, I was able to leave them to it on that occasion, but I knew better than anyone what it was to want someone off-limits. I knew all too well how fragile those secrets could be and how they could all tumble down in death and destruction.

We arrived at Niko’s door, and Chiara slid open the metal grate at the top that allowed the guards to look in without opening it. Antonio had them all fitted after a prisoner had escaped their bonds and waited to ambush the guards when they opened the doors.

It was dark and still inside.

“Is he sleeping?” Chiara whispered, narrowing her eyes as she gazed into the dimly lit room.

“No, he’s awake,” I muttered. I could feel him watching me, waiting to see what we’d do.

“I can’t see shit,” Chiara grumbled, and reached for the deadbolt and edging open the door.

“Chiara, leave him alone.”

“Why? I’m not going to hurt him or anything,” she muttered.

“Well, that’s good to know.” Niko’s mocking tone floated to us in the dark.

Giving in to my desire to see him, I headed to the wall and flipped on the small bare light bulb that hung in the middle of the room.

He was sitting against the wall with his arms pulled back. His gray eyes met mine immediately, and the warmth in them sent a jolt right through me.

“Hello,lastochka. Nice of you to visit,” he murmured.

His eyes ran over me, turning nearly silver as they caught the light. My body heated, and my skin felt tight. I smoothed my sweaty palms down my thighs and tried to get a grip. I was wearing tight yoga pants and a crop top for working out. The look in Niko’s eyes told me he approved of them a lot.

“Wow, so you’re him… the great and terrible Nikolai Chernov.” Chiara folded her arms over her chest, her flair for the dramatic delivering, as always.

“At your service. It’s Nikolai Viktorovich Chernov, if you want to get technical about it, and the great and powerful is my preferred nomenclature.” Niko grinned.

Chiara fanned her face and nodded decisively. “Okay, I get it. He’s worth the hype.”

Niko nodded to her.

I rolled my eyes, feeling on the spot and oddly possessive of Niko’s grin.

“You’re her, aren’t you? Angelo’s Chiara?” Nikolai’s words sent all the air out the room for a moment.

Chiara tensed, her hand curling into a fist. “How do you know that?” she nearly whispered, turning pale.

Niko smirked. “I know a lot of things.”

Chiara frowned and turned to look at me. “How does he know that?”

“It’s just a good guess. He does that. Observes things,” I told her quickly. Footsteps above reminded me how bad it would be to get caught here.“Look, we have to get upstairs before someone checks down here. Carmella is making lunch. I need to bring him some. You wanted to see him, and now you have.”

I took her arm and dragged her toward the door. I pulled it open just as Angelo’s enormous frame appeared. He was holding a lunch tray.

His eyes lit up at the sight of Chiara.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the sexiest bodyguard on the East Coast.”

“Just the East Coast?”

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