Page 106 of Twilight Sins

“Tell Nikandr and have him lead this. I want to know what Akim is planning,” I say. “And get someone out to the warehouse for a cleanup.”

Oleg chuckles. “Again?”

“Two of them.” I sigh. “Akim keeps setting them up, so I keep knocking them down.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Oleg says.

We hang up and I turn back to the dead men behind me.

They’re fucking kids. No older than Nikandr. Akim had them both convinced that he was going to take care of them, yet he rolled them straight into my path.

I despise that I didn’t have a choice here.

I hate even more that I had to kill these men when I’d rather rip Akim himself limb from limb. I’d kill him for no other reason than that he is happy to sacrifice these men who would die for him. He isn’t a leader; he’s a coward.

So, soon, he’ll be a corpse.

The drive back to the mansion does nothing to ease the tension between my shoulders.

It has been day after day of knocking down Akim’s pawns without getting any closer to him. Now, I have to worry about him going after my sister while she’s running around town buying underwear.

Inside, I fill a glass of water at the sink and knock it back. I’m about to go find my sister and force her to return at least seventy-five percent of what she bought today. I can more than afford it, but ground rules have to start somewhere. Ground rule number one: never buy lingerie with your brother’s money.

Then I look out the window and freeze.

Luna is lying in one of the loungers by the pool. If she isn’t in the library or the garden, she’s usually by the pool. This is normal.

What isn’t normal is the microscopic scraps of fabric covering her tits.

It can’t be a bathing suit. It looks like that thing would dissolve the moment it touches water. I’m wondering if it isn’t painted on.

The frustration I’ve been shoving down all day boils to the surface. My skin is buzzing and my cock is rock-solid.

It’s been a bad day. A release would be nice.

I need her.

No. Not her. Anyone would do.

This has nothing to do with Luna and her full lips and her confession of love. This desire has everything to do with the floss she dressed herself in and called a bathing suit.

I storm through the double doors and across the patio. Luna’s eyes are closed, one arm thrown over her head. The triangles of the bikini barely cover her nipples and there is the thinnest strip of blue disappearing between her thighs.

I stop next to her lounger. I’m so hard it almost hurts.

Her eyelashes flutter as my shadow falls over her face, but she doesn’t open her eyes. Doesn’t realize I’m standing over her with the vilest intentions.

I reach down and snap the thin tie that wraps around her neck. “What the fuck are you wearing?”

42

LUNA

I was right on the verge of a happy dream. The air is warm and languid, the murmur of the pool lapping at the deck’s edges is pleasant, and all is quiet.

Then a shadow falls over me.

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

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