Page 1 of Falling for the Enemy

ONE

Ari

The bite of betrayal is a caustic suka.

Mimicking acid, it flows through my veins, scorching my insides and searing holes into my blackened soul. The burning increases tenfold as I peruse the traitor before me, his naked body bound to a rusted metal chair by lengths of abrasive rope.

Bitter ash, all that remains of the trust he didn’t deserve but I mistakenly gave him, rises from the inferno blazing inside my chest, its flames dangerously close to freeing the demon that thrashes beneath my flesh.

Soot coats my parched throat and heavy tongue when his enraged hazel eyes lift and crash into my icy blue ones, all traces of the affection he’s spent years pretending to have for me markedly absent.

It’s become clear he never cared.

His love was nothing more than a mere ruse, a dangerous weapon he wielded in a failed attempt to steal the very thing I earned by cutting down all who stood in my way without remorse.

My blood-stained crown.

For that alone, he’ll pay.

A fiery smile curves my lips, lifting my cheeks, the promise of the retribution I’m about to unleash rousing my hunger for revenge. A hunger that will only be satiated with pain and blood, followed by death.

His death.

My predatory steps are slow and calculated as I close the space between us, the weight of the marquise-cut diamond he slipped onto my finger months ago heavy against my curled palm.

Like him, the time for it to go has come.

My pulse thrums wildly as I lift the skirt of my short, crimson-colored designer dress, a favorite of mine, and straddle him, my thighs coming to rest on his bare lap.

Arms winding around his flushed neck, I settle into the same position I’ve found myself in many times when riding his menial cock in search of the elusive bliss his absent tongue and unskilled fingers consistently failed to give me.

My effort was always wasted.

Not once has his body brought mine relief. For that alone, I should’ve shot him long ago. Such a demise would’ve equaled mercy for a man—if you can even call him that—so inept at pleasuring his woman.

Though I’m sure he’d disagree.

Unfortunately for him, mercy is something he won’t be receiving from me. To give such a reprieve after what he’s done would be a weakness capable of summoning my death.

And if there is one thing I’m not, it’s weak.

My deceased father, former Pakhan of the Fallen Kings, the Bratva faction I now control, ensured that when I was still a child. By whipping me bloody, starving me for days on end, and threatening the well-being of my younger sister, Mina, whenever I displayed the slightest vulnerability, he banished all notions of leniency, forgiveness, and surrender from my mind.

Forever.

Only then did he teach me the three things I’d need to be—astute, cunning, ruthless—not only to survive, but also to lead the dark empire he built off the backs of equally vicious men.

Admittedly, for a time, I lost track of who I am. Of the merciless killer and iron-fisted leader Papa shaped me to be. Like a fool, I allowed myself to be blinded by what I thought was loyalty and respect but instead was treachery and deceit.

I won’t make such a mistake twice.

I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to scheming men and relationships constructed of lies and ulterior motives. Luckily, not before it’s too late. Not only for me but for Mina, who’s suffered enough already, as well.

As for my enemies, including the one who now trembles beneath me, the anger in his eyes giving way to stark fear as he jerks against his bindings, it’s past time I remind them of the darkness that flows through my veins.

Unwinding my arms from his neck, I trail a finger down the front of his chest, carving a line into the sweat coating one place his flesh will soon bleed.

“I can’t help but wonder,” I whisper, speaking a thought that’s been troubling me since Casper, my most-trusted soldier, uncovered the plan my backstabbing ex-fiancé and his father set in motion the moment I allowed his ring to be slipped onto my finger. “Did you truly think I wouldn’t find out your intentions?”

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