Page 54 of Twisted Fate

If Damian had been fast enough, he wouldn’t be here now. He would never have played poker with Markus, never taken me prisoner. It is so fucked up that the thought causes me pain.

“You were willing to die for him. That is a whole lot of love,” I whisper.

He turns me in his arms until we face each other. His gaze meets mine. “You think someone like me is capable of love?”

The question throws me. “Family usually transcends love or hate and it’s always complicated. It’s on a different level. Blood is blood. My brother drives me crazy. He’s a mess and a constant problem, but I love him with all my heart. And honestly? I’d kill for him.”

He runs the backs of his fingers along my cheek. I can’t help but lean into his touch, craving it. “Would you kill me?” he asks.

“In a heartbeat,” I reply.

The night he took me prisoner, I would have meant that statement with everything I am. Now…well, I’ll just say that it’s a good thing I’ll never have to make the choice.

The reply doesn’t anger him. In fact, he seems satisfied by it.

“To answer your question, yes, I loved my father,” he says. “And sometimes I hated him. And I swear I’ll find his killer and avenge his death and anyone who had a part in it.” He turns away from me, toward the dark water. “Anyone,” he says again. “And I’ll do whatever it takes, step on whomever I have to, in order to get the answers I need.”

The ice in his tone makes me shiver.

If he finds Enzo…if Enzo is guilty of this crime…if Enzo’s still alive, Damian won’t hesitate to take his revenge. I guess I’m pretty twisted, because I hope that I’d do the same, that if the guy who killed my parents was in front of me right now I’d have the balls to make him pay.

Damian turns back to me and searches my face as if trying to find some answer there.

“I shouldn’t have brought you here,” he says, shaking his head.

“I can leave,” I offer instead of giving in to the instinct to ask why he shouldn’t have brought me.

He snorts. “You think so, do you? We have a deal, Alina.”

A deal. I’m his collateral until my brother pays up. The reminder hurts.

“And that deal is the only thing keeping me here,” I say, my tone flat.

“The only thing?” He trails his fingertips along my upper arm.

“What else could there be?” I ask, and hate that I don’t sound completely convincing.

“What else…?” Damian closes the distance between us in one step, pulling me to him and crushing his mouth against mine.

I don’t resist, not for a single second.

20

Damian

I run my hand down Alina’s back, my fingers sweeping along the tiny bumps of her spine. I cup her ass, her perfect, round ass as I kiss her. My blood burns. I want to be inside her. I want her soft and pliant beneath me. I want her screaming my name. I want to own her every thought, her every breath. What the fuck is wrong with me?

I take her hand and lead her to our stateroom. I open the door and draw her inside, flicking on the bedside lamp, bathing the room in a soft glow.

Alina trails a fingertip along the pale, sleek paneling of the wall, her gaze shifting to take in the view of the moonlit seascape through the panoramic windows.

“Wow,” she whispers.

She turns to the bed and runs her palm over the silk duvet, then lifts one of the multitude of throw pillows and hugs it to her chest. Turning her head, she sends me a little smile over her shoulder as she opens a door to check out the walk-in closet and another to reveal the ensuite bathroom.

“I have something far more interesting for you to explore,” I say.

“Oh?” She arches a brow and rakes her nails down my chest, my abdomen, hooking a finger in the waistband of my pants.

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