Page 9 of Wicked Heiress

COLE

Grace was a test from God, a temptation added to my life to see if I could control myself. I liked to think of myself as a person with more self-control than most, but with my greatest sin sleeping down the hall, it was nearly impossible not to think about giving in to my desires.

But I couldn’t.

I wouldn’t.

Grace was off-limits.

I poked my head into her bedroom. The moon’s light cast a golden hue on the room, and with the balcony doors open, a soft breeze blew the curtains.

She purred like a sleeping kitten. I could have stood there all night watching her sleep, studying her delicate features. I’d never met a girl like Grace.

She wasn’t like the women I knew who took off their panties and stuffed them into my pocket as an invitation for sex. Grace was shy and quiet, and when she spoke—which was rare—my heart skipped a few beats.

I could tell she had been badly hurt as a child and that her past had shaped her into the woman she had become. Each time I looked at her for the past week, she blushed and turned her head. It was as if she couldn’t stand the attention. But what man wouldn’t want to stare at her?

How could I not?

Pretty and perfect, she had rosy pink cheeks like a porcelain doll. Long blonde hair brushed the tops of her breasts, which only drew my attention to her body, especially when she wore those skimpy bikinis to the pool.

I closed the door after a few minutes, not wanting to wake her, and entered the code to lock her inside. The security door was an extra precaution. While she slept, the door remained locked. Grace had a bathroom and a mini fridge, so she didn’t need to leave her room at night.

She looked too peaceful when she slept to disturb her. Besides, I didn’t want her to know I’d been doing this every night since she arrived. I couldn’t sleep without knowing she was okay.

That she was safe.

As a member of The Devil’s Knights, my duty was to protect her. She was the only granddaughter of the Grand Master of The Founders Society, and since The Knights answered to The Founders, I had to follow orders. But Grace was more than a job to me.

I crept downstairs and headed toward the back of the house. The hallways were dark, lit only by the wall sconces that provided very little light.

“Where are you going?” Dad asked as I walked past his office.

We’d spent the last ten years together at York Military Academy but didn’t have the best relationship. He was the commandant, which only complicated matters. Instead of having a dad, I had a commanding officer.

I popped my head into his office. “I’m meeting The Knights at the temple.”

“To discuss Grace?”

I nodded. “And Alex. She’s still listed for sale on the Il Circo auction site.”

Alexandrea Wellington was the soon-to-be Queen of The Devil’s Knights. She was the first and only queen we would ever have. It was the only way Carl Wellington, her grandfather, would allow Alex to marry one of The Salvatore brothers, the leaders of The Devil’s Knights.

Instead of choosing one brother, she was dating all four, including Grace’s cousin, Bastian. I wouldn’t have agreed to an arrangement like that with my brothers, but whatever worked for them.

“Drake will find a way to get Alex off the site,” Dad said confidently.

Someone added Alex to a site on the Dark Web where men from the depths of the criminal underworld could bid on anything.

Only the person who added her to the auction could remove the listing. Even with our money and resources, we couldn’t track down the person responsible. No one knew who ran the auction.

Dad scrubbed a hand over the dark stubble on his jaw and sighed. “Drake will have to get over his issues before he can see the only way out is through.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What issues does Drake have?”

My cousin was three years older than me and one of the youngest CEOs in history. He owned Battle Industries, the world’s largest manufacturer of technology-based weapons. I’d never met anyone more intelligent than Drake. He graduated from MIT when he was nineteen and made the cover of WIRED by twenty.

I planned to work for him at the end of the summer because I loved how his mind worked and had admired him since I was a kid. I could learn more from him in one month than I had from four years of college.

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