Page 16 of Heart of a Villain

Adrían shrugged. “I don’t think I could.”

“Oh, yeah. She hates you. I guess that does make this easier.” Wren, sighing, leaned back against the side of the house. “So…first of all, me and Thanasis are not a thing. I want to get that straightened out, first.”

“Only one of you believes that.” He settled into the space next to her. “Did something happen between the two of you?”

“I failed the Bar.”

“Oh.” Realization set in. “Oh…”

She tapped the back of her head against the paneling. “Larke doesn’t know. I’ve already registered to retake it, and I’ve been studying, but as far as anyone in there knows?—”

“You have not taken it yet.”

“Yep.”

“Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me, gatinha.”

She looked up at him. “You see? That’s what I like about you. I feel like you’d make the perfect boyfriend.”

“I’m a man of many flaws.”

“I know, I know.”

“But how did you feel before the test?”

“Going into it, I wasn’t that confident, so failing didn’t come as a total shock, you know? But, Adrían, I’ve never lied to my sister this bad.”

“Do you think Larke would be ashamed of you?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She paused. “You’re not the first person I told, which brings us back to square one.”

Now, he was beginning to understand.

“I flew out to see one of the campuses Giorgio set up for the boys,” she explained. “The one in New York.”

“The one Thanasis directly manages?”

“And the one I told Larke that I wanted to run with him. Adrían, this was maybe two weeks after I failed, and I still flew out like I was on the path to getting a law license to supplement Thanasis’ MBA, Finance, and Economics degrees.”

“Wow. Now, I feel small.”

“That’s exactly what I said! Where did he find time to do all that and still be perilous and mysterious and shit?”

He smiled.

She was cute when she was flustered.

Possibly, he was wrong and had Thanasis not sunk his fangs into her, something could have eventually sparked between them.

“Still, for whatever reason, it felt safe to tell Thanasis I bombed the UBE, and he went out of his way to try to make me feel less like crap. One thing led to another, and,” she covered her eyes, “I kissed him, and I guess he thinks that makes us a thing.”

“Have you met his bloodline?” Adrían asked. “You and Thanasis are not ‘a thing.’ You are now his.”

She withdrew her hand.

“Are you not interested in him? Thanasis is a very good-looking guy.”

“Uh, so are you.”

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