Page 113 of Mama Si's Paradise

When I saw Valentine, there was no way I could think to breathe a certain way or even remember that my heart was slamming against my chest.

He’s come for me, an ugly voice in my head said. He had finally come for me.

“What do you want?” I muttered. I didn’t mean to be rude, but I couldn’t help myself. The fear, the anticipation made it impossible.

He didn’t miss a single beat. “You.”

I forced myself to roll my eyes. “What do you wanthere?” I specified, and he opened those lips to sayyouagain, I knew it, so I added, “And don’t you dare sayyouone more time.”

He grinned like a little kid. “Or what?”

I stepped back and swung the door shut, knowing full well he’d catch it—and he did. He pushed it back open, and I just looked him dead in the eye.

“Okay, I get your point, Sunshine. You want me to be more specific,” he said. “I want to grab you by your tiny waist, pick you up and throw you on that bed, tear all your clothes off with my teeth, then taste every inch of you with my tongue.”

The fucking bastard. I gritted my teeth. “You’re a prick, you know that?”

“No, no, I’m not done,” he said. “After that, I’ll put your legs over my shoulders and?—”

“Stop!”Was he serious?!

He didn’t. “—and I’ll eat you until you come as many times as I wish.”

I closed my eyes and reminded myself that it didn’t matter. None of what he was saying mattered.

Then I looked up at him, shaking my head. “And what, Mr. Evernight? What then? Am I supposed tolikethis fantasy you’ve created for yourself? Did you think I was going to get turned on by it or something?” I was genuinely curious to hear the answer.

Valentine flinched, his bloodshot eyes moving to the floor, and I like to think he was ashamed of himself.

I’ll admit, what he saidwashot—but he knew very well how I felt about this place. About him.

He was a stranger. He wasa monster,his looks be damned.

“You asked,” the asshole finally said. I could have fucking laughed.

“No, I didn’t,” I spit. “Tell me what you’re doing here, Valentine.”

“Very well,” he said, raising his head, almost like he was pissed but trying to hide it. “Romin wants to see you, and all my brothers will be there.”

The ceiling could have fallen on my head and I’d have been less scared.

My time had really come, and I wasnotprepared for it in the least.

“Take control of your body,”Valentine whispered as we walked down the stairs. My legs were pretty numb, so Ididn’t feel anything, but he was guiding me. “It’s natural that your heart rate will be fast when you initially step into that room, but take control of it as soon as you can after we’ve settled.”

“What do they want from me?”

It was a question I already knew the answer to, but I still asked it. Hoping maybe I was wrong. Hoping maybe they were summoning me to tell me I was free to go home or something.

“Introduction,” Valentine said, and my stomach sank like I’d just swallowed a sack of rocks. “Romin and Grey want to see you because they didn’t get the chance to meet you yet.”

Emil and Tristian did already. They’d traumatized me for life that morning.

How much worse could Romin and Grey really be?

“Remember, your heart gives you away. If you can control it, nobody can controlyou. If they don’t know what you’re feeling, they don’t know what you’re thinking, and they won’t know how to get to your head,” Valentine reminded me, but I already knew that. The problem was to actually do it. To actually take control of my body, my heartbeat.

Such a ridiculous concept to me still.

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