Page 25 of Tainted Ties

“Stop looking at me like that.” His anger simmered, palpable enough to cause a storm.

I fed into his anger with my own. “Like what?”

“Like you believe what you said to be true,” he muttered between gritted teeth, his voice sounding almost painful for him to speak.

At a loss for words, I opened and then closed my mouth.

I suddenly became overly aware of my surroundings and the person in front of me.What was I doing?I needed to remove myself from his presence andfast.

Sidestepping him, I moved toward the corridor when he stopped me with a hand on my forearm.

“Aurora.” My name was a warning on his tongue, a fire set ablaze, coursing through my veins, and intensifying the warmth coming from the fireplace.

I was treading on a path to hell, but I found myself welcoming the devil in front of me.

My eyelids fluttered before I turned and faced him with an arched brow.

Roman tsked and pulled me to him, my body crushing against his solid one.

His heavy hand settled against the small of my back as the other fisted my ponytail and tugged, forcing me to gaze up at him. “It seems that I haven’t made myself clear if you’re making incorrect assumptions about me,” he growled.

When I remained quiet, unflinching against his hold, he tugged my hair harder, and the pain caused me to whimper slightly.

Self-loathing permeated within me when he bent his head and trailed wet kisses up the column of my neck, marking me with his tongue.

He continued his path up to my ear, where he grazed it with his teeth and whispered, “I’m worse than horrible,anima mia.”

His mouth on me erupted unwanted goosebumps along my feverish flesh as I breathed through my nose, unwilling to react to the sudden overwhelming sensations jolting through me.

Roman stopped abruptly, peering at me with a scowl etched across his features before he shoved me away from him.

I braced myself on the arm of the couch from the force of his push as a chill settled in my bones, replacing the heat that had radiated from him.

He balled his hands into fists before stretching them. The livid expression on his face compelled me in place, fearful of his next move. Then he turned on his heel and left the room.

Leaving me with a chill that not even the warmth of the fireplace could thaw.

Chapter9

Roman

Aurora Bianchi was a maddening woman.

After leaving her standing in the sitting room, I retreated to the basement to blow off steam.

It didn’t matter how much energy I dispensed on the punching bag; my anger was palpable. My fingers vibrated with the urge to wring her neck until her lifeless body lay in my arms.

All I wanted to do was wipe out the Bianchi family and I could, but I wanted to stretch their suffering.

I had no intention of releasing Aurora, nor did I have the intention of giving her father back his wealth. They were submissive to me until I grew tired of them.

This scheme had been in the works for a decade. I took everything from them, knowing death would be too easy.

Aurora had my cousin’s blood on her hands, and I would defile her through and through because of it.

It was clear her father did not care for her as he had offered his daughter to me countless times in exchange for his fortune.

The only reason the Bianchi family had not fallen completely apart was because Enzo had stepped up and started his own line of business in the technology industry. It was a clean route—not enough to gain what they once had, but enough to stay afloat. He was also the only one who seemed to have lost his mind, knowing he was helpless in saving his sister.

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