Page 38 of As Devils Love

“Great idea. Fiametta, why don’t you show our guest to the restroom and bring the men something to drink,” Father says, instead of tearing into Tomas as I expected he would. My heart sinks. Would he even care about what Tomas did last night, if he allows him to speak to me so disrespectfully?

But it isn’t all bad, I realize as I get up from my chair and start following the gigantic monster into my family home.

I finally get to meet my stalker, face to face.

Chapter Fourteen

CRUE

I’m in the lion’s den. So close to the monster who took away the only person I truly cared for, and I have to sit on my hands and pretend I’m interested in the bullshit these two are talking.

You’re a real piece of work, you know that?The dark voice is screaming in my head. It’s grown louder with every passing second that I’ve been in this house and haven’t cut Lorenzo’s tongue out of his fat mouth.

And no matter how I’ve reasoned my actions up to this point, I can’t now. The deafening scream inside my head is what I deserve. If I wanted to think clearly, I should’ve finished my mission as quickly as I could. I should be done with this and should have moved on from Matteo Baronne, long before he brought me here to torment me.

You can’t hide anything from me. I know you’re getting angrier having to sit in front of that balding rat, Tomas, rather than the real poison at the table. For what? This piece of ass.

What a fine piece of ass she is, though. Her dress isn’t nearly revealing enough for me to fully see the curvature of her body. But why would it be, when Fiametta believed she was spending the afternoon with her father and his rival? Still, I’ve seen enough for my imagination to run rampant. I know the outline of her body, and I can trace it through the green material clinging to her skin.

“You shouldn’t talk to Father that way, you know. He won’t be pleased,” Fiametta says, as she leads me through the house.

“I don’t give a fuck.” I don’t have to hide myself from her. She knows the truth. She recognized me the moment her eyes saw my face.

“Yes, but—”

“But nothing.” I cut her off. Intriguing as I find her, I’m not going to allow her to lecture me.

I can’t even wrap my head around why she isn’t cowering away from me or alerting Lorenzo’s men to take my head.

Fiametta stops next to a door and pushes it open to reveal an enormous barroom. “Like he said, the bathroom’s all the way at the end of the hall and to the rig—”

I snap my hand around her mouth before she can say the last word and push her into the room. I kick it shut with my heel and start walking to the far end of the room with her in tow. Next to the bar she’s supposed to be pouring drinks at, I slam her back against the wall and pin her to it.

Fiametta lets out a muffled scream against my palm. Her eyes widen as my grip tightens around her delicate face, and I can’t help but wonder what’s running through that pretty little head of hers. Clearly, she’s smart enough to know that I’m not going to kill her here. It wouldn’t do either of us any good. But I presumeshe also didn’t expect me to make any moves while I was under Lorenzo’s roof.

“Don’t need it. I just had to get away from them,” I tell her honestly. It’s the same principle as the men I bring to my kill chamber, I suppose. Dead men tell no tales, and someday soon, Fiametta will join them.

But I have to admit, there isn’t a single part of me that isn’t happy that prick ordered her to fetch drinks. As much as I want to make Tomas suffer for what he did to Fiametta, he deserves my thanks for this one.

“What are you doing?” She speaks very clearly for someone who has her mouth squeezed shut. Huh, has she had practice with a gag before?

Fucking pathetic.If my inner voice had eyes, I’m sure they’d be rolling to the back of its skull.

It’s easy to ignore it with a different head leading this charge.

“Taking.” There isn’t much more to add. She might not understand yet, but I’m not going to keep her in the dark for long.

I slide my hand off Fiametta’s mouth and lazily trail it down her face. I stop moving when I reach her chest, just above her breasts. As much as I want to grab for them, I’m taking my time on purpose. Pressing buttons to see what makes Fiametta tick. So far, she’s met everything I’ve done with her own sick sense of satisfaction. The fact that she is speaking to me like a normal person, instead of her assassin, is sign enough that I’m losing control of her.

It's time to take it back.

Using my forearm, I press her body to the wall again. This time, I squeeze hard. So that she exhales the air in her lungs with a guttural sigh. I grab a bundle of her dress in my free hand and start yanking it upward. All the while my gaze remains fixedon her saucer-sized hazel eyes, analyzing them intently to find answers to questions her words could never answer.

First and foremost.Is she enjoying this?

Lorenzo should’ve castrated me the moment I set foot in his home. Since I’m rock hard, and about to burst inside my pants if I’m not careful, I take it she still hasn’t told them much about me. Maybe a whisper here and there. A general outline of my size, or other features that wouldn’t help much in their investigations.

Or maybe I’m overanalyzing this. She could’ve told them everything she knows about me, but the Napoli crew is so busy hunting in the shadows that they wouldn’t dream of pointing fingers at Matteo’s latest hire.

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