Page 40 of Devil Mine

I’ve been in a state of perpetual discomfort since I last saw her, my mood pitch black and my cock angry, hard, and throbbing. Arturo brought a woman to my office last week, shoved her inside, slammed the door behind her and disappeared. I think he was hoping she’d fuck the tension out of me and I’d return to being the usual asshole he’s used to working for instead of the tyrant he’s had to deal with this past month.

When I finally lifted my gaze from the financial report I was going through and looked at her, the woman dropped her coat to the floor, revealing her stark-naked body beneath it.

Much to my disappointment, my cock hadn’t even twitched, obsessed with one person and one person only.

My lip had curled up in disgust and I’d snarled at the woman. She’d seen something in my gaze that had sent her fleeing nude from the room without even bothering to pick up her discarded coat, uncaring of her nakedness.

I’d been in a black mood to begin with because the financial reports weren’t adding up, but her appearance only exacerbated it.

I didn’t want to look at any bodies except the one that belonged to me. Even though I hadn’t seen Tess naked,yet, I’d run my hands over enough of her curves to conjure her from memory. So I’d closed my eyes and used my imagination to get myself off, fisting my cock angrily until I reached a necessary but unsatisfying finish.

What’s most frustrating is how severely I underestimated her. She’s been completely untraceable since she left. Her phone has been off, her cards unused, her work conducted via encrypted address and calls. There’s no way she’s doing this herself but I haven’t been able to track down who’s helping her.

I’ve officially reached my limit, and playing nice ends today. Tess knew who she was dealing with and what she was risking when she ran away.

She called me deranged and psychotic – she was right.

It’s time I proved it to her.

“Whereis she?” I snarl. “Don’t make me ask you a third time, Dagny.”

She backs away slowly, burrowing deeper into her apartment and trapping herself with no escape. Fear twists her features even though she doesn’t seem surprised. Based on her reaction, she knows exactly who I am and why I’m here.

I follow her inside, stalking after her and forcing her to stumble further back into her living room. She bumps sightlessly against her furniture in her desperation to get away from me.

Behind me, I hear Marco close the door.

Dagny’s hands come up defensively, shaking violently. “I have no idea,” she swears. “Please, I don’t know! She didn’t tell me where she was going.”

Staring at her, I let the discomfort of the drawn-out silence keep her talking.

“I’m not lying, I have no idea. But if you shoot me, she’ll never come back,” she tries to reason.

“I disagree. If I kill you, I’m sure she won’t skip your funeral.”

Dagny swallows thickly, her eyes widening. Her arms drop and she wraps them protectively around her middle.

“That’s unfortunately a great counterargument,” she admits, gnawing at her lower lip and somehow finding reserves of strength to tap into humor when there’s a gun still trained on her. “Not one I love, obviously, but great nonetheless.” She lifts her chin and tips it at me. “She’ll hate you if you kill me.”

A sinister grin pulls at my lips, making her flinch.

“You say that like I give a fuck. Hate I can work with, absence I cannot. Tell me where she is, Dagny, otherwise Marco here will put a bullet in your brain.”

“I have no idea!”

“Marco.”

With no other order needed, Marco fires twice into the ground on either side of Dagny’s bare feet. She screams and jumps around on her tiptoes to avoid being shot.

He’s an excellent marksman. If his intent was to hit her, not scare her, he would have.

“Hey!” she shouts, eyes flaring angrily when she sees the holes in her wooden boards. Eventually, she looks up and glares vexingly at him. “Ijusthad these floors redone. That’s Versailles parquet you’re riddling with bullet holes, you brute. They cost me an absolute fortune, and that’s without factoring in the emotional cost to my sanity, so can you please do me a favor and just shoot into the wall or TV next time?”

Marco’s hand drops to his side, a mix of annoyance and incredulity marking his features. “What is your malfunction, woman? Why aren’t you scared?”

Dagny plants her fists on her hips and glares back at him. “l’m terrified —Marco, was it? — but I don’t need to spend what’s possibly my last minutes on earth watching you torture my beloved apartment, so if you’re going to keep doing that, I’d rather you just put me out of my misery, okay? A clean shot between the eyes should do the trick.”

Irritatingly, I find myself understanding why this woman is Tess’s best friend. She’s just as much of a brave little fool as my fiancée.

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