Page 190 of Divine Obsession

“Watashi no ai,” He murmured in my ear as he pushed me down on the bed, his weight following on top of me.

My hands found the side of his face as I looked deep into his midnight eyes. “What does it mean?”

A somber smile. “Amore mio.”

My heart tripped on itself when he spoke Italian,my language.One of the five he was fluent in.

“Watashi…?” I began, attempting to remember his earlier words in Japanese.

“Watashi no ai,” He repeated, his voice warm and smooth.

“Watashi no ai.”

“You got it.” He smirked leaning in to kiss me.

I moaned against his lips, my chest fluttering with bliss as he pushed me into the mattress and parted my legs.

Chapter 49

Present

Zane’s office was another world compared to the rest of his underground warehouse. Where the outer rooms were industrial and sprawling, this space was all sleek black walls, dark wood furniture, and amber lighting. An entire setup of monitors displayed various feeds from the city, facial recognition programs and coding.

While Zane worked across the room, typing on his computer, Trevor and I were seated across from each other at the wooden desk, papers and devices scattered between us. We’d been dissecting the Su Dynasty for hours now, cyber vulnerabilities laid out like a puzzle.

Trevor’s phone buzzed on the table, shattering the quiet.

Trevor glanced at the screen, answering distractedly. “Kali?”

“Try again.”

The voice on the other end wasn’t hers.

It was male.

Low. Deliberate. Sharp.

My blood chilled at the accent.

Zane straightened in his chair, his full attention on the phone call.

“Tao?” Trevor demanded, tone controlled but lethal, despite all of us already knowing.

“If you want to see your sister alive, you’ll listen carefully.”

I felt my stomach drop. I sat up straighter, my heart hammering against my ribs. Trevor’s knuckles whitened around the phone.

“You won’t hurt her.” Trevor’s voice dropped into that dangerous calm he wore so well.

“That’s up to you,” Tao replied. “You have one hour to get to theBlood Dragon, Chinatown. Bring fifty mil. Cash. All hundreds.”

My eyes darted to Trevor, but his face was unreadable, locked into that cold, calculated mask he wore in moments like this.

“If you don’t… You’ll find her in pieces. Clock’s ticking.”

The line went dead.

For a moment, the room was suffocatingly silent. Trevor lowered the phone slowly, his gaze fixed on a spot on the table.