Page 72 of Cruel Existence

I emerged on the pool deck, followed by Bella. She brought a wine chiller as well as a cheese plate.

“Just in case you get hungry.”

“Thank you.”

I made sure the volume on my phone was turned up. I didn’t want to miss any calls from the office. I ran things differently than my father. I didn’t need a stuffy bar or office to handle business. I could do it from the places that made me the happiest and the most relaxed. The men in this city had been holding on to the old ways far too long.

I tasted the wine and leaned back, staring up at a starry sky. This was the way to work.

“Carpe noctem?” The growl invaded my ears and rattled my spine. “Your company is carpe fucking noctem? I still can’t believe it. I’ve heard it. Read it. Seen the doc, and I still don’t believe it.”

I almost shattered the glass at the sound of his voice. My eyes opened. Luka towered over me.

“How did you get in here?” I gasped.

Luka grinned wickedly. “I just told them who I was at the front door. I was even given condolences by your butler. Seems my father used to pay you visits here. They knew him, Amara.”

“You should go.” I swung my legs around, but Luka was there, blocking them. His solid body, an obstacle to any movement I made.

All I could think about was this moment five years ago. Here. Him chasing me down. Kissing my lips. Pulling me into the cabin and taking everything I gave him between my thighs. Myskin flushed at the thought. His tongue had been wild and dangerous, dragging one orgasm after the next from my core.

“I’ll call Ciro,” I warned.

He huffed. “I’m surprised about a lot of things since I’ve been back. Keeping him on your payroll is at the top of my list. I thought you hated him.”

“You don’t have the right to judge anything I’ve done while you’ve been gone,” I snapped. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. You don’t know what happened.”

“Is that your excuse for decimating the families here?”

I should have expected this from him. The fury. The anger. But God, the waves of power wafting off his body were a turn-on. I had to look down at the tiles and not look into the dark depths of his eyes. I wasn’t the young girl who made those mistakes anymore.

“I brought Philly to New Orleans. There is nothing wrong with what I’ve done. You don’t like it because you left.”

His jaw hardened. “I was occupied with other parts of my family’s organization.”

I’d wanted to know all this time what he did. Where he had gone. Once I had run into Katya and she told me he was running their family’s vineyard in France. I had been desperate enough to search for details on the champagnes and wines. I wanted any piece of him I could get my fingers on. Maybe that was why I had taken so much that belonged to the Novikovs. I wanted him. I wanted to own him the way he had taken me, but with him standing before me, I knew it was impossible to ever control this man.

My body reacted to him like no one else. He had claimed me, and I had always been his. Running the city wouldn’t change that. I didn’t know how long I could keep the charade up before I melted into him.

I had to try. He had left me. Abandoned me. I had to shield myself from that earth-shattering heartbreak again. Because if I let Luka back in, I knew he would destroy me all over again.

Thirty-Two

LUKA

The suit. She was wearing a goddamn red bathing suit. At night. Under the fucking starry sky like a damn siren. Who wears a fucking bathing suit when the sun goes down?

“Amara.” My jaw clenched. So did my fist and in it the notice I had received from her office. Scrawled across the top in embossed gold were the wordsCarpe Noctem, LLC. “What is this?” I demanded.

Her eyes fell to my fist. It gave me a brief second to scan her breasts. To admire the way the dip between them made my mouth water. She’d always had the most beautiful skin. Skin that should be licked and tasted. Worshipped.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She tried to reach for the paper, but I recoiled. “If that’s from my accountant, it’s only a routine letter. You can throw it out. We’ll set up a new payment plan. Imeant to tell him to extend the grace period since, well, since your father…”

My eyes narrowed. “The interest rates on these loans are absurd.”

She sighed. “Your father agreed to the terms. He was willing to pay the interest.”

“Well, I’m running things differently than he did. I can’t agree to this. I’m not going to pay you double what I should. No one should.”

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