Page 11 of Unholy Nights

I reach for the glass of bourbon in front of me. The liquid burns its way down my throat as I finish the entire glass in one go, trying to rein in all the thoughts surging through me. The craving for her.

I’ve spent more than a year playing the long game. Watching. Waiting. Building the groundwork brick by fucking brick. Each detail, each maneuver crafted to form a perfect existence whereshe belongs to me.

I can’t wait any longer. Waiting was for before. Before her eyes started lingering on me a little too long, before the blush that stains her cheeks every time our eyes connect across the dinner table, before she started letting me in.

Before I knew her body was fertile and ready for everything I have to give her.

It’s time to nudge things along.

By Christmas, she’ll officially be mine.

With any luck, she’ll be pregnant by then, too.

I need to get closer to her, to make her feel me in her space, in her dreams, to make sure she understands that I’m the only onewho sees her. Who wants her for who she really is. Who’ll let herbewho she really is.

Madeline thinks she’s got me on a short leash, but she doesn’t understand what’s brewing between Emerald and me. She can’t, because she doesn’t have a heart. A soul.

Emerald is the other half of mine.

I use one of the keys I wear on a chain around my neck to unlock the drawer in my desk, checking the pill bottle inside, shaking the tiny square peach-colored pills inside. I pop the lid off and shake out two, slipping them into my pocket before replacing the bottle and locking the drawer back up.

Tonight, I’ll go to her. Sneak out of my room and into hers. My cock is pulsing, harder than it’s ever been, just thinking of what I’m about to do. I’ll be careful, just as I always am, but this is going to happen. Itneedsto happen.

Nothing will stop me.

I’ll give her all of me, and I’ll take all of her. I’ll get her body used to mine so when she’s awake, she craves me but doesn’t understand why.

This is what she needs. It’s what webothneed. I’ve waited long enough, played along with Madeline’s rules for far too long. It’s time for Emerald to see that I’m the only person she needs in this life. The only one who’s really here for her.

I set the empty glass back on my desk, a slow smile spreading across my face as I swivel in my chair to look back outside. I spin my wedding ring around my finger and watch as Emerald stands beside her mother in the middle of a small crowd of stylists, assistants, makeup artists, and the photographer.

But all I see is her. Her light is so blinding, everyone else blinks out of existence.

Tonight is only the beginning.

Tonight, the boundary between us will shatter.

And when that happens, there will be no turning back.

We belong to each other.

I know what needs to be done, and there isn’t one goddamn thing that will stop me from taking the first step tonight.

Let the world try to intervene. Let Madeline think she knows everything that happens under her roof.

By the time Emerald begins to understand, it’ll be too late.

Her and me?

We’re inescapable.

Even monsters can pretendto be gentlemen. Until they're done pretending.

Tonight, I’ve reached my limit.

The house settles around me as I move through darkness thick as ink, my footsteps silent against hand-woven Persian rugs older than I am. It's three in the morning, and everyone's asleep—everyone except the monster prowling these halls.

That would be me.

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