Page 21 of Devil of Vegas

Her eyes widen a bit in shock at my bluntness.

“I realize you work for him,” I say, stating the obvious. “And I’m sure your loyalty to Vincent is unwavering, but woman to woman, I’m asking you to tell me the truth.Please.”

Zara takes a slow sip from her coffee cup. She’s reluctant to be seen as befriending me, and I can understand why. Everyone around this place knows that Vincent demands unadulterated loyalty from each of them. Consequences for disloyalty are dire, as one dancer backstage at the ballet discovered—the night my life changed. But conflicted or not, Zara is the closest thing that I have here to a friend. Evenifher answer is cryptic.

“Even the Devil was a good man once upon a time,” she says. “All of us have moments with wings and moments where we fall from grace, Isla. And all of us like to keep the worst versions of ourselves private. But privacy is an illusion, and you should trust no one—including me.”

With that, she stands up from the table, leaving me to wonder who, if there’s anyone here, I can actually trust. I still want to believe it could be her.

“Morning, ladies,” Vincent’s consigliere says as he strides into the penthouse.

I can see Marco close the door behind him after letting Luc in. It is a bit of reassurance knowing that Marco is always lingering nearby. As my personal bodyguard, he’s the second most vested person committed to keeping me safe. Some others I’m not so sure about, especially ones like Alonzo.

I watch as Luciano comes in to talk to Zara for a moment, and I eavesdrop on their conversation. Him, I’m not so sure about. I think his careful rule-following makes him potentially deadly or restrained, depending on the rules he follows.

“Any news on that smallprojectI asked you to look into, Zara?” he asks as I go to stand by the window and pretend to be uninterested in their conversation.

“The Conti Family hack?” she asks. “Not yet. Leonardo Conti keeps his computer servers tightly monitored. Hacking into that is going to take some time. It might help if you tell me exactly what information it is that you want me to find in there.”

“Anything he’s got on Valentina Ricci,” Luc answers.

The abrupt silence causes me to turn and glance over at them. Zara has one eyebrow raised and her jaw dropped as she looks at him.

“Luc,” she says finally. “You know that heiress is off-limits, right? You’ll start awarbetween the families if you even so much as think about?—”

Vincent’s arrival interrupts her vocal concern. Instantly, the two of them drop their conversation and greet their boss as if they hadn’t been talking at all. It’s a small hairline crack in what is otherwise a perfect façade of obedience. But my attention is no longer focused on them. It’s immediately redirected to the man that I’ve beenlongingto see for days now.

“Vincent!” I call out without meaning to sound so panicked. “Where have you been?”

He looks straight at me but says nothing. He goes to Zara and Luc, addressing them both. Their conversation quickly turns toone of business, spoken in coded words so that I can’t quite follow what they’re saying as I stand there being ignored.

He’spunishingme with his silence. The kiss enraged him, leading to my punishment via his absence; alternatively, Vincent’s response to it might explain his wrath. When he gets ready to leave, I call out to him again.

“Vincent, wait. I need to talk to you,” I say as I walk toward the door and stand in front of it, using my body to block him from leaving.

He could easily shove me aside. Instead, he glares at me with a sort of unchecked vehemence that makes my hands shake. Still, I don’t budge.

“Leave us,” Vincent commands over his shoulder to both Zara and Luciano.

I step away from the door as the two of them walk out. Zara hesitates, her look conveying sympathy, as though sensing my imminent scolding. It makes me feel a little bit reassured, thinking that maybe she really is forming a slightly protective friendship with me. With them gone and the door closed, it’s only Vincent and I left in the room filled with palpable tension.

“What is it that you need to talk to me about, Isla?” he says with a carefully controlled tone.

“Where have you been?” I ask, taking a step closer to him. “Why haven’t you been back here to see me in days? You can’t just keep me locked up in here like some sort of doll on the top shelf that you take out to look at every once in a while? You can’t justignoreme, not after what happened between us.”

His blue eyes flare with anger, like the hot, brilliant blue centers of a flame.

“Us?” he asks with a cruel smirk and strained voice. “There is nous, Isla. What do you think this is, some kind of twisted fairytale in which you walk away with a happy ending? You have no idea who I am. You don’t understandwhatI am. I destroy what I love.”

One word, “love,” dominates his statement. Admittedly, I’m taken by surprise and it knocks me off balance.

This man is a monster, and I can’t forget that I’m trapped here in this place against my will. This one overly powerful man has essentially taken my life and holds me in this purgatory, determining my entire future. I shouldhateVincent Moretti with every fiber of my being. I shouldn’t believe anyone, not even him, would choose me. In the past, whenever I’ve allowed someone in, I’ve ended up disappointed. It’s hard to trust that anything is real anymore. But even as I stare into the danger of his eyes, it’s hard not to see that the Devil himself might have beauty buried deep inside his soul somewhere.

I struggle against my emotions as I wrestle with my ability to trust a man who is nothing but red flags and warning labels. And as soon as I open my mouth to question him, Vincent pushes his body toward mine, pressing me up against the wall and pinning me there as he kisses me again.

This kiss feels unlike the previous one. It’shungry, forbidden, and not at all gentle. His chest presses against mine so tightly that I can barely breathe, and his hand grabs the side of my hip so hard as it roots me in place that I know it will leave a bruise.

I’m not afraid of getting hurt, though. Right now, my desire for Vincent outweighs any fear I might have. His tongue pushes into my mouth, wrapping around mine as I try to catch my breath and kiss him back. I can feel the hardening bulge at the front of his pants pressing against my pelvis and it sends sparks throughout my body as if I’m suddenly coming to life for the first time. I reach my hand up to twist my fingers in his hair and in response, he kisses me harder.

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