Page 55 of Curse

Lightly brushing my fingertip over her nipple, I close my eyes briefly. “I don’t have girlfriends.”

She looks like she’s losing her battle to hold on to her anger, working to ignore the effect I’m having on her body.

“Olivia,” she whispers, setting her jaw.

What? I pause, frowning. “Olivia Neroli? The girl who’s like my kid sister? No. Not even remotely.”

“Bullshit,” she snaps, though her voice falters as I remove my hand from her bra. “You’re a monster.”

“Maybe. But I’m notOlivia’smonster,” I say, my voice dropping as I drag the back of my knuckles down her chest, wiping away the trail of sweat.

She shudders, her chin dropping to her chest, her forehead brushing against my forearm.

“The only reason you didn’t see that side of me in the showerwas because you were hurt.” Her breath hitches as I lean in, my lips brushing her ear. “But you’re all healed up now.”

She swallows hard, lifting her chin up toward me and arching slightly, pressing into my hand. “I thought it was because I said ‘no.’”

A cruel smile tugs at my lips. “It was a mistake offering you the illusion of control,” I growl. “A mistake I won’t be repeating.”

Her next words hit like a whip: “You fucking killed my sister!”

The rawness in her voice stops me cold. Her breathing is tortured, like she’s holding back sobs. The sound tears through my soul.

As much as this is about punishment and not pleasure, breaking her down so that she thinks twice before trying to leave me again, I won’t let her believe that lie, the one thing that I know will always stop her from letting me in.

I yank the blindfold off her face, needing her to see me, to understand.

“I need you to hear me,” I say, crouching to meet her gaze. She blinks rapidly, adjusting to the light, her face defiant. “If I killed your sister, I wouldn’t be standing here right now. My partners would’ve been the first in line to take me out. You may hate the Demonios, but we are a family. That includes Mikey. It even includes your sister. Kitten, like it or not, it includes you, too.”

I leave out the fact that the head of this family is claiming to have killed her sister and would rather see her dead than alive. It’s a problem I’m planning to fix on my own before it ever lands on her doorstep.

“But you were there,” she whispers, her voice cracking. “Youwere at the crash site before I was, and I left from New Jersey right when it happened. How did you get there before me? How did you even know where to go?”

I grab her chin, forcing her to look at me. In her eyes, I can see the crushing pain she’s living with, and it kills me.

“We were tracking him, Siena. We had feelers out everywhere. When I heard about that plane going down, I had a gut feeling, so I flew down to check it out. Just because I was at the crash site doesn’t mean that I caused the plane to go down.”

Her tears spill over again, but her voice is soft, resigned. “It doesn’t matter. If you didn’t do it, someone in your family did. He was running from you. And he should have. Because you’re a monster.”

The rage that flares inside me is instant, burning, in spite of myself. In spite of my desire to remain calm with her, controlled.

I grab her throat, my grip firm but not menacing. “You’re right. I am a monster,” I hiss. “But I’m your monster, kitten. Not Olivia’s. Not Mikey’s. Not your sister’s.”

Her pupils dilate, and as I watch, the defiance flickers into something else, something like desire.

“My monster…” she whispers.

My heart squeezes in my chest. She’s letting me in, but it feels like a lie. For the first time since Liana, I don’t feel like the monster I am. The truth is that I’m her savior. But if believing that I’m the one she has most to fear will allow her to accept my protection from the true monsters out there trying to kill her, then I’ll take it. For now.

My grip softens, my thumb brushing her jaw. “I never lie, kitten, because I don’t have to. Which means I will never lie toyou. In fact, I intend to find the person who hurt your sister and deliver him to you. Based on what you did to Franco, my guess is that you could do some damage.”

Siena gives me a small smile, the first real smile I’ve seen from her, and I feel like my heart is going to explode. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful, and immediately my life’s purpose becomes making this woman smile every day of her life.

“Do you trust me?” I ask, my voice low and commanding.

She hesitates, staring into my eyes for a moment, really seeing me. I’m almost nervous, not knowing what she’s going to say. I hold her gaze, waiting. Her chest heaves and she looks away for a second. My heart drops. Then she nods slowly.

I lift her chin so she’s looking at me again and shake my head, tapping her bottom lip with my finger. “I need you to say it.”

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