Page 42 of Lord of the Dark

"What do you think this is?" I asked quietly. "Another power play for you to win? Do you really believe I’m here because I’m so easily impressed?"

His smile sharpened. "I think you have more courage than sense, Fiona." His voice was infuriatingly composed. "You know why you’re here. And so do I."

I scoffed, refusing to let him rattle me. "What I know is that your control freak routine is exhausting. I hate your arrogance, and I hate how casually you insert yourself into my life."

He tilted his head slightly, as if debating whether my words even warranted a response. "Interesting," he murmured, his sharp gaze flicking to my hand. "You’re shaking, Fiona. You couldn’t hit an elephant like that."

I stiffened, tightening my grip on the gun. "It’s been a while since I held one of these. But it’s more than enough to hurt you."

A flicker in his eyes betrayed a sliver of respect—brief, but undeniable. Then he raised his glass again, as if toasting. "Well then… let’s make this a little more interesting. You claim to hate how I interfere in your life," he began, deceptively calm, but his voice grew louder with each word, "while you sit in my fucking office chair, aiming my Glock at me?"

Now that he said it, the irony wasn’t lost on me. "Maybe I just enjoy beating you at your own game—with your own weapons, no less."

"The last thing I’m feeling right now is amused." His voice was brutal, icy.

Seeing how much I’d rattled him sent a triumphant smirk to my lips, one I barely suppressed. "To be honest, Alessandro, sitting here in your… fortress of control is making me unbelievably wet." I shifted comfortably in his leather chair, the gun still trained on him. "Getting in was almost too easy. You’ve got serious security flaws."

A dark grin spread across his unfairly handsome, ruthless face. "Oh, I absolutely believe you’re wet." For a second, we both smirked at the absurdity of it. "This is the second time you’ve threatened me with a gun. You’re seriously fucked up, you knowthat?"

The backhanded compliment drew a twisted smile from me. "You just have a talent for bringing out the best in me."

"The question is—why bother, Fiona? Are you here to settle some score? Or are you just looking for answers?"

"Oh, I’m sure I found some very interesting answers in your drawers, Alessandro… Remember, ‘You’re the expert in this field’? Those were your words at the café." My eyes narrowed into venomous slits. "Meanwhile, you’ve got half of Miami on your payroll, dictating which neighborhoods rise or fall. How stupid do you think I am? Do you really think I crave your approval?"

I’d struck a nerve. His full attention snapped to me, his movements deliberate as he set his glass down with eerie calm. When he straightened, his gaze was glacial.

"Ah, so you did find them. Then you know exactly what you’re dealing with." A pause, then his voice dropped to a lethal murmur. "Which makes your bravery all the more… reckless. I’m starting to think it’s not courage—just plain stupidity." He rose slowly.

"You think I’m stupid?" I hissed."

"I don’t think it, Fiona. I know it." His tone carried the bite of a winter storm. "So? Are you going to shoot me? Do it. Because my patience is gone." He took a long, deliberate step toward the desk where I still sat.

The Glock weighed heavy in my hand—not just from polymer, but from the irreversible choices I’d made. As my finger tightened on the trigger, time itself seemed to fracture—a suspended moment, thick and charged, as if the world held its breath. But instead of a gunshot—only a hollow click. The gun wasn’t loaded.

Goddammit.

The realization hit me like a physical blow, and in that sameinstant, I saw Alessandro’s eyes flash—raw shock and something darker flickering in them as he realized I’d been fully prepared to pull the trigger.

His gaze slowly traveled from the gun in my hand back to my face. "You actually did it," he murmured, the ice in his voice slithering over my skin like a shadow. "That you genuinely believed I’d leave a loaded weapon lying around."

I’d awakened something in him—something that had stayed hidden until now. A side of him that bore no resemblance to the seductive, dark man I thought I knew.

A mocking smile curled his lips, cold and merciless. "I told you—you’re stupid." For a fraction of a second, I saw respect flicker in his eyes—before the darkness swallowed it whole. The air around me thickened, as if he’d just decided to annihilate me here and now.

My eyes darted frantically around the room, desperately searching for an exit, a gap, anything that could get me past him. But the longer I looked, the smaller the room seemed to shrink, escape becoming impossible.

"There’s no way out, Fiona." He stepped closer, his gaze weighing on me like chains pinning me in place. "You’re going to pay for trying to shoot me."

My heart hammered as I took in his frozen expression—every muscle taut, a predator waiting for the perfect moment. I’d always known he was dangerous. But now I was facing something that would undoubtedly destroy me if I wasn’t faster. I was so fucked.

The desk between us suddenly felt like a narrow ledge, buying me mere seconds before the inevitable. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Instinct took over.

As Alessandro lunged forward, I slid under the desk at the last second—the cold floor biting into my knees as I scrambled blindly toward the door. Panic drove me forward, but my bodywas heavy, uncoordinated, my hands clawing for something, anything, to shield me from him.

Behind me, his footsteps closed in with terrifying speed. No time to turn. No time to see how close he was. My fingers finally grazed the doorknob—

Then I was yanked backward.

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