Page 12 of Vow to Corrupt You
Lorenzo’s fingers tighten around the steering wheel, and a heavy sigh escapes his lungs. “You’re playing with fire,” he cautions, his tone one of warning. “If Nikos catches wind of this…”
“I know,” I state, all the possible consequences crossing my mind, but I brush them away with a shake of my head. “Nikos will never find out. How could he possibly know of this?”
I hear another heavy sigh followed by the deafening silence that’s muffled by the running car engine.
“Lorenzo,” I pause, gathering my thoughts. “It’s my last chance to say goodbye. To Claudio, to the life I once knew…”
“I understand.” His eyes shift to the rearview mirror and meet mine. “Just be careful. Claudio’s not the only one whose life is at stake here.”
I merely nod, aware far too well of the risks involved. My only hope is that Nikos will never find out. He cannot ever find out.
“We’re here,” Lorenzo announces as he pulls up outside a secluded house that once belonged to Claudio’s late grandparents. Claudio is now taking care of the home. It serves as our secret hideout whenever we want to spend some time alone. “I’ll be waiting right here if you need me.”
“Thank you, Lorenzo.” I offer him a faint smile.
I step out into the cool night air and make my way to the front door. My heart races with anticipation and dread. I’m shaking, and I feel like a bad hunch has followed me all the way here that has caused my belly to tie in a knot. With trembling hands, I grab the doorknob and turn it, pushing on the door that cracks open just enough. As soon as it does, my blood runs cold.
It can’t be.
“Hello, wicked one.”
Time stutters the moment I lock onto him—the reason for my feeling of doom—lounging in a chair across the entrance. One leg bent over the other, he casually takes a puff of his expensive cigar. He fixes me with the kind of piercing gaze that makes my spine tingle. The smoke curls around him, and his commanding, imposing presence makes me suffocate.
“Oh God…” I gasp for air, choking on my own fear.
Where’s Claudio?
Did Nikos… kill him because of my rebellion?
Dread slithers through my veins like liquid ice as all these questions race through my mind.
What have I done? I should’ve seen that coming, and now it might be too late…
Nikos scoffs, puts the cigar in the ashtray on an old wooden coffee table, and rises from the chair. With a few calculated steps, he closes the distance between us. Instinctively, I shrink back, but he inches even closer. Hovering over me, he places his fingers under my chin and slowly tilts my head back so I’m forced to look into his deadly eyes. His thumb tracing a path along my jawline sends another wave of fear.
“God’s not here, wicked one.” He leans down, his nose brushing mine as if stealing all the air from my lungs. “He abandoned you the moment my gaze landed on you.”
CHAPTER 7
Serena
I’m terrified. I’ve never been more terrified in my entire life. So much so that I’m shaking. My heart is racing. I did something I should never have done. I came to meet with—to lose my virginity to—a man who is not him. As much as I hate the idea of it, Nikos is my fiancé. In fact, he has it on paper. Legally binding me to him, he has a contract which states very clearly that I am his and his only. I’m not allowed to be involved with any other man. Yet, I am here, going against the rules.
Except… he was never supposed to find out about it.
Nikos doesn’t say anything. It makes me even more petrified because I don’t know what’s going through this psycho mind of his. He keeps staring at me with his intense gaze, trailing patterns along my jawline and down my neck with his fingers, draped again by those black leather gloves. I can’t stop imagining all the possible things he might’ve done to Claudio, but I’m too scared to mention his name. Or perhaps I’m too frightened to hear that he’s not alive anymore.
A gasp escapes my mouth at the firm grip beneath my jaw. I feel Nikos’s fingers—or rather the leather fabric—digging into my cheeks.
“Cat got your tongue, wicked one?” His voice is a low, dangerous growl.
“Where’s Claudio?” I barely manage to mutter.
There’s a shift in Nikos’s gaze at the mention of my boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. “He’s upstairs, waiting for you.”
I release a quick, short breath of relief. At least he’s alive. “What… What will you do to us?”
His eyes dart between us as he scoffs, “Us?” A subtle twitch pulls at his brow.
