Giorgio’s teasing tone causes me to frown. “Payment for what?”
He winks. “Whatever you want it to be, angel.”
“I’m not your whore, Giorgio.”
I am compelled to remind him of that, and he grins. “Haven’t you figured it out yet, baby?”
“What?” My heart sinks as I prepare for him to ruin my day, and he stops and surprises me by holding my face gently in his hands and stares deep into my eyes as he whispers, “We are your whores. All three of us. We will do anything for you because, for some reason, you speak to our souls. We didn’t expect it, didn’t want it even, but when you walked into our lives, you breathed life intothree broken souls who had given up on ever experiencing life again.”
“Life?” I gaze into his hard, dead eyes and note a spark that I recognize. I feel it too. When Jason left, I lost all hope, had no hope, and I wonder what drove that same spark from their eyes.
“Who hurt you, Giorgio? All of you.”
He shakes his head.
“Not now, angel. You have every right to ask, but not in the street. Not when all I can think of is fucking your tight cunt that has driven me mad since I saw you dining with Matteo on that first night. Then we will talk. Then we will explore what this is, but for now my body is the only thing on offer; my soul may not be worth having. I don’t want to frighten you away before I have scratched an itch that has been driving me crazy since you walked into our lives.”
He kisses me deeply, his hands gripping my face, in the street with pedestrians passing on either side of us. It’s as if they don’t exist as I lose myself in a dark, decadent world, where life is cheap and breathing uneasy. Where morals tangle with dreams and lie discarded in the gutter as these men reach out and rip your soul from your body. This is their world, one without consequence, just high fast living with death a sidestep away.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Giorgio
The fight has sharpened my senses and given me a huge shot of adrenaline that I really didn’t need. Taylor is sufficient for that. The certainty of what will happen when we return to The Artemis is weighing heavily on my mind. I have waited so long for this moment. Longer than I have known her. Always waiting, never daring to dream that my perfect woman would ever find me.
Nobody is more surprised than I am at the power this woman holds over us. We shut down our hearts many years ago when we packed up and left our hometown. Vowing never to drop our guard, be ruthless in business—legitimate business because crime has a habit of stripping you of everything that makes you human.
If we considered that walking away was enough, we were fools. The baggage merely turned up unwelcome on our doorstep and set up residence in our new lives. UntilTaylor. Until she killed a man and then another in as many days. Standing before her fear with no regard for the law, just the one of survival.
In that moment, we were lost forever, and we all recognized that. Even Tommaso, who we feared for—still fear for because we may have trailed broken hearts with us to Vegas but he left his soul withher.
I kiss Taylor to wipe the memory. To replace it with something good—hope even. She is an antidote to madness or the creator of a new one. I’m not sure which, but I’m going to find out—today.
As I break away, I stare fiercely into her eyes and growl, “If he’s not dead, it’s time to set our guest free.”
“How will you explain the fact that he has no hand?”
“I won’t.” I grin. “He won’t talk; he’s getting off lightly after all.”
“Lightly.” She rolls her eyes. “Nothing is light about this situation, Giorgio, and if you consider otherwise, then you are more fucked up than I first thought.”
“Aren’t we all, angel?”
I wink as I grasp her hand and head off at speed toward The Artemis.
We enter my world as if I am not covered in blood, attracting curious stares from the customers who pour through my doors in pursuit of their dreams. I am a walking advertisement for their nightmares, and asTaylor grips my hand, she glares at anyone who stares a little too long, warning them not to be concerned about something they know nothing about.
It feels good walking beside her. The King and Queen among their subjects. I notice Simon talking to one of the security guards, and he nods with respect as we pass. Matteo likes the guy. I have no reason to doubt his judgment, and I appreciate the way he shows no emotion and doesn’t react to the sight of his boss covered in blood, holding the hand of the woman we kidnapped.
Taylor is free to leave if she likes; hell, we’d even pay her for the privilege, but this is not what this is about. The situation we find ourselves in is wanting her to stay. With us, a family if you like. A fucked up deranged family who could take on the world and set fire to the rules, replacing right with wrong and accepting that sometimes wrong is the only path worth taking.
Three men shouldn’t share one woman, but it will come as easily to us as breathing. Because it’s Taylor. The woman who broke a man’s neck and gained our attention. The woman who sliced a man’s cock off and set fire to his soul—literally.
In that moment, four souls shot up in flames as we faced the fact she now owned ours and it was up to us to persuade her to stay. To save us from falling into an abyss we are so far down we have merely tugged her in after us.
We reach the apartment, and I strip off my t-shirt, the man’s blood decorating my skin like warpaint.
Taylor’s eyes widen as she stares at my body, and I love the lust sparkling in her astonishing gray eyes.