Page 114 of The Heart of a Villain

I open my mouth to say I’ll do it, since I got the second shortest and don’t really want her to injure herself in case it goes south, when a black car pulls up behind ours, the lights so bright they blind us.

I try to block it with my hand, blinking several times to adjust my vision and see who it might be, when a dark and brooding man gets out, to Elena’s loudly gasped, “Uncle Dante.”

“Not now.” That’s all he says before he comes to us and dips down, throwing Caroline over his shoulder, making our jaws drop. “See you later, girls.”

“Let me go, you brute!” She kicks and screams, hitting his back, and Pierre lunges after them, wanting to help her, but we both hold him back because we know Caroline.

And right now, she really wants to be with her baby daddy, who I think just found out about said baby.

My heart pangs, sending an aching sensation all over my system because watching them together opens up my wounds and shows me clearly that when a man wants you, he goes after you.

And the man who occupies my mind just doesn’t give two shits about me.

Shaking my head, I give Pierre the straw and plaster a bright smile on my face. “I’m going in and getting the book.”

“Maybe we just need to go to the club.” Elena mutters, “Since she’s fine now.”

I guess her anxiety has passed, but mine hasn’t.

I’m not ready to go to the show and watch it along with happy couples dancing, including the one present, while loneliness fills me to the brink.

So this adrenaline rush is exactly what I need in this moment.

“No, let’s do it.” I motion with my head to the guard. “Bring on the distraction.”

She gives me a long look and then kisses me on the cheek, dancing off to the guard, ready to use all her charms.

Pierre asks me, “Are you okay?”

“Yep.”

“Love is hard.”

“Yeah.” Since I don’t really want to hear any speeches, I wink at him and then run to the back of the library, getting inside from the back door the guard must’ve left unlocked when he came out, and silently shut it behind me.

Pressing my splayed palm on the door, I exhale a breath as the dusty smell of old books fills my nostrils and excites me.

I spin around to search for the specific book, which was ironically Beauty and the Beast, while noticing nothing has changed in the library after all these years.

It still consists of long hallways of seemingly endless bookshelves and several tables, with a domed ceiling. There are still the old paintings with famous quotes scattered all over the walls, inviting you to look them up and delve deeper.

My heels are almost soundless on the plush carpet while the moonlight streaming from the open window mixes nicely with the candles spread all over the perimeter, casting a glow all around me and giving it a magical vibe.

That’s when everything inside me freezes, and realization hits me like thousands of bricks.

Candles?

Everywhere around me.

How is that…?

A distant click of the lock echoes behind me, and I turn around, a gasp slipping past my lips when I see a man leaning on the door, wearing a perfect navy-blue suit that fits him like a second skin, emphasizing each one of his rigid muscles.

His dark hair falls down just below his ears, ascending perfect symmetry that’s his face while the slight five o’clock shadow gives him a rougher edge.

He holds a single, fully bloomed red rose in his hand while his emerald eyes scan me from head to toe with so much satisfaction and possessiveness I can almost taste it on my tongue, while the hot wave washes over me, my insides burning just from his close proximity alone.

If anyone saw him right now, they’d think he was a prince straight from the fairy tales who has arrived to conquer the heart of a princess.

---