Page 10 of The Gambler

No one got to fuck with a black hat hacker slash part-time warlock and get away with it.

CHAPTER 6

LUCA

It was better to be the hunter than the prey.

Luca looked down at the exquisite body of his ex-fiancée lying next to him on the couch. He hadn’t been in their former apartment for more than an hour before she’d knocked on his door and descended on him. Now, she was trying to catch her breath, all the while looking at him with a stupid smile on her face. Yeah, a stupid one, in the sense of her thinking him as foolish enough to fall for her again.

He might have used her mouth, but there was no way he was fucking her again. Ever.

“I’m so glad we’re back together, Luca.”

Her voice, he once thought to be the sweetest sound in the world, sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “Really?”

She half sat up against the couch, crossing her long legs, putting her beautiful body on display. Just the way he liked it.

A lifetime ago.

“Of course, love.” Her baby blues widened and her big bottom lip quivered slightly. “You have no idea how difficult it was to be separated from you.”

“You could’ve fooled me.” She hadn’t visited him once. Not even to break off their engagement. He’d learned of her new engagement to a business rival through his brother. Even then, he hadn’t wanted to believe it. He’d yelled at Gio for lying to him. His big brother had never liked Natasha. None of his brothers had.

Looking alarmed now, she got up from the couch and stopped him as he put his shirt back on. He couldn’t help but notice the way her nose scrunched when she touched the rough fabric. Of course, she was used to him wearing the finest threads of silk and cashmere. How things had changed.

“You have become bigger… more muscled.” Her fingernails raked over his biceps. He couldn’t help but compare them to talons, meant to claw back into him.

“I’ve become a lot of things.”

Like rage and fury.

“It has been difficult without you.” There was a slight catch in her voice now.

“Has it now?”

She nodded while caressing his stomach, her eyes slowly starting to fill with tears.

Damn, she was good. Really good. How could he have been so blind?

“Yes, Luca. Being without you has been unbearable.”

“Yet here you are. As beautiful as ever. Clearly you were able to … bear being without me.”

Her eyes started to look worried. Finally, she was catching on. Never before had he used that tone with her, nor had he been harsh or refused her a thing in his life. For shewashis life. Once upon a time, she had been his everything.

While he got dressed, picking up his clothes strewn from the coffee table all the way back to the front door, Natasha went on about the difficulties in her life. How her marriage—yeah, she was still fucking married—hadn’t worked out the way she’d expected. Of all the woes she’d gone through the past two years.

“… so, you see, Luca. You were not the only one suffering.”

He closed his eyes for a second. She had actually just dared to compare his incarceration to her husband not giving her everything she wanted, which was his credit card as well as his attention. Damn, he owed Gio a big apology. He also needed to yell at him for not pummeling him until he’d seen Natasha’s true colors.

“Get out.”

“—he didn’t want to go to Aspen. As if I could ever miss a season. What would I tell my friends?”

“Get out!”

Her hands dropped as she stared at him. “What?” she asked, putting her dress back on.

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