Page 33 of Twisted Empire: King's Gambit

I realize no gate, no security protocol, no amount of calculated indifference will shield me from the one threat I hadn’t planned for—the unsettling effect of Gabriette.

I understand that the most dangerous enemy I face might not be one I can defeat with bullets or strategy. Because this enemy isn’t out in the world; it’s here, in the confines of this penthouse, this inexplicable relationship.

It’s the emotion in her eyes, the feeling in my chest, the tension in the air.

It’s something far more terrifying than any threat I’ve ever faced, because for the first time, I don’t know how to fight it.

God, I need to get out of here.

MIKHAIL

Iwalk inside the bar and spot the familiar blonde woman sitting in my private booth. She looks up when I approach and smiles. Those green eyes have pulled many men to their knees.

She’s gorgeous, of course, with a body made for sin and an unhealthy thirst for blood.

Liadan Vittori is one of my closest friends. Her mother is the sister of my father’s best friend, so we’ve basically grown up like siblings. She has one foot in the Irish Mafia because of her mother and the other in the Cosa Nostra because of her father.

She also happens to be one of the most ruthless females I know.

“Ah, I was beginning to wonder where you were,” she says as she gets up to embrace me. “You sounded out of it on the phone. What’s up?”

“I need alcohol before I get into that,” I growl and call one of the servers over for a bottle of whiskey.

While pouring us each two fingers, I can feel her eyes on me and know she has a thousand questions waiting to fire off.

“Christ, this looks interesting,” she says, leaning back against the plush leather sofa. “What’s got the great Mischa Baranov in this headspace?”

I shoot her a glare and down the alcohol before pouring another, and I can hear the amusement in her voice when she adds, “or should I ask, whom?”

“Shut the fuck up, Lee,” I growl, but it only serves to make her laugh more. She’s always been able to read me like an open book and it’s fucking annoying. “It’s my wife.”

Her eyes widened at this. “Oh? The little Italian spitfire you told me about?” she says, but this time the humor is gone. “Did something happen?”

I lean forward, bracing my elbows on my knees, and breathe out a sigh. “Being close to her is opening up old wounds,” I say as I look down at the amber liquid swirling the glass around. “Dasha type wounds.”

When I look up, I see the surprise on her face, but there’s an underlying anger there, too. She knows what I went through ten years ago, knows what my father had me do and how I haven’t healed from it at all.

“Feckin’ hell,” she says, her slight Irish accent coming through. “How so? What is she doing that’s opening these wounds?”

I think about that question, really think about it and wonder how I can answer it. What exactly is it about Gabriette that’s making me feel this way?

“She’s unapologetically … Gabriette,” I say, scoffing. “She has a mouth on her, had one even as I threatened her into marriage. Even while terrified of me and knowing what I could do to her, she never backed down. Fuck, she even threatened to kill me when we had our first dance.”

Thinking back to our dance, I can’t help but laugh. “I don’t know, Lee, she’s making me feel all these things and…” I trail off as I look up because she’s suddenly wearing a look of disbelief. “What?”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” she scoffs, shaking her head. “You’re falling for your wife—”

“The fuck I am,” I growl. “I’ve only known her for a couple of weeks. I am not falling for her. She’s just… getting under my skin.”

Lee swings one leg over the other. “Okay, big man, prove it. Go up to that sexy redhead at the bar who’s been looking at you for the last ten minutes and tell her to meet you in your office back there.”

I turn to look at where she gestured to and sure enough, there’s a redhead staring at me. She sees me looking and acts coy, turning away from me as an invitation. Normally I would take the invitation in a heartbeat, perhaps new pussy will make me feel better.

But even as she’s sexy, as Lee put it, she’s not a certain brunette who screamed out my name as she came on my cock.

“I rest my case,” Lee says with a grin, holding up her glass and toasting as if she proved a point.

Falling for Gabriette? The thought is preposterous. I may have an unhealthy obsession with her and how obedient she was for me, but that doesn’t mean I’m falling for her.

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