Page 1 of Bad Men

Chapter One — Mia

“Please tell me you’re not standing at the window like some creep.”

I let the dark green drapes slip back over the front windows, relieved that Liana couldn’t see me.

“Of course not,” I lied, turning away for good measure. “I told you, I don’t care.”

Another lie.

I cared. I cared a lot. I cared so much, I hadn’t slept the night before, my anticipation a palpable force scuttling beneath my skin, making me anxious and excited. The first of every month had that power over me and my brat of a cousin knew it.

“Uh huh.” Liana chuckled quietly. “You are the worst liar.”

I didn’t make it a habit of lying to the people I cared about. In twenty-two years, I’d only ever kept one secret, but it was the kind that could destroy my life, my family, my reputation if anyone ever found out. Even the two involved had no idea it had been me that night five years ago, and I wanted to keep it that way.

“I didn’t call you to mock me,” I grumbled, wedging the phone between my ear and shoulder, freeing up my hands to fasten the button barely containing the full weight of my breasts beneath the confines of my dress. The flimsy bit of thread protested the attempt. It was one deep inhale away from popping free and blinding someone.

“I can do both,” Liana teased. “So, what are you wearing?”

The cruel mockery pooled heat in my cheeks. I dropped my hands to scowl, a scowl she couldn’t even see. “Why does that matter? You’re supposed to help me stay focused, not—”

Finding herself apparently hilarious, Liana hummed softly in feigned contemplation. “Not tempt you into submitting to your dirty fantasies?”

I gasped, horrified by my sweet, shy cousin. “Liana!”

Her giggle made my lips twitch. “I’m sorry, but it’s been seven years, Mimi. How much longer do you plan on playing this game?”

“It’s not a game, Lili!” I cried, hurt by the implication. “You know I can’t…” I let my words trail into a whisper, careful not to let my voice carry up the stairs where my dad was counting money. “Give in.”

“But you can’t go on like this either,” she argued. “You need to let them go.”

She was right, of course. I was behaving like some desperate teenager with her first crush. Only, I couldn’t be with them, not without devastating my family, but I couldn’t let them go because I was selfish. I was at an impasse, teetering between a fantasy and a cold reality with nowhere to go.

“I know you’re right,” I whispered at last, resigning to a reality without them. “I’m being ridiculous and stupid.”

“That is not what I said!” Liana protested. “This obsession you have with Nero and Davien is unhealthy and dangerous. They’re not good people. They will hurt you and I don’t want that.”

They could hurt me.

Both were so big and strong. Men with bad reputations and no remorse.

Criminals.

They could destroy me with just a word, and I knew I couldn’t survive that. I couldn’t handle being rejected by the two men I’d been in love with since I was sixteen. How was I supposed to just let that go? How did I move on?

“Mia?”

I sucked in a shaky breath and focused on my cousin’s hesitant voice. “Yeah, I’m here “

“Are you angry with me?”

I shook my head. “Never.”

“You know I love you.”

My heart wasn’t in it, but I willed a smile into my voice. “I love you, too, prima.”

Liana sighed. “Promise me you’ll forget about them.”

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