Page 77 of Taming Seraphine

“What happened? Where is he now?”

He shakes his head. “It was a routine procedure. Miko is checking through the records of every hospital in and within driving distance of New Alderney. We’ll find him.”

Hope flickers in my chest, but it’s only a tiny spark which fades. Leroi is planning on getting rid of me after he’s found Gabriel. He admitted as much the night we’d buried that bastard I castrated in the woods, but I don’t want to replace Leroi with my brother. I don’t want to have to choose between them. I want them both.

“Do you promise?”

He cups the side of my face, his eyes softening. “I promise.”

Some of the tension leaves my shoulders, and I lean into his touch. “You’ll like Gabriel,” I murmur. “He’s just like Miko.”

Leroi strokes my hair, sending pleasant shivers down my scalp. “It’s late. You should go to bed.”

“Can I sleep with you? Pietro died, and I can’t be in that room alone.”

Leroi’s face stills. “You slept well enough in there after you killed Billy Blue and all the others. Why would Fiori’s death make a difference?”

“Because I witnessed his murder,” I whisper. “They don’t count when I do it.”

He studies my expression for a few long seconds, his jaw clenching. “Go to bed.”

“But—”

“Now.”

I dig my heels into the floor.

His eyes darken, and he steps so close that the air between us crackles with electricity. “Go. To. Bed.”

Maybe what I said about being too traumatized to sleep was bullshit, but there’s still something between us that’s keeping me awake. I take a step backward toward the counter, my skin tingling. “If you want me to leave the kitchen, you’ll apologize.”

He raises a brow. “Explain.”

“You paid that bucket of bleach more attention than me. You walked away from me at Pietro’s house. Then you acted like it was my fault that Dad’s driver’s cousin was dead?—”

“Because you killed him?—”

“And then you ignored me in the shooting range and spent all your time with Miko,” I say, my voice rising.

He rubs the spot between his brows. I know by now it’s his way of saying he’s tired of dealing with me. “Seraphine,” he says, his voice measured. “Miko and I were planning tonight’s mission.”

My jaw tenses. We could have planned it together, but he left me out on purpose, and I know why. We were getting along perfectly until he fucked me with that knife and then gave me that second orgasm. My back stiffens at the memory of him gazing down at his wet fingers, his face a blank mask, his erection strained through his pants. His body wants me, but he doesn’t want to get involved with someone so tainted by abuse.

“I didn’t think you were the kind of man who got squeamish after giving a girl an orgasm.” Taking another step backward toward the counter, I seek comfort from my new knife. Leroi stalks after me, his irises turning black.

I’m trapped between his much larger body and a hard surface, and the pulse between my legs won’t stop throbbing. Leroi cages me with both hands on the counter and leans in.

“Don’t test me, little Seraphine,” he growls.

“What are you going to do?” I ask, my heart pounding. “Spank me?”

His eyes flash. “Lose the sass before I do something you’ll regret.”

My breath hitches.

I can’t wait to see what he’ll do next.

TWENTY-EIGHT

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