Page 12 of Venomous Vows

Though I thought that family-friend perk might come in handy now.

“What is it that you want from me, Adrian?” I mutter, trying not to hold my breath awaiting his answer.

His gaze remains locked on me for several long seconds before his words snake around my throat and squeeze. “Way more than what you’re willing to give me, sweetheart. I suggest you turn around and get back to your car because this isn’t going to end the way you imagined in your head.”

No.

Adrian is already turning me away before he’s even given me something to do. I’m not sure how Zane could’ve been so confident in helping me, but I can’t just go.

“I can’t,” I assert, curling my fingers into fists to keep my composure. I need him and he knows it. And I’m not going to give up on my sister. “You have the means, Adrian. I’m asking for a favor.”

“Favors aren’t something I hand out freely.”

“You know me.”And you’re not helping your case here because I’m sure those memories are just as annoying as mine are about him.“You know Marcella.”

“And I’m sorry that she’s been taken?—”

“You’re not,” I accuse through my clenching jaw. “You’ve always been awful to me and I don’t know what I did to start it but, at this time, I don’t care. I need you, Adrian. I have to get my sister back and you’re the only one with the resources to make that happen for me. You know it. I know it. If you need me to get on my knees and beg you for it, then I will.”

Adrian doesn’t smirk or hint at anything about how that would be a gloating moment for him. “You don’t beg.”

“I would for my sister.”

“What else would you do?”

My skin blazes at the hint of something provocative and dirty, but that’s all in my head. Adrian would rather cut out his tongue than do anything sexual with me. “Anything.”

The moment the word leaves my lips, I know I stepped into uncharted territory with the boy I used to know, who transformed into a powerful man.

I don’t know him anymore.

Not like I used to. Before, I knew his schedule, his girlfriends, the type of music he listened to, and the guys he beat up in school.

Now, I don’t know if he still sleeps on his back like he used to or if he brushes his teeth and hair at the same time.

Adrian is as foreign to me as his Italian words used to be.

“You might eat those words later,” Adrian informs me and I feel the dismissiveness and boredom of his tone. “Finish up serving my guests…we’ll talk in my office later.”

“You still want me?—”

“I’ve always wanted you,piccola diavola,” he discloses sharply as he starts for the door. “Now, we’re gonna play by my rules if you agree to what I have in store for you.”

That sounds like awaiting death.

Which would be every day, but the way Adrian just said it, it makes it sound like pure purgatory.

He doesn’t wait for a response as I watch him walk and disappear back into the house through a set of French doors.

I said I would agree to anything.

And I meant it.

I just hope it doesn’t mean a severe case of whiplash and murdering somebody.

4

ADRIAN

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