جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 270

The circumstances would have changed, but our problems would have remained. I hadn’t been looking for a woman when she’d barreled into my life like a fucking freight train. I wasn’t just emotionally unavailable, but emotionally stunted. But Astrid…she made things come back to life that I wished would stay dead. “Our predicament would be the same. It doesn’t matter when you left him or why you left him. He was never going to let you go. Your house might not have been a pile of ash like it is now, but you’d still be here with me.”“You make it sound like fate.”I didn’t believe in fate. But I believed I’d been doomed the moment I’d pulled over on that rainy night. Our lives had been intertwined ever since. The cost of her safety was my brother’s remains. I hoped he would understand the decision. I hoped I would see him again and he would give me that same shit-eating grin.She continued to watch me, her eyes warm but direct. “So, can we give this a real shot?”The circumstances weren’t

When the waiter came over, we ordered wine and an appetizer.It’d been a long time since I’d been out of the house without Bolton or Theo. I didn’t have many friends, and I used to be close to my sister-in-law, but now that she wasn’t my sister-in-law anymore, we would probably never speak again.“So, how are things?” Scarlett asked.When we were shopping, we had been more focused on getting everything we needed than having a deep, one-on-one conversation. Now, it was just us and our wine and our bread. “Things are really good, but I feel weird describing my life that way.”“Why?”“Well, I’m not divorced. I have a feeling I’ll never be divorced.”“You can file without his signature,” she said. “So, just file for the divorce and let him deal with it.”“I have a strong suspicion that paperwork would never see the light of day. Bolton is connected to everyone.”“And you think Theo isn’t?”I gave a shrug. “I think filing for divorce is a waste of time anyway, because the marriage will end

As always, butterflies the size of dragons erupted in my stomach. Whenever my eyes found his, I felt the simmer deep in my stomach, felt the numbness in my fingertips. Bolton used to have that effect on me when we first met, but that quickly wore off. I suspected it would never wear off with Theo. “Sure.”We crossed the restaurant and approached the guys, their empty plates still on the table because the waitress hadn’t come by to clear them. But their glasses were full of booze instead of wine, with big square ice cubes.Theo’s eyes shifted to me when I drew close. Not once did he look at Scarlett, like she wasn’t even there.“The waiter told us some prick picked up the bill,” Scarlett teased.His eyes stayed on me for another second before he finally looked at her. “Did you enjoy your dinner?”“Yes—and the wine,” she said. “I drank too much, and now my milk is going to taste like a cocktail.”“I’m sure Axel will enjoy that.” His gaze turned back to me, steady and calm like the ocean

After a long stare, he shifted his eyes elsewhere.“He’s the reason you’re going to die here. You know that, right?”He continued to look away as his breathing started to elevate.“Help me kill him. Take him down with you.” There was no greater emotion than revenge. I planted the seed, and then I watered it. I was on a goose chase, grabbing the guys who didn’t stay one step ahead of me. I wanted a lead that took me down the right road. I might be the Skull King, but I didn’t enjoy killing people for the hell of it.“Carson…he’s probably with her.”“Her?” Carson sounded like a man’s name.“His girlfriend.”Astrid had told me the tale of his affair, that she’d spotted the messages on his tablet just before he remotely deleted them from his device and his cloud. Not only had he been cheating before he’d asked for the open marriage, but he had a long-term relationship with someone.Carson.“Does this woman have a first name?”“I don’t know,” he said. “But she lives in Rome.”Bolton had to

His knees sank into the mattress when he moved onto the sheets. His body came over mine, and he immediately adjusted me underneath him, folding me, bending my knees, getting me into the position he wanted to fuck me in. Didn’t even kiss me. Just got straight to the point, and I liked that.He knew the lingerie was crotchless without checking, and he slicked his head before he pushed himself inside me, forcing himself without any gentlemanly patience. He just took what he wanted like I didn’t matter, and I also liked that.When I felt him plow into me, I released a gasp, my nails sinking deep into his flesh, his muscles hard as rocks. It had been just a moment ago when he’d laid eyes on me, and within the snap of a finger, he was at full mast and hard as steel…for me.He could have anyone else, but he wanted me.It was the kind of fuck that knocked the headboard into the wall and made a mark. It was the kind that his butler probably heard two floors below. The kind that would make me c