“What a surprise to find you alive after all these years,” he waves his gun at me. “You’re as beautiful as I remember.”
“Can’t say the same for you.”
I am not going to be pulling any punches. Not with this monster.
Sparks of anger flicker in his steely eyes, but they quickly diminish as if they never exist in the first place. He was always quick to anger when we are younger. Constantly getting in fist fights and striking out. We were engaged once, but I was in love with Liam.
That is when everything changed.
“How cruel the years are to both of us,” he inclines his head.
“If you’re trying to bond with me over shared trauma,” I sniff haughtily. “It isn’t going to work.”
He chuckles.
“Oh, little Kat.” His words slither around me like a snake, and I can feel my skin crawling. “We have so much to bond over, but first,” he stands from the chair and saunters toward me. I shuffle back, trying to keep distance between us, but am stopped when I hit the immovable force of the island. Noah smirks, his large body crowding mine against the cold marble. He leans down until his lips are at my ear. “You are going to do something for me.”
I shake my head unable to speak with how close he is. Lightning fast, his gloved hand grips my chin in a bruising hold, his fingers digging into my cheeks as he forces me to look at him.
“This isn’t a negotiation, kitty-kat,” he snarls menacingly, venom dripping from his words. “You are going to do exactly as I say, or I’ll put a bullet through your ex-lover’s head.” He tilts his head to the side, eyes lighting with fire. “Or maybe I will put one through your daughter’s and watch her burn.”
“Go to hell,” I hiss through clenched teeth.
Noah simply laughs and releases the grip on my chin, but he doesn’t step back. He continues to crowd me, his dark essence washing over me like a wave crashing upon a sandcastle on the beach. With one pull of the trigger, he can wash me away.
“I’ve been there, Kat,” he shrugs. “They didn’t want me, but I want something from you.”
“And what is that?” I ask, afraid of the answer.
“Revenge.”
fifty-six
SEVERAL MONTHS LATER
The smell of hospitals makes me sick to my stomach. Poorly concealed death. That is what it smells like. I’ve been pacing the length of the empty birthing room ever since they took Kendra into the OR. Her placenta had ruptured and now they are going to have to do an emergency C-section.
Fear grips my heart as they wheel her away. All that matters is that the baby is safe. Kendra can rot in hell for all I care, but I still can’t follow them. Not after what happened to my first wife, Lia. I watched her die giving birth to my daughter, Sestra. It is why I never come to the hospital. Why I have my own private team of doctors, but even they don’t have the skills needed to perform this procedure.
Cazzo.
Nine months.
Nine fucking months is how long I’ve kept Kendra safe from those who seek vengeance against her. That list isn’t short,either. Much like Elias, Kendra lied and manipulated her way through society and now all her bridges are burnt and all she has is me.
Lucky fucking me.
Jesus. Being with her was a mistake. Even if that mistake gave me two beautiful daughters, I should have ended the affair long before they were born. But old habits are hard to turn away from.
I was drowning in grief at the loss of my wife, Lia, when it first started, and Kendra capitalized on that.
Lia.
I still miss her, even after all these years. I can say that Kendra seduced me, used her wiles against me, but I know I could have ended it at any time and I should have.
Hindsight is a bitch.
The scent of the hospital is getting to me, my vision blurring slightly as panic settles into my bones. I can handle losing Kendra but losing the baby might just kill me. It is a loss I don’t think I can deal with. Armando and Sestra, my children with Lia, are waiting for me downstairs in the lobby. The hospital has a policy about visitors during emergency surgeries.