Page 49 of Vicious Heir

Adriano stares at me with the coldest expression I’ve ever seen on a person. He’s looking at me like he wants to turn me into an ice cube.

“Hello, husband,” I say with false cheer. “Lovely to see you. What brings you to this bar, of all places?”

His eye twitches. “Time to go,” he says.

“Oh, don’t be rude.” My smile gets sharp. I feel a rumble of anger in my chest. “You remember Kennedy from the wedding?”

Kennedy waves awkwardly. “Nice to see you again, Adriano.”

He doesn’t even look in her direction. “You know the rules,” he says, practically breathing snow in my face.

“I left a note.” I raise my chin defiantly. “Wasn’t that your whole thing? Tell Luca before I leave?”

His jaw ticks. I can tell his facade is cracking. “It’s time to go home now, wife,” he says through his teeth.

“Why don’t you sit down and join us?” I gesture at the empty stool to my right.

“Uhhhh, while this looks totally normal and fun, I think I’m just going to head home.” Kennedy starts to stand.

“Stay,” I say sharply to her.

She sinks back down. “I don’t want to be a part of your fight,” she whispers.

Adriano comes closer. The big, beautiful monster is inches from me. He’s practically melting now. I can see the rage breaking through his carefully composed facade, and I thrill at it. I like having power over him. I can piss him off so easily and push his buttons nice and hard. I’m very aware that it’s an extremely dangerous game to play, but I can’t help myself.

There’s a thrill in my stomach, and my heart’s beating fast. I’ve never felt so close to danger before, but also so extremely alive.

“You know it isn’t safe for you here right now,” he says quietly. “Come home with me.”

“Maybe I like that it isn’t safe.” I lean closer to him and put a hand on his leg.

He stares at me with pure molten fire.

And Kennedy jumps up again. “Okay, this was something, but I’m out of here. I’ll talk to you later, Lucy!”

I feel bad, but I let her go. She hurries off while I stare my husband down. He looks right back, holding my gaze, expression burning with pure lust in his eyes. For some reason, I think he likes my defiance as much as I do.

“People are looking, you know,” I say quietly.

“Let them. I don’t give a fuck.”

“They’re my people. There are going to be rumors.”

“Good. Let them talk all they want.” He leans in closer. One hand moves to the back of my head. “You disobeyed me, little wife. We both know that note was bullshit. Now I’m going to take youback home to where it’s safe, and I’m going to punish you until you understand your place.”

“My place?” I say and gasp as he grips my hair. “Sounds like some egotistical macho trash. Now let me go, you’re embarrassing me.”

“You don’t give a shit about these people,” he whispers, moving closer. “We both know they don’t matter.”

I feel eyes on me, but their weight seems muted. All my life, I’ve cared about what my social betters thought of me and my family. It crushed me when I lost all my friends and became a pariah, and I feel like I’m still ruined by what happened.

But for some reason, with my focus entirely on Adriano, the sting is less severe. The memory of those years is muted and dull, like it’s all gone into black and white after living in my head in pure color for so long.

I gaze into his eyes, and I hate him for being so controlling and possessive, but I want him to crush me all the same.

“What does matter then?” I ask him.

His grip tightens. “Getting you home. Getting youpunished. Now stand up, my little wife.” His lips curl into a smirk. “You wouldn’t want to make a scene.”

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