Page 10 of King of Obsession

He arches a brow playfully. “Could you be persuaded?”

“Nope.” I giggle. I fucking giggle.

There’s just something sensual and charming about him, and combined with that confident attitude he emanates, it does the strangest things to me. His eyes lock on mine, once againoffering me his undivided attention. It’s so potent I have trouble breathing.

“Don’t.” His voice turns cold.

The shift is so sudden that every instinct of mine is on alert being face-to-face with someone dangerous. There’s no pretense. He can be the version he presented to me, but just as swiftly become a killer. The dichotomy is so familiar that it disconcerts me.

“I don’t have a choice,” I confess.

I can’t believe I am being truthful for the first time in my life, and it’s to a stranger who I wanted to kill just a few minutes ago.

“So the Council fucks over the decades long peace?” He nods more to himself. “It’s not the Council. It’s personal.” The self-assured way he says it reveals he already knows who is behind the hit.

Damn, he’s astute, wise beyond his years. I don’t even know how to respond. I don’t have conversations with my targets, and I can’t kill the people I consistently interact with even if I wanted to.

This is something that is so far out of my comfort zone, I can’t even begin to describe it. I remain quiet, neither confirming nor denying.

“My cousin. But then you wouldn’t go against the Council’s wishes if he didn’t have something you want badly enough to jeopardize your position.”

“This conversation is over,” I hastily say, breaking the haze.

I am about to pay when the bartender takes a glance at Enzo. Just with a slight shake of his head, the bartender hurries to another customer.

Tapping his finger on the smooth bar, he casts an intent look my way. “Nothing is worth your life, Luciana. You get only one warning. Leave my city and find another way to get what you want. I am the judge, jury, and executioner with the power to end whoever crosses me. Don’t enter my courtroom. The verdict will be death. I don’t pardon. I don’t give a second chance. And I will kill you personally.”

“That won’t be necessary. Enjoy tonight. It will be your last.”

I march out of the bar and head straight to the bank of elevators. Swiping the card to the penthouse suite, I square my shoulders, telling my reflection in the mirrored wall, “You’re Silver Death. Nothing rattles you. Nothing stops you. You kill men, not the other way around.”

Go ahead and try, Enzo Ferrara. But you will be the one who loses your head.

Some would say I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. She’s constantly watching me, following me around, waiting. Why she hasn’t made a move yet is beyond me—silent and unshakable as a shadow attached to my back. This game we’re playing has provided me more entertainment than I thought possible. I am not bored with life, but I’ve definitely been bored out of my mind.

Did she listen to me and run away? No. But I didn’t think she would.

Luciana has taken over my brain, consuming my thoughts. The more I find out about her, the more interested I become in this fascinating woman—this angel of death.

Raised as an orphan, Augustus took her under his wing and turned her into his personal assassin. While she only listens to him, I wonder why she’s so determined to break his trust and thereby the peace. I won’t rest until I discover her truemotivation.

Leaning against my couch, I stare out the window as the night swallows the sky, making me feel better in my skin, cloaked by the privacy of darkness where all sinners thrive. I live a dangerous life, and I have enough people to take care of. A woman and a family of my own are so far down my priority list, that they’re at the bottom. At some point, I’ll have to succumb. For whom the fuck would I have built all this if I didn’t have someone to continue my legacy? Even though everyone should create their own. I doubt I can postpone my father’s wish indefinitely.

“Family is what matters, son.”

Remembering him, I sigh, the past playing behind my closed lids.

Mika’s father and mine tried everything to keep us from being friends, but we gravitated toward each other. Our loyalty goes beyond blood. We don’t have to tiptoe around each other, like our fathers did, hoping to avoid another bloody war. There were enough casualties and even years later, some of our men have not forgotten.

We were rebellious boys who thought it was cool to test our father’s limits, but as their heirs, we got a lot of leeway. Then that day happened when my sister was kidnapped at her eighteenth birthday party. Everything shifted drastically. My father died, my brother’s father died, and I came too late.

The memory pours acid down my brain, slowly dissolving the strands of my sanity. Four years later, and it still feels like it happened yesterday.

Dragging a hand down my face, I try to channel my anger into focus.

Feeling restless, I head to the elevator and press the button to my personal garage, where a dozen cars await me. I choose my favorite, my black beauty of a beast, a Lamborghini Sian.

Punching the accelerator, it presses me into the smooth leather seat, and I zigzag through the traffic. There’s always life buzzing in Reno as the wicked never sleep. With its high capacity to provide entertainment, days blend with the nights, creating an endless loop of time.

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