Page 10 of SINS & Riley
By the time I reach the last door, I’m out of time and fresh out of fucks.
I twist the handle, shove through, and?—
“Come in, Riley.”
There’s a man in a white doctor’s coat, but he’s not the one speaking.
It’s Dominic.
My blood instantly freezes, every nerve ending seizing from my lungs to my toes. Dominic has always been the picture of lukewarm composure. Not overly warm, but not one to fly off the handle.
Exactly what you’d expect from the right hand man of a killing machine.
But now? Now Dominic looks dangerously close to murder. I’ve never seen him like this—never seen that ruthless edge carved into each line of his face.
And I sure as hell have never seen him holding a gun.
He stands rigid, a pistol gleaming coldly against the doctor’s temple, eyes lit with barely leashed fury.
Before I can choke out a single word to salvage this disaster, the door clicks shut behind me.
I spin around, startled, breath catching in my throat. My pulse turns to ice, heartbeats stumbling violently against my ribs.
“Zver.”
4
RILEY
Casually, Zver leans against the closed door, arms crossed, stone-faced beneath his mask.
In the exact moment my head should be clear, my reckless gaze slips over him.
His towering frame.
The raw power rippling beneath his stillness.
The way his presence floods every inch of space around me like smoke trapped in a glass bottle.
A scar cuts along his cheekbone, fading as it drags down his jaw and into his neck. Fresh since the last time I saw him. The beard too.
But some things never change. The mask. It’s still there.
Black, fitted, hiding just enough to shield who he is… but not the arrogance in his brow, or the cruel curve of his grin.
“You know the rules, Riley.”
“I—” My voice splinters, every bullshit lie I planned to say disintegrates on my tongue.
Screw it.
I give him the truth. “I wasn’t feeling well.”
“You weren’t feeling well… And wanted to see a doctor, Riley?”
I nod.
He motions casually to the man. “So see one.”
