Page 26 of Her Dark Melody
“I love you,Blue.”
“I love you too,baby.”
In yet anotherpart of town, a man, alone, was not feeling loved. Carson Franks sat in his penthouse apartment, gazing at the video of his own wedding to Kiersten, all those years ago, before she had made him punish her for disobeying him, for trying to leave him. He still remembered the moment he’d thrust that knife into her, her shock, her pain, her pleading, and he reveled init.
He was only sorry that he’d only gotten to kill her once. The feeling of power he’d felt as her life slipped away in front of him…He had thought she was already dead when he dumped her body in the gutter where she belonged, as far as he was concerned, but he should have madesure.
Now, that bastard billionaire philanthropist and his whore surgeon would testify about him in court, and even his father’s expensive lawyers wouldn’t be able to keep him away from DeathRow.
So, he had only two options now. Suicide…or the removal of the witnesses, and that was an easy decision to make. He fingered the knife in his hand and smiled tohimself.
By the end of the week, before the end of the year, Atlas Tigri and Dr. Romy Sasse would be dead…and he would be a freeman.
ChapterEleven
Cormac Duggan swung his legs over the side of the bed and strode to the bathroom. He heard Lydia call his name, but ignored her and stepped under the hot spray. His whole body was still wound tight from his fight withMateo.
For as long as he could remember, he and Mateo Tigri had hated each other. The more volatile Tigri twin was too much of a playboy for Cormac to ever respect and even his chosen profession of wine importing was, to Cormac, nothing more than a front to a life of idleness andfrivolity.
The one thing Mateo had ever done right was to bring Fino up, but even that rankled with Cormac. He hated himself for loving the boy, despite the hatred of his father, but Fino was a special kid, and Cormac was envious of the bond that had formed between father andson.
Because Cormac would never have that. A year ago, on a routine medical check-up, Cormac had asked the doctor to test his sperm count. “Lydia and I want to try and have kids as soon as we’remarried.”
He hadn’t expected the doctor to call him and tell him that he was sorry, but it turned out that Cormac had a troublingly low sperm count. “Do the tests again,” he had ordered, and the doctor complied, but the result was thesame.
“I’m afraid it’s very unlikely you’ll have children naturally, Mr. Duggan, but don’t give up hope. Low sperm count is not the same asnospermcount.”
Since then, resentment and anger had grown within him, and seeing Fino at Christmas had only made that resentment, that hatred, toward Mateo fester. Cormac wanted kids more than anything, even money. He clung to that wish, knowing it was the one thing that saved him from being a completeasshole.
Cormac closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. He heard the door of the shower stall open and felt Lydia’s slender arms snaked around him. There was a flash of irritation, but it subsided quickly. None of his rancor towards Mateo was Lydia’s fault. He turned and smiled down ather.
“Goodmorning.”
Lydia, her grey eyes shining up at him, was thinner than the women he usually went for, built to walk a catwalk rather than anything else, though she didn’t need to work for her living. The Van Pelts were on par with the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts of the world, and Lydia, while maintaining the façade of a fashion editor, was a maven of the socialite scene. She also hated Seattle; found it too accepting and laidback for her refined tastes. Cormac had to agree. The only reason why he’d agreed to come back for Christmas was to rub Mateo’s nose in the fact that now he, Cormac, was with Lydia. It had backfired spectacularly, he had to admit, but for one thing. He thought of that one thing now andsmiled.
Lydia, mistaking his grin for affection, pressed her lips to his. She’d had lip fillers over the summer which were only now beginning to look settled, but Cormac didn’t pay muchattention.
“Please tell me we’re going back to New York for New Year’s Eve?” Lydia groaned now. “Another few days in this place will drive meinsane.”
“I’m sorry, darling,” he said smoothly, shutting off the water and stepping out of the stall, “but I do have some business here. I can’t promise I’ll be back in New York by then, but you should go if you feel likeit.”
Lydia, wrapping a towel around her head, narrowed her eyes at him. “So, we’ll be apart for the parties? Is that what you’resaying?”
“I’m afraidso.”
Lydia walked out of the bathroom, and Cormac sighed. It drove him mad that she constantly kept tabs on him – even if itwasjustified. Cormac had no intention of curbing his womanizing ways just because he was engaged – but he was discreet. He never fucked around in New York, always keeping his trysts for his frequent business trips. He almost always used professionals, too, paid for their discretion. He was under no illusions that Lydia wouldn’t kick him to the curb if she caughthim.
He went to find her now, sitting on the bed in her wet towel, brushing out her long blonde hair. Sulking. He sat beside her. “Darling,” he pressed his lips against her shoulder, “I know you hate it here, so that’s why I said you should go back. But it’s not what I want. I want us to be together on New Year’s.” He sighed. “I’ll even put up with my step-brothers and take you to their party – at least you’ll be amongst friends there.” Too late, he realized that could sound like a rebuke. Lydia had always adored Mateo, regardless of their break-up. “What I mean is…family. Our family, for better or forworse.”
He felt her shoulders relax a little and looked up at her through his dark lashes. She smiled at him. “When you put it likethat…”
Cormac smiled, a little triumphantly. He pushed her back on the bed and hitched her legs around his waist. Lydia was a good if bony fuck, and now she gasped as he launched his cock into her, clinging to him as they fucked, urging him on and on until he came, his cock pumping cum deep inside her as she cried out hisname.
Romy felt strangelynervous as she scrubbed in beside her husband for their domino surgery. Blue looked over at her. “You’re going to rock it,baby.”
“You too, my darling. I don’t know why I feel sonervous.”
“If you weren’t, I’d be worried,” Blue said, scrubbing his hands with the brush. “Five patients at the same time…it’s a big thing. Beau’s due any moment and Phillipa and Rex are scrubbing in in OR 5. This is happening,baby.”
