Page 4 of Vengeance and Vipers
He looks immaculate. His beard is gone, and his auburn hair is messy, but in that sexy, just-got-out-of-bed-intentionally-ruffled way. He’s also wearing a three-piece suit that somehow enhances the broadness of his shoulders and how tall he is compared to me.
He looks down at me and tears away my shirt, a slow smile making his lips turn upwards. But then he frowns, and I feel him messing with my damaged conjure. It’ll stop working completely!
‘Don’t,’ I beg. ‘I don’t want anyone to know what they did.’
But when he’s done, whatever was wrong with it has been mended.
He picks me up, and even though I’m scared, his arms are warm on my freezing skin, and it feels nice.
‘You’re mine, Victoria,’ he growls.
ChapterTwo
JAYCE
Iwake up slowly to birds chirping and the sun streaming through my window. I’m in my own familiar bed, in my room.
Jules.
My eyes snap open, and I bounce off the bed, tearing open my door and stalking down the hallway.
‘Maddox!’ I yell. ‘MADDOX!’
I run down the stairs and to the library because that’s where the bastard always is, and sure enough, he’s sitting in one of his old-fashioned, high-backed chairs by the cold hearth.
The fucker is working on his laptop. He has a crystal glass of port in his hand.
‘Where’s Jules?’
Maddox types something and looks up frustratingly slowly from the screen.
‘In the Mountain, I’d assume,’ he says.
‘You left her there.’
He lets out a sigh. ‘I did what I had to. In time, you’ll see that I—’
I snatch the crystal glass from his hand and hurl it across the room with an angry roar. It thuds into the wall and shatters, spraying shards of glass and sticky port all over.
But Maddox just quirks a brow.
‘Do you feel better?’ He snorts. ‘Good thing my father sold off all the actual family crystal to pay his debts,’ he remarks and goes back to his screen. ‘You’re cleaning that up, by the way. We all have to do our part until we can find some domestic help, with Robertson being a turncoat and all.’
I can’t help my snarl when I think of our betraying butler, but his time will come. Right now, my eyes train on Maddox.
I stand over him, my hands clenched into fists, but he ignores me now. I run my hands through my hair, pulling it hard as I try to think. I’m helpless, and Jules is in Dante’s power.
What the hell is he doing to her right now? Letting out a tortured sound, I run back upstairs to Axel’s room. I burst through the door and find him on his back in his bed. His eyes open as I approach, and he gasps, sitting up abruptly.
‘How long?’
‘Since the Mountain? I don’t know. Eight hours, maybe?’
He looks at me. ‘We left her there.’
‘I’ve tried Maddox. He doesn’t care.’
Axel gets up, sways, and grabs one of the black beams of his four-poster bed for support.
