Page 15 of Scent of Desire
I stayed in place, my nostrils flaring. At this moment, I hated him so much that I didn’t know if he deserved the truth.
“Leave.” His fist slammed on the glass, which cracked like scaly thorns and made me jump in fear. His profile with the scar faced me, revealing the monster in him. “For your own sake, listen to me.”
My heart slowed, leaving me empty. My mouth went slack, and my eyes glistened, witnessing the worst of his humanity burning him.
“He didn’t even offer me those flowers,” my voice slurred in a weary monotone. “I picked them for you, Radcliff…”
He turned around brutally with wide eyes. “What?”
“I picked each flower,” I raged with venom, my chin and mouth trembling. “I wanted to offer you a gift just like you did for me. I selected each of them to show you how I see you. I thought you’d appreciate it. Clearly, I was wrong.”
I thundered away from his office, my feet striking the ground, the lost souls of ghosts inside the manor for company.
Ithrew away all the papers in my office and brought my fist to my chin, wanting to bite away the swell of rage tiring my guts. I cracked my head to the side and exhaled all the chaos I wanted—no, needed—to inflict. I contemplated the irony of the situation. The shattered window had taken the form of a sanguinary stained glass. Another sign of the monster in me.
A bitter aftertaste hung in my throat, the need to make Junior pay stronger than anything. He had already gotten on my nerves before, but the step he took today was a challenge. I imagined the sweet noise of his scream as I slaughtered his throat with the key to his pitiful car. I could do that. But I wouldn’t. I had something tremendously bigger planned: humiliation.
Amusement flickered in the ghost of a smile. I needed to find the perfect punishment.
One thing was sure: he would pay for it.
One way or another.
See, Junior was the Moon. Anyone with common sense could have predicted it. It was the card of illusion and deception, and that prick was filled with disillusions—about his sinful father and mostly about craving what was mine. He simply couldn’t admit the truth to himself.
My mind erased the thoughts about that worthless human at the sight of Lily running through the garden in the direction of the greenhouse. I pushed aside the curtains so I could see her better, my black heart tightening into a knot. I was responsible for her pain.
But that wasn’t the worst part. With her, I was capable of the worst of humanity. There was no doubt I’d kill anyone for her. I’d have fucked her right away in my office, brutal and hard, like a beast in my quest to make her forget every other bastard. I’d have used her orgasms against her, making her forget every other man’s name.
If one man dared to touch her or lay their perverted eyes upon her, I’d tear out either his eyes or his hands and send them to her as a reminder that she belonged to me. I’d ink my name on her, like a brand she would never get rid of.
I was thirsty to possess and own her, no matter which destruction I’d inflict.She should have never been mine.
I didn’t like feeling jealous andpowerless.
Those emotions were new to me, and—
“What the fuck is she doing?”
Lily was now inside the greenhouse, going back and forth with heavy steps. My eyes followed her movements; she seemed to ramble. Out of nowhere, she stopped and screamed at the Devil’s Corpse by spewing a flow of words—probably cursed ones—I wished I could hear.
My lips curled into a thin line as I watched the spectacle that she was.
She moved her hands frantically and hysterically, talking to that flower as if she was complaining to her best friend.Complaining about you, asshole.She ran a hand through her hair and then listed something on her fingers. And hell, that list was long. It had five… six… seven points.
The last one was definitely the worst, judging by the way she tightened her fingers into a fist, like she wanted to squeeze something—probably my throat.
That witch was crazy.
I liked that.
To be honest, it even turned me on.
Lily finished her performance, craning her neck backward and shutting her eyes as if she was drained out of all her energy. She sat down at the roots of the flowers, continuing her confession, but this time, sadness clouded her features.
A muscle in my jaw tensed, and I jerked away from the window, pulling the curtain to keep the light out. The room faded in black velvet and emerald green, the peaceful silence of darkness cloaking the whispering stories of ashes and bones of the manor.
Truth was, I was an idiot.
