Page 49 of Scent of Desire
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s what I like about you.” Her stare hit me with all her naughtiness as she inched toward me like a snake dancing for its prey. “You’re merciless. Look at the way you punished me.”
“You’re being ridiculous, Melissa.” I joined her in her macabre dance, looming closer. She wanted the monster? She’d get it.
“No, I get you, Radcliff.” She bit her lower lip, trying to draw my attention to her. “I can make you forget about her.”
She couldn’t be forgotten. She had inked herself into my onyx black heart. Destiny had brought us together as my weakness, my only obstacle to the road of immortality. And now, I was hurting. She was my fatal poison. My eternal damnation. My own torture.
“We may share the same shadow and twisted mind, but…” I whispered to her ear, feeling the goose bumps spreading on her snake skin.
The corners of my mouth quirked up into a sinister smile that would give her nightmares.
My breath on her neck, I let my words penetrate her flesh. “You’re a stray dog looking for attention, Melissa. You’re the Lovers. Always seeking pleasure and to be loved. But no one will ever. You’ll die alone. Your mother abandoned you because she couldn’t love you. Your father beat you, treating you like useless crap, and you still stayed to win over an affection he would never give you. If I hadn’t forced him earlier than planned to his grave, you would still be his slave. As for your choice of boyfriends, they just want your submission and your pussy, nothing more. A second choice—this is what you are and ever will be, and this is all your fault.”
I then engulfed my eyes into the sadistic green of hers. Melissa’s expression twitched, and her eyes would have watered if she actually had something else than a selfish heart.
“Get to know your place,” I articulated.
“You’re right.” She managed a forced smile with trembling lips, but her hands locked into a fist.Interesting.“This was misplaced. I just wanted to offer my help. I should get back to work.”
Melissa left, and I remained alone in the peacefulness of the void of the blackness.
The countdown had started, but my aching black heart called Lily’s name.
In Paris, the elements fought a battle of their own. The rain was pouring with sorrow. The storm was building with hatred. The light was being swallowed up by the apocalyptic clouds.
I had run like a madwoman to my uncle’s place, slamming on the door with my fist until the neighbors screamed at me that he wasn’t there. I had gone to my old maid’s bedroom in Paris to drop my luggage—which contained my perfume and half of my clothes, since I had left the manor in haste. I had called my uncle. He didn’t pick up.
And now, with a hammering heart that bled into each breath I took, I was waiting in the hall of our building, turning in circles countless times, ignoring my messy reflection on the broken mirror. Eugene would come back. He had to. I called him once more. And again. Again, until the rings stopped and Eugene picked up, ending my misery.
“Uncle.” I swallowed my wrath, managing it by locking my hand into a fist and digging my nails inside my palm. “Where are you?”
“I’m with the Carmins. Why does—”
I hung up and slammed the entrance door right open. I coursed through the rain, matching its fury and pain with my own. I didn’t care about the cars splashing out on me, nor about their angry honking when I went through a red light or the gossip of passers-by who took me for ill. At that moment, nothing else mattered but the truth.
I was wet with madness, soaked to my feet when I arrived at the Carmins’ villa—or, more exactly, that imposing display of luxury. I rang the bell of their fucking pristine white royal gate countless times. I’d even climb it if I had to. I darted my eyes at the camera on top, locking them with whoever was on the other side.
The gate opened, and I barged across the cobblestones to invite myself inside their mansion, dirtying their marble hospital-like floor. My eyes wandered on each side; their castle was way too big for one man and a stealer of talent.
“Can I help—” The valet at the entrance started to speak, but I made up my mind and rushed up the stairs facing me. He couldn’t stop me. “Miss, you can’t!”
Each of my steps was determined, fed with betrayal. I passed through the corridor with its red carpet and the heads of the Carmins as statues, along with pictures of Christian and his achievements. I paced that megalomaniac hallway until the end, remembering where his office was.
“Miss! Please! Miss!” the valet screamed after me through the tiny elevator leading him upstairs.
I slammed the door open and thundered into his office like a bad omen disrupting their peace. My uncle was sitting on a regal golden couch with the biggest smile on his face, a cup of tea in his hand. My nostrils flared, seeing how happy he looked.
“Lily, I can’t believe you’re here, darling!” Eugene exclaimed with all his cowardice. “You’re gonna catch a cold. You’re wet.”
I’ll burn each of you.
I dug my nails deeper into my palm until my blood almost dripped on their pristine floor. My stomach clenched with the burning force of my restraint as my scorching glare hit Christian’s. He was seated in his red office chair like a treacherous king—one that sent his own people to die for him, building an empire of misery.
He displayed his business smile as white as his floor, rising from his seat. “Lily, such a pleasure.”
Adonis arrived from another room, probably at the sound of my name. His gaze traveled from my head to my toes, his eyebrows slanting inward. “You’re here, and you’re…”
I was a mess.
