Page 49 of Brutal Knight

“They’re looking out for themselves, especially after Dmitri,” I add. “It wasn’t too long ago. They don’t trust anyone with more power.”

I know Dmitri’s scheming made our moves look that much more shady. Even if our intentions were good, it looked like nothing but a power grab. The fact that we denied Edward his daughter just reminds everyone of Rose and Aiden—and that debacle ended with Antonio allied with us.

We must seem like a threat. They’ll treat us like one.

“We need to keep an eye on them. All of them,” Aiden adds.

Lachlan nods. “That’s a given. I don’t trust them to keep their word. We have to be ready to defend against them, and whatever Edward may try to do.”

I can’t imagine what Edward’s plans are, but I can’t help but agree.

Nothing good is going to come of this. Not when it comes to Edward and the Assembly. We’re going to have to watch our backs.

CHAPTER19

Willow

I can hear Connor on the phone, talking about an Assembly meeting. I hear him pause at the bottom of the stairs, and I hold my breath.

The last time I met the Assembly, Dmitri had just beat the shit out of me and drugged me out of my mind, then threatened my life and forced me to lie. I’m not keen on going back.

The front door shuts and just like that, Connor is gone.

I’m truly alone for one of the first times since I was brought to his house.

For the first few minutes, I lie on the bed and look up at the ceiling. I relax onto the sheets and try to let my mind drift. It doesn’t work.

I end up pacing around the room. I need to do something, anything, to quiet my mind. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Connor, about the moment we had after the wedding.

I keep replaying it in my mind, trying to figure out what possessed me to kiss him in the first place. It wasn’t like the first time I was on my knees for him. It wasn’t just empty contact, a survival mechanism to save myself from more pain.

When I kissed Connor, I wanted to—and that terrifies me.

I don’t know why I wanted him so much. I should never have wanted him at all. He’s a man, a man in the mafia. He can be dangerous. But somehow, I know he’s not dangerous to me and I don’t think he ever would be.

He can be surprisingly soft sometimes, despite all his outward hardness. He tried to stop me when I touched him in the hall, when I started to give him a blowjob then. He told me I didn’t have to do it, like he thought I was just giving him what he wanted.

It makes me ache even more. Knowing he cares about what I want lights a strange sort of fire low in my belly.

And I can’t get the feeling of his hands in my hair out of my mind. I can’t forget his scent or the taste of his cock on my tongue. The feelings rushing through me weren’t bitter or painful, but rich and full of desire. It was like everything I’d ever hated was transformed into something enticing. Sexy.

I’m restless when I think about it. I’m not sure what any of it means. I can’t be interested in Connor. Not after everything I’ve been through.

Right?

But I know that’s not the truth. I turn around and open the door, and it swings wide. It’s been unlocked since the day I returned from the wedding with him. I haven’t been locked up the way I was when he first brought me here, when I was a mess.

It’s an unspoken sign of trust. I know Connor leaves the doors unlocked so I don’t have to stare at the same four walls all day, every day. Even though he doesn’t know what I’ll do.

Even though I’ve betrayed his family before.

I leave my room and wander through the house. I keep finding little things to remind me of him—pictures on his desk, a jacket hanging on a hook by the front door. I can’t help feeling like an intruder, exploring little details of his life.

What I see is so different than what Dmitri’s house was like. His place was unlived in, spotless because he would kill whoever didn’t keep it that way. Everything was black and white, stark and unforgiving. It didn’t feel like a home.

Connor’s house feels like a home. It’s warm. There are rugs on the floors, shoes by the front door. It feels like a place where he and his brothers laugh often.

I wish it could just be like that, comfortable, between us.

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