Page 30 of Villain's Prey

“Let’s all go into the living room, okay?” She gestures down the hall. “Let’s lower the temperature.”

Leon jumps and raises his pistol as Trash trots from the bedroom.

“Don’t you dare!” Olivia scoops the cat up before I can stop her. “This is Trash. He’s the boss around here, and don’t you forget it.” She kisses the top of his head, then stomps past her brothers toward the living room.

Both of them give me looks that would kill an ordinary man. Leon turns and follows his sister, but Vincent keeps his eyes on me, his gun still in his hand. “You first.”

“As it should be.” I smirk as I stride past him. Maybe Olivia’s right, and we need to lower the temperature, but I’m still me. I’m still Sergei fucking Taletti. No one is going to come between me and my princess.

“We need to go.” Leon reaches for Olivia’s elbow.

Rage surges inside me, but it fades when she jerks away from him. “Don’t scare the cat!” she scolds.

“Liv, come on.” Vincent walks in behind me. “Are you scared of him? Is that it?” He raises his gun. “I can pop him right now—”

“No!” she yells. “Stop!”

Vincent groans with frustration and lowers the gun. “What the fuck?”

“Sit down!” she barks. “All of you!”

Leon and Vincent exchange another perplexed look, but they sit, each of them taking seats with their backs to the wall so they can watch me.

I pull Olivia into my lap and sit on the couch. Trash jumps onto the coffee table as if he’s playing mediator.

Leon grabs a stray cat hair from his pantleg and tosses it away.

“Listen, I need the two of you to understand that Sergei and I are together.”

Vincent scoffs. “Together?” His gaze slides to me, his jaw tightening. “You touched my sister? You rape—”

“No!” Olivia stands, but I pull her back into my lap. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what’s it like?” Vincent’s voice is sharp like a razor’s edge.

“I love her.” I speak the truth. “She’s mine. I intend to marry her, to start a family with her, to be everything she ever needs.”

Olivia turns to me, her eyes going round. “What?”

“I mean every word, princess.”

“This isn’t happening.” Leon pinches the bridge of his nose.

“It is.” Olivia beams and kisses me, then turns back to them. “Sergei kidnapped me–that’s true. But he hasn’t hurt me. Not even a little bit. He’s really a sweetheart underneath all the scary, murdery darkness.” She cocks her head to the side. “Well, that’s not entirely true. I think he may only be a sweetheart for me.”

I squeeze her thighs in my palms and lean down to her ear. “Only for you,” I whisper.

She shivers. “That tickles.”

Leon rolls his eyes.

Vincent looks nothing short of murderous. “Liv, he’s a Taletti. He’s playing you. This is just some sick game to him. You know who he is. Who his father is.”

“I know exactly who he is.” She leans back, resting against my chest as she stares down her brothers.

Pride swells inside me. She’s in control. Even though her brothers are older, are stone-cold killers in their own right, she isn’t afraid of them. In fact, she talks to them with an air of authority.

“He’s with me. His last name doesn’t matter to me. Not anymore. So you two need to ask yourselves if it matters to you so much that you’ll hurt me to get to him.” Her voice drops lower. “Because I can promise you, I won’t let you lay a finger on him. You’ll have to go through me, and I’ll fight with everything I’ve got.”

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