DINO
Seeing Viola turn up at my fucking house with nothing but that look, has me reeling.
Lola’s not here today, thank fucking God. I don’t know what Todd was thinking, letting them in the main gate. A bright, yellow Mclaren and a silver Aston Martin. I watched them through the kitchen window as they all get out, taking in my mother’s yard.
They really shouldn’t fucking be here.
Even if we’re supposed to be married in a month, I’m not ready to see her.
Because I fucking hate her….
And madly in love with her at the same time.
But I can’t see her. Not yet. I lose myself. When I’m around her. And I’m not that person anymore. In fact, I never wanted to see her again, and yet somehow, I see her every fucking night in my dreams. Over and over, she’s killing me. It took me a long time after the hospital just to get through one night, without me waking the entire damn house with my fucking screams.
Kristian dying, Viola getting arrested. Me, almost fucking dying. I gave her everything, and then I lost it all in a split second.
But all of that is in the past.
Wasin the past.
Until now.
They knock on the door a second time, making the dogs go fucking nuts.
“Cuz?” Sorrow asks, brushing her red hair out of her face, and taking off her riding boots. She’s just come in from a ride. We have guests and she’s just fucking strolled in smelling like the fucking yard. “Aren’t you going to get that?”
I clench my jaw and nod at her. “Bridget will get it. You need to fucking go and showered and get changed. One of these pricks is going to fuck you tonight, so look fucking nice for once, will you.”
She glares at me, eyes like slits. “I thought you were different, but you’re just the same as Kristian.”
That hits me in the gut like Viola’s fucking knife.
“Just do as I fucking say,” I grit out, locking the dogs in the back kitchen. I hobble through the open plan area to the garden, grabbing a drink off a passing tray, before they can ring the doorbell again.
I don’t want to see them. I can’t. Not yet.
“Kardinal, there you are,” one of my uncles calls me over. Gregor, Pieter, and fucking Angelo are all standing waiting for me to say that I’ll do it. As part of my initiation, I have to kill one of my family in cold blood. It could be anyone.
For no fucking reason.
I killed my own brother and have done worse since I got back, but none of it is enough. These pricks want more. They won’t ever follow me or trust me if I’m not someone to fear, and with the engagement hanging over my head—they need to fucking know I’m not going to let Adrien control me.
I know the moment she steps foot in the garden. I can practically feel her presence like a black hole, sucking my life away into it. Wherever she is, it’s like I’m a fucking asteroid being pulled into her orbit. Any minute, we’re going to collide and I’m going to explode.
They start walking toward me so I excuse myself from the group and cut them off before they can fully enter the party.
“Dino, you’re fucking alive, mate,” Lorcan says the moment our eyes meet.
“Fancy us having to drive all the way out here to see if you were,” Jude adds, like the prick he is.
“Duke, Marques, what do I owe the pleasure?” I say, looking between the guys, leaving her till last.
When our eyes finally connect, my heart fucking jumps like I’ve been electrocuted. I want to grab her and kiss her, and at the same time, I want to take the gun strapped under my jacket and blow her fucking brains out.
I close my eyes and count to three, when I open them, she’s still looking at me. My heart is thudding like crazy. I have no idea what to fucking do. Lorcan saves me from having to do anything because he embraces me like I’m his long-lost brother.
I was once.