King of Greed (Kings of Sin #3) by Ana Huang

Even with his glare and cold, stoic expression, Dominic was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. But beyond the chiseled bone structure and muscled build, there was something about him that tugged at my heart.

I recognized the suspicion lurking behind his eyes. It was the type of suspicion born from being let down one too many times by the people around him. My brother had carried the same chip on his shoulder for years before he found his crowd. Maybe that was why I had a soft spot for him even though we just met; his guardedness reminded me of Marcelo’s, which used to be mistaken for standoffishness.

“Hello, Alessandra.” Dominic’s careful enunciation of my full name told me breaking down his walls would be a challenge. Luckily, I thrived on challenges.

But when he sat across from me, and a small swarm of butterflies erupted at the brush of his jeans against my leg, I realized I might already be in well over my head.

Present-day Dominic’s throat flexed. He wasn’t paying an ounce of attention to Sebastian, and I wanted to look away, to act like everything was fine and I wasn’t affected by his presence, but his gaze chained me to the spot.

I hated the effect he had on me. I hated how my eyes always went to him in a room full of people and how I couldn’t stop thinking about him no matter how hard I tried. Most of all, I hated how I couldn’t hate him, not even a little bit. No matter how many times he broke my heart, there would always be a piece that belonged to him.

A familiar ache unfurled behind my ribs.

Dominic shifted as if to walk toward me, but someone bumped into my side and finally dragged my attention away from the bar.

An iron grip closed around my elbow, steadying me. “Apologies.” The low, cool voice sounded like the aural equivalent of a razor blade wrapped in silk.

“It’s…” My sentence faltered when I looked up.

A brutally handsome man with green eyes, pale skin, and the sharpest jawline I’d ever seen stared back at me. Despite his good looks, something about him instantly put me on red alert.

He removed his hand from my arm and offered an apologetic smile that didn’t reach those cold, flat eyes.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Before I could say anything else, he disappeared into the crowd and left me with an unsettling sense of foreboding.

The foreboding intensified when I returned my gaze to the bar only to find Dominic gone, like he’d never been there at all.





CHAPTER 13



Dominic




“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?” I SLAMMED Roman up against the wall, my words dripping with venom in the dark hallway.

Running into him last night could’ve been a fluke, but two nights in a row? That wasn’t a coincidence. Not when Roman was involved.

I’d hired a private contractor I’d worked with in the past to look into him the instant I left the bar, but they hadn’t unearthed anything yet. That in and of itself was concerning; they usually had a full report for me within twelve hours, which meant Roman was damn good at covering his tracks.

And the only reason someone would cover his tracks was if he had something to hide.

“Attending a restaurant opening, just like you and your lovely wife,” he drawled, seemingly unfazed by my hostile greeting. “My wedding invite got lost in the mail, but she’s beautiful. I see why you can’t take your eyes off her.”

Arctic needles of fear pierced my spine, followed by the slow simmer of rage. “You touch a single strand of hair on her head,” I said softly. “And there won’t be a place on earth where I won’t hunt you down and kill you so slowly you’ll be begging for death.”

My arm pressed tighter against his throat. He didn’t flinch, but something flashed in his eyes before it submerged beneath pools of green ice. “You didn’t find me all these years. Not until I showed up right in front of your face.”

“I wasn’t looking.”

“No. You were too busy building your empire to remember your dear brother.” His mouth curled with a mirthless smile. “How does the money taste, Dom? As good as you’d always dreamed of?”

Goddammit. I let out a low curse and released my hold, but I kept myself between him and the dining room. “I’ll ask you again. What the fuck are you really doing here, and how the hell do you know Sebastian?”

I’d intercepted him on his way out of the bathroom after he ran into Alessandra. It was a role reversal from last night, when he’d left without answering any of my questions about where he’d been, how he found me, and why he’d showed up again after over a decade of silence.

“You’re not the only one with connections.” Roman straightened his jacket. He’d dressed up for the opening, but even in designer clothing, he exuded trouble. “We’re a long way from Whittlesburg, aren’t we?”

My jaw clenched, his presence and the mention of our hometown unearthing memories that were better left buried.

“We’ll both make it out of here one day.” Roman’s eyes glinted with a stony determination that belonged to someone older than his fourteen years. A dark bruise marred his face from where our foster mom had hit him. “And when we do, everyone will pay.”

Roman and I had been foster siblings in my fourth home. He was only a year younger than me, and he’d been the closest thing I had to an ally in that hellhole until he fell in with the wrong crowd and landed in juvie for arson my senior year of high school. I’d refused to provide him with a fake alibi; I’d just been accepted to Thayer, and I couldn’t risk upending my future over someone else’s criminal offense. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since.