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

I straightened, my skin tingling with a sudden burst of inspiration.

If everything in the city reminded me of Dominic, maybe it was time to get out of the city.

I hurried into the lobby and dialed a familiar number.

“Hey,” I said when my brother picked up. “I have an idea.”





CHAPTER 16



Dominic




THWACK!

I smashed my racket against the tennis ball. It sailed over the net and came within inches of slamming into Dante’s face.

He returned it with a scowl. “Are you playing tennis or trying to send me to the hospital?” he demanded. “That’s the third time you’ve almost broken my nose. I’m starting to take it personally.”

“Quit if you can’t handle it.” I delivered another shot, my breaths even despite the sweat pouring down my back. “I won’t hold it against you.”

Dante responded with a powerful backhand that echoed across the grounds. He and Kai vented their frustrations through boxing, but our tennis matches were almost as therapeutic.

The sun beat down on Valhalla’s outdoor tennis courts. It was an unusually hot day for mid-November, and we were taking full advantage of it before the weather slid into the depressing gray that characterized New York winters.

For once, I didn’t have a lunch meeting, but I’d skipped “getting some rest” as my chief of staff suggested and dragged Dante to the club. I needed to keep busy because every time I closed my eyes, I saw Alessandra.

Alessandra, her face streaked with tears.

Alessandra, on a date with that fucker Aiden and his stupid fucking beard.

Alessandra, laughing and talking with him like she was already moving on when I’d been slowly dying inside for the past six weeks, five days, and four hours.

Part of me had hoped she’d call the whole thing off after I signed our divorce papers. It’d been a foolish hope, but it’d been hope all the same, and there’d been a moment—one tiny moment—when she’d hesitated. Then she’d taken the papers and walked out.

I’d signed countless contracts that had brought me riches beyond imagining, but for once, I’d had to sign one giving up the most important person in my life. Something wrenched at my chest as the ball sailed toward me. This time, I hit it with so much force the impact reverberated through my entire body. It went wide and smashed into the water pitcher on the sidelines. Glass shattered, followed by the clatter of Dante’s racket on the ground.

“That’s it,” he said. “We’re done for the day.”

“Glad you can finally admit you’re a quitter, Russo.” Alessandra’s face shimmered in the heat waves dancing over the court before I blinked it away.

I’d thrown myself into work even deeper than usual since our divorce, but no matter how many meetings I took or how many numbers I crunched, I couldn’t keep her off my mind. She was always there, taunting me. Torturing me. Making me wish I could turn back time when time was the one thing I had no power over.

Part of me craved any glimpse of her while another part dreaded it because it reminded me too much of what I’d lost. Seeing her unexpectedly was bad enough; seeing her with fucking Aiden nearly killed me. It’d taken all my willpower not to punch him in his smug, bearded face.

“I’m not a quitter. I’m pragmatic. I have a dinner date with Vivian, and if I miss it because you can’t aim properly, we’ll both be pissed,” Dante said, drawing my attention back to the present. He flicked a glance at where a club staffer was already cleaning up the shattered glass. “You’ve been on edge the entire damn game. It’s Thanksgiving week. Lighten up.”

It was ironic that the notoriously grumpy Dante was telling me to lighten up, but marriage changed everyone, I supposed.

“Fuck Thanksgiving.” There wasn’t much to give thanks for. Besides running into Alessandra on her date last week, I had to deal with my missing foster brother. Roman had disappeared since the restaurant debacle in October, and even the shadier side of my network couldn’t find him. But he was still in New York. I could feel it. Rather than reassuring me, his radio silence loomed like the ominous calm before a storm.

“I thought you and Vivian were headed to Paris tonight.” I switched subjects before I spiraled down into the shit show of my personal life. “Or are you staying in town for the weekend?”

“Alessandra’s goodbye drinks are tomorrow, so we postponed— ” Dante cut himself off, but it was too late.

I stilled. “What goodbye drinks?” The quiet words bounced off the clay courts.

The other man’s face shuttered.

“What goodbye drinks?” I repeated, strangling the handle of my tennis racket. A familiar buzz drilled into my head, and my heart picked up a pace that would give my doctor a coronary.

“Alessandra’s leaving for Brazil tomorrow morning,” Dante finally said.

I relaxed an inch. “For the holidays.” She always visited her mom and brother for Christmas. Not so much for Thanksgiving since that wasn’t a holiday in Brazil, but maybe she needed another getaway this year.

“Not exactly.” Dante looked like he would rather be anywhere but here. “It’s a one-way ticket. Vivian doesn’t know when she’ll be back.”