King of Pride (Kings of Sin #2) by Ana Huang

Absolutely fucking not. Her dry spell has been broken. By me.

My reaction was so sharp, so visceral, that it knocked the breath from my lungs. I had no frame of reference for the dark, irrational possessiveness coursing through my blood or the crimson tinting my vision at the mere thought of another man’s hands on Isabella. I was not a jealous person, and one kiss and orgasm did not a relationship make.

But it didn’t matter. When it came to Isabella, all my previous mores went out the window.

“Does she want to break the ban, or is this an intervention?” I checked my phone, my tone indifferent, but my muscles tensed in anticipation of Vivian’s reply.

“I’m sure she does. She said she wanted to at our wedding, but in classic Isa fashion, she drank too much champagne and fell asleep before it happened.” Vivian laughed. “Anyway, her birthday is coming up, so we figured it would be a good time to take her out.”

“Where are you going?” I asked casually.

Dante’s eyes cut in my direction. I ignored his laser scrutiny and focused on Vivian.

“Verve. It’s a new club downtown,” she said, seemingly oblivious to her husband’s growing suspicion. “Isa’s been talking about going since it opened.”

“Laurent’s place. I’ve heard of it.” The Laurents built their empire on restaurants, but they were expanding into other areas of hospitality. “I didn’t know her birthday was so soon.”

“December nineteenth. A Sagittarius through and through, as she’ll tell you,” Vivian said with a smile.

“Why the sudden interest in Isabella?” Dante asked. “Finally looking to give your mother the daughter-in-law she so desperately wants?”

I glared at him. Sometimes, I missed the days when all he did was scowl and punch people. Now he had jokes.

“No,” I said coolly. “I’m inquiring about an acquaintance I see quite often. It’s social courtesy—something you might want to brush up on.”

“Ah, of course. My mistake.” If Dante’s smirk were any bigger, it’d fall off his face. The bastard was having a field day. Payback for me staying and interrupting his alone time with Vivian, no doubt.

It didn’t matter. He could gloat all he wanted, but he had no proof I was interested in Isabella. It wasn’t like I was going to show up at Verve and drag her away from potential suitors like some territorial caveman.

I had more pride than that.





CHAPTER 17


Kai



A wave of heat, alcohol, and noise slammed into me the minute I stepped into Verve.

In my defense, I truly hadn’t planned on visiting the club that night. I disliked packed spaces, drunken foolishness, and migraine-inducing remixes, all of which nightclubs possessed in spades.

However, as a Young Corporation executive and publisher of Mode de Vie, the world’s preeminent fashion and lifestyle magazine, it was my job to keep a pulse on the city’s hotspots. I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t experience Verve myself, would I?

The deep bass of the latest hit song rattled my bones as I pushed my way through the crowd. Everywhere I looked, I was assaulted with noise and people—women in tight dresses, men in tighter jeans, couples engaged in dancing that looked more like fornicating. No signs of Isab—of anyone I knew yet.

Not that I was looking for anyone in particular.

I made it halfway to the VIP lounge when one of the clubgoers bumped into me and nearly spilled her drink on my shoes.

“Oops! Sorry!” she squealed, her eyes bright in a manner that could only be attributed to drugs, alcohol, or both. She clutched my arm with her free hand and looked me over. “Oh, you’re cute. Do you have a girlfriend?”

“How about we find your girlfriends instead?” I suggested. I gently freed myself from her grip and steered her toward her friends at the bar (easily identifiable since they wore the same bachelorette party sashes as my erstwhile admirer). I flagged down the bartender. “A bottle of water for the lady, please.”

By the time he returned, she was already busy taking shots with some suit in an off-an-rack Armani.

I doubted she’d drink the water, but I left it there anyway. Being the only sober person in a club was like babysitting a room full of strangers.

I ordered a scotch for myself, already regretting my decision to come here when a familiar voice cut through the noise.

“Kai? Is that you?”

I turned, my gaze honing in on the brunette with glossy caramel hair and blue-gray eyes. My face relaxed into a smile.

“Alessandra, what a pleasant surprise. I didn’t take you for the clubbing type.”

Dominic’s wife returned my smile with a small one of her own. Objectively, she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever met. She looked like a younger version of her mother, who’d been one of Brazil’s biggest supermodels in the nineties. But despite, or perhaps because of, her looks and marriage to one of the richest men on Wall Street, she always carried an air of melancholy around her.

Dominic was my friend, but I wasn’t blind to his faults. He was about as romantic as a rock.

“I’m not, but Dom is busy with work, and it’s been so long since I’ve had a girls’ night…” She shrugged, a brief flicker of sadness passing through her eyes. “I thought it would be nice to get out of the house. Lord knows I spend enough time there.”