Dark Mafia Kings by Penelope Wylde

Chapter Eighteen

The curiosity threaded with worry and unease in her eyes was nearly Sevastyan’s undoing. Over the rim of his glass, he watched her as he downed half the contents in one swallow.

Sevastyan knew she watched his every move from the corner of her eye. He called on all his patience not to turn her to him and demand answers to the hundreds of questions that had stolen his sleep.

He didn’t fare well now either. He’d only managed a couple of hours of rest which left him less than affable, as Roman had put it. He wanted to get this over with and move on to getting her between them.

The smiles she’d afforded his partners caused a stir of envy he hadn’t expected. They’d started the evening with a plan of bringing her close, making her comfortable, and then pulling the truth from her.

With orgasms, if need be.

So far what he found inherently sweet to the core with a smile that would melt the anger off a raging Russian, and a gentleness about her that had him questioning what the hell they were doing tonight mixed together to create uncertainty, and that pissed him right the fuck off. Nothing ever made him doubt himself. Until her.

Instead, he waited and watched and bided his time.

Lucian and Matteo did the same. He knew his best friends and right-hand men better than any other. They were more polished on the outside than he was, but he could tell they wanted the same—to get to the bottom of this shit.

When the enemy was comfortable then he would strike.

In truth, she arrested his senses. Clad in silk that hugged every supple curve and dip she possessed.

Fuck. If he wasn’t careful, one wrong move would endanger his one mission.

The beautiful sight before him made it hard to consider her anything other than what his eyes told him.

“Take a closer look and tell me what comes to mind.” As he issued the soft command, he watched her chin rise. Defiant, as he suspected. It was what drew him to her. When cornered she turned and fought instead of running. Loyal to family, stubborn, and she possessed the ability to adapt. A true queen. His queen. Thiers.

Cold fear chilled his thoughts. What the hell was he thinking? He shoved the intruding thought away.

“Of Samuel’s scene?”

Her voice pulled him out of his head and he watched her intently. He edged a little closer until he could feel the warmth of her body stroke against his.

“Mm. Surprise me,” he confirmed in a deceptively gentle tone that would have fooled another person into thinking he asked a simple question requiring an equally simple answer.

Lucian stroked a finger along her jawline and tilted her face upward. “Don’t hold back.”

Her eyes narrowed before she dipped her gaze. She turned to Sevastyan and that one piercing look told him she saw through his charade.

As she considered her answer, the tip of her tongue peeked out, and she wet her lips. Strong and in control. Yet beneath his light touch to her lower back, he could feel her body hum with electricity.

Was she scared? Of them or of failing to answer his question? With a muttered curse she gripped the railing. Finally, she tore her gaze from his and let her attention roam the crowd.

“Do you see only the sex, the touching, the claiming, or do you see more? Something of value?” Her answer would tell him what he already suspected, but he needed to hear it all the same after their conversation earlier.

A slight shiver worked through her, and he smiled inwardly. He couldn’t blame her for being nervous, but he admired her tenacity to hide it under a layer of calm he knew was less than truthful. She’d only been on this floor as an employee, and now she walked among the powerful and wealthy as one of them.

One of us.

He hated pushing her but either she was connected to the missing containers or not. If not, she was in way over her head and had no idea what she’d stepped into. Which brought about a more concerning point. If she didn’t know, what the hell was she doing at Haven?

He couldn’t lie—the more time he spent with her the more he wanted to know what made her tick.  A delicate red tinge worked its way to her cheeks and a spark of surprise twinkled in her eyes. She cleared her throat, her gaze everywhere but on him. He wanted to change that but pushed his more selfish wishes to the back of his mind. He turned his focus away from the visual distraction and moved it back to where it belonged.

“I’m not sure what you want me to say or what angle you’re looking for.”

Worry settled over her expression.

“The truth. Tell me the first thing that comes to mind. Didn’t you tell me you were good at reading people?”

Across the way several submissives with understated black leather collars with a single small silver hook kneeled in a half-circle, signaling any DOM they were available for their pleasure. Among them, he noticed a well-known member of society. Wealthy and better known as a silver screen princess of Hollywood.

Beside the unclaimed subs stood a well-muscled man eyeing the delicacies.

To those here, it was a way of life for them, a way of gaining control over one aspect of their lives. That didn’t work for him. He liked control, but he loved giving pleasure to a woman’s body more. Doing as she needed and making sure she never lacked when it came to sex. For him, it was about trust that went both ways. But for tonight he loved pushing her buttons and pulling a deeper flush from her with every question.

In front of him, Rhia looked on and with every moan or lash of a whip against flesh, her fingers tightened around the stone railing. Below, a collective sigh carried over the crowd as Samuel leaned over the female he fucked, and worked her hard, sending the woman into a screaming orgasm.

His own senses sharpened. Beside him, Luciana and Matteo watched their little birdie.

Rhia shifted her weight, the movement stirring her scent. He watched as she touched her neck where Lucian’s gaze kept drifting.

“Does the sight of a woman getting fucked turn you on?” He asked deeply and they all waited for her breathy answer.

She leaned back and he wrapped an arm around her waist, settling a hand over her trembling middle. She gasped and he knew she felt the long length of his cock pressing into her ass.

Her dress did little to protect her from the heat and he rocked his hips.

He noticed the hitch in her breath and the uptick in her heartbeat.

“Not anymore. It used to. I often wondered what it would feel like. If the woman ever felt any shame? Or just pleasure? Then I discovered such public displays are more a euphoria that leaves them addicted to the adrenaline rush.”

She turned her gaze to him, and a low-pitched growl erupted from him.

Claim her.

Fuck her.

Make her queen.

His inner monster clawed, stretched, stalked.

Control slipped. Sevastyan strained, his fingers digging into the fine material of her dress.

“As to your earlier question of what I see… I see pleasure,” she continued in a low voice and he used the sound as an anchor.

“That may not be what you’re looking for, though.” She bit at the inside of her lip and paused, never looking away from the people below.

“Not as a feeling but a physical thing moving through a crowd of people who I see are desperate to feel. To take it and to give it. It’s like an invisible force that affects everyone it touches. You might even call it an addiction.”

“Do you see pleasure as a tool? Something to profit off of?” Lucian lightly repeated Sevastyan’s earlier question now that they had her talking.

“I think that is a question more posed for you? No?” She grabbed Sevastyan’s drink off the railing and brought the glass to her lips, holding each of their gazes. In one swift movement, she swallowed the remainder of vodka without a grimace.

“I’ll take that back and let me be very blunt.”

They’d struck a nerve and peeled back a layer of her protective shield she kept around her at all times. Finally, he felt like he was getting somewhere.

“Please do.”

Her gaze followed him as he strode to the small inlaid bar and poured them both another drink for each of them.

“I despise anyone who could profit off others in such a despicable manner. This is your club, everything that happens within these walls is consensual and you offer the members a haven. For the most part. I’ve seen people harmed here.”

“And dealt with properly.”

She huffed. “I wouldn’t know. I’m sure there are a lot of closed-door dealings.”

When he didn’t confirm nor deny her allegations she continued. “We all know there’s a sinister aspect to sex between those who sell pleasure and give it. It’s something that does not have to be consensual.”

He watched her over the rim of his glass as he let the burn of vodka help wash down her words.

“You’re talking about sex trade. Sex slaves.” He analyzed every move, every flick of her thick lashes.

“That has no place here.” Matteo took the drink Sevastyan offered and held her gaze while drinking it down.

Anger contorted her beautiful eyes, drew her brows together, and reddened her face.

“Are you so sure about that?” Her voice turned razor-sharp. “How many women have gone missing in the last few months? Specifically from this club?”

Little more effort and the whip of her words would have left a burn mark on all three of them. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say she was flatly accusing him of being among those vile people.

He reached for her glass before her death drip caused the thing to shatter. The last thing he wanted was her injuring herself.

Her gaze flew upward as she turned away from the people below. Arctic air would be warmer than the glacial stare she nailed him with.

“You’re bordering on accusing me of using my clubs to do sinister activities.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Sometimes bad things happen and you don’t know until it’s too late. To me, pleasure is a double-edged sword.” She swallowed, licking her lips, and cleared her throat faintly.

Oh no, she didn’t. Like hell he’d let her retreat back and close off when he’d just gotten her to open up a fraction. A little more prying and no telling what he could get from her.

Matteo leaned against the railing, his back toward the crowd. He turned his whole attention to their beauty.

“So pleasure is an idea that holds power over others in your mind? Is that what you felt when I buried myself inside you?”

“Do you think we’re trying to control you through pleasure?” Lucian added to Matteo’s question.

Sevastyan watched her gaze volley between them.

She considered that for a moment, holding his gaze with every word as she elaborated her thoughts.

“Yes. To your first question and I don’t know the second answer,” she whispered lowly.

“Explain.”

Her brows pinched and she looked flustered.

“What people do to find pleasure can hurt others. It’s self-serving when you think about it. For most, it’s a positive experience like with the woman over there.”

They turned and followed her gaze to a woman being pleasured by two men in the semi-privacy of their balcony since they did not lower the second set of curtains that would close them off entirely. They wanted others to see how they gave so freely. From the look on the woman’s face, no desire was being left unattended.

“To every positive, there is a negative?” Matteo posed the statement as a question.

She nodded. “Exactly. Like there.” Again, they followed her direction to the opposite side of the room where a man stood over his submissive, hand fisted in her hair as she took him in her mouth. The contorted pain in her expression said everything and boiled his blood. Men like that made him want to smash something. Them, mainly.

He stepped over to the curtain and gave security instructions to deal with the problem. In his club, he didn’t give a fuck who anyone was. No one crossed lines.

Any other time he stayed in his office and let Roman or Lucian deal with shit like this.

He and Matteo had suspected that was what his brother had originally sought from establishing this club in the first place. A place he could find himself, explore his desire, and find his own haven. Then something went wrong.

“As you can see while pleasure means one thing to some, it has an equally ugly side of selfishness and greed. It’s all a matter of perspective. People will lie, cheat and kill among other things to find theirs, and if it can bring a profit, we both know some have no problem with that either.”

“It goes deeper than perceptive, but I agree. Greed can turn pleasure into someone else’s nightmare.”

She shook her head. “If you’re a young girl being used for her body, believe me, her perspective of pleasure is not the same as yours or mine.”

In her eyes, at that moment he saw the woman behind the false curtain she wanted to keep in place between them, but unknowingly revealed herself through her words, and he knew—knew—she had nothing to do with whatever her father was tied up in that got him killed and knew without a doubt she would be his.

She cleared her throat as if she debated that she’d shared too much.

He flinched at the level of pain in her eyes, the way it dulled the spark of mystery and tenacity that he’d only just discovered below the surface. What had happened to cause such stained views?

She turned her attention back to the scene Samuel performed, eyes wide taking in the withering bodies, her expression a mirror of her emotions.

Curious gazes found his from neighboring balconies. Several men nodded their way with an appreciative look for his guest.

He stepped behind her and a slow movement pulled aside the few curls that had slipped from their hold. The long silken strands dragged across her skin and solicited a shuddering gasp of surprise from her.

He let the pad of his finger follow the invisible trail. “Tell me, kroshka, is it wrong for a person to seek pleasure?” He leaned in and blew a breath across her exposed shoulder. In the dim light of their private box, he could see her eyes slip closed before she slammed them back open. Obviously pulled between how her body reacted to him and how she thought she should react.

“N…no. Not at all.” Her eyes widened in surprise as she turned to hold his gaze over her shoulder, her stammered reply sending a wave of frustration to pinch her brows. God, he wanted to kiss her, rob her of her breath and banish the haunted look in her eyes.

“But one has to give and take equally. Never steal to find it and never put your own above others.”

“I agree.”

Matteo leaned in and pressed his lips against her forehead. He took it easy, but he knew his friend hungered to take her deeper.

She leaned back and settled against Sevastyan’s chest.

He attempted to ignore how she breathed his scent in long and slow. Ignored how her heartbeat raced against his lips as he traced a soft kiss up the length of her elegant neck and damn it, he didn’t want to notice how her breath hitched when he gently bit the tender flesh of her earlobe. But he wasn’t blind or deaf, and his dick sure the hell was not immune to her allure.

She turned in his arms, and he moved them from prying eyes.

Lucian and Matteo right behind him.

He had broken about five rules in his personal guidebook of not getting too close to anyone. Laser focus had its place and up until that moment, he had never veered off his course. She’d found a weakness in his suit of armor.

“Why am I here, Mr. Volkov… Sevastyan?” His given name fell from her lips in a whispered tone as if forbidden.

“You look so fucking beautiful.” And a wonderful mind with how it worked in such intricate ways and left him amazed. He could be wrong, it had happened before, but the woman before him had no hand in anything sinister. She was no guiltier of harming anyone than a butterfly could harm a flower. That put them back at square one, but they could do little about it.

Now he had a new mission of earning her trust. If she was in any danger, he’d find out and put a stop to it.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he wrapped her in his arms and hauled her flush against his body.

Matteo moved in behind her and together they worked deep moans from her.

Lucian eased in and pressed his lips to the point just below her ear lobe. The spot he’d eyed all evening.

His deep moan sent Seraphina’s back arching into Matteo’s arms and her nipples with her metal piercing shot through the middle to pebble against the thin material of her dress.

“No bra,” he tsked sweetly before pulling at the edge of the deep V falling between her breasts. Both breasts tumbled out and God help him, those rosy pierced nipples made his cock impossibly harder.

She shuddered in their arms when Matteo reached around and tugged on the tips.

“Oh,” she gasped.

He reached between them and he growled at what he found. Hot juicy girl-cum spilled from her core to wet his fingers. “You’re bare.” Her heated gaze said she knew and purposefully left off any undergarments.

The softness of her wet folds tore at his control. He dragged a thick finger through her slit and watched as his friend claimed her mouth while Lucian leaned over her and teased those peaks with rapid flicks of his tongue. He moved from one to the other and back again earning Sevastyan all the girl-cum he could want.

Matteo feasted on her plump lips and devoured like a man starved for such a delicacy.

He broke the kiss and turned Rhia’s lips to Sevastyan.

“Taste how sweet she is.”

Remnants of vodka hit his tongue the second his tongue touched hers. He stroked his tongue over hers again, wanting more. At first, she stiffened but soon molded herself against him, opening her mouth wider. He slowed and softened his lips against hers. She followed his lead, licking and nipping at him as he did the same. Her fingers grasped the material of Matteo’s shirt, holding him to her and he couldn’t help but let his own rove a little higher until he found her ass.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “Did you want to get fucked tonight, kroshka?”

Warm, plump skin met the palms of his hands.

God have mercy on his self-control.

One swift movement and he could have her body bared to them all. The dress nothing but a heap on the floor. Her sweet pussy and all her delicate juices exposed for them to taste. Lick. And then thoroughly fuck.

He swallowed back a growl.

The plumpness of her ass was pure heaven in the palms of his hands. God, she tasted like concentrated euphoria and felt like sin all at once in his arms. Too perfect. Too innocent.

The thought of having his tongue on her body had his dick raging hard against the restraints of his zipper. God, this woman drove him mad.

His hard cock pressed into the seam of her legs. Uncontrollable need drove his hips forward. She almost made him cave and he couldn’t have that.

A sense of possessiveness claimed his mind, flooding his thoughts with one mission. Raw hunger clawed at his insides. The part of him he buried and refused to acknowledge awoke and his senses sharpened. Driven by a lust so strong he honed in on one thing. Her.

“Sevastyan,” she breathed, not much louder than a decadent whisper meant for his ears only. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. A rosy pink colored her cheeks.

She held his face between her palms, her gaze taking in everything about him. “Take me. All of you.” She touched each of them with a gentle, pleading look.

In a gruff voice, he bit out, “Fuck.” Burying his face in the crook of her neck, he nipped her shoulder. Teased the flesh with his blunt teeth. Torturing her no doubt from her velvety moans, but fucking killing himself.

He didn’t give her time to say anything else or for him to focus on what that meant. She moved her hands from his biceps to his shoulders and pulled until she had his lips on hers again, this time plundering with no shame, taking what she wanted.

He sensed Matteo reaching down to slip her shoes off, letting them fall where they may. He brushed the length of her soft leg before settling the meaty weight of her ass in his hands.

Before she left him tonight she would be pleasured, satisfied, and know what it meant to be claimed by him.

No. He wouldn’t.

Blood raged in his ears, and he felt no better than a savage wanting to mark, bite, fuck and claim his prize.

The savage monster within thrashed against the frail sides of the veil that saved them all from a mistake neither of them wanted.

She watched him—her gaze as solid as a caress.

He erased the space between them, pressed her core firmly against his hard cock, and reveled in watching her head fall against Matteo’s shoulder, her eyes roll closed.

In the next second, she reclaimed his mouth. The shock of her taking a bite of his lower lip surged his hips forward. He nearly groaned from the soft flick of her tongue against his the second she thrust her tongue between his lips.

Fire blazed a path to his dick, and he had his teeth scraping over the pulse in her neck before he realized he’d moved. The heat of needing her overtook him and his teeth raked across the tender flesh where her shoulder met her neck. She whimpered, the sound pure crack to his senses.

She buried her fingers in his hair and worked her sweet lips down his neck, laving at his pulse point.

He pulled back enough to take in her expression, all control abandoned. Her mouth fell open as he slipped his between her legs and stroked through the warm liquid of her pussy.

And it was delicious. The scent alone driving him over the edge of sanity.

She panted, her shoulders rising and falling, her head thrown back, opening her throat for Matteo to tease over the delicate skin there.

Lucian on one side, Matteo on the other. She buried her hands in their hair, holding them close.

“More,” she begged as her body shuddered in his arms the faster he stroked her clit with the pad of his thumb.

His lips came down on hers in a brief brushing. A hint of tongue teasing hers. He growled softly when she flicked hers to meet his.

“You’re delicious. Now come for me, Seraphina. Fall apart for us. Give us what we want.”

He added a second finger into her tight center, the soft walls of her core a vise he couldn’t wait to feel around his hard shaft. The moans she’d make beneath him were enough to drive him mad with the need to take her here. Now.

The thought had his dick pulsating with the need to feel her, but her pleasure meant more to him. To see her sweet expression morph into the kind of pleasure a woman deserved under his careful touch.

“So soft, beautiful, and all mine.”

“Ours,” growled Lucian.

“Ours,” he corrected.

“You’re so close to giving me your sweet release. Don’t hold back,” he husked, his breath coming faster.

Ours. Need to claim and take what he wanted clouded his senses.

Crimson brushed the sides of her neck and traveled to her cheeks.

Matteo ran his lips along her jaw.

Sevastyan watched as his friend dipped his head and sampled her already kiss-swollen lips.

She was pure innocence wrapped in their personal form of torture.

She parted for Matteo, and he twined his tongue around hers, devouring every single moan of pleasure she released. She draped her arms around Lucian’s neck, her fingers working the edges of his hair.

Sevastyan let loose a chest-deep growl. All they needed was Roman to be here and the fold would be complete.

Something deep inside her called to him, lured his sleeping monster from the all-consuming shadows. He dared a look into her bright eyes and fell into the deep end.

Fuck me, he swore under his breathas a whisper of a thought took hold.

No. This was nothing but lust. But a sweet siren nonetheless.

Her body tensed, her thighs a delicate vise around his waist. He began to rock his hips in a sensual rhythm, stroking the bundle of nerves buried between her pouty lips one last time to the soft sound of her release. Maddening and exquisite. He wanted his full length buried in her, feeling the pulse of her soft core milking him, not his fingers.

But he couldn’t. Not yet. Maybe never.

She shuddered in his arms, eyes closed, hips rocking to fuck his fingers as the peak of her orgasm hit.

“That’s it, kroshka. Give me everything.” He wanted it. Wanted her.

Her core convulsed around his fingers. Juices coated her pussy lips and dripped to wet his hand, forcing a guttural sound from deep within him.

His balls tightened. He looked on as she fell apart in his arms, there to catch her, keep her safe.

She arched, moaned, and he crashed his lips against hers, tasting her sweet screams of pleasure on his tongue. Breaths mingled. Exquisite torture. And all he could think about was giving her more. More pleasure, more orgasms. He had no idea skin could be so addictive. So soft and warm.

She arched once more, pressed their chests together, and when her pebbled nipples glided across his, they both hissed.

Harsh breaths tore through her as he held her quaking body close to his. His grip tightened even more as she quieted, spent from the force.

With gentle movements, he pulled his fingers from her tight slit, brought them to his lips, and growled as the taste of her juices hit his tongue.

“Fuck, when do I get a taste?” Lucian tipped her chin up and licked the seam of her lips.

“Whenever you want me.”

She was so lust-dazed they could do anything they wanted with their little birdie and she would sing for them.

She gasped and he held her gaze, captivated by the look of pure lust in her eyes.

“So fucking sexy,” Matteo husked and pressed his forehead against hers. “Make no mistake, we’re going to do more filthy things to your body.”

Matteo turned her to face him, gripped the globes of her ass, and spread her wide. With his cock pressed against her sensitive seam, Sevastyan watched as his friend rocked his hips and dragged a gasp of surprise from her.

He smiled at the small tremor in her body.

“When we finally take you to bed you won’t leave it for hours. Days. That’s how long it will take us to get our fill of your delicious body. And make no mistake. There will be four of us all over you.”

Her soft, quick breaths fanned over him when Sevastyan pulled her back to him. And the rapid beat of her pulse made him ready for the chase should she try to run.

He’d never have his fill and never let her go. He would claim her. And that was the fucking truth.

Her body softened beneath his touch as he held her, unwilling to let her go.

Warm fingers came to settle on his face. “What makes you think I won’t be the one tying you to my bed and doing the filthiest, naughtiest thing I can think of to your bodies?” She paused, her teasing words a low whisper against his skin as she trailed kisses along his jaw. “Would you like that? Being at my mercy?”

He already was.

“I see our girl is relaxed, but time to break up the happy times.” Sevastyan could hear the smile in Roman’s voice carry over the earpiece he left them with before heading back to the monitor room to make sure everything they discussed got recorded.

The interruption snapped him out of his lustful thoughts.

Sevastyan raised a brow in acknowledgment. He’d momentarily forgotten about the camera and Roman’s front-row seat to their show.

“Why?” he gritted.

“We have a situation you should be aware of,” Roman said, bringing him sharply to attention.

“Kroshka, I am sorry. Something’s come up.” He regretfully pulled back. Damn it. The sudden break in their fantasy stole the pleasure from her face after they’d worked so hard to place it there.

“Go ahead,” he confirmed over the earpiece, holding her gaze, which caused obvious confusion. It was a shame to have to let her down, but he helped her stand and straighten her dress.

“We have a situation you should be aware of. Hold tight. I’m coming to you.”

Her gaze found his and he cupped her face, using his body as a wall to keep her from acting on the fear he saw shimmering in her eyes. “Roman is joining us.”

“What the fuck is up now?”

He gazed at Matteo overtop her head. “We’re about to find out.”

Sevastyan tipped her chin up and waited until she drew her eyes from Matteo to meet his. “Matteo was right in what he said, Seraphina. We get what we want and we’re not done here. Don’t even think of running.”

He’d forgotten the music and the sound of passion around them. For all of however long they’d had her in their arms, nothing else existed. He wanted to chuckle at her surprised look as reality came back in full force.

Palms flat against his chest, she pushed.

She slapped a hand over her mouth and what he saw on her face made fear look like nothing more than a passive expression and he grew damn tired of seeing it there.

“Oh my God. I’m sorry,” she stammered, trying to tug at her dress and find her discarded shoes at the same time. “This wasn’t supposed to happen again.”

She was utterly a beautiful mess. The most beautiful sight he’d ever seen, and it drove a force through him so painful he could barely tolerate it when shame and embarrassment replaced the dreamy look in her eye.

“And Roman heard all that? With that...that earpiece. Jesus H. Christ. I threatened to tie my bosses to my bed.”

One insecurity after another pelted him as she argued with herself. It would have been amusing at another time perhaps or under different circumstances.

With a hand on her shoulder, Lucian stopped her jerky movements and pulled her attention away from the floor where her shoes were and back to him. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed by, sweetheart.”

Her gaze yanked upward, “Easy for you to say.” She took a step backward and waved her hand airily. “I’ll find my way back.”

Like hell. He couldn’t have her walk the floor alone. Not in that dress and looking like she’d been thoroughly seduced and in need of someone to step in and pick up where they left off.

Sevastyan took her hands in his, holding her hostage while he found out what the hell was going on. “Just tell me what the hell has your panties in a wad, Roman,” he demanded in an impatient voice.

“I’ll be fine. I shouldn’t be here to begin with.” She tried to take her hands back but he didn’t let her go.

He tipped her chin with a gentle touch until all she saw were the irises of his eyes.

“You don’t go anywhere without one of us with you at all times. End of argument.”

The hesitant crease of worry between her brows deepened.

“You’ll want to hear this face to face. Trust me,” Roman assured him.

She backed away from him, and he felt the iron curtain of regret fall into place between them. “This should never have happened.”

Roman stepped from the elevator and joined them wearing a snarl that made him appear every bit the lethal man he knew him to be.

Seraphina side-stepped him, her gaze pinned to the floor.

Roman lowered his voice and angled away from Rhia. “We need to speak. Now. It’s about your father and hers. Shit is about to get very fucking ugly.”

Fuck.

Roman turned to Rhia and kneeled in front of her, his hand already going for hers. Fucking man was a bleeding goddamn heart.

“If it’s any consolation, baby, I’d like to be tied to your bed. Screw these three.” He tossed her a rueful grin and rose to pull Sevastyan to the side.

Matteo and Lucian placed a kiss on either of her cheeks before joining them.

He threw the curtain to the side and looked over his shoulder. “Wait for me here.”

Roman fired up his tablet and pulled a document on screen. “I reached out to a friend of mine in the police department. Asked her to do some more digging on Rhia now that we have her real name.”

Roman flipped the tablet around for him to see. One thing about his men, they made friends easily and knew how to exploit those contacts. Usually, a free VIP pass to the club loosened a lot of lips. Most thought money or even knowledge talked and carried the most power. The truth was sex was the most valuable currency on the planet.

“According to my contact, your sweet little liar over there is the one who reported her father’s death.”

Son of a bitch. Well, that explained the haunted look in her eye tonight.

“Our new personal assistant was the one to find her father the night of his death. Who knows, but she could have witnessed his death. And who committed the crime. Which could tell us who killed your brother. Think she’s tied up in whatever got her father killed?”

“No.” He’d seen enough tonight to know she had nothing to do with anything her father was tied up in. “She’s hurt, hunting for something, but after what I heard tonight and the anger in her eyes at the thought of someone hurting another, there’s no way she’s involved with this shit.”

“After what I heard, I agree. I had to ask to see where you were at.”

Sevastyan nodded.

“That means we’re almost back at square one and the clock’s counting down on us. Cold fucking cases rarely get solved. How much longer are we going to do this? You know I’m with you, brother, but how long?” Lucian looked back toward the curtain where Rhia waited for them. “How long—”

“There’s more,” Roman cut Lucian off. Your father has men walking our floors. They think I didn’t pull records, they’re here. Reporting back. Watching.”

He half expected that to happen and wondered what took the old asshole so long. “Let him watch.”

Matteo cursed savagely. “Your father sees us with Rhia and he’ll turn curious. He’ll take her off the street one night walking home from work just so he can fuck with you. Pull whatever information he can from her. Then dump her. You know he will.”

Sevastyan snapped his head around so fast the bones in his neck cracked. “Like that will fucking happen.”

Sevastyan could see that.

“What’s our next move? We can’t exactly haul her over our shoulders and lock her away in the dungeon,” Roman stated coldly.

Sounded like the safest place until they could sort all this out. “We’ll keep an eye on her from a distance for now. Do his men know about her as of right now?”

Roman shook his head. “But either way I don’t think it will take long for him to find out.”

Sevastyan considered his options. He could lie or be upfront, and both options left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Tucked in a small alcove that didn’t offer much on lighting, he watched the curtain of the private box peel back and Rhia slip away from him.