Page 55

"I'll come get you, don't worry. I'm not going to let him get away with this,"Marcello continues, and I realize it's time to put an end to the game.

Swiping the phone from Sisi's hands, I take over the conversation, making sure Marcello heeds my warning.

"Stay out of this Marcello. I let her call you out of courtesy, but make no mistake, you're never taking her from me. This extends toeveryone,including that skinny little kid that thought to marry her. I will say this only once.She is mine.And trust me,I'll forget all our history in a second if it comes to it," I tell him, my voice serious.

"You're insane,"he replies.

"Maybe. But remember, I'm the type of insane that would level an entire country to the ground if it came to it. So do yourself and everyone else a favor and stay the fuck out of it."

"You're fucking dead, Vlad."I try not to roll my eyes at his threats, but it seems he just doesn't get it.

"No, Marcello. Anyone who tries to take Sisi away from me is fucking dead. You included." I grit my teeth. If I am forced, then I'll just show everyone why they called me berserker in the first place.

Andno onewill escape with their lives intact. "She's safe, and I won't harm her. That, you have my promise," I say, swinging my gaze back to her. "But she ismine," I repeat before hanging up and flinging the phone on the ground.

"What…" Sisi's eyes widen. "You destroyed it…" she mutters as she stares at the broken screen.

"That was a warning for your brother, but also for you, hell girl." I tug her to me, forcing her to look me in the eye. "No one will ever take you from me."

"Until you get bored," she whispers.

"I won't ever get bored." I swipe my finger over her lips, her pupils dilating as I bring my head lower. "Now let's eat," I speak against her lips.

Unfortunately, we'd both forgotten about the eggs while on the phone, and so I managed to burn the only available food in the house.

"I'm ordering some, don't worry." I try to placate her a while later while I hurry for my laptop, suddenly afraid she'll be cranky if she gets too hungry, and that certainly won't get me any extra points.

It takes a while for the food to arrive, but once it's all spread on the table and we're both digging in, silence descends.

Her gaze swings back to me curiously every now and then, and even as I lose myself in her beauty, I try to remember some of the advice I'd read.

"You're very pretty when you eat," I compliment her, a small smile tugging at my lips.

Her hand stills midair as she's about to bite into a chicken wing.

"Not that you're not pretty every day. In fact, you're prettyeverymoment," I continue, afraid I somehow blundered it.

She tilts her head to the side, still watching me.

"Beautiful, not pretty," I amend.

Damn it, I forgot that women care about particularities.

"Is that so?" she asks, unconvinced, her hand brushing against her bangs and revealing the birth mark on her face.

"Of course. Even that splotchy thing on your face is charming," I add for good measure, since there's no part of her that Idon'tlove.

She blinks twice, slowly. Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she suddenly gets up, taking the entire bucket of chicken wings and dumps it over my head.

"You're a cad," she mutters, stomping out of the kitchen.

And I'm left frowning, unable to understand what I'd said that was so wrong.

Fuck, but why am I such a big idiot?

Something I said must have upset her, and now I'm back to zero. Or is it minus?

I sigh, standing up and watching more tiny chicken wings fall out of my hair.