Page 53 of Darkest Desire

Nico looks up from his phone and gives me a cheeky smile. “Hello, beautiful. How was your sleep?”

“Did you join me?”

“Why? Were you hoping I would?”

With an eye roll, I grunt and sit down across from him. Maria gives me a plate of pancakes.

“It will help soak up everything inside of you,” she explains.

I flush. I was really drugged last night and acted like a fool.

“Thanks, Maria,” Nico says, dismissing her.

My stomach growls so I scarf down the food, not even caring what Nico thinks. The sooner I’m back to my normal self, the better.

“I didn’t spend the night with you in our bed,” Nico says. “I was busy all night with my prisoner. And then I spent the night in one of the guests rooms down here as I didn’t want to disturb you. You had quite the night last night.”

I grumble into my pancakes. “Because I was drugged.”

“I know.” His eyes darken. “And I made sure to kill Antonio for doing that to you.”

I remember the way he had killed Antonio and the way I had laughed. I almost remember the arousal I had felt being near Nico. Despite all his faults, he is insanely handsome and his persona, while annoying, is also sort of charming.

“So, what’s happened to your prisoner?” I ask, trying to keep my tone careful. “With… Lorenzo? Was that his name?”

“Yes. And he hasn’t said anything yet.”

“So, you’re still… torturing him?” I ask in a breathless voice.

“I am. I plan on doing it all day until he speaks. I’ll admit, he’s a tougher man to crack than I thought he would be but I’m having fun.”

“Oh, so at least you’re having fun,” I say, infusing sarcasm into my voice. “Then it’s all good.”

He sets his fork down. That one simple gesture holds a lot of power. “The man tried to kill me, Sasha. Of course I’m having fun trying to hurt him.”

“You’re not trying. Youarehurting him.”

“That’s the plan. He can put himself out of this misery if he just tells me who sent him. There’s no way he alone wanted me dead. No. Someone higher up sent him to kill me and I need to find out who. It’s someone who knows where I live. Someone in Italy, I suspect.”

“Why Italy? Why not… anywhere else?”

“Because no one in New York knows about this place. Only my Italian enemies know about this place. Maybe a few others in different parts of Europe, like Adrien. But I doubt Adrien did this. He’s benefiting too much from our alliance to want to kill me.”

“Unless he does want to take you down,” I offer. “Maybe he secretly doesn’t like you and wants to be more in charge. Take your assets for himself.”

Nico muses on my words. “That’s not a bad idea. But I trust Adrien. We’re friends. I don’t believe he did this.”

“You trust easily?” I hedge, picking at the remainder of my pancake.

“Are you asking if I trust you?”

“No.”

He laughs, more to himself, as he skims his fingers along the back of my hand. I rip my hand away and stuff it into my lap.

“I don’t trust you,” he says. “You’ve tried to leave me too many times now for me to trust you. But if I knew I could trust you, then I would easily trust you.”

“You’re a mafia man. I can’t believe that you could trust anyone. You live in a world full of backstabbers. Aren’t you afraid anyone will turn on you at any moment?”