Page 55

“You really are incapable of a good time, aren’t you?” Rhett says when I burst out the doors into the cool evening air. I need to fucking breathe, I need to steady all the rage that’s pulsing in my veins before they actually explode.

“I should have blown his brains out over his plush fucking carpets for his disrespect,” I fume, running a hand through my hair and starting to pace the sidewalk beside my car.

I ignore my driver when he opens the back door, putting all my focus into not storming back inside that club and giving Evelyn a demonstration of the monster I’ve become.

“Relax, we come up against his kind all the time; they are the easiest ones to make money from,” Rhett reminds me.

“We don’t need his fucking money,” I hiss at my brother. Fabian is a nobody, but one who plays with dangerous men; it’s only a matter of time before he makes a bad decision. And in this world, bad decisions get people killed.

“Hey, relax. What’s fucking with you? Is it all this wedding shit again, you’ve been putting off the inevitable for months now…”

“What the fuck is she doing with him?” I spit out the question that’s repeating over and over in my head. “Do you think she’s one of them? One of his…” I can barely think about it, let alone say it out loud.

“Evelyn?” Rhett looks at me like I’ve gone crazy. “No, she wouldn’t. She’s not a whore, Raoul. We should be more concerned with what this Prizrak guy is doing. Fabian is the third client this month who’s come at us like this. Maybe we should start taking this threat more seriously.”

“Prizrak isn’t gonna be a fucking problem, Rhett. He’s no one.” I light up another cigarette and look up at the stars, trying to find some fucking logic. I’m Raoul Burlusconi. I remain calm in all circumstances; I’ve been trained that way.

Why the fuck did I call her up to see me?

I lose my shit again when I think about how stupid I’ve been. Evelyn has always been a weakness for me. Now, that anger she used to put inside me when I was a teenage boy is back with a vengeance, and I need to make someone hurt for it.

“I got somewhere to be, Sanchez is having a wrap party at his place, and I want in on the action with some of those hot actresses. You wanna come and let loose?” Rhett offers, despite already knowing what my answer will be.

“No, Rhett, some of us have to focus on fucking business,” I snap back at him.

“Okay, you focus on that while I get my dick sucked, and I’ll see you at the family lunch tomorrow,” he reminds me, winking before he jumps into the back of his own car.

Rhett will never understand the responsibility of being the eldest. He gets to be whoever he wants to be. He enjoys his life; he parties with football stars and directors. And eventually, when he’s ready to settle, he will marry the woman he falls in love with.

I will marry who was chosen for me.

I will make life-or-death decisions and be responsible for the long chain of people who have always relied on our family name.

I will always sacrifice.

But not tonight.

I storm back into the club, not caring if Ludo or Sal are with me—or if Fabian is still with her—as I march up the stairs to the VIP section to find Evelyn.

She’s talking with the girl she was dancing with.

I don’t give a fuck where Fabian is, or if he sees me when I snatch her wrist in my hand and drag her over to the emergency exit that I know is hidden behind one of the curtains.

It’s a habit of mine to never enter a building that I don’t know how to make a fast exit from.

“Get off me,” Evelyn gasps with shock, struggling against my grip as I push open the door and force her outside. Slamming it behind us, I throw her shoulders against the wall and cage her between my arms so she can’t escape.

The fire escape is narrow, making the space between us tight, and being this close to her feels really fucking dangerous.

“Why him?” I ask, pressing my body as tightly against hers as I can get it.

It feels good… too fucking good.

“Why not him?” She stares up at me, withholding any emotion from her face, and I feel those crystal eyes slowly suck all the strength out of me.

“Because he is bad and you are good.” I give her the only explanation I can think of that isn’t gonna make me sound weak.

“How do you know I’m good, Raoul? It’s been a long time.” She wets her lips with her tongue, making me crave the fucking taste of them again, so much so that I almost allow myself the pleasure.

But instead, I drop my head a little lower and keep my lips a breath away from hers.

“You are better than him,” I whisper, closing my eyes and inhaling the scent of her through my nostrils.

“Better than him, but not good enough for you.” She laughs cruelly, catching me at a weak moment and managing to shove me away. I react fast, forcing her shoulders back against the wall and regaining control.

“I’m not the boy who kissed you in your room that night anymore,” I warn, the tip of my nose trailing along her cheek until my mouth is level with her ear.

Then reaching between her legs, I steady my palm up her thigh, hooking a finger into her panties and feeling her pleasure coat it as I slowly slide it through her pussy lips.

It makes me fucking desperate to taste her there.

I’m mad and disappointed in her. Even angrier at myself for the fact that she still has the power to hurt me. I want to fuck her into this wall and punish her for ruining the sacrifice I made for her.

“Raoul,” she whispers my name as she succumbs to me. Her clit, tight and throbbing against my finger as it strokes between her folds.

“Raoul,” she repeats my name, this time more desperately as her thighs clench together and crush my hand.

I use the heel of my palm to give her the friction she needs while I tease her tight little entrance with my fingertip.

She’s close already, I can tell by the way she puckers around me, and as much as I’d like to feel her pulse and hear her moan, I decide she doesn’t deserve it.

Withdrawing my hand from her, I slide it steadily up her body until I’m cradling her jaw. Then I swipe my soaked finger across her mouth and enjoy the desperate little gasp she makes as I coat her lips.

“When you kiss your boyfriend goodnight tonight, you can think about me and how it might have felt to come on my fingers,” I whisper harshly, backing away from her the same way I did all those years ago. The pain inside me is just as strong. I’ve just grown better at hiding it.

“What happened to you, Raoul?” She shakes her head at me, those pretty blue eyes filling with tears, making me wonder if she feels the same hurt that I do.

“I sacrificed too much,” I answer her question honestly, before making my way down the fire escape and removing myself from her life again.

Only this time, I’m not so convinced I’m making the right decision.