Page 50 of King of Obsession (Kings of the Underworld #1)

I turn around, not being able to look at her and stand my ground, wanting to erase the image of her silver eyes that brim with tears, showing me her vulnerability as if I am not miserable enough.

This woman could stab me in the back, rip my heart out, chew my soul up and spit the pieces at my feet, and I would still love her––even in splinters. Bleeding. Shattered. Dead.

I refuse to keep her captive a moment longer. She’s not a woman you can tame. She’s a woman you love and stand by her side as she conquers the world.

“I never thought you—” Her voice trembles. She inhales deeply, and I swallow, fully aware her next words will annihilate me. “You’re a damn coward. Fucking look at me.”

I can’t, keeping my eyes fixed on the window. She pushes herself off the sofa and darts to me, pulling me back by my elbow.

She gets in my face, fisting her hand in my shirt and dragging me to her eye level. “I am flowing through your damn veins, Enzo. I am so deep inside of you that you could never cut me out because I’m rooted in your damn marrow. So why the fuck are you doing this?”

“I’ve exacted my revenge. I am done.” I say the words, going for a detached tone, but just under the surface, agony ripples.

Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head at me. “Lies. I don’t believe you.”

“I believed your words once. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

She slaps the collar to my chest. “I don’t care what happened between us… I just…”

“You just what, Luciana?”

She takes a step back, stumbling, but the moment I reach my arm out to steady her, she thrusts her palm out to stop me.

Our chests heave with labored breaths, and she lifts her eyes. “Fine, then. I guess you made your decision. Miserable we’ll be. We both have experience with that.”

“You’ll have your family,” I insist. For her.

There’s nothing more I’d like to do than keep her, but after everything she went through, she deserves the chance to choose.

“You are my family. This is my fucking home,” she yells at me.

I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment, hanging on the last strand of my morality before I say fuck it all.

“He’s your brother. You’ll be safe.”

Right then, Mika steps inside and his brows furrow as he takes us in. I debated with myself about calling him, but it’s time for him to know the truth. Postponing it won’t help anyone.

“What is happening here?” he asks, gauging the situation, his hard eyes set on her. “Did she try to kill you again?”

Luciana huffs and moves to the couch, where she sinks down just like my heart into the pits of agony.

Why is she still here? She’s free. I will always make sure she’s cared for and protected.

“No. It’s not that.”

“Then what the fuck is it?”

How do you tell your brother you’ve known, practically from the very beginning, who she is to him? All I cared about was soothing my pain, pacifying my broken heart, and relieving my need. I wanted her with me because I couldn’t live another day without her.

“I found out who she is,” I tell him, and he cocks his head instantly on defense. “Your sister.”

He whips his head to her, blinking. “That can’t be.”

“I am not that happy about it either,” she mumbles.

“Take her with you. Bring her home.” Or God help me, I won’t be able to offer her that chance ever again.

“I am not going anywhere.”

“Lu—, Julia,” I try, my heart racing, wanting to sprint out of my chest and kneel at her feet, begging her to take care of it.

She shrugs. “It doesn’t matter. Neither of them is my name anymore.”

Mika has been silent as his eyes fix on her, loosening his collar. The color on his face drains, becoming ashen.

This comes as a huge shock.

He moves to the sofa, slumping down, and I can see clearly the similarities.

“I want to know everything,” he says low.

She sighs. “I am sure you don’t.”

“When did you find out?” he asks, pinning me with an accusatory look. One I deserve.

“Months ago.”

His jaw tightens. “So you knew with which life you were playing to get her here.”

“I doubt revealing her real identity would have helped in bringing her back to us,” I snap. No one in this fucking world would cross every boundary, risk it all for her like me.

He gnashes his teeth so hard, I expect some to crack under the pressure. “Not to us. To you so you can entertain your desire. God knows what sick things you did to her.”

“Please, don’t make me throw up. Your brotherly concern is nauseating.

And what I do is none of your business.” She waves him off, slipping that cold mask on so easily, reminding me again what we had was precious.

But for the first time, I don’t notice the usual disdain coating their every interaction.

Mika slants me with a hurt and furious stare, his eyes becoming slits. These two have mastered the art of slicing through you with just a glance.

She crosses her arms over her chest, looking into the distance. “I am not leaving with you.”

“The fuck you’re not. You should—” He pinches the bridge of his nose as if calling for the right way to do things and it eludes him.

“Don’t tell me what I should do. You’re not my Pakhan.”

“I am the head of the family.”

She huffs. “I thought I was Italian until five minutes ago.”

He inhales deeply as if to gather patience. Oh, he’ll definitely need that.

“I am going to bed,” she says and stands up.

“Julia,” I say again, but that name sounds foreign to me.

“Stop calling me that. I have no idea who that person is,” she yells, then she calls for Kill, who struts after her.

Without her as a buffer, Mika prowls to me and throws a right hook to my face. The punch hits my cheek, causing me to stumble. I deserve it, so I take his anger—my head spinning with tonight’s events.

Cupping the sides of his head, he paces around. “I am so fucking pissed at you right now.”

“You wouldn’t have let me take her otherwise.” I need her like she’s oxygen and I can’t breathe without her.

“For a fucking good reason. Only thinking—”

He stops himself as a shudder rocks him, and I remain quiet. All those sordid, scintillating, painful yet arousing times are private. I am not about to share that with him or anyone else.

“She’s stubborn,” he says, but it’s not with residual scorn but with something warmer.

“She is. It will take some time. I’m moving back to the penthouse. No one will touch her, Mika. I swear. If she wants to stay here, she can. She’s family.”

“If only things were different…”

Yeah, she could have been the person to cement our union as my wife. We would share a bond that overshadows anything else.

A low groan vibrates in his throat. “I am not sorry I hit you.”

“You can hit me again. What I did—”

“I don’t want to know, so don’t tell me. Some things are better left unsaid,” he says in a haunted voice.

I frown, having the impression he’s talking about more.

“I’ll try again later.”

I nod and accompany him to the door when he suddenly stops. “Why?”

“I love her.” I love her like a dying man clinging to his last memory.

He walks out, leaving me to simmer in my misery.

Taking a bottle of whiskey with me, I climb up the stairs. When I open the door, I come to an abrupt stop. She’s in my bed with Kill at her legs.

What the fuck is her plan now? I gave her the freedom she deserves and now she’s staying of her own accord. I can’t even drink myself into a stupor in peace.

Placing the bottle down on the nightstand with more force than necessary, Kill instantly perks his ears. He detects no intruder, so he resumes his slumber.

The liar is not asleep. I can see her rolling her eyes at me even while keeping them closed.

No, I can’t go to bed. I want to fuck her hard, take her like my fucking slut, and control her pleasure. Then love her like I was destined to do—kiss her breathless, hold her all night long, worship her every day till my last breath.

Slumping in the armchair, I drink from the bottle, not knowing what to fucking do. My thoughts are scattered around, hidden behind a thick fog.

“I don’t know who I am anymore,” she whispers in the dark.

Because of me. It all began with me. It all ends with me.

“You’re a fucking force of nature. That’s what you are. You’ll be fine.”

“No, I won’t,” she whispers. “And you won’t either. For someone who’s coveted me so badly, you’re easily giving me up.”

My jaw clenches. She’s so fucking blind. “No, I am setting you free to choose for yourself the life you want. For the first fucking time ever.”

“Don’t be a fucking hero, Enzo. It doesn’t become you.”

She can simultaneously put a smile on my face and enrage me.

“This is what you want, to be my fucking slut. Do you think this side was not in me from the very beginning?” I snap, losing my composure. I am trying to do the fucking right thing for her. Resisting her takes an inhuman willpower.

“Then why hide it? I’ve taken you just like you are. So, what the fuck happened? Is this some sick thing…”

“I don’t fucking know.” But I do know. Her I love you broke the dam once again and all I’ve kept inside burst out.

I sigh, dragging a hand down my face, and take another swig. My gut told me she wouldn’t do it, but I refused to accept it, terrified to let her in even though she never left that place.

My heart is hers. Fuck, I am hers—since the moment I saw her. My loyalty, need, and love for this woman are woven into the fabric of my life.

Getting the confirmation that she only pretended to kill me changed things. This is not how a man treats the woman he loves. I can’t take it back, but I can give her something she never had.

“I think you had this romantic notion about us that would have never functioned, Enzo. We’re killers, we’re ambitious, we want the world… And we do things because we can, without regard for right or wrong. Submitting to you set me free in some ways.”

“Talk time is over.” Fuck, she is set to make herself mine and forget everything else. Say fuck it all and make her my queen.

“Stubborn,” she mumbles and pats my side of the bed. “Come to bed.”