Page 27 of Lovely Venom

“Hello,” she purrs, voice low and sweet.

Valdrin’s mouth twitches. “Ruby, is it?”

“Like the gem.” She twirls her hair.

Jesus fucking Christ, they’re flirting. I feel like an intruder in my own apartment.

“Ruby!”her father’s voice booms from the hallway.

She stiffens and closes her robe. “I should go.”

Valdrin levels her with a glare. “Who is that?”

“My father,” she answers, crawling into her typical shell of fear and shame.

“Take the coffee.” I offer her the mug even though it’s my favorite and I may never see it again.

“Thanks,” she whispers, but before she takes the cup, she slides my robe off her shoulders.

Valdrin looks ready to combust. Has Noel kept him in a basement somewhere? Has he not seen a woman in a while?

“Don’t take any of his crap,” I tell Ruby softly. “I’m here if you need me.”

“I’m here, too,” Valdrin says protectively.

“Right.” I open the door and toss Michael a glare that makes him shrink back. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” he says curtly.

He knows what I do for a living and won’t fuck with me. He probably hates me because I’m Ruby’s escape. I also have a deadly mafia guy two feet away.

Ruby leaves, and I watch her walk into that nightmare of an apartment, glowering at Michael until he closes the door.

Shaking my head, I close mine and lean against it.

“What’s wrong with her father?” Valdrin asks me with the possessive gaze of a lion.

“He drinks.” I move back toward the kitchen for more coffee, leaving out that I worry Michael is sexually abusing his sweet daughter, or Valdrin might murder him.

She’s never said so, and I would never push her to admit something so awful and personal. She knows she can tell me anything.

Valdrin finally tears his gaze away from the front door and sets that green stare on me. “You know why I’m here.”

“I thought I’d have a few more days to think about your offer. Are you here to drag me out of my home to live with Noeltoday?” My throat tightens.

Valdrin leans against the archway that divides the kitchen and the entry hallway. “No. We can’t parade you around as Noel’s fiancée and the new princess of the brotherhood, then send you off to kill a mob capo.”

“And what about after?” I fold my arms. “Do you think the Quinlans won’t retaliate?”

“They will never get near you once you are Noel’s wife.”

I’ll be a prisoner. In a gilded cage. I put down my mug. “Then you don’t need an answer from me. You cornered me.”

“In time, you will grow to accept you are the heart ofour brotherhood.”

Time...

If they’re giving me time with this assignment, I will use it to figure a way out of marrying Noel Tahiri.