Page 8 of Obsidian Devotion (Empire of Sin & Blood #3)

Lorenzo

I t’s been three weeks. Three weeks since a bullet tore through my flesh and I lost my men.

I trace the puckered scar tissue with my fingertips as I stand before the mirror. It’s still angry and red.

"Fuck," I mutter, dropping my hand.

The memory of that night rushes in vivid detail now. Thanks to Olivia’s inside man, I could locate Gabriel. He fed me information about Gabriel’s movements, his safe houses, the rotation of guards.

I planned the operation carefully. A diversion was necessary to draw the bulk of the protection detail away from Gabriel's location. One of my men called in a false threat related to the case at another site.

With most of the guards scrambling to respond, I positioned my men to secure the perimeter while I went inside to confront Gabriel.

I wanted to face him myself. Somehow, I convinced myself I could reason with him, talk him into coming with me willingly. After all, we had history. I believed that connection might count for something.

But I miscalculated.

Gabriel flinched when I entered his temporary apartment, but his composure returned quickly—he wasn’t the type to be caught unprepared.The fear in his eyes quickly hardened into something else—determination.

"Lorenzo," he said, backing away. "How the hell did you find me?"

"That doesn't matter now," I replied, keeping my voice calm. "You know why I'm here. We can go the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Gabriel hissed. "The things your family is involved in—I can’t stay silent anymore."

"Yet you had no problem profiting from those same things for years," I countered. "Come with me now, and perhaps I will be merciful."

We both knew that was a lie. I don’t forgive rats.

As I moved toward him, Gabriel lunged for what appeared to be a decorative box on the side table. Before I could stop him, he had a gun in his hand—a weapon that shouldn't have been there.

The shot came fast—too fast for me to fully dodge.

White-hot pain exploded in my side as the bullet found its mark. I staggered back, my weapon drawn instinctively, but the commotion had alerted the remaining guards.

Gunfire erupted throughout the safe house.

My men outside were overwhelmed almost immediately—professional hits from the security team. I heard their deaths through my earpiece, staccato bursts of violence ending in silence.

Blood soaking through my shirt, I had no choice but to retreat, barely escaping as sirens wailed in the distance.

Gabriel had vanished in the chaos, neither captured by me nor secured by his protectors.

A complete failure.

My phone buzzes, pulling me from the memory. Matteo. I answer with a grimace.

"What?"

"We need to talk," my brother says without preamble. "Face to face. About the Gabriel situation."

Twenty minutes later, I'm sitting across from Matteo in his immaculate office, the wound on my side throbbing with each heartbeat.

"So," he begins, crossing his fingers. "You want to tell me how everything went so spectacularly wrong?"

I meet his gaze without flinching. "I had an inside man. The plan was solid. Gabriel had a weapon that shouldn't have been there."

"A weapon?" Matteo raises an eyebrow. "In witness protection? Someone slipped up."

"Or someone helped him," I suggest. "Either way, the extraction failed."

Matteo leans back in his chair, studying me. "Well, there's a slight consolation. The agency can't tie us directly to the incident. No survivors from your team, and your inside man is keeping his mouth shut—for now."

"And Gabriel?" I ask, though I already suspect the answer.

"Gone." Matteo spreads his hands. "He ran during the chaos. The protection agency has lost him too. He's in the wind."

The knowledge sits like acid in my stomach. Gabriel is free, with everything he knows about our operations, our contacts, our weaknesses. A ticking time bomb.

"I'll find him," I grunt.

Matteo studies me for a long moment. "See that you do. Father is... displeased, to put it mildly."

I stand, ignoring the pain that shoots through my side. "Gabriel has a daughter. I'll start there."

"Just make it clean this time," Matteo advises. "No more complications."

The club is already pulsing with energy when I arrive that evening, bass thumping through the walls, colored lights painting the night in neon hues. Despite the chaos of the past weeks, business has never been better—thanks to Sofia.

Sofia.

The thought of her brings a complexity of emotions I'm not ready to untangle. Since that kiss in the basement, we've been circling each other like wary predators, neither willing to acknowledge the tension crackling between us.

I spot her from across the room, her copper hair cascading down her back as she leans in to speak with the bartender.

In just a short time, she's made herself indispensable—the staff respect her and the customers adore her.

And then I see him. Some clean-cut businessman type, leaning too close to her, his hand casually resting on the small of her back. She laughs at something he says, and something dark and possessive unfurls in my chest.

Without thinking, I cross the floor, my eyes never leaving them. Sofia spots me just as I reach them. Something flickering across her expression—surprise, perhaps. Or guilt.

"Mr. Bellanti," she says, straightening. "I didn't expect you tonight."

The businessman looks between us, sensing the sudden tension, but he’s smart enough to back away with a murmured excuse.

"My office," I say to Sofia, my voice low enough that only she can hear. "Now."

She follows me without protest, though I can feel the indignation radiating from her. The moment the door closes behind us, she turns on me.

"What the hell was that about?" she demands.

"Who was he?" I counter, stepping closer.

"A customer. A good one." She crosses her arms. "Is there a problem with me being friendly to the people who keep your business profitable?"

"There's friendly, and then there's whatever that was," I snap.

Sofia's eyes narrow. "We haven't even discussed what happened between us, and you think you may dictate who I talk to?"

The mention of our kiss hangs in the air between us, charged and dangerous. We've both been avoiding this conversation, this confrontation.

"We're discussing it now," I say, closing the distance between us.

One breath of stillness—then she crashes into me, all heat and fury. Her lips devour mine, desperate and wild. My grip tightens in her hair, dragging her into the storm with me. The pain tearing through my side vanishes beneath the burn of her body against mine.

I lift her onto my desk, papers scattering to the floor unheeded. The look in her eyes is downright feral as she grabs me by the belt with one hand and the tie with the other.

Sofia gasps as I grab her knees and spread them wide apart. She tries to shut them, but I’m stronger, and when my hands slide up her smooth thighs, she whimpers.

“What are you…oh my God…” she whines when my finger teases up her lips through her lace panties, her eyes rolling back in bliss.

I slip my fingers under her skirt, feeling her lace panties, teasing up and down her bare, slick pussy before I peel her panties down her legs, slowly.

I let them dangle from her heels before I push between her legs and kiss and nibble my way up her thigh.

Sofia squirms, and when I shove her back across the desk, my laptop crashes and tumbles to the floor, and she gasps.

I’ll buy another one.

“Lorenzo—oh fuck…”

She’s propped up on her elbows, her face bright red and her breath coming fast as she watches me hover, my mouth mere inches above her eager cunt.

I lock eyes with her, making her wait for it as I drool on her pussy for a moment before slowly dipping my mouth to her.

“Oh. My. Fuuccck…” she coos in pleasure helplessly as I lick her slowly and languidly, not hurrying. I take my time savoring the taste of her pretty pussy.

I lap at every drop of her honey-sweetness. My tongue dances lightly around her clit, teasing her into a frenzy before I plunge it deep inside of her.

Sofia’s legs shake. Her chest rises and falls, never breaking eye contact as I slowly work my tongue and lips over her sweet little pussy, taking her higher and higher.

I don’t rush it. I don’t demand, which is a change for me. But I do utterly subjugate her pussy and claim it as mine. I have her dancing on a fucking tightrope, and I keep her there for damn near close to twenty minutes, until I’m legitimately worried I’m going to break something in her head.

I keep the pace slow. I keep the tip of my tongue teasing around her clit. Until suddenly, with one precise, tiny flick, Sofia’s universe comes crashing down.

She slams a hand over her mouth, biting down hard on her palm as she wrenches and writhes. Her swollen, throbbing pussy explodes in spasms against my tongue, flooding my mouth with her orgasm as her thighs lock around my head.

Gently, I tease my lips up and down her thighs as she catches her breath. Then, with a smug grin, I stand between her legs and sink my cock into her.

“Fuck!”, I groan. “Your pussy was made for me.” Nibbling her glistening skin, I move my lips along her jawline.

“Do you like how my cock fills you to the brim?”

“Yes.” A throaty moan next to my ear.

“Good,” I rasp against her ear. “Because you will only be stretched around this cock from now on,” I said.

“And if I ever see you smiling at another man like that again, I’ll fuck the memory of him out of you. You hear me?”

She moans, breath ragged, but the defiance is still there—glowing hot behind her flushed cheeks.“You don’t own me, Lorenzo,” she spits, trying to hold on to the upper hand. “We’re not anything.”

I grab her chin, force her to meet my gaze. My grip is firm, but my voice goes low—deadly calm. “You’re mine when I’m inside you,” I whisper. “And after this, you’ll feel me even when I’m not.”

Her lips tremble, but she doesn’t look away. “I can still do whatever I want,” she says, but her voice has softened, uncertain.

I smirk, not letting go. “Say that again after you come screaming my name.”

I lose my ever-loving shit.

Grabbing her throat, I plunge into her.

My sanity is gone.

My sense of reality—nonexistent. I ravage her kiss-swollen lips as I pound into her like a madman. The only things I can fathom are Sofia's panting, the feeling of her legs clutching my waist, and the smell of her citrus perfume.

She is mine.

“Your pussy’s mine, Red,” I growl against her neck, voice rough and dark. “Now, and forever. There won’t be any other men. Do you hear me?”

“Yes,” she gasps, breath breaking over a moan.

“No one else will touch you. No one else will ever feel you come apart on their cock.” I drive into her harder, deeper. “Only me. Always me.”

I sound possessed. I am possessed. Every thrust shreds the last of my restraint, and something feral claws its way to the surface.

My eyes lock onto her face. I want to remember everything . The way her mouth falls open with every stroke. The way her hair sticks to her sweat-slick skin. The way her lashes flutter like she’s caught between pleasure and surrender.

She’s fucking perfect—wrecked and radiant—and mine.

The desk groans beneath us, barely holding up under the force of my need. Sofia’s moans rise into cries, raw and breathless, as her body tenses around me. I feel her getting close, so close, but I don’t let her fall over that edge. Not yet.

I slow my pace, dragging it out, rolling my hips with deliberate control. She whimpers, writhes, begs —but I keep her right on the brink. It’s exquisite torment, watching her unravel.

Then, finally, I let go. Her body trembles, her scream rips free, and she shatters—tightening around me like a velvet vise.

I give her a heartbeat to feel the high… then slam back into her, hard and deep.

Her second orgasm tears through her before the first even fades, and that’s all it takes— Heat explodes in my spine, and I come with a growl, burying myself inside her as release crashes through me.

My vision whites out. My lungs burn. And for a second, I feel like I’ve lost gravity—like nothing exists but her.

As we collapse against each other, sweat-slick and breathless, the world slowly creeps back in. My heart’s still racing, but it’s not just the sex. It’s her . I’ve never felt like this before. Not with anyone.

Maybe it’s not just the blood rushing to my cock. Maybe this is what it feels like when you fuck someone you're falling for.

The problems waiting outside this door haven't disappeared. Gabriel is still out there. My family still demands answers.

And Sofia—Sofia remains a beautiful enigma I can't afford to trust completely.

But for now, with her head resting against my chest, I allow myself this moment of peace—the calm before the storm that's surely coming.