Page 37 of Reign of a Billionaire

“Why are you here? And what’s your connection to the Tijuana cartel?”

“I’m here to kill them.”

Her eyes flashed in delight. “Me too. Can we join forces for tonight?”

Knowing it would be easier to go along than argue, I nodded my assent. And not a moment too soon. Four goons appeared, their gazes darting to the dead body. Then the bullets started flying. I yanked Liana through the opposite door, and we both covered a side. She was gripping her gun as I held mine.

“You take the two on the left, and I’ll take the two on the right,” she mouthed.

Without delay, we leaned, aimed, and shot.Bang. Bang.

The bullets punched their way through the men’s necks, almost as if shot by the same person. Blood gushed and bodies fell to the ground.

My pistol still had a silencer, but Liana’s didn’t.

“Shit.”

It was what happened next that shocked me to my core. Knives replaced the gun, and she started killing the guards one at a time. Screams filled the air, blood spurted the floors and walls like geysers. I watched in amazement as she sliced their throats, one at a time.

She stood over the last corpse, savage and vengeful, her chest heaving as she watched the life fade from her latest victim.

Her head lifted, meeting my gaze, and her lips curled into a feral smile.

The silence pierced the air between us, louder than bullets. I didn’t move, and neither did she. Instead, she stared at me, her hands drenched with blood and her eyes distant. Blank. Somewhere along the way, this woman had been turned into an assassin.

And for the first time in forever, my dick was as hard as a rock. I’d never thought I could get turned on by a woman killing so savagely, but here I was, aching forthiswoman.

And I fucking hated her even more for it.

It was a betrayal to her sister. It was breaking a promise I’d made to myself. This lust ate at my flesh like poison, like a venomous snake, mocking my love for Lou.

Why the fuck did my dick ache when I looked at her?

This woman was only the echo of the one I’d once loved. There was too much history between us—granted she didn’t seem to remember any of it—but with the way our pasts intertwined, maybe it was natural that my dick and my emotions would become traitors.

Her resemblance to Lou was fucking with my mind and body. Being in her presence was a form of self-torture, yet I couldn’t help but crave it. Craveher. Those lips… that voice… those eyes that were so much like my Louisa’s.

It was heartbreak all over again. A reminder of what I’d lost.

She leaned in for a kiss but stopped short, her expression shattering.

“What is it, sunshine?”

I might be a prisoner in this fucked-up castle in Siberia, but when Louisa was around me, I was free. She was my own personal ray of sunshine that took me to paradise, and all shehad to do was stand next to me. But it was when she smiled that every one of my thoughts slid away. Only she had the power to numb the pain.

She averted her eyes, her face heating to a bright red.

“I’ve never kissed anyone on the mouth,” she muttered, embarrassed. Then her shoulders slumped. “I’ve never kissed a boy.”

Her hair was disheveled, her cheeks red, but it was her eyes that always captured me. Golden and warm.

“I’ve never been kissed either,” I admitted.

Her eyes shot to me, shocked by my declaration. There was one subject we never broached—it’d break her. It broke me, too.

My cheek was hot and stinging. My ears rang. I didn’t want to think about any of that when I was with her.

“Let’s not talk about that.”