Page 27 of Wicked Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 1)

CHAPTERSIX

Sebastian

“I’m sorry, Toby is fucking where?” I bark around a mouthful of Theo’s mom’s moussaka.

“Stella’s,” Nico repeats as if I didn’t hear it clearly enough the fucking first time.

Theo and Alex both shoot me a concerned look, but I’m too fucking angry to care what they think.

“Why?” I grate out.

“Probably because he wants to fuck her,” he says simply like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I mean, she’s hot and totally his type.”

Out of all of us, Toby is the only one who’s even remotely choosy about the girls he spends time with, and I can’t deny that what Nico is saying is true. She’s totally his type, which makes the fact that he’s inside her house right now even fucking worse.

I don’t realise the growl that fills the room that rumbles from my throat until every set of eyes around the table burns into me.

“Something you need to confess, bro?” Nico asks, although from the look in his eyes I don’t think he really needs me to confirm what he already suspects.

“Fuck this,” I bark, pushing my almost empty plate away and shoving the chair out behind me so fast it crashes to the floor. “Fuck all of this.” I blow out of the room like a storm and then, quickly after, the house.

The late afternoon sun warms my skin as I erupt from the back of the Cirillo mansion and march down to their insane home gym at the bottom of the garden.

As a kid, I always thought the one we had in our basement was impressive, but like most things that Damien touches, it has to be the best of the best. Only weeks after they moved into this house following the death of Theo’s grandfather, he turned this into something that rivals the best gyms in the city.

I breathe in the fresh scent as I step inside, causing the automatic lights to flicker into action.

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I ignore the temptation to track Toby’s to discover where she lives and instead connect to the Bluetooth so I can blast my angry workout playlist through the building.

Dragging off my t-shirt, I hit the treadmill and turn the speed up, needing to feel something other than the anger, the burning need for revenge that has taken up every one of my thoughts since I learned the truth.

Finding her has only made it worse.

The bitterness that’s been festering inside me is starting to poison everything in my life.

I run until my legs ache and my lungs burn with my need for air, but fucking finally, the images of what I want to do to the cunt who ruined my life, who broke my family, abate enough to focus on something else.

I hit the stop button and slow my movements until the belt comes to a halt.

When I step off and turn around, I’m not surprised to find someone sitting on the rowing machine, waiting for me with a concerned look on his face.

“I’m fine,” I say, grabbing a rolled-up towel from the shelf and wiping my sweaty face and chest.

“No, you’re not. And you haven’t been for a long time. But this… right now… I’m worried.”

“I’ll sort it out.”

“No, you’re fuelled by anger, and that’s dangerous. You make stupid fucking decisions when you’re mad.”

I hold Theo’s stare for a beat. I can’t argue.

“It’s fine.”

Pulling an energy drink from the fridge, I down it in one before throwing it in the bin.

“I need to go home.”

“See… stupid decisions.”