RUTHLESS KING

19 ONE NIGHT

Luca
Stella sits by the window, her dark hair aglow beneath streaks of mid-day
sunshine. The scent of calla lilies strewn across the stark penthouse mixes
with her intoxicating natural fragrance. She’s got her luscious lower lip
snagged between her teeth as she flips through the pages of her Economics
textbook, and I’m jealous, fucking jealous of those pages because I want
her fingers on me, envious of those teeth because I want my mouth on that
full, pouty lip.
Fuck. It hasn’t even been a week since Stella blew back into my life,
and already I can feel the shift. Like the ground beneath me isn’t quite as
steady, the black not so black and the white ten times brighter.
Tomorrow is the big Heart Ball, and the true test to determine if this
arrangement will actually work. So far, it’s been nothing but headaches and
blue balls. The hint of a smile creeps across my mouth as her image on the
monitor consumes my vision. I spend every night watching her like a pazzo.
She hasn’t touched herself again, not since that night. I keep waiting,
waiting for her to sink her fingers inside her sweet pussy and moan my
name. My cock instantly hardens. I shift uneasily and reposition the laptop
across my legs.
Instead, every night she just crawls into bed wearing my t-shirt and
sleeps like a fucking angel. Like she doesn’t have a care in the world. How
is it possible? As much as she complains about being a prisoner, she’s
adjusted quite well to her new life. She doesn’t even seem scared of me
anymore.
I’ll have to do something about that soon. I can’t have her getting all
comfortable here. Despite how good she looks in my home. This is strictly
business and only temporary. Maybe if I repeat it enough, it’ll get through
my thick skull.
My phone vibrates on the side table, and I shake my head out to
dislodge the all-consuming thoughts of Stella which have taken permanent
residence in my mind. “Hello?” I growl.
Stella’s head spins toward me, likely unnerved by my tone. Good.
I mutter a curse at Albie before gritting out, “Fine, let him up.”
When I slam my phone down, Stella’s gaze is still intent on mine. She
scoots to the edge of the chaise lounge, still nibbling on that lip. “Who’s
coming up?” she finally asks.
“Dante.”
Her dark brows knit together, a flash of recognition brightening her
irises before it dissipates completely. “Who’s that?”
“My brother.”
Her pretty pink lips screw into a pout, and even though I’m no mind
reader, I know exactly where her thoughts go. To the brother she lost. Too
bad my brother is nowhere near the man that Vinny was or could have been.
Her mouth opens again, and I know she’s going to delve into the past,
something I cannot deal with right now. The shadows are too dark, the
memories still too raw. “Keep your mouth shut when he gets here.” I immediately regret the
sharpness in my tone, but it’s too late to say anything else.
The elevator doors glide open, and Magda appears, racing across the
penthouse to the entrance foyer. She dips her head. “Hello, Signor Dante.”
He drops his coat in her arms without so much as a greeting and
marches toward me.
“Hey bastardo, I know Mamma taught you better manners than that.” I
tick my head at Magda who lingers by the entrance, cheeks rosy.
With an eyeroll, Dante whirls around and gives my housekeeper a tight
smile. “Morning, Magda.” His gaze pivots to meet mine for an instant
before landing on Stella on the chaise. Her textbook is splayed out beside
her, and her curious eyes are fixed to my brother. “I couldn’t believe it
when Clara said you were working from home today, but I guess now I
understand why.” He smirks and takes a step toward Stella. I move in front
of him. “How very unlike you, Luca. A quickie in the middle of the
workday? Or did you break one of your precious rules and allow the pretty
girl to spend the night?”
“I’m not some puttana—” Stella shouts, but I shoot her a narrowed
glare. Shockingly, she obeys my unspoken command. Good, she’s learning.
Undiluted fury pounds through my veins. I can feel Stella’s questioning
stare boring through the back of my head, but I don’t take the bait. My
brother is simply trying to rile me up, and I refuse to let him win. “She is
none of your business,” I grit out. Inhaling a deep breath, I don the cool
mask, the one of the C.E.O., the enforcer. “What’s so important that you
came all this way?”
“I need to talk to you about the Red Dragons.”
“So talk.”
He motions to Stella. From the corner of my eye, I catch the tense set of
her shoulders, the faint quiver of her lip. Dante’s right of course, I shouldn’t
be discussing my business in front of her, but a tiny fucked-up part of me wants her to know what sort of monster she’s dealing with so she’ll stay
away when our arrangement is over.
“I said talk,” I rasp out.
His eyes flicker back and forth between us before he discharges a
frustrated grunt. “Jianjun Zhang is getting too ballsy. His kid took out half a
dozen of our guys in the Meatpacking District last night.”
I hiss out a string of curses. Fucking Bo. I’m going to end that
rompicoglione. I should have that day in the subway. Hell, I would have if
I’d known that was Stella on her knees. “Did he get into our warehouses?”
He shakes his head. “No, the guys were able to take the fuckers down
before they found the merch. The cops showed up and Tony handled it, but
it was close.”
“Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs, his eyes lifting over my shoulder to Stella
once again. I puff out my chest, broadening my shoulders to block her from
his view. “Guess Tony thought you were otherwise occupied.” A smirk
pulls at his lips.
I ignore the jab and begin to formulate my plan for retaliation. Those
damned Red Dragons need to be put back in their place. I try to play nice,
negotiate, make deals, but they don’t know how to act like gentlemen. “Tell
Tony to ransack their warehouses on the Lower East Side. I want all of their
shit burned down.”
Dante blanches, jaw nearly unhinging. “All of it?”
“Did I stutter?”
“Luca, that’s easily half-a-mil in blow.”
“I’m well aware of that, brother. And I don’t want that shit on my
streets.” I might be a man of questionable morals, but I do not peddle drugs.
Never have, never will. There are plenty of other ways to make money
without destroying the brains and rotting the bodies of this city’s future.
“You do this, and you’ll have the entire Chinese Triad on your ass.” “Don’t worry about my ass. Just do it.”
He shakes his head, hissing out a breath. “Will do, capo.” He just stands
there staring at me. His dark gaze flashes to Stella again, and the desire to
gouge his eyes out for even looking at her rushes through me like a
runaway train.
“Anything else?” I grind out.
“Nah, nothing else, bro. I’ll see you at the Heart Ball tomorrow?”
I nod. “See you there.”
“Hope to see you again, gorgeous,” he calls out over my shoulder, and a
wild tremor races up my spine. I grit my molars to keep from biting his
head off.
Dante smirks again as if he can feel my rage before he whirls on his
heel and saunters toward the elevator, grabbing his jacket from Magda.
Again, he completely ignores her when she offers a murmured goodbye.
Idiot. Just because he hates me for stealing his birthright by assuming the
role of C.E.O. in Papà’s business doesn’t excuse his behavior toward my
employees.
The moment the elevator doors slide closed, Stella appears in front of
me, jabbing a finger at my chest. Luckily, she’s just shy of hitting the nearly
mended bullet wound. “What the hell was that? I’m not some piece of
furniture you can just talk around.”
“You’re pissed because I didn’t introduce you to my piece of shit
brother?”
“Yes,” she hisses. “He thought I was some puttana you picked up off
the streets.”
“And you’d rather him know you’re my hostage?”
Her lips press into a thin line.
“Dante and I aren’t exactly close. I don’t keep him up to date on
everything that goes on in my life, business or otherwise.” “So it wasn’t true what he said about you not allowing women to spend
the night?” Her cheeks burn an enticing crimson, the same shade I imagined
she would turn if I was plunging deep inside her.
A dark chuckle rumbles in my chest, and her cheeks flush a deeper red.
“Why do you care, princess?”
“I don’t,” she snaps.
“You could’ve fooled me.” I reach for her, dragging my thumb across
her lower lip to free it from her gritted teeth. “Trust me, one night is all
women need.” My feet propel me closer.
She swallows hard, the elegant column of her throat bobbing. Her dark
eyes lance into mine, pupils so wide they nearly eclipse the blue. She draws
in a sharp breath and actually leans into me. Dio, she wants this. Despite the
fucked-up things I’ve done to her, her body craves mine as much as I desire
hers.
What happened to the sweet, innocent Stella I’d known all those years
ago? What did Liam McKenzie do to make her want a monster like me?
We remain perfectly still for an endless moment, locked in a battle of
wills. Electricity thickens the air between us until it’s so heavy my breaths
come out in ragged spurts. Stella’s chest is heaving too, her nipples erect
beneath her new silk blouse. It would be so easy to take her right now. I’m
fairly certain she’d let me toss her over the back of the couch and fuck her
until nightfall.
I’d steal her innocence, and she’d capture my cold heart.
But in the end, we would both lose because villains don’t get happy
endings. And as fucked up as I was, I wouldn’t rob her of that.
So I pry my fingers from her soft flesh and take a big step back, creating
some much needed space between our heated bodies. “Tomorrow at the
ball, I’ll introduce you as my girlfriend. Happy?”
The sound of air catching in her throat fills me with an immeasurable
amount of pleasure. “As per our arrangement,” I add before she starts imagining this
concession is something more.
She licks her lips before clamping them shut.
“And if you’re a good girl, you may get a reward.”
Her eyes sparkle, the brilliant blue deepening a few shades. “I’m not
your fucking Golden Retriever,” she bites back.
I can’t help the chuckle that erupts from deep inside. “No, you’re not,” I
finally answer. “But damn, would I love it if you rolled over for me.”
Her eyes narrow, fury zipping through those expressive orbs.
“Vaffanculo, Luca!” she hisses before storming toward her bedroom.
Go fuck yourself. I’d probably have to now that I was harder than hell.
Luckily, I’d saved the video footage from the other night so I could get off
while watching her touch herself as many times as I wanted.
Mmm. One day, princess. One day, it’ll be my cock coated in your
juices instead of those fingers….