Vicious Seduction: A Forced Fake Engagement Mafia Romance (The Byrne Brothers Book 4) by Jill Ramsower

Author:Jill Ramsower [Ramsower, Jill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jill Ramsower LLC
Published: 2024-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

ORAN

Even if I hadn’t had business to take care of, I would have needed to leave the apartment to get away from Lina before I said or did something I would regret. I’d been aggravated by the way she’d fought me about staying away from the club and the way she’d recoiled at the notion of moving in with me temporarily. But neither of those things had bothered me as much as the utter despair that clung to her when she saw her clothes in my closet. That shit stung.

I didn’t come home until I was certain she’d be asleep. I’d needed the time to cool off for two reasons. The first was illogical but present nonetheless. I was annoyed that she couldn’t see all the things I’d done for her. That she still thought I was just an asshole manipulator. My secondary source of irritation came about when I faced the first because it made me realize that at some point my priorities had changed.

The last twenty-four hours had all been for Lina.

I wasn’t sure of the exact moment my trajectory had shifted. My endgame was still the same, but I’d taken a detour along the way.

A shift in motivation was bad enough, the last thing I needed was to be upset about her perspective on the matter. Her feelings should have been irrelevant. Instead, I’d spent hours trying to talk myself down from the ledge. Commanding the wind would have been easier than reigning in my emotions. The past six months of grief and anger and betrayal had festered down deep where I’d banished them and were now threatening to consume me. And the one thing I shouldn’t have cared about was going to be the tiny puff of air that tipped me over the cliff’s edge.

Lina.

I wanted her to see me as more than her tormentor. I wanted her to acknowledge that buzzing intensity that electrified the air when we were together. Acknowledge the way her body listed toward mine of its own accord. I wanted her to want me, and that pissed me off more than anything. I didn’t want to want anyone, let alone someone secretive by nature. What the fuck was wrong with me?

I poured myself two fingers of whiskey in my office and sat in my chair, eyes drifting to the skyline of twinkling city lights out the wall of windows. When I realized I’d left my trashcan outside, I went to retrieve it only to find the balcony door unlocked. I was rarely absentminded and had even been accused of being overly meticulous when it came to my habits, so I was confident that I’d locked the door the night before as always. I didn’t care how high up we were, I locked every fucking door and window.

I peered back at my office over my shoulder and knew with a certainty that Lina had been snooping. It wasn’t a shock. I’d expected it, but for some reason, I’d hoped that she

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