Reign of a Billionaire : A Dark Mafia Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

Chapter 39Kingston

As we dined, the tension was so thick it could’ve bounced off the wall.

I took a sip of my sparkling water, needing all my wits about me as I dealt with this woman who managed to surprise me at every turn. She wasn’t the Liana I remembered.

“How’s your food?” I asked.

“I hate steak,” she growled, candlelight flickering across her face. “I hate mashed potatoes, and I hate corn.”

“Too bad, it’s my favorite meal.” I enjoyed all fine food, but I found the freedom of being able to grill my own food extremely gratifying after spending years being fed slop by her mother and stepfather.

I cut through my steak and shoved a piece into my mouth, then chewed it slowly as I studied her. I usually preferred solitude, but for some reason, I wanted this woman around me. So I forced this dinner.

Something inside me kept driving me to figure her out and understand this pull she had on me.

“A gentleman would ask what a lady’s preferences are,” she hissed.

“Good thing I’m not a gentleman.”

“I forgot.” She waved her fork in the air. “You’re a creep.” She wasn’t far off. When my restlessness got the best of me earlier today, I went to her room and watched her sleep. It wasn’t until I heard the soothing sound of her breaths that I calmed down. “I’ll be sure to return the favor,” she said, interrupting my thoughts.

My fingers tightened around my steak knife. I should warn her it would be unwise to sneak up on me. In fact, I’d killed people in the past who’d done just that.

I pushed my plate away and leaned forward.

“If you come into my room, I’ll consider it an invitation,” I said without a hint of emotion.

She sat opposite of me, her body rigid and her knuckles white. Every so often, she shot me a glare, and I imagined she was probably picturing all the ways she could slice me and dice me with her cutlery. I made a mental note to only give her butter knives going forward, although my instinct warned she’d probably find a way to end me using those too, which wouldn’t bode well for her. There was nobody on this island, and the only way off of it was by plane or boat. Neither of which she had access to.

“Invitation to what?” she asked, her tone hesitant.

“To fuck you into oblivion.”

Her cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink and she gazed up at me through her thick lashes, making my heart twist. It reminded me so much of Louisa.

“You’re a fucking deviant,” she said, her voice breathy. She must have realized it because she clenched her teeth. “If I come into your room, you’ll be dead before your dick has a chance to get hard.”

And there was that.

Since Louisa’s death, my cock hadn’t responded to a single woman. I grieved my sunshine, then turned to celibacy with the full intention of dying that way. Until this one crossed my path. I didn’t know what it was—her resemblance or her fire—but suddenly my dick decided to play. And it was wrong on so many levels.

The rest of our dinner resumed in silence despite many questions that needed answers.

I sat in my office attempting to handle a few emails and pay some bills. My mother left me a chunk of her inheritance and the empire she’d inherited from her father, but it came with responsibilities. And so did my own wealth I’d built on blood. My skills of tracking down people were highly sought after in the Omertà.

When the grandfather clock chimed midnight, I found myself staring at the laptop connected to my surveillance feed, watching Liana in the library like it was my sole purpose in life.

My heart thumped at the sight of her, and a yearning ache spread to my chest. I needed to understand this growing obsession with Liana, but this—having her nearby—would have to do for now.

I watched her cuddled up on the sofa, her legs folded and a blanket over her lap. She was beautiful, still wearing the same delicate clothes from dinner. Her hair tumbled down her slender shoulders in a cascade of sun-streaked waves. Her smooth skin radiated under the warm gleam of the roaring fire.

Holding the pad with her right hand and using the pencil with her left, she sketched. What or who she was drawing, I had no idea, but every once in a while, she’d throw a bundle of paper into the fire. Both twins drew, but Lou was always better at it, and judging by the way Liana watched her sketches burn with her eyebrows knitted together, hers hadn’t improved.

She’d been in the same position for the past two hours, sketching and then discarding. Switching the pencil between her left and right hand, massaging her left wrist every so often. I’d claim she was pathetic for not giving up on the hobby that her sister excelled at, but I realized I was even more so.

Fuck, this was so goddamned stupid.

I shouldn’t be spying on her through the camera, soaking in every expression that passed her face. I moved to close down the feed, but like each time before it, I stopped at the last second.

She started to hum, the tune distant and faint but enough to make my chest shudder. I wanted to march down the hallway and burst into the library, snatch her up, and carry her off to bed. Then I’d own her noises as I drove into her tight, wet heat, listening to her pleas for more. I wanted to torment her and make her pay for making me feel this way.

Clenching my teeth, I finally exited out of the program and shot to my feet. Again, I found myself bursting with restless energy.

Fucking hell.

Maybe bringing her to my island where there was nothing and nobody to distract me from her wasn’t such a good idea after all. The effect of her presence grew more desperate by the hour, and every dark, primal instinct inside of me taunted me. I wanted to take her, bend her over, and claim her. My balls ached, eager to be buried deep inside her.

I jumped to my feet, walked out of the office, and blindly followed the path to the library. I needed to talk to her, hear her soft voice.

My legs brought me to my destination in record time, and I stalked inside, the door to the library slamming into the wall from the force of my urgency. Liana jumped to her feet, her eyes darting around as if expecting someone else here.

“What the fuck, Kingston?” Lightning bolts blazed in her eyes, and her décolletage blotched crimson. My gaze wandered to her breasts. Her next words told me my discretion lacked finesse. “My eyes are up here, zasranets.” Jackass. She really loved cursing at me in Russian. “Or would you like me to dig out your eyeballs?”

I closed the door to preserve the heat in the library and leaned against it, tucking my hands into my pockets.

“Have you done it before?” I asked her casually.

She blinked, her cheeks burning red. “Done what?”

The corner of my lips twitched. Someone’s mind was in the gutter. “Dug out someone’s eyeballs,” I clarified.

She fell silent, her expression darkening before she masked it.

“I have,” she answered, her voice distant and flat. “I’ve stabbed a man in both his eyes and then watched him bleed out for hours.”

The words were like a punch in the gut. Liana had always been the stronger twin, but never psychotic or ruthless.

She sighed, and the heartbreaking sound tugged on the strings of my blackened heart. She wasn’t Louisa, but there was a part of me that craved to protect her and erase all the bad things she’d endured to become this ruthless version of herself.

But then just as quickly, she wiped her expression and narrowed her eyes on me.

“You need to do something about this library,” she grumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“There isn’t a single romance novel to be found.”

My brows furrowed. “There is a whole section with Agatha Christie novels,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, I know.” Someone had made themselves comfortable. “But I wasn’t talking about murder mysteries, was I?”

My molars clenched. There was nothing like going from one extreme to another.

“Why do you want to go back to Perez?” I said instead, focusing on the answers I needed from her.

“None of your business.”

“I’m trying to help you.” She gasped as though insulted and turned her head to stare at the fireplace. “Whatever you’re trying to do, you need resources.”

She glared up at me like a lioness ready to pounce for daring to point out the obvious. I bared my teeth, the sadistic part of me hoping she would. I was so up for a challenge.

“I don’t need anything or anyone. If you want to help, release me and take me back to Brazil.”

“No can do.” Her eyes filled with fire. Some would say we were headed for a disaster. I’d argue whatever this was could be an ingredient for something more. “Unless you know how to pilot a plane or navigate a boat.”

Her shoulders sagged for only a second before optimism filled her features. “I’m sure I can figure it out if you provide me with an operating manual.”

I clenched my fists. Jesus, the woman was willing to kill herself to get back to Brazil. I pinched the bridge of my nose. It was clear she wouldn’t be sharing anything. I could attempt torture, but hurting girls didn’t sit well with me. I suspected this pretty little psycho wouldn’t tell me anything even if I did.

“Sure, I’ll get you the operating manuals for both,” I finally relented. “If you manage to get either of them going, you can leave.”

But first, I’d make sure to remove the ignition cables. Then we’d see how far she made it without the help she so adamantly refused.