Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I don’t even get two steps out of my room before I realize how close to death I came.
“Did you really take her to the dumping grounds?”
After schooling my expression, I twist to face Nico, my interrogator. He wouldn’t have killed me for flashing Valentina and Lucia, but he would have tattled. The teachers’ pets always do.
I shouldn’t have bothered trying to play it cool. Nico’s top lip furls as he calls me a dickhead under his breath.
“Guess it’s lucky she sucks dick good, hey?”
I don’t give him time to catch his breath or remember I have no claim to the woman I’m defending. Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, I shove him against the wall. The impact isn’t hard enough to hurt him permanently, but enough to make his breath hitch.
My forearm flattens across his collarbone, pinning him in place, and his eyes widen.
“Whoa… hey… what is this?”
“You tell me.” My voice sounds nothing like it usually does. It’s too raw and unhinged—and that’s saying something since I’m a known psychopath. “Have you been watching the surveillance feeds again?”
Nico blinks, confused. Or pretending to be. I can’t tell. My blood pressure is too high for anything to make it through the chaos.
“Answer the fucking question.” I push him harder into the wall. “Did you spy on Azra and me today?”
His mouth opens, then closes.
That hesitation is gasoline on the fire already burning in my chest.
“You did,” I snarl. “You actually fucking watched us.”
“Not during whatever the fuck you think I saw. I’m not you.” His scorn doesn’t scald as effectively as hoped. Usually, a playful tease like that would soothe my anger, not spike it. “I was doing my job.”
“Your job?” I bark out a laugh when he dips his chin. “When has it been your job to watch your brother get his dick sucked?”
Nico balks, his brows lost in his hairline. “Hold on, what? I was joking earlier…” He reads the entire fucking plot on my face. “You escorted her to the dumping grounds, then made her suck your cock? Christ, Teo. You truly are a psychopath.”
He worms his way out of my hold, then paces the hallway rug.
This is how he thinks.
“I was referring to the footage from the boutique. Vanni told me to keep an eye on you in case an Adami showed up, and you lost your shit like you almost did with Antonio. The fact that he left both the basement and the boutique breathing is still a surprise to me.”
I work my jaw side to side, striving to keep my unusual emotions at bay, but my confusion blurts them out without warning. “He knows what her moans sound like.” Nico’s lips twitch, but I keep talking, silencing him. “Azra didn’t step foot out of the dressing room, so how the fuck did Antonio know those moans belonged to her?”
Nico laughs.
He fucking laughs.
“Nico…” I growl.
“I’m sorry.” He’s not. Not in the slightest. “I just can’t believe I’m having this conversation with you, Matteo I-don’t-do-commitment Caruso.”
“I don’t do commitment.”
“Yeah, buddy. Keep telling yourself that, and you might eventually convince yourself.”
I shoot him a menacing look in silent warning, and he gets this situation under control. “One… the salesclerk recognized Antonio and Azra from a newspaper article about their upcoming nuptials. She told Antonio that his wife-to-be was in the dressing room. Two… if Azra didn’t step foot out of the dressing room, what was the point of kissing her? If the clerk didn’t think it would be cute for Antonio to surprise his future wifey, he wouldn’t have witnessed your exchange.”
I’m too stunned by his first point to let him interrogate me about his second. “The salesclerk told Antonio Azra was in the dressing room?”
He pats my chest and makes a lovey-dovey face that I’ll rearrange with his fists if he doesn’t move it this instant. “Yeah. I got footage if you don’t believe me.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.”
It takes Nico a beat, but he eventually finds the punchline. “You took her to the dumping grounds because you thought she lied to you.”
He’s not asking a question, but like a chump who can’t swim without a life vest, I nod. It’s easier to lie without words. I didn’t take Azra to the dumping grounds to hurt her. The only reason I went there is because it’s the only part of Carlisle not under constant surveillance.
I didn’t want my brothers witnessing my first, and what I fucking hope will be my last, bout of jealousy.
“You’re an idiot.”
I nod in agreement but still try to defend myself. “I wasn’t going to kill her. I just wanted to scare her a little.”
“So how did it go from scaring her to her sucking your wang?”
It’s fucked, but pride puffs out my chest. “Have you seen her?”
“Yeah, I have.”
I block the path of Nico’s admiring gaze before it can get anywhere near Azra.