LUCA
The pounding on the door was rhythmic, relentless, and loud enough to cut through the heavy bass rattling my skull. I ignored it at first, my fingers buried in the hair of the girl beneath me while another worked on me with a mouth that tasted like expensive gin.
But the noise didn't stop. It wasn't a guard's knock…they knew better than to interrupt me when the "Do Not Disturb" sign was effectively my finger on a trigger. This was personal.
I threw the girl off my face, ignoring her whine of protest. I didn't bother with clothes; I just grabbed my semi-auto from the nightstand and stormed toward the door. My blood was a cocktail of weed, bourbon, and irritation. If it was one of the cleaners or a guard with a message from Alessandro, I was going to paint the hallway with their brains.
I swung the door open, leveling the barrel at the center of the intruder's forehead.
"I fucking swear to God, if I…"
The threat died in my throat. It wasn't a guard. It was the stray my brother brought home.
She didn't blink. Most people see the business end of my gun and start praying or pissing themselves. She just tilted her head, looking at the muzzle like it was a fly she was about to swat. Her eyes were unnervingly calm.
"Shit," I muttered, the adrenaline cooling into a dull itch. I lowered the weapon and rubbed my face, the neon lights of my room bleeding into the hall. "Thought you were one of the goddamn cleaners coming to bitch about the noise."
She didn't answer. Her gaze drifted past me, cataloging the wreckage of my room…the silk sheets, the spilled bottles, the girls. I saw the judgment in her eyes, even if her face stayed like stone.
"Um, what the fuck are you doing here...?" I trailed off, realizing I didn't even know what to call her.
"Seris."
"Yeah, Seris. What the fuck are you still doing in this house?" I reached back, grabbing a half-burnt joint from the side table. I took a deep drag, letting the skunky smoke fill my lungs before blowing it directly into her face. "I thought Alessandro took his new toy with him. Weren't you supposed to be gone this morning?"
She didn't flinch at the smoke. Instead, she plastered this fake-ass, sugary smile on her face and held out her hand. "I don't think we were properly introduced. I'm Seris."
I stared at her hand like it was covered in plague. I didn't touch her. I didn't have time for pleasantries with Alessandro's leftovers.
"It's nice to meet Alessandro's family," she continued, her voice turning into this thick, honey-coated lie. "When he told me about you, he had nothing but beautiful things to say. Says what a loyal younger brother you are. And Matteo, too..."
A jagged, dry laugh ripped out of my chest. I couldn't help it.
"Okay, now I know you're fucking lying," I wheezed, shaking my head. The weed was making the irony even funnier. "Even before the Matteo part. Alessandro doesn't speak well of anyone but his own fuck-ass self. We're brothers by blood, sweetheart, but we hate each other with a passion. If they weren't my DNA, I'd have put a bullet in every one of them years ago."
I'd had enough of the fairy tales. I started to swing the door shut. "If you're done, Seris, I have more important things to attend to."
Thud.
Her boot jammed into the doorframe. The playful, bored fog in my brain cleared instantly. I looked up, and the "sweet girl" was gone. Her face was as cold as a morgue slab.
"I hear your brothers are out for work," she said, her voice dropping the act. "I thought initially you'd be out with them too."
I shrugged, leaning against the frame. "Okay? They don't need me there. They can handle that shit."
She nodded slowly, her eyes boring into mine. "So you're saying you're worthless."
The air in the hall turned to ice. My grip on the gun tightened. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"
"It was a question. Sorry if I riled you up, Luca."
"You didn't rile shit," I hissed. My skin was crawling. Who the hell did this girl think she was? "What are you still doing here? Alessandro is gone. You should be out on the street. Aren't you just his latest slut anyway?"
"Daddy, are you coming back?" one of the girls called from the bed.
I forced a grin over my shoulder, the mask of the 'fun brother' snapping back on. "I'll be back in a second, ladies." Then I turned back to Seris, the grin dying a gruesome death. "Get out before they get back."
I tried to slam the door. She didn't move her foot.
That was it. I snapped. I threw the door wide and my hand blurred, lunging for her throat. I slammed her back against the hallway wall, my grip tightening until I could feel her pulse jumping against my palm. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of guards twitch, ready to interfere. I raised a hand, and they froze. They knew better than to touch my prey.
"Now you're just fucking testing me, girl," I hissed, my face inches from hers. I wanted to see her shake. I wanted to see her cry. "My brother fucked you once and all of a sudden you forget your place? Don't push me. I'll have them drag you out of here, and trust me, they'll make sure you're too broken to ever come back."
She didn't tremble. She just stared back at me with those empty, predatory eyes. It was like looking into a mirror. I saw the psycho behind her mask…the one that matched mine.
"You're done here. Now leave," I growled, my voice vibrating with the urge to just end it.
The silence between us felt like a fuse burning down. Then, slowly, she let this wide, wicked smile spread across her face. It sent a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with the draft in the hall.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice a lethal, seductive purr. She leaned her head in, her lips brushing against my ear. "I didn't mean for us to get off on the wrong foot. I only wanted to... ask if I could join you."
I pulled back, my hand still around her throat but my fingers loosening of their own accord. My brain was short-circuiting. One second she's insulting my existence, the next she's offering to join the carnage?
I looked at her mouth, then back to her eyes. She wasn't scared. She was excited.
"You want in?" I asked, my voice low.
I've had a thousand women in this room, but none of them looked at me like I was the main course.