LUCA
I stood there for a second, my hand still ghosting over the skin of her throat, my brain trying to keep up with the chemical cocktail in my veins. The morphine was starting to peak, turning the edges of the hallway into a soft, hazy blur, but she was sharp. She was the only thing in focus.
Alessandro's girl.
The thought hit me like a shot of adrenaline, cutting straight through the heavy haze of the downers. My big brother…the "perfect" heir…had finally found something he wanted to keep, and here she was, standing in my wreckage at three in the morning.
"Join us?" I rasped, a jagged, drug-fueled laugh breaking the silence. "You've got a death wish, sweetheart. If Alessandro finds out you're even breathing my air, he'll burn this wing to the ground."
I leaned back, eyes tracking her with a predatory hunger. She didn't look like a girl who was lost. She looked like a girl who had found exactly what she was hunting for. She appraised the spilled bourbon and the half-naked distractions on my bed with a look of pure, clinical boredom.
"I want to be with you, Luca," she said. Her voice wasn't sugary or sweet. It was a low, commanding vibration that hit me right in the gut. "But I don't do audiences. I want you focused."
I felt a sharp, demanding throb in my groin. The sheer audacity of it was better than the drugs. She was Alessandro's prized possession, and she was standing here offering herself to the "worthless" brother. The betrayal was delicious. I wanted to see how far she'd go. I wanted to see if I could ruin her before Alessandro got the chance.
"Talk is cheap, Seris," I muttered, my hand twitching near the gun on the nightstand. "You want to play with the monster? Show me."
She didn't hesitate. Her fingers hooked into the silk tie of her robe. She let the fabric slide down her shoulders, exposing the pale, perfect curve of her skin. She was wearing a scrap of black lace that left nothing to the imagination. I felt my breath hitch, my pupils blowing so wide the room turned dark.
"I'm not continuing," she stated, her eyes locking onto mine with a cold authority, "until you get rid of these sluts."
I glanced back at the two girls. They looked like street mutts compared to the pure, lethal elegance standing in front of me. I reached back, my palm connecting with a sharp, loud crack against the nearest girl's ass.
"Out," I growled, the word vibrating with a violence that made them jump. "Get the fuck out. Now."
They scrambled, terrified by the shift in the air. As the door slammed shut, the silence became heavy…suffocatingly intimate.
Seris walked toward me, every step a calculated move on a chessboard. She stepped between my knees, the heat coming off her body making my head swim. She didn't wait for permission. She grabbed my hair, her nails digging into my scalp as she forced my head back to look at her.
"You're worth more than scraps, Luca," she purred, her lips grazing my ear. "Your brothers are out there playing God, building a throne you'll never sit on. Why be a junkie when you could be the Don?"
I stared at her, my mind spinning. She was a poison. A beautiful, treacherous poison sent from my brother's bed to mine. I knew it was a trap. I knew she was dangerous.
But as I reached up to bruise her hips with my grip, I realized I didn't care. I wanted to watch the Ricci empire burn, as long as I got to watch it from between her legs.