The room itself was furnished with simple yet visibly expensive furniture. It had the same jewel-toned color scheme as the rest of the house, with a softer almost feminine touch. It wasn’t how I would’ve pictured Judas’ room if I ever gave a damn enough to imagine it.

  There was a baroque loveseat a few feet away from a gorgeously tiled fireplace. A large slightly curved television was mounted above it. I knew that had to be strictly for decorative purposes. I’d never seen Judas sit down and watch TV. His kind of entertainment was too illegal to be televised. I wondered how much time he spent here.

  Wasn’t it just last night Audrey mentioned that he was engaged? Where the hell was his fiancé? I didn’t know the first thing about her. I’d talked myself out of going down that rabbit hole to spare my feelings and my mental health.

  Maybe it was a political type thing in the fucked-up world of crime Judas hailed from. Obscenely rich people married their children off in the name of power all the time. Whatever the case may be, I had much bigger problems to deal with than Judas’ upcoming nuptials.

  Just as I slid from the bed the bedroom door swung open and Judas walked in. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

  His hair was damp from a recent shower, making it look even darker than usual. He’d changed into a quarter-sleeved black button-down and slacks but looked no less intense than he had in a suit.

  Without his arms being fully covered I could see he’d added far more ink to his body than the darkly shaded rose I’d spotted on his hand. He had an intricate sleeve on his right arm, more defined and artistic than when we’d been in high school.

  “Good morning.” His husky voice wrapped my body in an uncomfortable warmth. “No need to stare so hard. You can touch me whenever you want.”

  “Thanks but playing with biohazardous trash isn’t all that appealing.”

  He threw his head back and laughed.

  The sound shocked me into a momentary lapse of silence. Of course, he was a human being so it wasn’t like he couldn’t laugh but it had always been rare for him to do so openly and carefree.

  It was painful to stand and witness.

  I couldn’t recall the last time I’d been able to do the same. When his piercing gaze returned to me there was a slight smile lingering on his full lips.

  “I forgot how fun this is.”

  “Is that what you’re calling ruining my life these days? Things must be rough for you if this is all you’ve got for enjoyment.”

  “It hurts that you think so lowly of me, principessa. Occasionally I kill and make people suffer too. I find that just as enjoyable. Almost as much as watching you come.”

  “Watched. Years ago, may I add.”

  “There are some things you never forget no matter how much time has gone by. You should know that better than anyone.”

  “Like the fact you still don’t know how to knock?” I questioned, purposely changing the subject. The last conversation I wanted to have with this man was about us fucking back in the day.

  “Do you ask for permission before entering your room?”

  “I don’t typically let strangers sleep in my bed, Judas.”

  He slipped his hands into his pockets and regarded me with a bemused expression. “Right, I forgot how well you knew Diego.”

  His dry sarcasm wasn’t appreciated. I crossed my arms and stared at him. “What’s the real reason I’m here? What do you want from me now?”

  “Truthfully?”

  “No, why don’t you pick up where we left off and lie to me some more?”

  “I’ve never lied to you.”

  I laughed incredulously, shaking my head. “That right there was a lie.”

  “The day you walked away from me I promised I would come for you, don’t act surprised that I did.”

  “And what now, Judas? Am I supposed to be overjoyed to see you after everything you’ve done? Should I pretend you didn’t just fuck my life up again?”

  All traces of amusement were replaced by an imperceptible coldness. A tick in his jaw turned it hard enough to cut glass.

  “Working a shitty job and fucking different men to fill the void leaving me created, while burying your feelings beneath a faux layer of normalcy. That’s the pitiful life you’re mourning?”

  “I was doing fine until you showed up.”

  “Were you? From where I’m standing your life has been nothing but fucked since the day you hung yourself with the rope, I gave you.”

  His words sliced at weaknesses I did my best to ignore. I hated that any of what he said was true. He knew all about the life I’d built because he was the one that sketched the blueprint before ultimately becoming the architect.

  “Is that what this all boils down to, me leaving you? Don’t tell me your masculinity is so fragile it never recovered.”

  “You…” His chest rose and fell as he sucked in a breath and exhaled, briefly glancing up at the ceiling. “No one has ever pissed me off as fast and frequently as you do, principessa. You’re lucky it’s part of your natural charm.”

  “Can you stop calling me that?”

  “No.”

  I stared at him disbelievingly. Not no followed by an explanation, just no.

  “And to answer your question, my masculinity is just fine.”

  “Oh, I can tell,” I deadpanned.

  “I’m glad you left. The person I was then can’t compare to who I am now and all the things I’ve accomplished. You deserve everything I’m going to give you.”

  You know what? I hated even a small portion of that caught my attention. I couldn’t allow myself to believe a word he was saying. I’d been woven back into his sinister web of deceit more than I was prepared to be as it was.

  Beneath the ever-calculating eyes of a venomous predator, I knew my every move would be tracked and measured. If I wasn’t careful, I’d wind up entangled with him forever.

  “Aren’t you engaged?”

  He smiled and it was nothing less than devious. I immediately regretted bringing this subject up.

  “See, now you’re asking questions that are important.”

  “Who is she?” I dared to inquire, pushing down the swell of discomfort beginning to flare up inside my chest.

  “Would you like me to tell you about her?”

  “I don’t think my answer matters.”

  “It does when it can cause you pain.”

  What did that mean? He began walking across the room, heading straight for where I stood. With his bed right behind me, there wasn’t anywhere for me to go unless I ran to the other side. I wouldn’t give him the pleasure of a chase or the satisfaction of me fleeing.

  I remained rooted in place. Dread accumulated in my gut with each step he took.

  When he was right in front of me his rose-covered hand gently cradled the side of my face. He tilted my head back so that I was looking up at him.

  “I don’t want to hurt you any more than I already have.”

  “It’s too--.” I swallowed thickly, unable to say what he had to already know. Sensing the direction of my thoughts, the pad of his thumb came to rest on the seam of my lips to keep me silent.

  “My fiancé’s name is, Rhiannon Balarés Saldaña.”

  As soon as his words registered, my head spun along with the room. I knew I made a lot of questionable decisions sometimes, like trusting people I shouldn’t, but I wasn’t an idiot. If the intimate way he spoke wasn’t confirmation enough, the way he was staring down at me was.

  I still refused to accept it.

  “No. It’s not me.”

  “She’s stubborn, highly fucking irritating, and always at war with her emotions.”

  “Judas,” I tried to interrupt him so he would shut up. He kept talking as if he hadn’t heard me, his words needling and prodding at things I didn’t want to face or feel.

  “She has a rare and beautifully twisted soul that fills all the empty space inside mine.”

  “It isn’t me,” I repeated more forcefully and tried to move away from him.

  His grip tightened to the point it was almost painful, ensuring I remained still. “It has always been, and always will be you,” he swore with steel in his tone.

  Words failed me.

  I didn’t know how to respond to his sheer insanity. That’s exactly what this was—insane. Just like Judas.

  Something started to buzz.

  I didn’t realize it was his phone until the warmth of his hand and the harsh grip on my face vanished so that he could retrieve it. He glanced at the screen and then at me, almost appearing apologetic.

  “I have to take this. Why don’t you go down and get some breakfast before you shower?”

  He began to turn away and suddenly I was able to speak again. I swerved around him and blocked his path. “You can’t just leave!”

  “Padre,” he greeted the caller cheerfully. “One second.” He slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me flush against him, forcibly maneuvering my body so that I was out of his way. All the while a man’s voice carried through the cellphone’s speaker in their native tongue. “Everything’s fine. You know women can be a bit clingy after one night.”

  A growly sound of indignation flew from my throat. He must have sensed I was seconds away from ripping his balls off. In the blink of an eye, he let me go with an infuriating pat on my ass and then quickly exited the room, switching from smooth English to Italian.

  I watched him pull the door shut behind him, trying to make sense of everything he’d just said. I’d been here less than twelve hours and was already being pulled in a million different directions. I had answers that I didn’t know I wanted or needed, along with just as many questions. The faulty foundation I’d managed to get beneath my feet these past few years was beginning to erode and split into pieces all because of the natural disaster that was Judas.

  Hit with the urgent need to relieve my bladder and do something with my teeth, I headed for the only other door in the vicinity hoping it led to a bathroom.

  Once I had it open it took me a second to realize it was exactly what I was looking for. I traveled down a short hall that had two more doors on either side of it and flowed into a luxurious master suite. There was no toilet in plain sight. Okay, so, thinking logically the doors I just passed were more than likely closets which meant there should be another…

  Found it!

  I raced clear to the other side of the room and pulled open a solid stone-like door that concealed the porcelain throne. It was ridiculous having to travel a whole three minutes from the bedroom to here. That wouldn’t be fun drunk or when your bladder woke you at two in the morning.

  I quickly did my business and then re-entered the main portion of the bathroom to wash my hands and hopefully find a toothbrush.

  No longer feeling as if I was going to piss my pants, I could fully take in the space.

  Corinthian pillars with gold trim and pedestals held up an extravagantly painted ceiling. A circular Jacuzzi was centered beneath it. A massive, golden chandelier hung directly above. On either side of the tub just a few feet away, a pair of leather benches sat before a large, recessed vanity countertop with candelabra lamps.

  The walls were textured with off-white paint. It paired well with all the gold trim and bronze mosaic tiles that made up the back wall of a free-standing shower. As much as I loathed Judas, the luxury he was afforded hadn’t failed to impress me. The sheer size of this room alone made the fancy apartment I paid an astronomical amount of money for, look like a cracker box.

  I went to one of the double sinks and waved beneath the odd-looking faucet to trigger the motion sensors.

  It kicked on immediately, raining lukewarm water onto my hands. That was neat. Despite my awe of rich-folk luxuries, this seemed a bit much even for Judas. It was more along the lines of what I would do if I were to personally select décor for a home of this magnitude.

  That thought gave me pause.

  I knew from firsthand experience that Judas planned everything he did down to the most irrelevant details most people wouldn’t think of. He was dangerously astute with a razor-sharp mind that always seemed to be calculating his next move. And that was the case back when we were teens.

  He'd had years to strengthen and grow the weapon that was his mind. It almost scared me to think what it would be like inside his head right now. Things had fallen into place too easily for him to not have been planning this for some time, longer than I initially would have assumed.

  After washing my hands, I did a thorough search of the bathroom and discovered even more of Judas’ pre-planned chaos. As if I’d packed up my personal hygiene items and brought them along, all my usuals were stocked and waiting to be used. Right down to the electric toothbrush I’d splurged on a few months ago.

  I wasn’t sure what bothered me more, Judas having these things in his home or the fact that Audrey was the only one who purchased some of these products for me whenever I ran out. I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, slowly exhaling.

  It wasn’t wise to jump to conclusions, but things weren’t looking to be in my best-friends favor right now. If I was ready to be completely honest with myself for entirely different reasons, I would admit that I didn’t seem to be faring much better.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  He hadn’t called me this frequently in months. It wasn’t that we didn’t speak often. Certain business dealings and personal matters sometimes called for us to do so daily.

  This situation particularly meant more to us than outsiders could ever speculate. For the time being that was for the best. I’d learned from my famiglia that every move we decided to make after weighing the pros and cons, needed to be executed with flawless finesse. It kept us and our various ventures safe.

  The Joey situation was a prime example. I’d read over the file Gavin had waiting for me on my desk as soon as we’d gotten back from the gym this morning.

  He was twenty-eight and as exciting as a rusty penny. He’d been employed at an Apple store for the past two years and received money from his family over in Texas to help pay his rent. That in itself was highly fucking embarrassing. I needed to know who cleared him to live in my building.

  He hadn’t had a girlfriend in years, just a few unattractive fucks that were equally as uninteresting as him. My Rhiannon was a goddess, so I imagined every time he saw her his entire universe shifted.

  Now his apartment would be cleared out like Rhiannon’s was and he’d disappear. Not too many people would miss him. His social circle consisted of men trying to re-live their fraternity eras long after college.

  All this extra bullshit because Joey didn’t have two brain cells that worked well enough to keep his mouth shut. I knew he could be threatened into silence for a while longer, but why waste my time or someone else’s effort just to eventually kill the man anyways? At least he got me, the nice Barron to choose how his death would go.

  My padre would have taken his tongue before going back and finishing him off that same night in some kind of torturous fashion. There were a few times I had to brace myself for what I was walking into once he’d gone in and did what he felt was right. That said a lot when you didn’t have a weak stomach and death was nothing but a mess to be covered up.

  You’d never hear anyone say Zacharias Barron was a good man. Cruel, sadistic sonofabitch with a healthy dose of bloodlust was much more common.

  With a reputation that had yet to wane, it wasn’t any surprise he and Rhiannon’s father had taken over the underground together. They were still at the top, for now anyways.

  Santiago was ready to make peace and finish closing a deal put into play a long time ago. My padre was waiting patiently for me to take over from him so that he could go back to moving in the shadows alongside my madre.

  That’s what mattered more to him in this world than the money or the prestige—our famiglia—and at the pinnacle of that was his wife. Their story was one that often preceded his well-earned reputation. Even if you knew nothing of Zacharias Barron, you had better be aware of how much my madre meant to him.

  He'd had a respectably savage approach when it came to making sure she would be his in every possible way.

  I planned to follow a similar, though far less bloody and traumatic path for Rhiannon. That’s where she and my slight disagreement about all of this would become a bigger issue for me to resolve. My madre was born and raised in this world. She may have been a bit naive to certain aspects, but she was aware of it, nonetheless.

  I think meeting someone as elusive as my padre was more shocking to her than anything she went through. I couldn’t speak for her, though. She might have a different opinion entirely. All I knew for sure was that things weren’t remotely the same for my Rhiannon.

  Her entire life was a lie.

  From the moment she was stolen from her mother to the time Evie killed the man she had considered her father it was all lies. I hadn’t been truthful about my role in this grand charade either, but I was the only authentic thing she’d ever known.

  The way I came to feel about her and every promise I made thereafter had been real. Those feelings and promises were still genuine. I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble if they weren’t. I for damn sure would’ve nuked this maddening obsession and vicious infatuation the second I realized they could one day impede my ability to make concise decisions.

  It was with this same realization, that I reluctantly accepted I had a lot more work to do before I could keep her with me indefinitely.

  Now, here we were.

  You’d think that she would be a little more appreciative of me keeping my word and her alive after all this time. Maybe it wasn’t in a way she interpreted, but why the fuck did that matter? She was getting worked up over nothing when I needed her to start preparing for our wedding.

  We could fill in the blanks and angry fuck all over the mansion later. It was going to be her home for the rest of her life so eventually, we’d have to Christian every room a few times before I had to drag her away from our kids to get my fix.