Son of a bitch…

My glare shifted to the floor where a toppled chair lay among the discarded portraits. I was impressed that she even managed to lift them considering I could bench press her body weight easily.

Curiosity morphed into desperation. With quick, angry steps, I stalked to the safe and punched in the numbers. The sole content of the safe was detrimental to the prosperity of the Knights. There was no way she could have gotten inside without the code. It was only ever known by a Knight, but I needed to see for myself that I hadn’t just ruined my family by letting her go. The keypad beeped and flashed green after I entered in the combination. The lock disengaged. I yanked on the handle and shoved my entire forearm inside the metal box.

Empty.

She got me.

Shefuckinggot me.

Fortunately, for me, she had no idea who she was fucking with. My lips spread wide, and my cock hardened from the promise of the great pleasure I’d get byteaching her.

Mian.

Sweet Mian.

I’m going to destroy that little girl.* * *“You look likeshit.” Lucas walked into my father’s study where he found me the next morning. I’d been too eager to plot my little bandit’s demise to sleep. “What the hell was last night about?”

I watched him get comfortable on my father’s couch while I sat on the other side of his desk. I took over the study after he died, but it still felt like his. The study, the house, the business. The only part I felt was truly mine was my reputation. I earned that shit.

Too fucking bad my father would never know how ruthless his only heir had become. Maybe even more than he had ever been.

Lucas stared while I clicked at the mouse and brought up a game of solitaire. I usually plotted best when I indulged in the game. “What would that be?”

“I’ll see you soon,”he mimicked. “Are we terrorizing kids now?”

“She’s not a kid anymore.” No one recognized that irritatingly, dick-hardening fact more than I did.

“Then why else would you let her go?”

“I want to play with her a little.”

His teeth clicked. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?”

I cut my eyes at him and saw his smirk. “I’m going to savor this then.”

He chewed the corner of his lip in silence. I could tell he was thinking, and Lucas thinking was never a good thing since he was intuitive as fuck. “I think it was obvious last night that you two know each other. Did something more happen between you two?”

I paused the card game and turned to bring him into focus. “No.”

What I left unsaid was the fact that she’d been too young forsomethingto happen. We lived together for five years but in that time, she turned my world upside down.

Nothing and no one tortured me more than Mian.

Not all the shit I stole or the lives I took.

Not the money or power.

None of it compared to little Mian Ross.

She would grow older. Her body would change. The sound of her voice would change. Hell, even the look in her eyes…

She became bolder with her crush, making my grip on morality slip.

I’ve wanted to fuck her spoiled ass six ways to Sunday since she was fourteen. I was young too and still much too old for her. Not to mention self-destructive and out of control.

But not so out of control I’d cross a line that I couldn’t uncross. Especially, behind bars, which was where I would have belonged if I did all the things that crossed my mind when she tempted. Oh, how she had tempted…

“How do you know her?”

“She’s Theo’s kid.”

His eyes flashed hatred when I mentioned my father’s killer. “Bullshit.” I shook my head and waited. He sat up and beat his fist against his chest. “Why the fuck would you let her go?”

“I told you.”

“You didn’t think she would be useful to us now? I don’t feel like playing. Ifeellike making Theo suffer.”

“And he will. They both will.”

“How, man? She’s gone.”

“You escorted her home last night?” He nodded slowly. I could see the wheels in his head already turning. “We make a move when it’s the right time, not before. She can’t hide and she sure as fuck can’t run.”

He shook his head, but I could see his muscles relax one by one. “I didn’t know Theo had a kid.”

“I first met her when I was sixteen and she was ten. Her mom had just died that same year, and Theo didn’t want the burden of facing his daughter.”

Lucas swore.

“So where did that fit you?”

“I’d been asking for an in and my father finally gave me one. My first job was a fucking babysitting gig. He moved me into the brownstone against my mother’s wishes and left her alone out there in the country.”