Sinful Pleasure (Sinful #1)

CHAPTER 34

C HAPTER 34

ALLYN

I stared at the blank space ahead, leaning against the bed frame.

I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but judging by The King’s worried faces it’s been for a while.

Lydia was sitting on the bed next to me, holding my hand as if trying to comfort me. Angelo was circling the room, mumbling something under his breath. His face pale like he just saw a ghost. Maddox is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest wearing the same blank stare as mine.

Lara is dead.

A single tear rolls down my face, burning my skin. My face stayed numb to the feeling, even when a full hurricane is raging inside me.

My heart was aching, the pain only grows and grows.

“Allyn, you need to rest—” Lydia began, but I pulled my hand away. She can’t understand me. None of them would.

“I want you to take me back to the mansion.”

“There’s a bloodbath, Allyn,” Angelo snapped, his gaze angry. “It’s not safe. We’re trying to protect you.”

“The way you protected Lara?”

“Lara?” Angelo looked bewildered, making my tears fall even harder.

To him, she was just one of his servants—no one important. He doesn’t care that innocent lives were sacrificed for their mistakes.

“Enough, Angelo,” Maddox’s deep, husky voice cut into the conversation, drawing attention to him. “Leave her to rest. I’ll watch over her.”

Angelo sighed but nodded, leaving the room with Lydia.

“Leave, Maddox,” I mumbled, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. “I want to be alone.”

I couldn’t see him, but I felt his gaze locked on me.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Allyn,” he said after some time, his voice uncharacteristically soft. It didn’t sound like Maddox at all.

I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer and let them fall, collapsing into the bed.

“She was so young,” I whimpered, burying my face in my hands. “She didn’t deserve this.”

“I know.”

“You and your family put her in a situation that took her life.”

“I know.”

He didn’t try to argue or make excuses. His voice sounded raw, almost as if I could hear regret, remorse.

When I looked at him, his head was lowered.

“Why? What have you done that so many people had to lose their lives?” I cried.

Maddox opened his mouth several times, as if to speak, but each time he stayed silent.

He eventually spoke.

“Nothing good, Allyn,” he said. “We are not good people.”

“That doesn’t mean innocent people have to pay with their lives for your mistakes,” I shot back, my anger rising with every word.

Maddox nodded.

“That’s right,” he replied simply. “But it’s inevitable.”

I scoffed through my tears. “You’re joking, right?”

“What do you want me to say, Allyn?” he hissed, stepping closer to the bed. “It’s fucked up. So fucked up. But that’s our life. If you haven’t noticed, we’re all fucked up.”

And that was all the proof I needed.

These people weren’t just flawed— they were beyond redemption. Their enemies were no better. It was an endless, vicious cycle with no escape. I swallowed hard.

“When you told me you’ve killed people for less,” I began, my throat tightening, “Was that the truth?”

“Yes.” he didn’t hesitate.

Maddox wasn’t trying to hide it. He spat the truth in my face without flinching, his expression devoid of emotion.

What was more twisted was why the hell I wasn’t running for my life.

Why wasn’t I fleeing from him after this confession?

Why did I feel safe around a killer?

Maybe it was because I was about to become one myself. A single tear rolled down my cheek.

“I want revenge. You owe me that.”

Maddox arched a brow, studying me.

“A life for a life,” I clarified. “I want to know who took Lara’s life, and I want to take his.”

He shook his head, dismissing my words without a second thought.

“You know I can’t let you do that.”

“Why?”

I stood from the bed, squaring off against him. I might have been a head shorter, but in that moment, my anger made me feel ten feet tall.

“You don’t see anything wrong with killing people, so why not?”

He stared down at me, his jaw clenched.

“That’s different.”

“How is it different?”

“Because it’s me,” he spat, the words laced with self-loathing. But then his gaze softened as it met mine. “I won’t let you turn into me.”

His large hands cupped my face, and for the first time, I felt a hint of gentleness in his touch. As if he was trying to piece me back together, to mend the cracks he knew were there.

His eyes stayed locked on mine.

“But I will give you the revenge you want,” he said with a firm nod, his voice steady, his eyes unyielding. “I’ll take the life of the person who killed Lara.”

My lips parted. “You’d do that for me?”

He nodded again, his fingers brushing softly against my cheeks. His gaze lingered on my lips, and I saw him run his tongue over his own, almost like he wanted to kiss me.

Almost like I wanted him to.

“Even if it’s the last thing I do. I promise. You have my word.”

My hands found his, pressing them against my cheeks as I broke down, crumbling into his chest.

And he let me. He held me like that for hours while I cried, his arms a steady fortress against the storm inside me.

Until my tears dried, my vision blurred, and I was too exhausted to cry anymore. Maddox King stayed with me through the night, holding me in his arms until morning.