Chapter Forty
Lorenzo
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of my heart hammering in my chest is deafening, louder than my fists cracking against concrete.
My knuckles are raw, split open, blood dripping down the wall I’ve been pounding for an hour straight.
I can’t feel them anymore, nothing but fire shooting up my arms, but the pain isn’t enough. It’s never fucking enough.
Because nothing hurts worse than that envelope.
That fucking envelope.
Inside, the contract. Her signature, clean and perfect, binding her to Ian like a noose around my throat.
And the pictures. Fucking pictures. Serena with him.
Ian’s hand gripping her waist like she belongs there.
Her smiling at him, leaning close over coffee like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Him whispering something into her ear, and her blushing.
Blushing for him.
My princess. Blushing for another man.
I almost blacked out when I saw it. My vision went red, my chest felt like it was splitting open. I wanted to put my fist through every wall in this fucking building. Wanted to tear it all down until there was nothing left.
And then she walked into my club. I saw her on the cameras before she even stepped through the door. Crying. Shaking. A fucking mess. My mess.
Every instinct in me screamed to go to her. To wipe her tears away, to pull her against my chest and tell her it’s all right, that she’s safe. My heart nearly broke just watching her. And I almost did it. I almost fucking begged her to stop crying.
But she doesn’t deserve my comfort.
She doesn’t deserve a single piece of me.
Because she betrayed me.
She fucking betrayed me.
If you think about it, she cheated on Ian too. What does that make me? The other man? The fool who thought he was enough for her? I should hate her, hate her until the fire in my chest burns me alive. And I do. God, I fucking do.
But here’s the truth I can’t choke down, I hate her because I can’t stop loving her.
I hate that I have no proof. That all I have are pictures and papers and the hollow sound of her voice saying I love you with tears streaming down her cheeks.
I hate that she denied it, because it makes me want to believe her.
I hate that no matter how hard I try to convince myself she’s a liar, she’s still everything.
She’s become my whole fucking world. And I didn’t even notice it happening until it was too late. Until the knife was already in my back.
I smashed every computer in the surveillance room just so I wouldn’t see her face on the monitors, wouldn’t watch her leave, wouldn’t see the pain written all over her like a brand she carved into me instead.
I hate her for that too.
I hate her for making me care. For getting under my skin, into my blood, down to my fucking bones.
I hate her because my chest aches so much I can barely breathe, because all I want right now is to go to her. To hold her. To console her.
Console her.
The woman who just betrayed me.
Pathetic. I’m so fucking pathetic.
“FUCK!” I roar, the sound ripping out of my chest like an animal breaking free. My hand lashes out, sending everything on the table crashing to the floor in a storm of glass and wood. The table follows, overturned in one violent shove, the crack echoing like a gunshot through the room.
It’s not enough. It’s never enough.
I’ve already destroyed Lev’s computers, ripped them apart with my bare hands until sparks flew and wires hung like veins torn from a body. But the rage doesn’t leave me. It’s crawling through my skin, eating me alive, demanding more, more, more, until there’s nothing left but destruction.
She destroyed me. So I’ll destroy the fucking world.
The door bursts open and Andres is there, panting, eyes scanning the wreckage. “What the fuck, man?” he grunts, stepping over broken pieces.
“Bring him to me.” My voice is calm now, deadly calm, the kind that makes men run. “Bring me Ian Archibald.”
Because I’ll end him. I’ll fucking end him. There’s no way in hell that wedding will ever happen. If she’s not mine, she’s no one else’s. She cannot get married if he’s dead. Problem solved.
Andres glares at me, his jaw tight. “Calm the fuck down, Lorenzo. You know there’s a ninety percent chance this is an arranged marriage she’s being forced into, right? Why are you being such a dick to her?”
The words sting like gasoline thrown on fire. My fists clench, the skin splitting further, blood dripping onto the floor. If I hear him defending her one more time, I’ll put a bullet through his skull myself.
“Why didn’t she fucking tell me, huh?” My voice cracks with fury, my head spinning, the walls closing in.
“She had more than three months to tell me this. To ask me for help. To give me one fucking chance to protect her. If she was being forced into this marriage, why the fuck didn’t she come to me? ”
“Who the fuck knows?” Andres snaps back, his tone sharp, annoyed.
“Maybe she was scared. Maybe she didn’t know how you’d react.
And by the looks of it, you reacted like a fucking animal.
” He shakes his head, disgust in his eyes.
“Christ. It’s bad enough we’ve got Lev tearing through this city like a rabid dog.
Now you’re doing the same shit? Have some fucking self-control, man. ”
Self-control.
The word tastes like poison.
I step closer, my eyes drilling into him until he stiffens. My voice drops, cold and lethal. “Bring him to me. I want him in the basement.”
Andres exhales sharply, trying to keep calm, trying not to break under my stare. “Don’t do something you’ll regret, Lorenzo.”
I lean in, so close he can smell the iron tang of blood on my hands. My lips curl into something between a smile and a snarl.
“The only thing I regret,” I whisper, voice like a blade pressed to his throat, “is that I can’t fucking kill him.”
I snap the door open and stride toward the basement, the weight of my rage anchoring every step. I need to prepare for Ian’s arrival, need somewhere to pour the storm tearing me apart before it consumes me whole.
But as I pass through the doorway, I freeze. Clara’s there, her hand gripping tightly onto Sienna’s arm, her expression pale and frantic. And Sienna, her face is pure fire, eyes blazing, teeth clenched, shoves Clara off and storms straight toward me.
Fucking fantastic. Just what I need.
“You fucking bastard!” she screams, her voice sharp enough to slice through concrete. She raises her hand, trembling, ready to slap me across the face.
I don’t move. Don’t even blink. Instead, I lean forward just enough for her to feel the provocation in my stillness. “Do it,” I murmur, calm as death, daring her.
Her hand hangs in the air, her jaw tightening with disgust. She lowers it, but the fury in her eyes only deepens.
Andres appears at my side, shaking his head slowly, silently telling me not to make this worse.
But Sienna doesn’t stop. Her chest heaves as her words lash out like whips.
“You destroyed her!” she spits, every syllable coated in venom. “She cried herself to sleep after a panic attack so bad she passed out!”
The world around me stills. My jaw locks. My eye twitches. I flick my gaze toward Andres. He hadn’t told me. His expression remains blank, giving nothing away.
“You don’t deserve her, asshole!” Sienna’s voice cracks with raw fury, and the sound tears through me.
I force my tone into ice. “Are you done?” Emotionless. Controlled. I don’t have time for this. I have Ian Archibald to break into pieces.
But she steps closer instead of backing down, her glare searing into me. “Come near her again,” she says slowly, each word deliberate, dangerous, “and you’ll be fucking dead.”
I smirk, tilting my head, taking a deliberate step into her space. “Says who?”
Her lips curl into a smile so sharp it could cut. “Me.”
Then she reaches into her bag and pulls out a gun. The metallic click of the safety disengaging echoes in the room, deafening. The barrel presses against my forehead.
My pulse doesn’t spike. I don’t flinch. If she wants to kill me, let her. “Do it,” I whisper, meeting her glare head-on. “Pull the fucking trigger.”
And then, laughter. Low, deranged, delighted.
Lev.
He strides into the room, his grin manic, eyes wild. “Yes! Do it!” He claps his hands once, thrilled. “Kill that motherfucker! He annoys me too!”
The tension doesn’t break, it thickens.
Sienna doesn’t move the gun, her eyes locked onto mine. “Serena’s my best friend,” she says, her voice like steel dragged across stone. “If you ever” she pauses, eyes narrowing, her tone dropping into a hiss ”ever hurt her again, I will kill you.”
Then, without looking away, she flicks her gaze toward Andres and Lev. “And them.”
Lev explodes into another maniacal laugh, delighted, while Andres remains statuesque, his eyes never leaving Sienna, his expression unreadable. But I can feel the tension in him, coiled tight like a spring.
Her eyes glitter with hate. Deadly. Convincing.
Andres finally breaks the silence, his voice quiet but taunting. “Big words from such a little vicious thing.”
Her attention snaps to him, her smile curving wickedly. Without hesitation, BANG.
The gun fires inches from his head, the deafening sound echoing off the basement walls. Andres doesn’t flinch. He just smirks, the faintest flicker of something dangerous lighting in his eyes.
“Next time,” Sienna whispers, lowering the gun, her face carved in stone. “Next time, it’ll be your fucking head.”
She spins on her heel, heels clicking against the floor as she storms out, leaving silence and gunpowder hanging in the air.
Lev bursts into laughter, unhinged and delighted. “Damn!” he howls, clutching his stomach.
But Andres doesn’t look away from the door. His eyes remain fixed where she left, his expression unreadable, sharp, calculating.