Chapter 16
Desire
The lights of Savannah dim and shrink in the rearview mirror.
I keep glancing at Aurora. She’s wearing a spare dress I ordered for her at the club in advance: provocatively revealing, with deep cutouts and an extreme neckline.
Her nearly bare breasts rise and fall rapidly, and a lingering flush still burns on her cheeks after I fucked her on the bar counter.
“I thought you didn’t like it when I show myself off,” she mutters, her fingers tracing the edge of the neckline.
“You’re not showing off.” I place my hand on the inside of her thigh, and with a shaky sigh, she spreads her legs. My princess always wants me, and her readiness turns me on to the max. “This dress is only for my eyes.”
I press the gas pedal, glancing at her tits. One obsessive thought pulses in my head: get her home and fuck her so hard she forgets her own name. Aurora catches my darkened gaze and, blushing even more, turns to the window.
“If you jump on me at every opportunity, we’ll be too worn out for the wedding night in three days,” she drawls.
“We won’t.” I smile, hearing her breath catch.
Then Steve calls. I slow down and take the call.
“We’ve found Thornton’s whore,” he reports.
“Zack’s sister?” I ask. Aurora turns to me, alarm flashing in her eyes.
“Yeah, we’ve already brought her to the Kingdom. Are you joining the interrogation?”
“I’ll be there within an hour. Don’t you dare start without me.”
“What’s going on?” Aurora asks as soon as I end the call.
I stay silent, turning the wheel.
“Desire!”
“You’re a smart girl, you’ve already figured it out.”
“You’re really going to torture Lucy Thornton?!” Disbelief rings in her voice.
“If I have to.”
For all my bloody baggage, I’ve never killed a woman before, but Zack went after something sacred—my princess. And if I have to, I’ll leave behind a mile of corpses so she can keep living, enjoying herself, and pleasing me with her cunt.
“Dez!” Aurora snaps, trying to pull my attention to her.
“Don’t use Meg’s nickname for me.”
“Then look at me,” she demands. “Whatever Zack did, Lucy is innocent! I don’t want you to kill innocent people because of me!”
“No one is innocent.”
She raises her eyebrows then narrows her eyes. “So I’m to blame that Alistair locked me in his basement? Zack was right when he screamed that I was a whore and that was where I belonged?!”
“That’s not what I meant,” I growl, studying her angry, flushed face. So Zack dared to say that? That bastard will eat his own balls mixed with his tongue.
“Don’t do anything to Lucy!”
“What I do with her is none of your fucking business!” I bark.
I lunge to the right, dig my fingers into her throat, and slam her against the seat. The air hisses out of her lungs. She stares at me with stunned, wide eyes, gasping for air, trembling beneath my palm.
“I do what I think is necessary for your safety,” I state, looking straight into her dilated pupils. My fingers feel the frantic pulse in her neck. “And if your goal is to piss me off even more, you’re on the right track. Keep going.”
“I … won’t,” she whispers, barely audible.
I release my fingers. Aurora gasps, pressing her palm to her neck. She shuts down, crossing her arms over her chest, flattening her breasts, and turns to the window.
“Take me to my apartment.” Her voice is cold.
“Aurora—”
“Take me home,” she repeats, not turning around. “Or I’ll get there myself as soon as you drag me to your lion’s den and leave, Desire.”
She presses herself deeper into the seat, curling into a ball of icy stubbornness.
I turn my gaze back to the road and spin the wheel, heading toward her place.
Better to give her what she wants for now.
Either way, there are hidden cameras in her apartment, and I’ll station my guys under her windows.
When Aurora unlocks her apartment door, I follow her in. She turns around, lifting her chin in feigned surprise. “You’re still here?”
I stalk toward her, letting her feel it: playing at disdain with me is a losing game.
Running my hand through her hair, I wrap it around my fist and force her head back.
I lick along her neck, over her throbbing vein.
She freezes and closes her eyes, her heart racing.
She wants me, and she’s angry at herself for it.
“I’ll be back soon, future wife,” I whisper, and place a gentle kiss on her lips.
“Whatever you say,” she sasses back as soon as I pull away, tilting her nose up.
A minute later, I’m in the car. I turn onto a busy street, circle around her block, and head out onto the road through the park.
The road seems calm until I catch a sharp, sudden movement out of the corner of my eye.
My hands yank the wheel on instinct, but it’s not enough to dodge it.
The impact, the deafening screech of metal, and my car is tossed into the ditch like a splinter.
I’m left hanging from my seatbelt—that ingrained habit of buckling up just saved my life.
Hot, sticky blood floods my eyes, turning the world into a murky red mess while a deafening ring fills my ears.
The windshield is gone, sharp shards embedded deep in my skin.
Fighting through the pain, I reach with numb fingers for the glove compartment where I keep my gun.
I’m not fast enough. The passenger door wrenches open with a screech.
Someone dives into the car, trying to grab me. Despite the world swimming before my eyes, I catch the intruder’s arm and, with a low growl, slam my elbow into his jaw. There’s a distinct crack, and the bastard lets out a shrieking cry, tumbling back out onto the grass.
“Shit! He’s broken my jaw!” he screams, choking on his own blood.
I try to reach the fucking gun to blow the bastard’s brains out, but the jammed plastic doesn’t budge.
Growling, I slam my elbow into it, ripping the cover off.
At that moment, the driver’s side window shatters.
Hundreds of shards pierce my skin. A heavy stock reaches into the car, and a devastating blow lands on the back of my head.
Consciousness flashes like a blinding spark, then everything goes dark.
“You should have gone to London, Prince.” A voice reaches me from the thick, consuming darkness.