A Thousand Cuts (Underworld Kings)

Cristian leaned on the door jam, eyes running over my body.

I was just over six months, and my bump was growing larger by the day. Though I was happy about having a family with Cristian, I did not like being pregnant. Women all over social media and in Whole Foods smiled, cradled their bellies and made it seem like it was their calling in life to procreate.

That was not me.

The pregnancy itself was not as difficult as it could’ve been. I had morning sickness for almost twelve weeks, my back hurt, there was the acid reflux and the slight swelling of the ankles. My OB-GYN said that I got off ‘easy’ compared to other women. I smiled tightly and restrained the urge to rip her hair from the roots.

It wasn’t the physical symptoms that bothered me, it was the changes. Getting larger, rounder, and not having an ounce of control over it. I understood it was incredibly vain to be worried about losing my figure when I was creating life, but I wasn’t the woman to celebrate it either. For years, the ability to exercise and control my diet was the only form of control I had. I liked the way I looked. Liked that I had to work hard to look that way.

Despite all the work I was putting in at the gym, I got bigger.

I wasn’t worried about what Cristian thought of me. He’d made it clear that he loved the changes my body was going through. Although I did know he was torturing himself over the possible complications. He was not a man to look on the bright side.

Therefore, he had gotten even more protective and ruthless when it came to me. If that was even possible.

But he liked my body. Our sex life had not dulled a single bit since we got the news. He was not gentle with me. Did not treat me with care. Not when I carried our warrior.

Cristian crossed the distance between us, taking me in his arms. “Sometimes women need to be convinced that this life is the only one for them,” he answered my earlier question.

I stared up at him. “And Lorenzo thinks he can convince her by holding her hostage?”

Cristian’s eyes twinkled. “It worked for us, did it not?”

“Yes,” I whispered to my husband. “It worked.”

Why is it we desire things that will destroy us in the end?

Why does the teenage girl fall in love with the thousand-year-old vampire who wants to suck her dry? What does beauty see in the beast?

We want the things whose instinct it is to kill us. We want the monster, even though we know he has the ability to destroy us, that it is in his nature to do so. We especially want him because it is in his nature to destroy us. Every moment with him is a moment that he fights that, that we escape a deadly fate. We want the monster to go against everything inside of him to not kill us. We want to be something to them that is more important than their very DNA.

Cristian had that. Maybe he wasn’t born a monster, but he had been turned into one. This world had turned him into one. He had turned me into one.

And I was glad.

The Underworld Kings Universe

A Thousand Cuts is part of The Underworld Kings universe—a collection of standalone mafia romances written by some of your favorite authors.

These books can be read in any order and are complete standalones. Head to the Underworld Kings website for more.