A Promise of Torment (A Violent Agenda)

LORCAN

What the fuck was I thinking? I shouldn’t have used her like that. And as much as I enjoyed bringing her down a peg or two, I shouldn’t have told her I was going back to Harmony’s.

It was a lie.

I was too fucked to drive. As soon as I was out of sight, I pulled into a lay-by and passed the fuck out. I woke up freezing my dick off the next day on a road rammed with rush hour traffic at a standstill. Took me fucking hours to get home.

Not that I got to sleep in my bed. Emergency board meeting at 9 a.m. sharp had me back on the road after a quick shower and change. With my father gone, there’s no one to take the reins but me.

I knock back the whiskey in my shot glass. It’s my first drink of the day and it won’t be my last. I’ve had a long day at the office.

God, I sound like my fucking father.

I fill my glass again from the bottle on the bar next to me, just as Dino walks into the members club we both belong to. It’s been a few weeks since I saw him last. His brother keeps him busy now that he’s decided to embrace the family business. Still, we try to catch up once a week.

“Sinner,” I raise my glass in a toast. “You’re here for once.” He’s always fucking making me wait, or cancelling on me. Or should I say his brother drives him to. It makes me wonder what the fuck he does for Kristian that he can’t take ten minutes to have a drink with me.

Dino scowls, takes off his coat and hands it to the hostess, and then takes a seat at the bar beside me. I indicate to the bartender to bring another glass and then pour him three fingers. “Get that down you,” I say.

He waves his hand. “I’m not drinking this early.”

“Why the fuck not?”

He sighs. “Kristian needs me for something after this.”

I raise a brow. “More for me then,” I say, decanting his into mine.

He asks for a water instead, before frowning my way. I don’t think I’ve seen him smile since she left. She’s done a number on us alright.

“So, what’s this about Viola? What was she doing at the White Jade?” Dino comes right out with it.

I stupidly left Sinner a message when I was fucked out of my head last night. Why I did that, I’ve no fucking idea. Viola didn’t tell me in the end what she was doing there. Only drug dealers and prostitutes frequent that place. I was surprised to see her—absolutely breathtaking in that long black dress. The wig was different but she’s always changing her hair and eyes. After all the shit we’ve been through, I could recognize her anywhere.

I shake my head and knock back the large shot. “Who gives a fuck?”

She chose him.

“She was there with him, wasn’t she?” Dino says, frown etched on his face.

Dante. That sick fucking psycho.

“His shitty car was tailing us most of the way home.”

“Maybe he’s keeping her safe?”

I snort a laugh. “You’re fucked in the head. She was covered in bruises.” It wasn’t hard to miss how skinny she looked and how battered her body was. I shouldn’t have left her with him. I should have brought her back to the frat house and fucked her senseless. And then devoured her again in the morning. Tied her to the bed if she tried to leave. That would have been a much better way to wake up. Having her clenched around my dick while I rode her hard, eyes rolling back in her head as she came. There’s no way she can hide all her secrets from me when I’m balls deep inside her. No fucking way.

She’s mine. She belongs to me.

To all of us.

If that’s true, why did she choose him?

“I need to move on and forget she ever existed,” I say, taking another large swig of my drink.

“We both do, mate,” Dino agrees.

But it’s easier said than done. Jude is still in juvie because of her. And since Viola took care of Joseph, the police have been sticking their noses in mine and Saskia’s business. Forget our alibis. They’re not worth a fuck when Scotland Yard is on your case day and night. Fucking pigs.