Devil You Hate (The Diavolo Crime Family 1)

Nicolo has his brother’s shirt bunched in his hands while he leans in with a growl, “Thought you’d take my girl for a test drive?”

I don’t like how the way he says my girl slips through me, warming up in places I’d tried to ice over with indifference.

Lucas shakes his head and shoves Nicolo off him. “I don’t want a fucking thing to do with her. She’ll be gone tomorrow. By the way, thanks for letting me know you set the date, asshole.”

Nicolo looks ready to throw a punch, and I cower behind his desk chair, something like guilt slithering through me. I’d dragged Lucas into this, and now he was going to get punished for it. Shit. I step out from behind the chair and approach Nicolo. “It wasn’t what it looked like. I wanted someone to take my virginity. I was trying to seduce him.”

Both men turn to stare at me with slacked jaws. Nicolo recovers first, turns, and shoves his brother toward the door. “Get out.”

Lucca shakes his head and walks out the door.

Then Nicolo’s focus is on me, and I’m left swallowing my tongue. “I’m sorry. After this morning, I was angry, and I felt like you used me. It was a half-baked plan at best. Lucas didn’t show a single bit of interest in me.” I know I’m digging myself a grave, but for some stupid reason, I want him to know that his brother didn’t show a lick of interest.

Nicolo stalks forward until he’s inches from my face. “You’re trying to protect him? Why?”

I wave at the door. “It wasn’t his fault. I didn’t want you to hurt him because of something I did.”

A new fire flashes in his eyes, and I reflexively back away until my hip meets the edge of his desk, and I have nowhere else to go.

“You were trying to lose your virginity so the auction wouldn’t pay out as much. Was that your plan all along, stellina?”

I shrug, refusing to meet his eyes now. When he says it, I feel even more idiotic. “I had hoped it was Soo, I could seduce, but Lucas showed up first.”

Now he laughs. He throws his head back and laughs at me. Actually laughs. All the anger I’d been feeling fires through the guilt, and I shove him away. “You don’t get to mock me. Not when you’re the one who’s about to sell me like a pig being sent off to the butcher.”

He growls and charges at me again. I quickly fish out the fountain pen from behind my back and uncap it. He won’t touch me without my permission again.

“Soo would have wiped the floor with you and left you in a whimpering puddle without ever having touched you. He’d also never betray me because he knows what this auction means to me.” He leans in and places one hand on either side of the desk, boxing me in.

I shove at him with my shoulder, but he doesn’t budge. All over again, I’m trapped. I raise the fountain pen and jab it as hard as I can into the center of his hand that’s placed along my right hip.

He jumps back with a hiss, and I do the only logical thing I can do. I race toward the door, knowing that this might be the moment he actually kills me.

22

Nic

The point of the pen barely breaks the surface of my skin. She could have done more damage if she’d taken the pen to my neck and shoved it in my carotid. But this little star doesn’t know how to play dirty. Not like I do.

By the time I rip the pen out of my hand and cast it to the floor, she’s running to the door. I don’t bother stopping the smile from spreading across my face. I spin and beat her to the door, slamming it hard in her face. She yelps and jumps back. Then turns and rushes around the office, looking for another exit.

“There isn’t another way out of here, princess. No point in running when you’ll pay the price for your attack, anyway,” I croon, waiting for her to realize she has nowhere else to go.

While she races around like a pinball in a machine, I pull out my handkerchief and wipe the blood off the back of my hand. It’s barely a scrape considering some scars I have slashed across my skin.

She backs herself into the far-right corner of my office and sinks down onto the floor with her knees pulled to her chest. I shove off the closed door and cross the room. She watches me approach, no doubt waiting for my wrath to descend.

It’s not wrath I feel when I look at her, though. I crouch beside her and lift her chin to force her to meet my eyes. “What were you thinking? You’d flee me with a fountain pen, clear my guards, and race out of here to safety? That’s naive, even for you.”