Ruthless Secrets (Elites of Macedon High 2)

But I don’t.

I shove my phone into my pocket, swallow my feelings, and march back to the mansion, checking in one more time with the security team before heading up the stairs. The smell of bleach is all that’s left of what happened in the foyer.

When I reach my bedroom door, the guard straightens and gives me a brief and boring report. Nothing of note happened.

Thankfully, I think as I drift into my bedroom and shut the door behind me. And she’s awake now.

Turmoil swallows me when I see the look of terror on her face. She’s white as a fucking sheet, so pale that I can see her veins mapped on her skin. Her dark hair swirls around her face and makes her look ghastly, like she’s a Victorian ghost returning to haunt her murderer. Jesus fuck me, Christ, I have no idea how to handle this with her.

Her fingers coil around the collar of the muscle shirt. “How did…”

“I changed you.”

“Why?”

I grunt as I march past her and take the gun out of my waistband. “Would you have preferred to wear your mother’s guts?”

I cringe. Way to fucking comfort her, asshole.

“I guess not,” she says in a voice full of defeat. “Thanks.”

“Alex, I…” I turn around as I unbutton my shirt, trying to give her a look of sympathy. But I fail miserably. The way she looks at me makes me feel like a complete monster. So, I harden all over again. “We’ll marry tomorrow.”

Shock invades her features. “We’re doing what?”

“We have to stick to our plans,” I explain. “We can’t let that asshole win.”

“Okay, but maybe we can take a minute to talk things out, right?”

I shake my head. “We have to act now.”

“I just lost my mother, Parker.”

“And my father is gone.” I whip off my shirt, toss it aside, and then start working off my pants as I kick off my dress shoes. “We’re all losing something here. Or don’t you get that?”

She shakes her head while sliding out from under the sheets, her toes looking more delicate than usual against the dark carpet. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

“You’ll be faithful to me, too,” I state firmly while approaching her. “We’re getting married tomorrow, and you’re moving in right after that.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

My irritated growl does nothing to intimidate her. She stares back at me with an empty expression, folding her arms defiantly across her chest. We’re just staring each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. Which one of us will break first?

She shakes her head. “My virginity is already lost, so why not fuck?”

“And I’m the one who fucking took it.”

I grab her throat, triumphing in the uncontrollable flutter of her eyelids. It’s the subtlest reaction, but it’s one I know she has no command over. I’ve already lost my family.

I won’t lose her, too.

“You’re mine, Alexandra Moretti.”

The vein in her neck pulses rhythmically under my thumb, goading me to push her down on the bed. My free hand roams beneath the muscle shirt, groping her tits and her stomach, sliding to the waistband of the jogging pants and slipping underneath. Her soaked underwear welcomes my hand without argument and I push two fingers into her, feeling the way her pussy accepts my plunge.

Despite how much she hates me, how much she can’t stand to be near me, I refuse to forfeit her. Alex is the key to my empire—without her, everything collapses. It’s worse when she’s not by my side, long hours of the night spent rolling in my bed instead of snugly curled against her.

I never lose my head over a girl. Staying up late with my head full of Alex makes me wonder how I ever lived before, or why I would have chosen some dumb bitch like Tabitha when Alex has been here the whole time. She’s the missing piece, the locket that I need to pry open to discover the secrets held within.