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“It didn’t matter in the end,” I say softly. “My brother used me anyway.”

Kian’s face flushes with regret. “I was advised to kill your brother. He was the Lombardi male heir.”

“Another don would have killed him,” I point out.

“But I wasn’t really thinking like a don at the time,” he explains. “I was thinking like… well, like me.”

I frown, noticing the conflict that still rages across his features.

“He was fifteen,” he says softly. “Everyone considered him a threat.”

“But you didn’t?”

“I thought it sent the wrong message,” he tells me. “Killing children to try and make a declaration of power felt… counterproductive.”

I remember what Aisling had told me about Kian. According to her, he’s freed dozens and dozens of women from the bondages of sexual slavery. I’ve been told he was a monster for most of my life.

But what if I’d been lied to?

I take a bite of my burger and chew as I mull over my next few questions. I won’t deny that everything about him fascinates me. He seems like such a contradiction.

A mobster with morals. A wicked man who saves innocent women. A devil with an angel’s eyes.

With every bite, I feel the energy return to my worn body. But it’s more than that. I feel almost euphoric. And that gives me a heady sense of bravery. Though it could just as easily be recklessness.

“Have you ever been married?” I blurt out.

He raises his eyebrows. “You’re curious about that?”

“Just answer the question,” I mutter, avoiding his eyes as I focus on my burger.

He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “No, I’ve never been married,” he says carefully. “Nor have I ever wanted to be.”

Something inside me twists, and I can’t for the life of me explain that reaction. So I decide to just ignore it altogether. I put the remaining half of the burger down and reach for the dumplings. They smell so good that I can’t resist.

“Why not?” I ask. “Do you have anything to drink, by the way?”

He smirks as he passes over two bottles, one of water and one of soda. Once I’ve drained half the water bottle, I bite into a juicy pork dumpling. “Damn,” I breathe, really letting loose as the savory smoky taste of pork fills my tongue.

Kian chuckles. “What did I tell you?”

“You were right,” I sigh. “These are amazing.”

It’s weird—I can feel his laugh inside me. Like we’re connected somehow. Like something between us fused together the day we first met twenty years ago.

Jesus, the food is really going to my head.

But nothing on earth can make me stop eating now. I take another bite of dumpling and look at Kian pointedly.

“You haven’t answered my question,” I remind him.

“I was kind of distracted.”

“You’ve never seen a woman eat before?”

“Not quite like you, no.”

“So you’ve never starved any of your other captives?”


Tags: Nicole Fox Kovalyov Bratva Erotic