Andrea has gone back to bed. The penthouse is quiet, but inside my head is the opposite. Everything is spinning, trying to realign what I know about my mother’s disappearance, my father’s death, Valentina’s father’s death… all of it. But it’s too much, especially after hours of drinking, finally getting my wife back, and then only a couple of hours of sleep.
My brain and my body are both on edge. If I tip over, everyone will suffer. Most of all Val.
As quickly as possible, I shimmy into a pair of slacks and a white button-down. Then I shrug into a jacket, grab my shoes, and throw myself into the chair behind my desk. Tiny shards of glass are embedded into the sole of my foot.
It takes several minutes, but I remove each of them and slip my socks and shoes over the wounds. Nothing is bleeding enough to consider a doctor. I shoot off a text to the housekeeper because she needs to clean our bedroom before Val suffers further from my anger.
With a long sigh, I toss my phone onto the desk and take a deep breath. It doesn’t take long for a knock to interrupt. Kai steps into the room before I give him permission to enter.
He nods, his suit perfect despite the bruises on his face. “Boss.”
“What are you doing up?”
“I could ask you the same thing. Is something wrong with Valentina?”
I shake my head, not ready to talk about what she revealed. Not when it burns down everything I’ve known for most of my life. “She’s sleeping, I think.”
If only she hadn’t killed her father. I’d be able to do it… get the revenge I’m owed. Right now, I want to punish her, the only member of her heinous family left. Yet she doesn’t deserve it. I know she doesn’t deserve the rage I want to pile onto her like blanket after blanket to appease this anger.
I shove from the chair and head for the armory. I punch in the code to unlock the door, shove inside the room, flip on the light, and survey my options with practiced ease. If I can’t kill a fucking Novak, then I’ll destroy the only thing left of the Novak dynasty.
Kai steps in behind me as I select a few things from the wall. When I turn to face him, he quirks an eyebrow, asking the question despite the purple bruising around his orbital bones.
I don’t explain as I shove past him into the hallway with my weapons. “You’re driving.”
We both walk to the garage and climb into the SUV. He figures out my plan the second I tell him the address.
“There’s nothing there. Why bother?”
I stack the olive-green grenades in a small tower on my lap, arranging them so they aren’t likely to topple off my thighs. “Did I ask your goddamn opinion? No. Fucking drive, or I’ll take myself.”
His knuckles go white on the steering wheel, and he speeds us out of the garage onto the deserted streets. With sunrise close, we’ll have to be quick on this little errand. The closer we get to the house, the easier I feel about this decision. It’s what I need. Valentina will agree when she learns what I’ve done. From the memories she's shared, nothing there is worth keeping.
Kai pulls up the gate and punches in the code to open it. The house is dark when we pull up to the front door.
Without bothering to knock, I walk right in. It figures a man like Novak would leave it unlocked. He always believed himself untouchable. I chuckle. And fucking look at him now.
Kai dogs my heels, his jaw tight as he scans the halls for any sign of threat. “We’ll have to do this quick. I want to be gone before a nosy neighbor makes the first police call. When we get back to the penthouse, I’ll call my contact and have them brush it under the rug.” Despite his put-out tone, he opens his hand for one of my grenades.
I slide one across his palm and scan the area for a good place to drop it. An RPG was probably the safer choice for this task. But I couldn’t deny myself the pleasure of carefully obliterating the last remnants of my enemy’s life. Of standing in his home, on his property, and fucking ripping it apart.
The sound of a blast reaches me before the building shakes under my feet.
Shit. Kai wasn’t joking about doing this quickly.
I take one look at the kitchen, pull the pin on the grenade, and roll it toward the huge range on the far end. That should take care of things.
I race out of there fast, meeting Kai in the hall near the foyer. With the last grenade, I pop the pin and toss it as far down the long hall as I can. Then we both turn and race to the car.
The explosions blast us hard and send the car rocking. Kai rushes to the bottom of the driveway to the still open gate.
“Stop by the end of the driveway. I want to watch the entire thing fall in on itself.”
He huffs but does as I order. We watch together as fire licks out the windows, blackening the exterior, tearing at the roof.
The fire department is no doubt already en route. The police too. “Let’s go.”
“Home?”
I shake my head. “Just drive for a while. I can’t return to the penthouse yet.”
“You realize the council will be even more up our asses now. This paints an even bigger target on your back.”
What else is new? The council has wanted to unseat me from my father’s throne since the day I took it. If they weren’t scheming or trying to murder me, well, I don’t know what I’d do with my life.
Freedom from their tyranny is a fantasy I can’t afford to indulge in. Especially with Valentina, who has become my biggest vulnerability.
We drive around town as the sun rises. I yawn and lean my head against the window. Not to sleep but to rest. This entire night has felt like it would never end. Now that it has, I don’t feel better. Destroying Novak’s house satisfied me in some ways but not enough in others.
“Home now?” Kai asks as we weave through the morning traffic.
I picture Val, asleep in our bed, her peach limbs splayed across the sheets, her riot of curls decorating my pillows. Even with that image, the rage burns a path inside my gut. I can’t go back until I quench this fire. “No, we can’t go back there yet. I need more time to get my head on straight so I don’t punish her in ways that might ruin us completely. Just keep driving. Or take me somewhere to distract me. Something.”
He doesn’t ask questions, only keeps his eyes on the road and drives. His ability to know when to speak and when to shut up is always something I’ve admired about him.
I scrub my hand around the stubble on my jaw and then up through the mess of my hair. With a few swipes of my fingers, I set it in some kind of order. My knuckles are still bloody and broken from the fight with Kai and my rampage around my room.
Shame gurgles in my gut to join the anger there. I could have hurt her last night with all the glass flying around. Even when I want to hate her, I can only think of her safety. Dammit.
The car stops, and I glance out the window. Even in the morning, the lights of the casino are a brightly lit beacon to the decadent and depraved.
I don’t feel decadent today… but maybe a little depravity will set me right. At the very least, it’ll take my mind off my wife and the many sins she’s yet to confess.
13
VALENTINA
It’s been an hour since he stormed out. An hour since my words broke something between us. An hour since my life fluttered apart in my lap.