Revenge In The Mafia's Bed

4

Unstoppable Passion

The heavy teak door clicked shut with a solid thud, sealing off the noise of the corridor and leaving a suffocating silence inside VIP room 888. The scent of a cold, masculine musk immediately swarmed Audrey’s senses, clashing with the sweet fragrance of her own skin, which grew stronger as her body temperature spiked to an extreme.

Christian Barrett stood motionless in the doorway. His sturdy arms supported Audrey’s sagging frame, which felt as limp as a ragdoll that had lost all its joints. Christian narrowed his icecold, dark eyes. His firm jaw tightened as he felt the unnatural heat radiating from beneath the girl’s offwhite dress, seeping directly into his palms.

As the head of the Barrett Empire syndicate, Christian was no naive man. With just one look at Audrey’s hazel eyes—watery, glazed, and unfocused—he knew exactly what was happening. The woman was under the influence of a highdose stimulant.

Christian let out a cold snort, a cynical smirk of pure arrogance etched onto his thin lips. His first thought went to his father’s ultimatum, demanding he find a wife within three months. The old man had always justified any means necessary to force his will.

"So, this is how you force a negotiation, you old geezer?" Christian muttered, his voice a deep, gravelly rumble in his broad chest.

Christian had misunderstood. He assumed Audrey was a woman for hire, sent by his father—or perhaps one of his business rivals—to trap him in a scandal tonight. Sending a young, innocentlooking girl in a white dress to contrast with such a lewd situation was a classic, boring trick. Yet, Christian had to admit to himself, this bait was far more alluring than usual.

"Let go... it’s hot..." Audrey moaned hoarsely. Her consciousness was now hanging by a thread, ready to snap at any moment.

The effects of Victoria’s drug had incinerated her common sense. Audrey’s logic was paralyzed, replaced by a primal instinct demanding release from the agony roiling beneath her skin. Christian’s cold, masculine presence felt like an icy oasis in a burning desert. Without realizing it, Audrey nuzzled her flushed face against Christian’s chest, seeking the cooling sensation of his black shirt.

That accidental touch instantly triggered a strange, stinging tremor along Christian’s nerves. The desire of the dominant alpha, usually locked tight behind his icy mask, suddenly surged. Christian’s blood rushed, pumping a wild passion he had always kept under absolute selfcontrol.

"Do you know what you’re doing, Miss?" Christian whispered, his voice trembling with the passion beginning to ignite. His hand gripped Audrey’s soft jaw, forcing her to look up into eyes as dark as a midnight storm.

Audrey couldn't answer in coherent words. All that escaped her slightly parted, ripe lips was a ragged gasp that felt like fire against Christian’s skin. Her glazed hazel eyes swam between the haze of induced lust and profound desperation.

Christian had no intention of holding back any longer. If this was a trap, he would enjoy the bait down to the marrow before destroying the one who set it. With one undeniable, dominant motion, Christian slipped one strong arm under the crook of Audrey’s knees and the other behind her back, lifting her effortlessly in one powerful hold.

Audrey felt weightless for a moment before being tossed onto the plush kingsize bed in the center of the room. The black silk sheets felt cool against her skin, exposed by her halftorn white dress, offering a fleeting, false relief.

Christian crawled onto the bed, positioning his large, rigid frame over Audrey’s small body. The intense aura of intimidation and power radiating from him made the atmosphere heavy and breathless.

Staring sharply at his gasping prey, Christian’s right hand moved to his chest. With a rough jerk, he tore his shirt open, the iron buttons flying and scattering across the floor, revealing his broad, perfectly toned muscular chest.

Christian turned away for a second to discard the ruined shirt. In that crucial moment, the final thread of Audrey’s fading consciousness caught a sight that would be etched into her memory forever.

In the dim light, Audrey clearly saw Christian’s wide, powerful back, dense with rippling muscle. A terrifyingly large tattoo stretched across it: an iconic black mamba snake that seemed to writhe with incredible detail, coiling from the nape of his neck down his spine, its tail disappearing beneath the waistband of his black trousers. The black snake seemed to stare at Audrey with cold, inkdrawn eyes, confirming that the man towering over her tonight was the true lord of the darkness.

A snake tattoo... Audrey’s mind whispered weakly as she spiraled further into the dark.

Before she could process the meaning of the terrifying image, Christian turned back and pinned her down. The unstoppable passion of the mafia boss had finally broken free, ready to sweep away the last remnants of the girl in the white dress in a long night of wild possessiveness. Audrey’s consciousness sank completely into the burning darkness.