kiss me like a killer
You belong to me now, Aria. No more lies. No more running.”
The words wrapped around her throat like silk and barbed wire, but Aria didn’t flinch. Her lips brushed Rome De Luca’s jaw—the man she had vowed to ruin. Her mark. Her obsession. Her monster.
She should’ve slit his throat.
Instead, she let him kiss her.
Let him take her breath as if he owned it.
His fingers dug into her waist, one hand sliding under the slit of her silk gown. His touch burned, but Aria didn’t move. This wasn’t a seduction—it was war.
“You’re playing with fire,” he whispered into her neck.
“Good thing I like the burn.”
Her voice trembled—not with fear, but with the adrenaline of being this close to the man who had destroyed her family. Rome’s lips curled against her skin, but his eyes stayed dead—hunter eyes, always calculating.
He didn’t trust her.
Good.
She didn’t trust herself either.
Outside, music pulsed like a heartbeat through the gala. Guests laughed, flirted, toasted champagne. Inside this dark velvet corner, Rome slid a hand up her thigh and whispered, “Who sent you?”
Her breath caught. “Excuse me?”
He chuckled. “You're not a socialite. Not a guest. You're a trap. Question is… for who?”
Before she could lie, his fingers closed around the hidden wire beneath her dress—her comms. He ripped it free and tossed it to the ground.
Panic surged.
“Security won’t reach you in time,” she said, voice sharp.
Rome smirked. “Good. I’m not done with you.”
But before he could speak again, a glint of steel flashed at his neck.
Aria’s blade.
Tiny. Sharp. Poisoned.
His smile faded.
“That’s more like it,” he murmured. “Tell me, little viper… will you kiss me before you kill me?”
She leaned in, her lips brushing his one last time.
“No. I’ll kiss you after.”
She bolted.
Aria barely made it to the car before her lungs gave out.
She had the footage. She had the wire. She had the drop drive planted.
And she had touched the devil.
Mission accomplished.
Until—
“Going somewhere, darling?”
The cold voice shattered her victory.
Cassian Black lounged in the back seat like a king on a throne, spinning her necklace between his fingers. The one she thought she lost when she fled him three years ago—the night he betrayed her and left her for dead.
“I should’ve killed you,” she said, eyes narrowing.
“You should’ve loved me better.”
His grin was elegant, venomous.
“I warned you Rome was dangerous,” he continued. “But you never listened. So now I’ll have to clean up your mess.”
“By what? Shooting me?”
Cassian raised the pistol and c****d it lazily.
“No, darling. I just want to know which one of us you’re planning to destroy first—him… or me?”
Before she could speak, the windows exploded inward.
Shattered glass. Smoke. Screams.
Then—
A hand gripped her arm and yanked her into the night.
A blade flashed through the smoke, slicing across Cassian’s cheek as he roared, “ZAYNE!”
Aria stumbled, coughing, into the alleyway—slamming into a wall of muscle and shadows.
“Assassins don’t rescue people,” she choked.
Zayne’s voice was cold steel.
“Who said I’m here to rescue you?”
He pinned her against the wall, knife still dripping from Cassian’s blood.
“I was hired to kill you, Aria. But I changed the deal.”
Her pulse raced. “Why?”
Zayne leaned in, his lips brushing her ear.
“Because the highest bidder… wants you alive.”
And you won’t like who it is.
