Quinn has four girls, all passed out, hands tied behind their backs. Michael’s looking like he can’t believe what we’ve just done. We shouldn’t have collected this early, but we did it anyway. If you do it all in one hit, it’s terrible for business. It brings unwanted attention from the authorities. Quinn, though, I trust him to do the right thing and to be as careful as possible.

“I deliver them. You can come as a guest,” Michael says.

“Be a guest in my own business?”

Michael shakes his head at me. “That part of the business isn’t yours, Ryken. You may have created it, but that part is Antonio’s, and you know it.”

I look at the girls on the floor. Most are blonde. Quinn answers my unasked question before I can say another word.

“He likes the blondes,” Quinn says.

I remember. I remember Amy and his other bitches. I remember it all. Is she staying there, though, or is she somewhere else? I know what that nightlife is like when it’s full on. Fights are held for money. Girls are nothing more than whores who are there for only one thing—their pleasure. Men rule that part of the city, and sometimes even Amy has a say if she’s pissed off enough at Antonio. I learned a lot while living there, not just from him and doing all his dirty work, but from everyone I met and the faces I had to punish to the lives I took. I had previously asked around to see if Saskia was there and was told no. So they were lying.

“This blonde, he can’t have.”

All eyes go to behind me.

“A brunette is walking up behind you,” Michael says with a smile on his face. I know it’s Livia before I even turn around. The click of her heels gives her away. As she steps in front of me, her hand touches my shoulder. Livia’s hair is down, and she’s dressed like she just left the office. She’s interning at one of the prestigious law firms while she studies. But why she’s here after I sent her home early this week is beyond me.

“Livia.”

Livia turns back to look at Quinn and Michael. “We need a minute. You two need to leave.”

They look at me for confirmation, and I give them a curt nod. They both turn and walk out of my father’s house. The same one I’ve been staying in since I’ve been back. Her hand drops from my shoulder, and she crosses her arms as she stands in front of me. She’s pissed. That’s all I seem to do lately—make her angry at me.

“Stiles rang me. Imagine my surprise when I received that phone call.”

I should have killed him. Fucker. “And, Livia?” I ask shaking my head while leaning against the wall, waiting for what I know is to come. Livia’s an insanely jealous woman.

She steps forward, her finger pointing into my chest. “You’ve been seeing her... again. Haven’t you? Even knowing I’m carrying your child?” She knows that Barbie’s gone, that she was taken. But what she doesn’t know is the circumstances around it all. And she never asked or even seemed to care. Until now.

“She’s missing, Livia. Your cousin is missing.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “She’ll be back, she has no one.”

Dropping her hand to her side, I shake my head at her. Livia’s stunningly beautiful. There isn’t a doubt in my mind about that.

“You don’t fucking listen, do you?” I say, getting angry. “Admit it! You’re jealous of her!”

Livia’s eyes narrow at me, and her hands clench at her side. “You’re meant to love me, or have you forgotten that, Ryken? It’s me that’s been there, for everything. For your mom, then your father. Not her. So tell me... why do you still even care?”

I don’t tell her that Barbie was there for me more than she could ever have been, but I know better than to piss her off too much.

“I do love you, Livia, that’s the fucking issue, isn’t it? It would be so much easier if I didn’t.”

A tear drops from her eye, and she steps forward, so I have to wrap my arms around her. I do it until I can’t anymore, and let them drop, pushing her back. She reaches for my jeans and tries to undo them. I push her hands away, and she looks up to me, still with a wet face but also now with pleading eyes.

“Show me you love me, Ryken. Even if I don’t have this baby, you’ll love me, right?”

What the hell does that mean? I shake my head at her words.

“I’m going to get her, Livia. I’m going to bring her back. But the baby doesn’t change anything. I’ll protect you until I can’t.”

Her hands drop, and her mouth forms a tight line. “You aren’t, I forbid it. I lost the baby. You need to stay with me.”

My mouth drops open in shock. “Were you even fucking pregnant?”

“No. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be pregnant right now if you were more attentive,” she screams.

The fire inside me has been well and truly lit. I’m explosive with raging anger, and being around her right now has me incensed with a violent rage. I take a long, slow, deep calming breath and simply say, “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.”

Her mouth drops open as I walk past her. I could strangle her. She fucking lied to me. Lied. I sent Barbie away for what? Because I love both of them, and because of the baby, I knew the only right thing to do at the time was to protect Livia.

She pushes me backward until I land on the couch. Then she pushes me again as I try to get back up. My hands clench at my sides, so I don’t do anything stupid. My breathing is deep, as I try to calm myself down. Livia’s legs go either side of me, and she climbs on my lap. Her hands thread through my hair then she pulls it hard, backward until my neck is exposed, and I can no longer see her face. I feel Livia’s hand unzipping me, and then her warm fingers are on my cock, pulling it out. I attempt to move, to push her off me, but she just smiles and pulls my hair back again and lifting slightly. Her hand connects us. I can feel her at my tip and I know she’s about to fuck me, and I’m not going to say no. Even if I fucking want to.

“Tell me you love me, Ryken.” She moves as she slides down on me. My cock is hard and glides in and out of her easily. She kisses my neck, her lips sliding up and down. “Tell me, Ryken.” She stops, not moving, her lips staying in the same spot on my neck. She’s doing it on purpose.

“Move or get off of me, Livia.” She doesn’t expect that response. Livia wants those words from my lips, but I can’t give them to her with the way she is right now. She’s being a fucking bitch. She pulls herself off and sits next to me, pulling her dress down.

“You fucking love her, don’t you? I can’t believe this... you really fucking do. Tell me, Ryken? How fucking long have you loved her for?”

I should keep my mouth shut, I shouldn’t say a word. But as I tuck my cock back into my jeans, I tell her honestly, “Since the first fucking time I saw her.”

An audible gasp leaves her lips. She’s quiet for a short time. So I turn to look at her and her eyes are downcast.

“How long have you loved me for?”

That’s a tougher question. I don’t really know the answer, she kind of snuck in on me.

“You don’t know, do you? Was it that night? At the party, when I brought you into my house?”

Laughter erupts from my mouth, though I don’t mean to. “No. No, it wasn’t.”

“It was after?” she asks.

“Well after.”

Livia’s head drops to her legs, and I hear her cry. I go to touch her, but decide it’s best I don’t. She wanted the truth, so I gave it to her. It feels better to have told her. Just haven’t told her the rest yet. There’s a time and place for that, and this isn’t the time nor the place.

“I’m going to get her, Livia. She doesn’t deserve to be where she is. It’s because she followed me she’s there, and now it’s because you’re a lying bitch.”

She sobs louder, then sits up, mascara painting her cheeks.

“If you go after her, I don’t want to fucking see your face ever again.”

Standing at her words, I nod my head to which her eyes go wide. “You don’t give me ultimatums, Livia. That’s not how this relationship works. You do not rule me. I am my own fucking boss.” Turning, I walk out of the room, and her cries grow louder, but that doesn’t stop me. I have to get my shit and go. We’re due to arrive tomorrow afternoon. I have to make my plans in preparation for it. To go to the den of a lion without a tiger would be the stupidest thing I could do. Lucky for me, I am the fucking tiger, and I will get my tigress back.

Bam!

That’s the only sound I hear when something very fucking hard and sharp hits the back of my head. Immediately, I reach around, and my fingers touch the spot. I can feel the warmth and wetness of blood. Turning around, Livia’s in the same spot I left her and is watching me with a sinister smile on her face.

“He chose me. Your father chose me. Did you know that? He told me he chose me. So no, you don’t get to love her or have her. I will let you save her, Ryken. But that’s it. That’s fucking it. The minute you have her back, you will be leaving her.”

My hand drops from my head, and all I can see is blood on my hands. The little fucking bitch.

She steps closer to me. It takes everything in me to not clock her one, right in the face, right now. Then she does it, her hand slaps my face, and she smiles as she does it.

“You will love me, Ryken Lord, and you will marry me. It’s your father’s last wish. Stop thinking with your dick for once.”

It’s the last damn straw. All I see is red. The same color that’s on my hands right now.

Red.

Red.

Red.

My hand snaps out and grasps her throat. It holds tight, pinching hard, so I cut off her air supply and circulation. She claws at my hands as I turn her effortlessly and slam her into the wall. She cries out, but it’s cut off with another squeeze of the throat.

“I think rather... you forget who I am, Livia.” I squeeze again, and her lips start to turn blue.

“Ryken. Don’t kill your girlfriend,” Quinn says from somewhere in close proximity.

With those words, my hand releases just enough to let air into her lungs. “Go back to the house, Livia, and when I’m ready I will come back so we can talk.” I release her completely, and she gasps loudly. Her hands go to where mine were touching. She tries to say something, but nothing comes out other than a raspy, “Ryken...”

I bend down to her level and whisper in her ear, “I fucked her, Livia, more than once. And I plan to do it again.”

Her hands drop from around her throat as she stands and looks at me. Tears now fall freely as I walk past her. She tries to talk, but I hear Quinn telling her to leave it. Stepping into my office, the very same one that was my father’s office, I sit down at his desk and wonder how the fuck I got myself into this mess. He wouldn’t have. Father was one of the best businessmen to ever live. Of that, I have no doubt.

Anthony Lord was feared by many.

Now I just have to be the same way.

“She’s gone,” Quinn announces, closing the door. He sits at the desk opposite of me. “Do you want me to kill her?” he asks.

The smirk on my lips is real, but I shake my head anyway. “No, she’s just upset. She’ll calm down.”

“You told her... you told her you fucked Saskia.” Quinn clucks his tongue at me.

“And I’ll fuck her again the minute I have hold of her,” I say, not mentioning the fact that Livia lied to me about the damn baby. She told me as if it was all some sort of small lie, nothing to worry about. Well, it fucking isn’t.

“Pick one or have both. Fuck, have ten. Maybe just keep the crazy one from knowing. Because women are vindictive. And a scorned woman is not something we need. Especially one that’s a fucking lawyer, Ryken.”

“Maybe I should kill her...” I say more to myself, “... but I fucking love her, too.”

Quinn doesn’t say a word.