Chapter 5 The Desk Trap

CHAPTER 5: THE DESK TRAP

Amara had twenty minutes.

Luca was in a meeting with the Sicillan underboss, two floors below. It was the first time since the wedding he wasn't watching her like a hawk or touching her like she was already his.

She crept down the eastern hallway barefoot, heart drumming in her chest. The mansion was eerily silent, moonlight washed in through the tall windows as if shadows were holding their breath.

Her destination was Luca's private office. She'd studied the cameras and memorized the guards rotation. She carried the bug, a sleek razor-like chip no longer than a fingernail. She tucked it in her bra, Dante's last message still burning in her mind.

"Get it done or Micah bleeds."

Amara reached the carved double doors. They were unlocked, almost too easy. Still, she slipped inside, closing them quietly behind her.

The room was massive, its walls lined with big antique books and the Valentino Crest above a black marble fireplace. There was a bar stocked with whiskey far older than her existence, and at the center, a desk...his desk.

She moved quickly, the audio bug placed carefully between her fingers. She knelt beside the leg of the table, her hand trembling as she pressed it into the hollow groove beneath.

It clicked.

Done, she sighed in relief, cleaning sweat from her forehead.

She turned back and froze.

Luca was standing by the doorway, a knowing look on his face and a glass of whiskey in his hand.

"You missed a spot," he said.

The ground might have as well opened up and swallowed her whole.

"I couldn't sleep," she lied. "Thought I'd find a book."

"I recommend Macbeth, you'd enjoy the irony," he said, stepping in.

She swallowed. "You were supposed to be in a meeting."

He dried the glass on the table. "I was"

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to understand that this marriage is going to be very entertaining."

He stepped closer and she backed away until her spine hit the shelf.

"You said I could explore the house."

"Mmmm," he hummed. "But I didn't say you wouldn't be followed."

He stepped in front of her,lifting his hand slowly and deliberately. He tucked the strand of loose hair behind her ear again the way he always did, right before saying something that made her knees weak and stomach turn.

"What did you plant?" He whispered.

She didn't respond.

He smiled...a dangerous knowing smile. "Let me guess, tiny Russian voice only?"

His hands dropped from her face and trailed down her neck, over her collarbone and over the rise of her chest. Her breath hitched when his fingers dipped into her bra.

She gasped, trying to slap him away, but he caught her wrist effortlessly.

His other hand emerged with the bug between his fingers, still warm from her skin.

"Got it."

Her cheek burned. Not from exposure, but from shame.

Luca wasn't angry, he was amused and that was worse.

"You're very bad at this, you know," his voice didn't carry any hint of anger as he continued. "Espionage,deception,seduction."

"I wasn't trying to seduce you," she snapped.

His voice darkened. "That's your second mistake."

He dropped the bug into his glass of whiskey.

Amara tried to walk past him, but he grabbed her, spun her around and pinned her to the book shelf. His mouth ghosted hers but didn't touch.

"I want you to listen to me very carefully," he said, tightening his grip on her hands.

"If you betray me again, I won't kill you."

Her breath trembled.

"I'll make you fall hopelessly and helplessly in love with me first."

His lips brushed her ear softly. "And then I'll rip you apart."

He stepped back just like that, calm and composed like he hadn't just threatened her.

Amara stood there frozen, chest rising and falling, fury mixed with something worse...desire.

Luca returned to his desk and poured himself a new drink. He waved his hand towards the door. "You're dismissed, Mrs. Valentino."

She walked out in silence, because she had to.

But when the doors closed behind her, she heard something that made her blood freeze.

A low voice spoke, no Luca's

"She tastes like ruin, let me have her next time."

Luca answered, chillingly calm.

"Not yet."