A Dangerous and Cruel Love (Dark Mafia Romance Duet, #2) Read online

  Reid asked quietly, “May I have a few minutes alone? I’ll join you in the car as soon as I’m done.”

  She glanced at her husband worriedly, not sure if it was right to leave their boy alone. But when Payton nodded at her, she said reluctantly, “Okay.”

  As his parents walked away, he turned to face Georgie again. He still owed her an answer to her letter, albeit a few days late.

  It makes sense, Georgie.

  I’ll make sure it does.

  Also—-

  He inhaled deeply and his eyes began to burn.

  I miss you, too.

  As Reid turned away and started down the hill, he left behind him his old self, the one that had done its damnedest to please the world.

  From there, he walked into a future that would eventually turn him into the Prince of Darkness. In the years that passed, everything that was corrupt and dirty soon came to be associated with his name. He wooed the world with promises of cruelty veiled in pleasure, beguiled them with the most delicious forms of iniquity, seduced them into glorifying both his real and imagined depravities.

  And he succeeded...because Georgie was right.

  Everyone loved a sinner.

  Continuing on the path of self-righteousness would never have gotten him anywhere, but as the Prince of Darkness?

  People from all walks of life begged for a chance to indulge in his tainted paradise. Through his never-ending parties, the prince was able to hear things, hidden truths and uncovered lies that he then silently fed to the authorities.

  It was the kind of life that demanded the prince keep everyone at arm’s length, and for many years, the prince more than welcomed the isolation. Georgie’s death had killed his heart, and he never wanted it to beat again.

  But then he met Fawn.

  And the bloodstained foundation of the prince’s life began to crumble.

  Present Time

  The prince’s limousine drove through the park near Christopoulos University, and upon reaching a secluded part, the limousine slowed down while behind it, cars in convoy parked by the curb. The prince’s bodyguards spread out, strategically positioning themselves to cover every possible vantage point. A message was radioed to the chauffeur, who then stepped out of the limousine to open the door for the prince.

  All of this took place under a minute, by which time Fawn was left wide-eyed in awe, her pain temporarily forgotten at the sheer efficiency displayed by the prince’s security. The prince offered his hand to help her out and she took it gingerly, feeling more than a little intimidated as she came to stand beside him.

  The chauffeur closed the door behind them and quietly walked away, maintaining a respectful distance from them.

  An uneasy silence was born, and Fawn gulped nervously. If she had needed a defining example of just how different her world was from the prince’s, the extraordinary measures taken just to ensure the prince’s privacy and security were basically it.

  It just begged the question, really.

  What could someone like the Prince of Darkness want with someone like her?

  The thought had her sneaking a look at the prince – and was immediately caught staring.

  Oops.

  The prince raised a brow. “What is it?”

  “It’s, umm, my first time to see your bodyguards in action. It’s almost like Noah got them to take dance classes, every movement seems like a choreographed art.”

  “Noah will be flattered,” the prince drawled, “that you’ve likened his men, who are all former Marines, to dancers.”

  Oops.

  “Shall we take a walk?” But it wasn’t really a question since the prince had already started walking, forcing her to hurry after him. The park seemed unusually empty save for them, and she wondered vaguely if the prince could have anything to do with that.

  Surely that wasn’t possible. Right?

  As they turned around the corner and headed down the sycamore-lined lane, the afternoon sunlight faded, with large, leafy branches forming a canopy above them.

  The silence deepened as their shadows stretched on the ground, and her nervousness increased.

  Calm down, Fawn.

  But the words only made her more anxious, and she stumbled to a halt.

  The prince stopped as well, emerald green eyes looking down at her curiously. “Fawn?”

  She took a deep breath...before starting to babble. “It’s a joke, right? I mean, you can’t possibly want me to be your lover because that would make you masochistic, since you know I love Grant, while I don’t love you—-”

  The prince’s teeth began to gnash.

  “And there are so many other girls who’d be better, who wouldn’t turn you down like I did, several times—-”

  “Fawn?” The prince interrupted her in a soft, silky voice.

  She shut up. A moment later, she realized exactly what she had said, and she paled.

  “Are you finished?” the prince asked with a gentle smile.

  “Y-yes?”

  “Then it’s your turn to listen.” The prince’s smile disappeared. “First of all, the only reason you were able to resist me was because I was holding myself back the entire time.” When she opened her mouth to speak, he said pleasantly, “And if you say one word otherwise, I’ll prove it to you here, and to hell with whoever sees us.”

  Fawn didn’t even hesitate. “I seriously wasn’t thinking about denying the truth, I mean, seriously, you’re, like, the bomb.”

  The prince remained unsmiling.

  She snapped her mouth shut. Right. Lesson learned. The prince didn’t like her sense of humor.

  “Let’s start walking again,” the prince said after a moment. “Hopefully, a bit of exercise can cure your tactlessness.”

  She fell into step beside him, mumbling, “Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize.”

  “I didn’t mean to make you sound completely unattractive to me.”

  “And your tactlessness strikes again.”

  Fawn cringed. “Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize,” he dismissed casually. “You’ll do it again anyway.”

  “I’m not.” Her lips pursed in determination.

  I’m going to give her five minutes, the prince thought, before she puts her foot in her mouth again.

  He was wrong.

  Barely a minute had passed when Fawn blurted out, “How did you find me?”

  The prince hesitated for a moment, but because he didn’t want to lie, he said finally, “I used the university’s CCTV system.”

  She gasped. “You were stalking me?”

  He glared at her. “I was not.” And he wasn’t, never mind if that was exactly what his friend Nathan thought as well. “I was only concerned,” he stressed. “Okay?”

  “Okay.” But she slanted him a dubious glance as she spoke.

  “Besides, it doesn’t matter how I found you,” he said irritably. “The important thing was that I was there.”

  There was a moment of silence before Fawn said reluctantly, “That’s true. I did need you to be there.”

  The prince glanced at Fawn warily. That was surprisingly tactful.

  For once, the look on the prince’s handsome face was easy to read, and Fawn’s lips curved in a rueful smile. “I’m thankful, really thankful you came.” She swallowed. “If you didn’t, I’d probably...I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

  She suddenly stopped walking, forcing the prince to stop as well. When she remained silent, her head lowered, he asked quietly, “What is it?”

  Fawn’s fists clenched against her sides, and without meeting his gaze, she mumbled, “When I’m with you, the pain...fades.”

  Ah.

  “Look at me, Fawn.” He didn’t say anything else but instead waited patiently, knowing that she needed the time to accept that from here on, she could no longer run to Bennett when she was in trouble. Now, after the other man’s betrayal, it was Bennett she would be running away from.

  When her
eyes finally lifted to his, he asked simply, “Do you know why you don’t hurt when you’re with me?”

  “B-because we’re friends?”

  The prince smiled.

  She smiled back.

  Then the prince lowered his head, and before she realized what he was doing, he had already bitten her ear, whispering, “Friends don’t do this.” And his tongue licked the curve of her ear almost as if in emphasis.

  She jumped back with a cry of shock, but the prince only shrugged. “You shouldn’t have done that!”

  The prince only laughed. “I’ll do a lot more than that, and you’ll want me to do it.” He reached for her, and ignoring the way she stiffened, he tugged on a lock of her hair, rubbing the silky strands between his fingers.

  His touch made her shiver, but still she forced herself to lift her chin, muttering stubbornly, “You’re wrong. I won’t want—-”

  “You will,” the prince countered in a husky purr, “and I can even make you beg for it...because it’s how I’m going to make the pain fade.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “That’s why you don’t hurt when you’re with me, parthena mou. It’s because you’ve always wanted me—-”

  “No—-”

  “And it’s because you’ve never loved him as much as you thought—-”

  “I’ve been with him for years,” Fawn cried out.

  “Who the fuck cares? It’s about what he makes you feel, and the truth is, Bennett makes you feel nothing. If he had, then he would have been able to fuck you from the very first. But he didn’t. And yet when you’re with me—-”

  “No!” She tried to cover her ears, but the prince swiftly lowered her arms back to her sides.

  His gaze captured hers. “There’s no escaping the truth. I’m the one who makes you feel, Fawn. I’m the one whose company you only have to be in for a matter of minutes, and you’ll already be dreaming about how it feels to have me touch you. I only have to say a fucking word—-”

  “How dare you!” Her voice shook, not from anger but from fear. He couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be!

  “And I can get you to think about my co—-”

  “Prince!” She found herself half-shrieking at him, unable to believe that their conversation could actually end this way.

  The prince slanted an unimpressed look towards her. “Stop hiding from the truth. You want me—-”

  “Stop saying that, please.”

  “And I want you. I want you so much, my co—-”

  “And that, too, please stop saying that—-”

  “It’s just a fucking word.” The prince was torn between amusement and exasperation at the acute discomfort that colored Fawn’s face. “Why don’t you try saying it? Say co—-”

  “Banana in your pocket,” she interrupted him rashly.

  The prince choked. “What?”

  Outraged at the way the prince looked like he was about to laugh his head off any moment, she gritted out, “That’s what you’re going to call it, okay? The banana in your pocket.”

  When Fawn actually glared at him in the end, as if threatening to thump him if he said otherwise, the prince had to cough several times in an effort to control his laughter. After, he cleared his throat and managed to say levelly, “It will be as you wish.”

  “I’m not joking,” she said sternly.

  “I understand,” he murmured dutifully. “It’s, err, banana from here on.”

  After shooting him one last warning look, she raised her chin, muttering, “That’s settled then.”

  He checked his watch. “It’s getting late. Shall we head back?”

  Head back meaning...it was time to leave her?

  She forced a smile. “Okay.”

  They turned around, and her heart started to sink as they steadily made their way back to the prince’s limousine. She waited for him to ask her again to be his lover, but when more time passed and he didn’t, she began to wonder if maybe it really was just a joke.

  Did he not mean it?

  “I can hear you thinking,” the prince murmured all of a sudden. He didn’t look at her as he spoke, and his pace remained steady and slow, his hands still delving deep into his pockets.

  “I’m not thinking anything,” she lied.

  “You are.” The prince’s tone was lazy. “And it probably has something to do with me, so just spill it, parthena mou. Whatever it is, I will answer—-”

  “Why don’t you ask me to be your girlfriend?”

  This time, it was the prince who stopped walking, and she nearly tripped over her own feet as she forced herself to stop as well.

  The prince turned to her. “Are you saying you want to be my girlfriend?”

  His bland voice made her feel wary and defensive, and she lifted her chin again. “Is that a roundabout way of asking to be my boyfriend?”

  The prince said unequivocally, “No.” Surprised hurt flickered in Fawn’s brown eyes, and he made a conscious effort to keep his voice soft as he said, “It’s not you.”

  “That’s what they always say.”

  He almost smiled. “But in this case, it’s true. My life,” he said gently, “has no room for emotional entanglements.”

  Fawn blinked at the prince. Emotional...entanglements? What did that even mean? Wasn’t that just another word for relationships?

  “What we have is better than what you and Bennett ever had or could ever have,” the prince said quietly. “Unlike Bennett, I won’t betray you. I won’t make you any promises that I can’t keep.”

  Before Fawn could answer, her phone, which she had shoved carelessly in her skirt’s loose pocket, started to ring. It was an assigned tone, and she took a deep breath when she realized who was calling her.

  The prince’s gaze narrowed. “Is it Bennett?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “Then you better make your decision.”

  “I don’t know what to decide.” Frustration underlined her tone. “You tell me you’re never going to betray me, but you don’t want me either—-”

  “You know I do—-”

  “But only as long as we’re lovers behind his back!”

  “Yes. I do only want you that way, but at least I am not lying about it.”

  Tension broke out between them, the silence only defeated by the sound of her still-ringing phone.

  “If I do this,” she heard herself whisper, “—-will y-you really be able to promise it won’t...hurt?” Her voice caught in the end as an unexpected sob threatened to escape her throat.

  The prince clenched and unclenched his fists. Goddamn you, Bennett. How could that asshole find it in him to hurt someone like Fawn? When her weary gaze sought his, the prince had to fight against the urge to simply haul her into his arms and tell her he was not giving her a choice. He would take care of her, fuck her, and kill Bennett for having the sheer audacity of hurting her. It wasn’t necessarily in that order, but those would be his top priorities.

  The prince took a deep breath. “If you trust me, I can promise he won’t be able to hurt you anymore.” He offered her his hand. “Be my lover, parthena mou.”

  She took it. “Yes.”

  ****

  “Do we really need to have to do this?” Fawn asked uneasily ten minutes later. As soon as they had gotten back inside the prince’s limousine, the prince had automatically reached for her, saying that they had something to do before she could talk to Grant.

  And by something, the prince meant that he wanted her on his lap, which was beyond embarrassing.

  So of course she started to babble.

  “I don’t think it’s proper. Or advisable. I mean, it might not have escaped your notice, but I’m not exactly light as a feather even though I’m stiff as a board. I could be too heavy—-”

  “No.” The prince didn’t even look up as he spoke. “You’re not.” He was too busy arranging her limbs, and she found herself responding in a strangely docile manner as she allowed the prince to place her arms around his neck. Af
ter, he lifted her hips up and pulled her forward a few inches, causing her skirt to swirl as he pressed her down—-

  Oh!

  Her skirt settled around her, leaving Fawn’s bare legs to scrape against his pants as she found herself straddling his lap.

  Holy sweet Jesus—-

  And Fawn started babbling again.

  “Y-you must be lying. I have to be heavier than what you’re used to. I’ve seen the girls you’ve taken to bed, and no offense, but they make Thumbelina look fat, and I don’t know if that’s like a fetish, or maybe you’ve got a Lolita complex—”

  “Fawn.” When she stopped speaking mid-sentence, the prince said very pleasantly, “Shut up.”

  “B-but—-”

  “I’m not lying. We need to do this before you talk to Grant.”

  “How can I talk to Grant,” she mumbled in protest, “when you made me turn my phone off?” She tried moving away, but the prince retaliated by pulling her more firmly against him. It caused her to slide forward on his lap, and she jerked when she felt something harden under her.

  Her gaze flew to him.

  Oh my God—-

  It!

  Was!

  Still!

  Getting!

  Harder!

  “Prince,” she gasped.

  He raised a brow.

  “Your—-” But she still couldn’t make herself say it.

  “Are you talking about my co—-”

  “Banana,” she snarled, cutting him off.

  The prince smirked.

  “It’s a banana. Okay?”

  “No. It’s not okay. It’s not a banana. Rather, what you’re feeling—-”

  Feeling like her world would end the moment she allowed him to say the word, she quickly covered his mouth, and the prince’s words ended up stifled.

  “—-is my——mp.”

  Ha! Victory! But it was a short-lived feeling, for in the next moment the prince had suddenly started licking the center of her palm—-

  Oh my God!

  Fawn yanked her hand away, trembling at the way her entire body had seemed to light up with an internal fire at the feel of his tongue on her skin. When she saw the prince’s eyes gleaming with amusement, she spat, “Gross! It’s gross!”