[1] Midnight Lips | Ghost

𝐂𝐇. 24

VALENTINA
༻❁༺

     The room was large yet small, with only a few lights on that gave the place a warm and rich mood. Diego sat at the end of it behind a desk, phone over his ear. He saw me almost immediately. His hand flew to the gun on his side only to drop it after he saw who I was. "A moment," he said into the phone, then put it down.

He stared at me. I caught the way he was torn between putting a bullet through my head or inviting me to that tour around his house again, only for the latter choice to win. "Valentina, how did you get past my men?"

I shrugged my shoulders, acting like I was a naughty one acting innocent. "Told them you owed me a tour. Am I right?

Diego got up from his seat and walked around the desk. We met in the middle of the ofrenda. I mentally cringed, mentally slapped myself, and mentally killed the repulsive man in front of me. I saw the keycard in the corner of my eye, laying freely on the centerpiece next to us.

"How about instead of giving you a full tour, I give you a short one, muñeca?"

Was that his game? Did he think it worked? Did it actually work with other women? And if so, what the fuck were they thinking? And could he just stop saying that pet name?

I put a smirk on my face as a mask, covering my disgust. "What does this short one has to offer?"

He stepped closer, his body touching mine now. He smiled, and his face looked ten times more punchable. I couldn't wait to take him out of his misery. His misery? Everyone's misery, I corrected myself. I was doing everyone a favor by taking this useless piece of shit out of this system. He was just wasting everyone's air with his free breathing. He should be paying for it. He should be dead by now.

Diego didn't answer my question. Instead, I let him trace his finger down my neck as his gaze followed it eagerly. He wiped something from me and then rubbed his fingers together, inspecting it close.

Blood.
There was blood on his fingertips.
Shit.

Our eyes met. We reacted the same time the other did, both of us reaching for the gun in his holder, our hands bumping into each other. I got the grip of the handle first, though I didn't get to take it out, Diego grabbed my hair and held my head in a tight fist. Really? How dared he? I grabbed his shoulders to steady myself and brought my knee up between his legs.

He groaned loudly, his grip loosening around my hair. I took advantage of it. I took his hand and pushed it away from me, then twisting it around him, I—

A loud sound of glass shattering exploded into the air and I covered myself as tiny droplets hit my face.

What the fuck?

The window had just half blown up, splattering broken glass all over me, making me lose my focus. I saw Diego's body falling to the ground at my feet. Eyes open. A hole in his temple. Blood flowing out. Dead. Glancing out the window, I found the reason for such a sudden death.

Simon Riley.

I took my ski mask from my pocket and put it on, along with my earpiece. "What the fuck was that?"

"Take the bloody keycard and get the fuck out of there right this second, Valentina," his voice rang into my ear, tight, angry, possessive, annoyed as fuck.

"That was not necessary, Simon."

"Do not tell what was not necessary. I want you out of there. Now, Valentina. I swear."

I picked up the keycard and faced the window, showing Simon—and his anger and harshness, his demands and threats and hidden warnings of showing me how possessive he could be and how he'd punish me if I didn't do what he said, that turned me on ridiculously so much. Oh, and that skull mask that was starting to annoy me, just in case—my middle finger.