Criminal Affinity [18+]

Chapter 55

He leaves before she does. Not to win some fucked up mind game, but to get to Delia and get her to spit out what that little vixen is up to. Nothing makes Avalon Steele glow more than getting under his skin.

This time she's going to cut into the bone. He knows it.

"Delia." Ivan gives her a curt nod. "A word."

He's able to get her out of the crowd without much hassle. Everyone loves a party in the mansion, so much so that no one has even noticed Ava is gone. Blessing in disguise because he doesn't want to be a pooper.

Disgusting. He is never letting that word invade his mental space again.

"What is she doing?" He asks without bothering to make sure they are alone.

Lily also puts up a show. She tips her regal nose in the air and says, "She has plans."

"Yeah?" He can't keep icy rage off his tone. "What plans?"

"A date," Lily says. He's going to lose his mind. So God help him.

"A fucking date. With who?" He asks.

Lily scrunches up her nose. "That's none of your business."

She is absolutely right. But he's going to ignore that.

"Lily." He warns her.

Lily takes a step back. "She told me what you did. Using her body against her so you could get her weak. I'm no one to blame you because I started it, but Jesus, Ivan. Do you think she is ever going to forgive you?"

Ivan draws in a deep breath. "Is she getting revenge?"

Lily straightens her spine. "You can see it like that if you wish. I don't go snooping into my sister's love life. I suggest you don't either."

A threat. She is threatening her capo. Well, fuck. If someone had done what he did to Katrina, his blood would be coloring Ivan's walls.

Guilt rips at him. He's been fucking stupid. No matter how much he apologizes, he can never take that back. Ava had driven him mad that night, baring her scars with her sexy little brave face on. She was shaking her ass in the middle of his hall, drawing every single eye and making him go a little blind with lust.

The way she moved has been branded into his brain ever since.

Then once Lily informed him of her findings, it was betrayal mixed with lust. He was angry at her and he wanted to punish her, so he did.

It might be one of the worst things he has ever done to someone.

Ivan's black, cold heart stirs in his chest. None of this would have been a fucking problem if he didn't care about her, but that was never an option. He hated how much she drew him, hated how much she made his blood sing with anger and lust. He cared enough to hate her, and he definitely cares enough to want to fuck her.

That's no excuse.

She is just so fucking... radiant.

He hates the thought of her glowing for someone else, even if she only glowed for him with hatred.

At his silence, Lily's cold mask slips. She gently grips his arm, but he doesn't even feel it. "Let her go. You know you don't want to keep her, you just like the thrill. She has found someone else. Let her be happy."

He nods like a robot. Then something strange happens. A strong but slow ripple of pain passes through his body. Ivan blinks for a few moments, realizing Lily has already left. Good. His breaths are shallow and his vision goes blurry.

Let her go?

He never had her to begin with. So then why does it feel like he just got shot?

Someone else.

Ivan claws at the front of his shirt, the center of his chest throbbing like an open wound. Images of her with another man flood his mind. Not bodies together, but her laughing with someone else. Her bickering with someone else. Her letting someone else dress her wounds.

Her letting someone get so close to her that she becomes a part of him.

Ivan huffs out a miserable breath. In the twenty-seven years of his life, he never thought he would feel heartbreak. He had been careful.

Clearly not enough. Because the treacherous organ in his chest was crying out and it was all his fucking fault.