Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Her eyes shifted to the mirror, looking at me in the glass.
I put the preshave lotion over my chin then turned on the electric razor and got to work, getting rid of the dark hair that had grown across my jawline.
She continued to stand there like she didn’t believe me.
I was a shitty liar. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I focused on my own face as I kept shaving, feeling her stare just the way I’d felt it at Rosticceria Da Cristina. I continued and she stayed, but I refused to look at her.
“There’s only one thing you don’t like to talk about.”
I turned off the razor, then leaned over the sink as I splashed water onto my face. I stared at the bottom of the basin as the last drops slid down my face. Then I grabbed the towel I used in the shower and scrubbed away the water and the residue from the lotion. “I have to see someone tonight that I really fucking don’t want to see.”
A hint of confusion moved over her face, like she wondered if her guess had been dead wrong.
“But there’s no way around it.” I left the sink and walked out of the bathroom to the closet to get dressed. I put on my jeans and T-shirt, along with my watch. I left the handgun on top of the dresser and stepped back into the room.
Aurelia sat on the edge of the bed with Medusa lying on her stomach beside her. Her makeup was gone like she was already ready for bed. She did her nighttime routine after dinner, and her eyes looked pretty even when they were tired. She had a healthy and predictable sleep schedule, starting to get grouchy around ten in the evening. Polar opposite of mine—which was all over the fucking place. “I’ll be back in a couple hours. Don’t wait up for me.” I moved to her and gave her a quick kiss. I didn’t fuck her before or after dinner. I’d been in a sour mood since I’d started my day.
“Be careful.”
I headed to the front door. “It’s not me I’m worried about.”
I arrived in Vatican City, and like everyone else who stepped onto the grounds, I had to go through security. But there were more security steps this time than there’d been in the past—probably because of the occasion.
I was escorted by security to the Apostolic Palace, and when I entered, I found Pope Zephyrinus seated on the couch, fully dressed in his robes and glasses. “Hope it’s not too late for you.” I approached him and extended my hand.
He rose to his feet and took it, patting the back of my knuckles with his other hand. “God doesn’t work on a schedule, and neither do I. Hope you’re well, Constantine.”
I shrugged. “Eh.”
He gave a nod in understanding. “This moment will pass.”
“And then it’ll come back . . . until I kill him.”
He didn’t admonish me for the confession. Nonjudgmental as always. “I enjoyed meeting Aurelia a few weeks back.”
“Yeah, she was a bit awestruck by you.”
A little smile moved over his lips. “I can tell she makes you happy.”
“She does,” I said. “I hope you’ll marry us when the day comes.”
“It would be my honor to bless your union—when the day comes.” He smiled, then gave my arm a playful squeeze.
I smiled back.
Then the joy was sucked out of the room when the door opened. “He’s here, Your Holiness.”
Showtime.
“Send him in,” Pope Zephyrinus said. “Thank you.” He was over a foot shorter than me, shorter than Aurelia, so he had to lift his arm high to give my shoulder a comforting squeeze. “You’ll make it through.”
“We’ll see.”
A moment later, he came into the room like a fucking storm cloud. A darkness so intense it drove away the shadows. He sauntered into the place like it was his own, took a scan of the space even though he’d been there before, and then he stopped before us—his eyes locked on mine.
I stared back, his dark eyes morbid like the underworld. I could see the devil in those eyes, see evil like no other. A man without a heart, a soul that had already been taken by a demon. He cared for nothing and no one—except power.
The stare went on for several minutes. Minutes of the most intense silence ever known to humankind. I was so angry I couldn’t feel my face, had no idea how my expression looked when I stared at the man I wanted to break with my own hands.
Years had passed since we were last in the same room together. Since then, I’d changed, bulked up to his size, so now there were two mountains in that room. I worked hard every single day, lifted once in the morning and then again in the late afternoon. Continued to train, continued to keep my reflexes sharp, continued to prepare for the moment I’d finally kill him.