“How old was James when he did this?”

Vincent shrugs as he presumably counts back the years. “It started at sixteen and went on until he was eighteen or nineteen, at least.”

“And that Nicola I met the other day? She’s the one?”

Vincent stares at me but says nothing.

“Because she looked fine to me. She sounded like a snooty rich girl, in fact. You said she’s an assassin. Good for her, I guess. So is Nick. So is James. It’s just a job, Vincent. Isn’t that what they always tell us? Everyone in the Company has a job. I have a job. I have to marry you and have babies. Did you ever ask me if I wanted to have babies? What if I don’t want to run board meetings? What if I’d rather be a marine biologist? Or a dog trainer? Maybe I’d rather be anything but this fucking girl sitting in this stupid industrial kitchen. Maybe Nicola has a better life as an assassin. Did you ever ask her? Maybe James did the right thing, getting her away from that wicked mother. Did that ever occur to you?”

I stare at him and he smiles as he leans in for a kiss. “You really are a lionfish, you know that?” And then his tongue slips in and his hand slides around my neck to keep me from pulling back. I open my mouth to him, responding to his request, and he moans and wraps his arms all the way around me. He scoots the stool closer to him, one hand sliding under to grab my ass, the other clasping me firmly by the neck. “I want you so fucking bad. I want to flip you over and fuck you right now.”

I squirm away and place a hand on his chest, but he grabs my wrists and yanks them behind my back. “That was a secret, so I get a kiss.” I turn my head when he tries and then he lets go and steps back. “You’re cheating.”

“You’re cheating,” I say back. “That wasn’t a secret. I want another one. Maybe I’m just a cold-hearted bitch, but boo fucking hoo for your sister. She doesn’t look so bad. I mean, I was trained by my brother too. What’s the difference? I was given to you. What’s the difference? So she got different parents? From what I can tell, that bitch of a mother of yours does not deserve children.”

He’s shaking his head the whole time I’m talking and so when I stop, I expect a protest. But he gives me silence instead. He looks away, then back, then away again. “One beat her,” he finally admits.

I swallow down that bitter truth. “Well, I’m sorry for that, of course. I’m sorry for that. No one deserves to get beaten. But One strangled me unconscious last week. I was drugged. Overdosed, in fact. So it looks like One does not discriminate when it comes to who he wants to abuse. And if the guy is one of the oldest, more seasoned assassins, then that means if he wanted your sister, he would have her. With or without help from James.” I stop talking and just stare at him. “Next.”

Vincent breaks a smile at that response. “You want more kisses, don’t you?”

I laugh under my breath. “No, I just want to know more about James. I want to know everything about James.”

“It’s all bad stuff, Harper. Why would you want to know? Why him? When I’m right here? Why bother with damaged when you can have perfect?”

“No one’s perfect, Vincent. You can’t tell me you grew up in this fucked-up family and came out perfect. It doesn’t matter how nice things look on the outside, it’s a lie. And we both know it.”

“He drowned our father. He tried to kill our father, but he failed.”

Now that has my attention.

Vincent nods. “He is the one who drowned him, Harper. James held him under the water for so long he came back to life brain-damaged—”

“I don’t care.”

Vincent looks at me and shakes his head. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I don’t care.”

“He stalked you, Harper. He lied to you about being your promise. He knew the Admiral took that offer back. He stalked you all growing up. He’s dangerous and one day he’s gonna get you killed.”

“I don’t care.”

“He’s evil, Harper. He’s got no soul. He’s got no conscience—”

“I don’t care.”

Vincent reaches out and snatches my hand. I gasp from the sudden movement, and then again when I realize he’s placed it over his hard cock. “James used you to get this party. He’s using you to get revenge. You know what Come means? Come get me. Come here. Come find me. It’s a calling card to bring people together so they can be killed. You’re the fucking bait! Just like James was born to kill, you were born to be bait. So your father can kill. So my mother can kill. And he knows that. He set you up.”

“I don’t care, I said. I don’t fucking care.”

His hand squeezes mine, making me grip him. Or maybe I just want to grip him. His cock is just as big as James’. And when I look up, his eyes, his hair, his body—all of it says James to me.

He’s lifting my shirt off over my head before I even realize he’s not forcing me to cup his dick anymore. Yet I still hold it firm in my grasp. He flicks a nipple and then his mouth covers it, biting and twisting.

“Fuck,” he says as he brings his mouth to my neck. “I’m gonna fuck you unless you put up a fight. You understand? I can’t stand it anymore. I can’t wait any longer.”

I fully intend to pull back and put a stop to this, but then he slaps my tit, making it sting and bounce against my flesh. I’m shocked. Too shocked to even react, and then he does it again. He grabs my chin and holds it just a little bit too tight. Just enough to make the wetness that’s been building between my legs explode. “Oh, God,” I moan.

“James likes it rough, Harper. Do you want it rough? Vincent will fuck you nicely.”

“I want it rough. I like it rough,” I call out. “I want it hard. I want it so fucking hard.”

He scoops me up in his arms and carries me out of the kitchen.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Harper

He sets me down in the hallway and backs me up against the wall. “Fuck,” he says, pausing to take a deep breath. “I need to know if this is what you want, Harper. I can’t go on unless I know you want to fuck me as bad as I want to fuck you.”

His head is bowed and his hair falls forward, obscuring his eyes. His chest is rising and falling rapidly, like his heart is beating as fast as mine.