Fire & Vice: Burning Beauty

Chapter 2

5 years later.

"What is this?" Nic asked coldly, not bothering to pick up the file his man placed on the desk in front of him. Luke would fill him in with the essentials.

"You were right," Luke told him. "Franco Delgado is planning to set you up in Las Vegas when you attend the meet."

His second stood stiffly, his hands behind his back, his gaze straight ahead. Though they'd become friendly over the years, they were far from friends. Nic didn't have friends, he had employees and business associates. Luke was the former. Once a person stopped being useful to Nic, they stopped. Period.

Nic slowly nodded and waved a hand lazily toward the file. "I assume this contains information on the set-up, yeah?"

Luke inclined his head.

"Explain it to me," Nic invited, waving his second toward a chair.

Luke settled his bulky, muscular frame into one of the plush guest chairs in Nic's opulent office.

Nic could see why Cassandra liked the younger man so much. He was good-looking, loyal and far easier to be around than the foreboding Italian boss. He searched the blackness of his heart for a spark of response for his wife's preference toward another man. Nothing. He couldn't bring himself to care what the two got up to, so long as it didn't interfere with either Nic's reputation or Luke's work.

"Tell me," Nic drawled, leaning back in his leather chair and reaching for a cigar, one of the few indulgences he allowed himself. "What does Franco Delgado have planned for me?"

Luke cleared his throat and shifted in an attempt to get more comfortable. Nic knew it was him and not the chair that was making his subordinate squirm. Nic was a cold man. He had little desire to be known or liked by anyone as more than their boss or executioner. Anyone that claimed him as more wanted something from him.

"According to our Vegas source, Franco plans on using a honey trap to lure you into giving up key assets," Luke said gruffly, shifting again, placing an ankle over his knee.

Nic frowned and tapped his index finger against the file. He wore a heavy, gold masculine ring on that finger. It was large, but not large enough to cover the scrawling tattoo under it. It read nell'oscurita or "into the dark."

When he spoke, the impatience was clear, giving his accent a sharper edge. "And he thinks, what... that I will fall in love with his honey and willingly spill all my secrets?" He snorted and flipped the file open, his dark brown eyes glacial as they swept the text within. "He must know me better than this. I have never before succumbed to a vice; woman or otherwise. Why should I start now?"

Nic tossed the first page aside and scanned the second page, his nostrils flaring. He was insulted, whoever conceived this trap was seriously lacking in intelligence. It had Franco's signature all over it – the man was an i***t. Of that, there could be no doubt. This plan... it was ludicrous. How could anyone think a man of Niccolo DeLuca's standing could be brought low by a woman? Utterly ridiculous.

He would burn Delgado's castle to the ground, with him in it, slit the honey b***h's throat and take the competition for himself. It was exactly as Franco had feared he would do, which was why the little p***y was trying to play him. He flipped the page. His hand hovered and froze. A large photograph sat on the desk in front of him. A woman. For the first time in his life he couldn't seem to move. And this from a simple picture.

He was unable to tear his eyes from her face, to go through the rest of the documents. "Her name," he demanded.

"Maria Sanchez."

Maria.

It would appear that Franco Delgado was not such an i***t after all. Somehow the raging fool knew exactly how to bring Nic to his knees. There was no question now of slitting this woman's throat. He memorized every part of her that he could, every nuance from the photograph and instantly craved more. Her thick, dark eyebrows winged in mischief while her brown eyes snapped angry intelligence for the camera she somehow spotted over the curve of her shoulder. Her long, wavy black hair begged for his fist as it flowed down her back. Her body... f**k her body was a curvaceous work of art.

He wanted her in his hands, beneath his body and under his control so bad he damn near shook with the need. A partial smile had him gritting his teeth. Both she and that fucker Delgado were handing him the means to put her firmly in his house. Exactly the way he wanted her. On her knees, begging for mercy. Because she was a bad girl, doing bad things, going up against a man like him. Under normal circumstances the thought wouldn't so much as raise a brow. He would simply wave his hand and have the b***h dealt with. Now... he felt a mix of emotions; anger, curiosity, elation and lust. He intended to punish this woman, whoever she was, for however long this fascination lasted.

Then she could go the way of everyone else that crossed him. But for now... he would explore this temporary anomaly. Because nothing had peaked his cold, dead heart, nor his interest in more years than he cared to count.

It was everything Nic could do to bring his pulse back under control and make sure he wasn't panting like a dog while his second-in-command watched from across the desk as he lusted after a woman in a photograph. He lifted dark, empty eyes and tapped the center of the picture over her chest, pinning her in place. "This woman is mine."

Luke nodded sharply and rose from his seat. They needed no further conversation. Though Nic had never before claimed a woman beyond a night or two in an anonymous hotel room, Luke would ensure his plans for Maria Sanchez went smoothly. He knew better than to f**k with anything that Nic deemed important enough to lay claim to.