Concede (The Diamond Empire Book 1) by Kathy Coopmans (bts book recommendations .TXT) 📕

worse than me. The dude is still a prisoner in his mind. Heart locked up like a vault.

It took me a while to get over losing Meghan. Even longer, witnessing a woman smiling and laughing one second and the next, her head blowing clear off her body by a shotgun held in the hands of a jealous ex-fuck buddy of Rocco’s.

My reflexes had me pulling out my gun and shooting the crazy bitch right between her eyes. Guilt instantly gripping me in a chokehold, and to this day, it bothers the hell out of me whenever I think about killing her and how we buried her in a peach orchard.

Kind of screwed up when I’ve killed plenty of people since. It’s a bit different when you pull the trigger on a female. At least, to me, even if she did deserve it.

That night was the beginning of a long, bumpy journey to hell. Along the way, I took up a couple of addictions, grasping both as if my life depended on them.

Alcohol and women.

Spending most of my time getting shitfaced and fucking like a wild animal at Behind Closed Doors, a sex club my brothers, Logan, Lane, and I used to own. A place where names rarely exchange before a chick has a guy’s cock in her mouth or a man has her spread wide with his face between her legs.

And I sure as hell kept away from the innocent and pure. Those girls that wanted a taste just to find out what it was like to fuck Seth Mitchell. The man who’s known through the world of meaningless sex for his talented tongue and cock.

I’m not reflecting on a past to come off as an overconfident dick. I’m a pleaser, a man who knows his way around the little bundle of nerves that sets a woman off like fireworks. I’m talented in bed—a mastermind of seduction. Most women wanting a repeat performance. Most of the time, I gave it to them, but no woman made me feel the way Victoria does.

Not a damn one of them.

She’s done gone and stirred up emotions I haven’t felt in a long time. Strangling me like a noose.

Victoria has my nerves shot to hell with the disorder she’s enflamed in me. Everything stretched taut and tight, and every time I close my eyes, all I see are those haunting eyes that looked at me at the funeral with so much uncertainty and accumulating want.

And pain. So much of it, I wanted to jump inside her and carve it all out.

It just pisses me off she went back to pretending. Acting like the day we spent together meant nothing when I know it did. If that’s how she wants to play, it’s given me all the more reason to show her I’m not the man she thinks I am.

Sure, I’m rough and hard and raw, and I call it how I see it. But I know when to tone it down and when to let it all out. But there’s a soft side to me too. It doesn’t make me a weak man, nor am I ashamed to admit it. It means I’m not the fucking Devil.

At least not with women.

I see Victoria, watched her enough to know she needs to be claimed and cared for while spreading her wings, and fuck all if I’m not the man who wants to do it. I want to bury myself so deep beneath her skin and make her mine. I need to be the spark that roars her fire to life. Need to be the man to hold, comfort, and keep her safe.

I’ll likely have to break her down as she does her best at pushing me away. I might even take a few scratches while she hisses and brings out her claws.

I’m sure I’ll have to go for her jugular a few times, but someone has to come out on top, and I’d love nothing more than to trap her in a game of some kind until she crowns me the ultimate victor.

With her the grand fucking prize.

I will make her submit. I will own her, and I will fix what’s broken inside of her or die trying because whether she admits it or not, she’s mine.

It’s been weeks since I’ve seen her, but I know she goes to work, the cemetery, her dad’s, and that’s about it, thanks to Rocco checking on her now and then while I’ve been scouring streets all over the world with Dilan Levy’s son Micah. Like rats looking for a clue as to who called the hit on Victoria’s family. Only to come home empty-handed.

“You take care of yourself, little brother. Call me if you need help. Most importantly, be safe.” The oldest of us, Logan, drags my attention to where he stands at the top of the stairs leading into Roan’s private jet, a worried expression on his face.

I hate it’s there when the guy is living the good life he deserves. The same goes for Lane. Both married to two of the kindest women I know: kids, dogs, a home to settle down in.

A soulmate.

To say I’m a bit jealous would be an understatement. Even so, I’m happy as hell for them.

I understand where he’s coming from, though. He knows there’s possible danger in New York. A slimy, cowardly one. I can’t help my gut’s intuition now that I’m back in the States that it’s lurking in the shadows somewhere in that city waiting to ambush and strike again.

Dirty bastards going and killing innocent people. A kid, and women who wouldn’t hurt a flea, and David, one of Roan’s lawyers.

Whoever wanted to gain the attention of The Diamond Empire did. They struck in the heart for a reason, and they won’t stay hidden for long.

That notion became a dense, tormenting ache while away from Victoria. All I wanted to do was to go to her, wrap her in my protective arms, and tell her she’s out of