Chapter 520
Chapter 520:
It was Sofia Moretti.
Skye had seen pictures of her in the tabloids. The spoiled younger daughter of the Moretti dynasty. But the woman in the room looked nothing like the glossy photos. Her makeup was smeared, her dark hair a rat’s nest. She wore a sheer nightgown that left nothing to the imagination, and she was clearly drunk, or high, or both.
And she wasn’t alone.
A young man, barely twenty, scrambled to pull on his pants. He was terrified. A gigolo, likely hired for the night to numb the reality of her family’s collapse.
“Your father is dead,” Lucian said, stepping into the room, “which means I own the walls, the floor, the bed, and the air you are wasting p>
He looked at the boy. “Leave. Now. Or you leave through the window p>
The boy didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed his shoes and bolted, running past Lucian, past Skye’s hiding spot, and down the stairs.
Sofia laughed. It was a jagged, broken sound. She stumbled back, knocking over a bottle of vodka on the nightstand.
“You scared off my toy,” she slurred. “Are you jealous, Graves? Did you come to take his place p>
Lucian looked at her with profound disgust. “I have higher standards than Giovanni’s leftovers p>
Sofia’s face twisted. Rage replaced the drunken stupor. “My brother will kill you for this! He’s coming back p>
“Your brother,” Lucian said, walking toward her, “is currently buried in a shallow grave in the desert. He didn’t even mention you were still here p>
“Liar!” Sofia shrieked. She grabbed a heavy glass ashtray and hurled it at him.
Lucian caught it midair. His reflexes were supernatural, despite his injuries. He looked at the heavy crystal in his hand, then dropped it. It thudded onto the carpet.
“He left you, Sofia. Just like he left your mother p>
“Shut up p>
Sofia lunged at him. Her nails were claws, aiming for his eyes.
Lucian didn’t strike her. He simply caught her by the throat.
He lifted her off her feet.
Skye clapped a hand over her mouth.
O𝘳i𝗀𝗶ո𝖺𝗹 ver𝘴і𝗈𝗇 оn 𝗯е.𝘤𝘰m
Lucian walked backward, dragging the thrashing woman with him. He walked out onto the bedroom balcony.
“Let me go!” Sofia choked, clawing at his wrist. Her legs kicked uselessly in the air.
Lucian pressed her back against the stone railing. The railing was low. Below them, three stories down, was the swimming pool. It glowed an eerie turquoise in the night.
“You Moretti women are so loud,” Lucian said conversationally. “Always screaming. Always demanding p>
He leaned her backward. Her center of gravity shifted. Panic flooded her eyes, sobering her up instantly.
“Lucian! Please! No p>
“You wanted to fly, didn’t you, little bird p>
He opened his hand.
Sofia didn’t have time to scream. She just gasped, a sharp intake of breath, as gravity took her.
Skye watched in horror as the white shape of her nightgown plummeted through the dark.
SPLASH.
The sound was explosive. Water geysered up, splashing onto the pool deck.
Skye rushed to the hallway railing, looking down.
Sofia surfaced, coughing and sputtering, thrashing in the deep end. She was alive. The water had broken her fall, but the impact from that height must have felt like hitting concrete.
“Crazy bastard!” Sofia wailed from the water. “You’re crazy p>