Chapter 34 Deadly devotion
RORY POV
"Did you know my brother was married? Did he ever really tell you about her?"
Vivienne's eyes hadn't left me since she sat down, asking me questions about how I met Alexander, how long we had known each other, all of it with the warm genuine curiosity of someone who actually wanted to know the answers.
She was nice to me. Way too nice. I had expected a female version of Alexander: cold, controlled and a total douche. but clearly, the siblings seemed to share nothing but their striking looks and their height.
"He told me she passed away," | said, my voice soft. "I'm so sorry. It must have been so hard for your family." I meant it. The thought of losing someone you loved like that, I couldn’t imagine it. I couldn’t even imagine losing my mother and she had been in a hospital bed for over a year.
“It’s alright,” Viviane said. “It’s been years now. We all miss her. But I suppose it'll be harder to miss her now that you're here."
I wanted to ask what she meant by that but
Alexander’s voice cut through the air before I could.
“Ladies and gentlemen.”
The room turned toward him immediately.
Completely. Like a reflex.
I turned too, watching him. In the glow of the chandeliers, he looked like a god-beautiful, distant, and terrifyingly powerful.
"As we all know, some unfortunate occurrences have plagued my life in recent years. But none compared to the loss of my first wife. The most precious person in my existence."
He actually smiled. A small, genuine tilt of the lips that didn't reach his eyes. My heart did a painful, sick spin. He loved her so much that he was still giving her his heart on our wedding night. My grip on my glass tightened until my knuckles turned white. I was just a contract to him. A warm body to fill a bed. I would never be "precious."
"A few weeks ago, when I returned to New York, my son was kidnapped," he announced.
A frantic murmur rippled through the crowd. I felt a surge of nausea remembering that day, but I also felt a spark of pride. Saving Liam was the only thing I'd done right in this nightmare.
“It’s no secret,” Alexander continued, letting the noise settle, “that I have managed to displease certain people in this room.”
He let that land.
“Oh God,” Viviane said quietly beside me. “Alex is looking for trouble.”
"And I know it's only a matter of time before they try to come for me again," Alexander said, his gaze finally locking onto mine across the room filled with elites men and women. "Especially after I have introduced my new wife, Aurora."
My body tensed. I felt like a target painted in white lace and diamonds.
"I want tonight to serve as a reminder. To everyone. I have brought gifts."
He motioned to the guards. A heavy silence fell as two men were dragged into the center of the ballroom. They were nearly naked, their skin a map of purple bruises and jagged cuts.
Their eyes were swollen shut, their hands bound behind them. They were forced onto their knees on the marble floor, trembling.
“Uh uh,” Viviane said beside me, already on her feet. “This is going to be bad. Alexander is spiraling again.”
She left my side immediately.
I couldn't move. I recognized them. Those were the men from that day. The men who had tried to take Liam.
“These men,” Alexander said, his voice dropping to a quieter and infinitely more dangerous register, “were sent to take my son.”
Complete silence.
“And this is a warning to everyone in this room who needs one.”
The sound came before I understood what it was.
Two shots. Clean and precise. One after the other without hesitation.
I didn’t understand what had happened until I saw the bodies fall forward onto the ballroom floor.
The first shot was a thunderclap. The man on the left jerked, a dark hole appearing in his forehead before he crumpled like a discarded rag.
The second shot hit the other man directly in the eye.
I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat, but no one else did. The guests just stood there. Some looked bored. Some looked impressed. None looked horrified. The looks on their faces told me this wasn't the first time. This was a normal occurrence to them.
Who are these people? What kind of world have I stepped into?
"I have made it clear," Alexander said, stepping over the pooling blood. "I no longer belong to the Underworld. I am a businessman now. But if anyone-anyone-touches my family again, I will show you that the devil doesn't live in hell. He lives in this house."
Alexander knelt down beside the bodies.
Unhurried, like he was tying a shoelace. He pressed one finger into the blood pooling on the floor and brought it to his mouth.
And licked it.
My body staggered backward.
This is who he is.
He was a monster. A literal, blood-drinking monster.
This is the man I had sign my life over to. The man whose bed I had slept in. The man who had asked me how my day was in the dark and pulled me against his chest and made me feel safe for one single night.
And the worst part? The most shameful, disgusting part? A piece of me had started to fall for him.
I scoffed, I couldn't believe I had felt safe in the arms of a killer.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Alexander said, tucking the gun away as if he'd just finished a toast. "Let us have a good night."
He said it like he hadn’t just killed two people in a ballroom.
Like this was simply how evenings went.
He looked up. His eyes found mine. He began to walk toward me, stepping over the corpses without a second glance.
I didn't wait. I turned and bolted. I ignored the gasps and ran. But not before I read the old woman's from earlier who mistakened me for her daughter. "I'll get you out of here Ana, I promise."
I had no idea what she meant.
I scrambled up the stairs, my Jimmy Choos clicking frantically on the stone, until I reached the safety of my room and slammed the door, locking it with shaking hands.