Kiss Me While The World Burns

through the floorboards, thumping against the soles of V

pstairs, the city's political elite drank hundred-dollar cocktails and pretended they ran the world. Down he

ursing a glass of neat bourbon. The crimson leather of her dress fi

ri," a familiar, steady voice

hadows, leaning against the bar right next to her. Clad in her usual sleek black leather, Kany didn't look like a bodyguard-she loo

r voice low beneath the thrum of the music. "Level four security is

down her throat. "I'll breathe when the digital grid of

ith a grumpy tech billionaire has turned you into a total joy to be around, you know that?" She nudged Victoria'

s atmosphere made the hairs

a tailored, midnight-black tuxedo that fit his powerful frame flawlessly. His dark hair was brushed back, his

t her armed syndicate guards like they were nothing more than decorative furniture, stopping exactly two in

ing to shoot my kneecaps off, Victoria," Giordano murmur

e flawless line of his lapel. "Don't flatter yourself, Salva

ender with a casual flick of his wrist. "Bring me whatever t

lass, his long fingers intentionally brushing against Victoria's. The contact was brief, but it felt like an

locking onto hers with intense focus. "The device is stable, the b

is, the sharp ring of crystal echoin

before rising back to meet her eyes. The playful, corporate-billionaire persona he wore for the media was entirely gone.

ay, raising a subtle, knowing eyebrow before

ne elbow on the bar, reducing the distance between them until Victoria could feel the heat r

ly, her fingers tightening around her glass. "And until that EMP is de

and uncomfortably perceptive. He reached out, his gloved th

opping into a dangerous, sultry register that made her breath hi

of her heart. She wanted to shove him away, to pull her weapon and remind him who ran this city. But looking int

us game, Salvatore," she breat

etely unbothered by the syndicate watching from the sh

nd miles away, the ai

estate sat shrouded in the midnight fog. Inside the dimly lit study,

lethal, black-scaled viper coil tightly around its prey. On his heavy mahogany desk,

as successfully bypassed Level Four security at Aces and A

arium. The deadly viper inside struck at the glass, its fangs dripping with venom, but th

hispered, his voice smooth, ancient, and utterly de