Dark Soul Vol. 4 by Aleksandr Voinov Read Free Book Online Page A

you, but women eviscerate you first, he remembered his mother saying.
    Wasn’t that the truth. Silvio was certainly in touch with his feminine side. “I don’t want to lose you,” he said, and felt his own voice break.
    Her face softened just long enough for her to blink tears back.
    He wished she’d go berserk, slap him, because he deserved it and it might even make him feel better, crystal ize the roiling misery in his gut into an external pain. But she stayed still, far more in control of her emotions than he was of his.
    “Is that all you have to say?”
    Kick me again, will you? Stefano raked his fingers through his hair and couldn’t bring himself to answer. Coward. He was certainly that.
    “I’ll prepare the guest bedroom for you,” she said, far too gently.
    Like she didn’t actually mean to hurt him. Like he’d brought this upon himself.
    He had, though, hadn’t he? If only he had the first clue how to fix it.
    Dark
    Temptation
    e found Silvio because of his motorbike. Off all the bars where he could have been, only one had a black bike like Hhis standing outside.
    Stefano drummed the steering wheel with his thumbs until the car behind him honked and sped past him—close and loud enough to express the driver’s displeasure. That, while taking the immediate pressure off to make a decision, unfroze him. He pulled into a free parking space.
    The place itself looked inconspicuous enough. He’d expected rainbow flags and flashing lights, but none of that. It could have been just any kind of bar. Stefano glanced around and considered putting on his sunglasses, but that would definitely draw more attention than give him privacy.
    He could wait outside. Silvio would have to come out eventually.
    But the things that might happen in the meantime . . . While he had almost no clue what usually went on in these places, part of him expected it had rooms for a ful -blown orgy, and Silvio would be right in the middle.
    He kept telling himself it didn’t look like that kind of place, and he’d certainly been to some seedy places in London and Amsterdam before he’d married, but the worry was a frantic animal inside that wouldn’t be calmed.
    Donata was right. He’d lost a fair amount of his cool. He felt every tension double, felt all the possibilities, and expected the worst these days. As a younger man, he’d possessed a swaggering panache, but that was all gone, eaten up by a reality crueler than invention.
    The bar was doing healthy business, the crowd mixed, even some women. Lesbians, probably, or various hangers-on. And if he’d thought he’d make an inconspicuous entrance, he was wrong. Lots of people—men—looked up and several tried to meet and keep his gaze.
    He swallowed and made a big show of just looking around, itchy all over from the undesired attention. Up to the bar. Safest place, unless he’d sidle up to the edge of the room and keep his back and shoulders to the wal .
    Relax, God damn you. They got rights, too. It’s not like you’d end up gang-raped out here for ordering a drink.
    Stefano found a space at the bar when a group of people departed for one of the tables, but the staff was too busy to immediately attend to him, so he turned and surveyed the crowd, looking for one face, one pair of eyes.
    At the back were more secluded areas, and one table there was just receiving more drinks. Stefano waited, and, indeed, there he was, still wearing his biking leathers. Of course Silvio wasn’t alone—but the type of company was a punch in the gut. Two burly cops in full uniform.
    Jesus, Silvio loved playing with fire, didn’t he? The cops looked like they were a couple, physically way too comfortable with each other in that tight space. Both so huge they made Silvio appear slight.
    That image, Silvio caught in between these two big guys, made Stefano’s mouth dry. Silvio’s eyes glittered, and he was very much the hunter, drawing the two guys out, daring them to flirt and touch