Page 38 of Overdosed: Her Dark Side
My jaw clenched, and I let out a heavy breath, fighting with the rage and pain inside me. “Dammit, Melanie. I’ve never hid from you that I am who I am.” I spoke in a low tone. “I’m in a fucking mafia. What else did you expect from me? This is the harsh reality we live in. If I hadn’t taken out those who posed a threat to me or our family, I’d be the one lying six feet under by now. Being a part of this world, being in my position demands hard choices.”
Melanie shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “I can’t, Shane... I…”
She headed toward the door, but I instinctively took a grip on her elbow. I couldn’t let her go. Not again. She turned to face me, and our faces were now inches apart.
“I’m doing this to keep my family safe.” My voice remained low. “And you and my daughter are my family. I would never hurt you. And I would never let anyone else hurt you.”
Melanie’s eyes flickered between mine as if torn between the love she once knew and the dreadful reality of who I was. “You’re a monster, Shane,” she whispered. “An annihilated, ruthless criminal.”
“Am I?” I hissed darkly.
“Yes. Yes, you are.”
“Does it scare you?” My nose was almost touching hers.
“No. Not anymore. But does it bother me? It does.”
I leaned even closer so that our breaths were meshing, lips brushing. “It didn’t bother you in the past,” I murmured darkly, and I could feel Melanie’s chest moving up and down heavily against mine.
The tension, the attraction between us, was palpable. I wanted to kiss her so badly. I craved to have a taste of her lips as if she was the forbidden, I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t. Not anymore. I leaned closer, her rugged breath sweeping across my parted lips. I was so close I could feel her heart racing in her chest. Our lips almost collided. Almost.
“Things have changed.” She pulled away, stepping back as if to keep a safe distance. “I’m not the same Melanie anymore. She’s gone.”
She was right. She was no longer the fragile rose I remember. She blossomed into a captivating midnight rose adorned with mysterious, dark petals, impossible to resist. She had that intoxicating darkness and alluring elegance in her that lured me in even more than before. She’d become a manifestation of my deepest desires. Now, I wanted her even more. I craved her with every fiber in my body.
“Is it because of him? Do you have feelings for my brother?” I couldn’t help these thoughts. They had been haunting me ever since I saw them together. And now she seemed to be slipping through my fingers. The moment I thought I had her back, she would push me away. It seemed as if I couldn’t catch her, no matter how much I chased her. I knew this woman would be the death of me one day. But did I care? No. Call me twisted. Call me possessive. But Melanie was everything I’d ever craved, and that’s why the thought of her with another man was killing me.
“I can’t believe this is what comes to your mind first.” She shook her head. “You’re so possessive.” There it is. “Obsessive,” she added with a scoff.
I took a few steps closer. Her body shivered as I ran my fingers down her arm. “I am possessive only over what’s already mine.”
“I wanted to be yours.” Her eyes darted between mine. “But then I remembered you’re a ruthless gangster with a poisoned heart.”
My brow twitched. “Now you thought of that?”
“Perhaps I was too blinded before to see who you truly are,” she spoke in a hushed tone, her face painting with trouble. “Or perhaps I didn’t want to see it. I chose to ignore all the red flags from the beginning. Intentionally. But now that you killed Callan…”
“So this is what it’s all about. Callan,” I stated harshly. “You still care about that twisted, obsessive bastard who betrayed both of us?”
Melanie moved back as if she was scared of me. “What did you think, Shane? That his death wouldn’t mean anything to me?”
“Melanie, he fucking lied to you. He filled your ears with lies that I wanted to harm you, harm my own daughter, for fuck’s sake.” I hardly composed my anger. “The bullet in his head was the least he deserved for all that he’d done to us, all the damage he caused to us.”
“Can’t you see that we cause damage to each other? We hurt each other; people die… We’ve done enough damage.” Her words came out as a painful whisper. “This… we… it wouldn’t work out, Shane. I told you this the day you kidnapped me from the charity. We were blinded by lust, and lust is toxic.”
“Lust?” I questioned. “You think what we had was merely lust?”
“Think of it, Shane. You tell me you killed a man with cold blood, and you expect me to fall into your arms right after, and when I don’t, you question me, question whether I have feelings for your brother.” The pain in her voice was impossible to ignore. “This isn’t love. It’s merely lust that will fade away as time passes, and when it does, we will have nothing left. We will fall apart.”
She quickly wiped the tear from under her eyes before running her hand through her hair and heading toward the door. And I stood there, tightening my teeth. I knew I should let her go. Perhaps it would be better for both of us. But I couldn’t. Melanie was the only woman I couldn’t let go of. She was still undeniably the Queen of my Heart, etched into the very core of my existence. She was my only desire, my very own destruction.
I sprinted to the elevator, catching the doors just in time to prevent them from closing. Our gazes collided, charged with an electrifying desire I was sure we both felt. Lust. But above all, an unbending love that refused to die, no matter how badly she wanted to kill it.
“Melanie,” I breathed, stepping into the elevator, instinctively pressing her against the cool steel of the wall. The elevator door slid shut with a metallic thud as my lips crashed onto her, hard and demanding, and the world around us ceased to exist. Everything faded away. All I could feel was her intoxicating presence, which I craved like a madman.
Breaking our fiery kiss, I murmured against her swollen lips, “Can’t you see that I’m so fucking jealous of him because I still love you? I desire you because I love you. It’s not just lust. I crave you with every fiber of my being, and that’s what only love can do.” My voice was a low, almost desperate hiss. “Without you, I forget how to breathe. I know you feel it, too, Melanie. Stop fighting your desires. Stop resisting me. Stop running away because you can’t avoid it.”
Crashing my lips onto hers again, I lifted Melanie effortlessly, her legs wrapping around my waist as I pressed her against the steely wall. There was no space left between us, only the heat of our bodies mingling. My fingers danced over the control panel, pressing the emergency stop button. The elevator jolted to a halt. Melanie’s fingers weaved into my hair as my lips blazed a trail down her neck. She couldn’t suppress a sigh of pleasure as I nibbled the sensitive skin just below her collarbone.
