King of Envy (Kings of Sin, #5)

by Ana Huang

Truthfully, guns weren’t my favorite weapon. They were too impersonal. If you hate someone enough to kill them, have the balls to do it up close, where you can see the light die in their eyes.

“What do you do besides scowl and boring business stuff?” I play bingo. The answer was so swift and unexpected, I nearly choked on my drink. “Excuse me?” Bingo. It’s a game where players match the numbers called to the ones on their card. “I know what bingo is.” I glowered, unsure whether he was serious or having fun at my expense. “You’re telling me that’s what you do when you’re not running a multibillion-dollar corporation?” Among other things. “Where, exactly, do you play bingo?” He had to be joking. Senior centers if I’m feeling social. At home if I’m not. He shrugged. My staff enjoy the game as much as I do.

A tiny, mangy gray cat glared at me from atop the closed lid of a recycling bin. I didn’t see a collar or other signs it belonged to someone, so it was probably a stray.

ohmygod yes cat distribution system

I never understood why people were so infatuated with their pets. I didn’t have anything against them in theory, but I didn’t see the appeal of opening my house up to creatures who were smelly, needy, and almost certain to die before their owner.

oh but you will

For some reason, my mind flashed to an image of that stupid gray cat huddled under the sparse leaves of a tree. There wasn’t much shelter in the area for stray animals. The little pest was going to get drenched. Not that I cared. It wasn’t my problem.

I’d hoped to sneak in without anyone noticing, but as luck would have it, I ran into Jeremiah in the foyer. His eyebrows shot up at the sight of me with a cat in my arms. “Would you like me to take care of your guest, sir?” He wisely refrained from additional commentary.

She was a splash of color in my world of gray, and before I knew it, I was ensnared. There was no way out.

Vuk’s morals blurred the lines between black and white, but they always bent toward justice. Either that, or you’re twisting yourself into knots trying to justify his actions because you like him, and he saved your life. Fine. So what if I was? That didn’t make my justifications any less true.

“I love that you brought your cat.” I petted Shadow and smiled when he thumped his tail against my thigh. “He’s a temporary guest, and I didn’t bring him,” Vuk said in a long-suffering tone. “He’s a stowaway. I didn’t notice him hiding in the back until we stopped for gas.” He scowled at the sleepy feline. Shadow was curled up in my lap, oblivious to his owner’s irritation. I stifled a laugh at Vuk’s endearing grouchiness.

“Somewhere cold,” he mused. “I like the mountains and snow. Fewer people there.”

ugh i love him

I was the CEO of a multibillion-dollar corporation and a former member of an assassins’ organization, but even I knew better than to argue with a determined mother.

“Joy doesn’t require the absence of grief,” my mother said. “We have the capacity to hold both at the same time. That’s part of the human experience.”

I untied one of his hands from the chair and, without ceremony, ripped his thumbnail off with the pliers.

ouchie

But I didn’t care that Ayana was a distraction. She was my distraction, the only one I wanted.

If I had the chance to go back in time, I’d do it all again a hundred times over. No one harms the people I care about and walks away intact.”

“I’m not usually a compromise person, srce, but for you, I’d agree to a thousand compromises if you asked.”

Srce moje. My heart.