The Carver (Fifth Republic #2)

by Penelope Sky

“One bitch, one time is a mistake. A mistake I could have forgiven if you had been the one who copped to it. But there were twelve different women on your dick, Adrien. And there would have been a hell of a lot more if Cecilia hadn’t ratted you out—God bless her soul.”

“I hope you mean that for the next woman in your life. Really, I do. Because no woman should have to suffer what you put me through. I loved your parents like my own, I loved your brother like we had the same blood, and now, I’ve lost all of them. I’m out here alone, and you didn’t lose a damn thing.”

“I’m very fucking dangerous, sweetheart. But I’m not dangerous to you.”

“You just said you would kill someone if I fucked them.”

“Don’t fuck anyone else, and you’ll save lives. You’re a superhero.”

I would never hurt a woman or a child, for any reason whatsoever. And I would never hurt you, not just because you fall into that category, but because of how deeply I care for you.”

“It’s an unspoken rule—families are immune. We don’t come for wives or children. It’s dishonorable, and no one wants to work with a dishonorable man because he may turn around and do the same to you. Being with me doesn’t put you in danger. And even if someone ever tried to start something—” he looked me hard in the eye “—I would never let anything happen to you. I would die for you. I would let my body be pumped with a hundred bullets before you got a single scratch. I would slice my own fucking throat to spare you any discomfort.” His eyes shifted back and forth between mine. “You understand me?”

It felt like someone had struck me with a baseball bat from behind. It broke my ribs and bruised my lungs. I felt the blood flow in places it shouldn’t. The damage was irreversible—exactly like the relationship I’d just destroyed.

“First time I actually give a shit about a woman, and she doesn’t trust me and she’s scared of me.”

Tell her to go home.

She said you’ll have to throw her out yourself.

“Why would I care about a dead man’s name on your body?”

“Dead?” It took me a second to follow what he meant, and once it dawned on me, I gave a sigh. “Yes, that’s your solution to everything.”

“In that scenario, would you leave your line of work?”

“She wouldn’t be my wife if she did. I wouldn’t marry a woman unless she accepted all of me, exactly as I am, and trusted me to protect her.”

“You had Fleur and the business, and you still fucked around. You’re one of those assholes who’s never happy with what he has. Everything could be fucking perfect, and you’d still find something to bitch about. You’ll cheat on your next girl and then the next one⁠—”

“Bastien…I’m falling for you.” Her words didn’t halt my movements, didn’t interrupt the moment. Only when we were locked together in passion so hot it burned us like a pyre and sent our souls to the heavens did she show who she really was, show how she really felt about me. It was like a safe I had to crack over and over again, a code she changed every few hours. But when that door unlocked, it was worth all the effort—to take another piece of her treasure. “I already fell for you, sweetheart.”

“He means so much to me that I’ve forsaken all my principles and my fears and my sanity because I can’t walk away from him. I’m not ready for a relationship when I’m not even divorced, but I’m in one because I’d rather heal with him than lose him. I’m terrified of his world and the danger in the shadows, but I’m far more afraid of a safe existence without him. You say he’s put all his chips in, but he’s not the one who has anything to lose. I’m the one betting my life savings. And I’m betting it all because he’s the most exceptional man I’ve ever met. I’ve known him for such a brief amount of time, but I somehow believe every word out of his mouth, every promise he’s ever made to me—even though I’ve already heard those

promises in the past and watched them shatter at my feet.”

“You sound so busy, I don’t know how you have time for me.” “I don’t have time for you,” he said. “I make time for you.”

“Must be doing a good job…because some assholes just tried to kill me.”

“Not now, but someday, she’ll be my wife. And when that day comes, I want you to tell her this story. How the two of us sat in this empty bar at three in the morning, and I told you she was the one.”

“How’d you sleep?” I didn’t want him to change the subject, but I let it go. “Hard.” “Yeah, you were snoring.” “What?” He smirked. “It was cute.” “I do not snore.” “Well, you did.” “I’ve never snored in my life.”

He tilted my hips before he sank inside me, giving the sexiest moan when he felt me, like he wasn’t skipping around town fucking all the women who made passes at him when I wasn’t around. I was the only woman he bedded, and when he was in the mood, he came to my apartment in the middle of the night because I was the only one he wanted.

If it were up to me, a lot of things would be different right now. But I’ve been patient like a goddamn saint—and I can’t do it anymore. I want to come home to you every day. I want you in my bed every night. I want you soaking in the tub while I watch Manchester lose another fucking game on the couch. That’s what I want—and you want it too. So, don’t give me that shit that you aren’t technically divorced yet and it’s too soon and all that other nonsense, because what we have is fucking real.”

I barged into the house and found Adrien sitting on the coffee table—sobbing like a little girl. “They took her. They fucking took her⁠—”

“She’s my woman, not his.” I struck him in the face with the gun and made blood splatter from his broken nose. “Now tell me where the fuck she is.”

I laid her down on the earth and immediately started chest compressions, tears pooling in my eyes. “Sweetheart, come on.” I pushed hard on her chest and didn’t care if I broke her ribs. I pushed and pushed then sealed my mouth over hers to force the air into her lungs before I pushed on her chest again. “Fleur, come on. Please…fucking come on.”

“Whoever she is doesn’t matter. Because the code pertains to all women, regardless of which man she’s in a relationship with. You may not like how Adrien conducts his business, but that doesn’t give you the right to abandon the code you vowed to honor.”

“You’re sorry? My woman almost fucking drowned, and you’re sorry?” I came at him and punched him so hard in the face I bent his nose in the other direction. More blood poured down his face and seeped into his mouth until he coughed it up. “I will burn you alive as you hang from Notre-Dame, and all of Paris will see you die the death of a traitor.”