Shadow

He's been waiting in the shadows. Now he's coming to collect.

I've watched Grace for years.

Through every Sunday dinner at the ranch. Every club party where she smiled at men who weren't me. Through her engagement to that VP who thought he could take what was mine.

He learned different. Her brother put him in the ground, but I would have made it last longer. Would have carved my name into his corpse for touching her.

The president's daughter is supposed to be off-limits. Untouchable. Sacred.

But I see how she looks at me when her daddy's not watching. Feel her pulse race when I get too close. Watch her squeeze those pretty thighs together when I work the ranch shirtless, knowing exactly what I'm doing to her.

Twenty years between us. Her father's wrath. Her brother's loyalty to a different club. None of it matters anymore.

I'm done being the good soldier. Done pretending I don't dream about her underneath me, marked by my hands, screaming my name. Done acting like I'm not already ruined for anyone who isn't Grace.

She thinks she knows darkness—she survived it once.

But I'm not here to protect her anymore. I'm here to consume her. To own every breath, every moan, every piece of her soul until she doesn't know where she ends and I begin.

Her daddy trusts me to keep her safe.

He should have known better than to trust a sinner with his only saint.