Claimed By The Mafia Rogue King (Snow and Cupid) novel Chapter 43

Snowflakes

Finished

My car slowly slides to a stop at the roadside, and I pause to look ahead, at the path I’m meant to take that leads straight to Mr. Hanba’s vacation house. Sadly, it is through the alley where I was raped four years ago.

Staring at the darkness sitting there tonight, I feel the cold chill scrape against my bones, leaving them raw. But there is no room for fear. Not now. This isn’t the time to be afraid. I alight from the car and slowly make niy way toward the alley, my heart thudding the closer get, the shadows peeling open the screams of that night like fresh wounds.

I force it all down my throat, lower my gaze, and quicken my steps. Just as I make to take a bend, I see a figure coming from ahead, and my heart sinks violently

Somehow, someway, it felt like him. The rapist who first grabbed my arm.

Before I can think, instinct kicks in. I begin to step back my heart beating too loud, but as I withdraw, the person starts walking faster toward me.

Panic snaps through me. I turn to bolt, but my foot catches the snow, sinking into it, slowing me down. I whirl back around and the person is already near me.

A scream claws up my throat at once, but a palm clamps over my mouth before I can release it. The face comes into view slowly, just as I begin punching and scratching blindly to save myself.

“Snow!”

The voice snaps me back to reality. I blink once, then again, and the face clears. Quince, my colleague at

H.O.W.L.

I stumble back from him, chest heaving, my body trembling, heat flushing my cheeks in embarrassment. I hurt him. I lost my senses to the trauma.

Unable to meet his eyes, I turn away at once and continue toward the alley, but my feet to pause.

es voice follows me, forcing

“There’s nothing in the crime scene anymore,” he says. “If you don’t believe me, come check the pictures I took. Going into the alley is not good for you, Snow. I read your story.”

Goosebumps crawl across my skin, prickling me raw, and I turn around. He stands there watching me, no mockery in his eyes, just quiet apology. Apology that he scared me.

My gaze shifts to the camera in his hand. Slowly, I walk toward him and take it, flipping through the photos he captured.

“I also don’t believe Cherry Billion’s witness statement,” he says. “It’s too clean, too convenient. Yes, Mr. Hanba is a billionaire, but the Frosts are far more than that. Kashi Frost’s net worth is enough to compete. Why would he need to commit a crime to take another down?”

I bite my lower lip at that and lift my head toward Quince. I look around and then ask,

“You didn’t bring your car?”

“Yes.”

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Chapter 42

“You’re going home?” I ask again, and he sighs in frustration.

“I can there’s nothing else to do, right?”

Finished

4 lower my eyes back to the pictures just as my phone begins to ring. I bow slightly in excuse and take a few steps away to answer the call from Ares.

“Snow, honey?” His voice drips softly from the other c, making me mure. “You’re still out? It’s late. I’m worried.

I swallow. I haven’t called him since morning, even after he sent numerous texts checking on me. Somehow his care, even though it’s fake, seems to comfort me more than… more than Cupid’s gaze, which only scares me, frightens me. Cupid is a man I cannot read, and that makes him worse.

“Are you okay?” Ares‘ voice enters again before I can respond. My eyes drift toward the alley, and dread knots inside my chest, folding in on itself. Memories flare. Ares coming to save me, calling for help, staying with me through the hospital, making sure I healed. He stayed.

“You should come home if everything is too heavy for you, Snow,” he says softly. “You know you can always lean on me.”

I swallow hard at his words. For a moment, a weak, tiny moment, I want to give in. At least even for tonight. But then I hear the soft moans in the background. Female, breathless and everything inside me freezes.

A shuffle follows… and then a moan, whispering.

“Fuck…”

Goosebumps wrap around my skin like a wicked blanket. He is probably with Lencia right now, probably has his cock inside her cunt, yet he still dares call me.

I blink rapidly, disgusted at myself for thinking he could be someone I could lean on. Why do I need him when I have myself?

“I might not return home tonight, Ares. Enjoy yourself

I end the call. My chest feels heavy, too heavy, but the cold wind sweeps over me, pushing me to turn around. My eyes fall on the exact spot beside my parked car. The place Cupid and I met.

Now that I think about it… we met under the snowy night sky, at the exact time, exact second, four years to the night I was raped.

As though he is an answered wish from the moon goddess, to show me I am capable of feeling lust and more. But I push the thought aside. Cupid is perhaps just another criminal. If that’s the price I must pay to save my brother, then Cupid Godlike is nothing.

I turn to Quince and smile.

“How about we get some warm tea and redo our own investigation?”

“Sounds like a great idea. My balls are freezing.”

I chuckle and start walking.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

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20:44 Sat, Jan 10

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