CHAPTER 25 The Shadow I f I spend another moment in this stuffy ballroom, I’m going to start shooting people just to release some tension. There are plenty of heads in this room that I wouldn’t mind embedding with a bullet. Addie stands beside me, her tiny hand gripping onto my arm like her life depends on it. It’s fucking addictive. “Let’s get out of here,” I whisper in her ear. Her sweet jasmine smell wafts from the juncture between her neck and shoulder, and I have to grind my teeth against the urge to take a bite. Flashes of her on her knees, that red rose in her hair as she sucked me off with a belt around that dainty neck... fuck. A growl slips free, and it takes monumental effort to bite back the satisfied grin when I feel her tremble. Her reaction is more potent than a drug. It drives me deliriously insane, and the need to wrap my hand around her throat and fuck her until neither of us can breathe is overwhelming. This woman is going to reduce me to an animal. Her head snaps towards mine, her brows scrunching in confusion and what almost looks like anger. She probably thinks I mean to leave this place entirely and deny her the chance to get information on her great-grandmother. “Calm, sweet little mouse. I just meant this room.” She relaxes, her shoulders dropping an inch. It goes without saying that all guests are expected to stay inside the ballroom. But if staying on the safe side of rules and laws was something I did, I wouldn’t be where I am now. In a senator’s house with a girl who’s not supposed to want me. I grab her hand, basking in the feel of her skin against mine as I guide her out of the room. I wait until it seems all eyes have turned away from us and slip through the door and out into a grand hallway. Now would be a perfect time to search the house, see what I can discover in a pedophile’s safe space. But selfishly, I want to ease some of the building tension