Sins That Define Us

Sins That Define UsMADLY EVER AFTERBOOK THREE E.M. LINDSEY Sins That Define Us Copyright © 2023 E.M. Lindsey All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Any events, places, or people portrayed in the book have been used in a manner of fiction and are not intended to represent reality. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Cover by: Cate Ashwood Designs Editing: Sandra with One Love Editing Content Warnings: This book is a dark romance. It contains both mentions and on-page instances of kidnapping, torture, suicidal ideation, D/s dynamics, morally grey characters, and ableist language. Please take care if these issues are triggering for you. Contents PrefaceChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19EpilogueAlso by E.M. LindseyAbout the Author Promises were made, vows were spoken, and now it’s up to me to usher in a new era and generation of the Walsh Family. We just need to rid the world of the man who called himself my father in order to do it. But it’s not as easy as it seems. Not with hidden agendas and new chess pieces on the board. It’s one thing to stand in front of the world and call myself Kane Walsh’s wife—queen to his vast empire of death, but it’s quite another to act on that power without proof I can be as ruthless as the four men who love me. Revenge is close enough that I can taste it, and it will be sweet. And all I can really hope for is that all four men will be by my side when all is said and done. After all, what would the new queen be without her knights in blood-stained armor? Chapter 1ALICE You’d think that finding out these men have probably lied to me and are using me just the same as my fath—as Guido—had done in the past would make it harder to climb into bed with them, but apparently, I’m just as depraved as they are. I went from a wallflower—a quiet, nervous virgin who only ever touched her deepest fantasies when the lights were out and no one was around—to this starving thing. This creature crawling in and out of their beds, letting them ravage me one by one. The only one of them I haven’t conquered is the king. Hades, the god of death. Kane. The one who keeps denying me, and maybe that’s why I can’t let go. Maybe that’s why I feel like I’m losing my mind every time I see him walking around. He must know it. The way he catches my eye and holds me pinned by his gaze for so long that I feel like I’d be willing to drop to my knees and promise anything? There’s no way this is all happening by accident. Jesus, I sound bitter. Which, ha, is probably because I am. I walked away from the engagement party with a second secret living deep inside me. It split me in half between the would-be misfit falling deeply in love with her four killers and the woman who was itching for a taste of freedom. But I don’t know what to do with any of it. I don’t know who to believe or who to trust—including myself. A small part of me wants to believe Leo because he’s family, and the desperation to have someone on my side from my past is impossible to ignore. But I’m not foolish enough to believe that blood means anything in this world. All of it makes me feel young and naïve. It makes me feel like I really am that sorry, sheltered little girl Guido kept ignorant of everything. How quickly I’d fallen under the spell of Kane and his misfits makes me realize how successful Guido really was with his plan. I want them with every fiber of my being, and the fear that they’re using me or might betray me at any given second isn’t enough to make me turn away. My need for them follows me into my dreams—into strange, sex-laced nightmares that end in sobbing and blood. I often wake with a scream lodged in my throat and my heart racing and a need to get lost in their arms. When those nightmares happen, whoever is in bed next to me never asks me about them. They just hold me until I can breathe again and then fuck me until I’m too tired to stay awake. When it’s Phoenix, it’s slow and powerful. He rolls me onto my hands and knees, forces me to grab the headboard. Then he takes me from behind until I’m a whimpering mess from his slow, rolling hips and his perfect, strong, dangerous hands. We sleep after that with his palm against my lower belly and his nose against my neck like he can keep me from shaking apart that way. And sometimes it works. Ariel isn’t as kind, but he’s more possessive. He wants to watch me as I fall apart so he keeps me on my back with my legs spread so wide I can feel my pussy lips part. He watches himself finger me until I can’t take it, and then he fucks me so hard and so fast, I see stars. He never kisses me during, but sometimes he kisses me after. He places his hand against my throat—not enough to cut off my air, but enough to remind me that he isn’t safe. And somehow, I sleep even better. James is different than all of them. He fucks me with the edge of tenderness. There are whispered words of affection on his breath, his stump pressing to my chest, his hand tormenting my clit as his pierced cock drags along