“I should fucking kill you right here!” I yell in her face, wanting so badly to make her cry, hurt, scared. Who the fuck does she think she is?
Her eyes flicker between mine. Her nostrils flare. Her jaw clenches.
“Then do it already.”
My grip eases, but just for a second. I’ve heard pleas, bargains, and bribes to spare mercy, but never have I been told to just do what I’m going to do. How horrible is her life for her to want it to end? What have Titans done to her? What the fuck did my uncle do to make such a strong-willed woman so weak?
“Damian sent you, didn’t he?” I want to hear her fucking admit it. That son of a bitch sent a woman to do his dirty work.
She nods, but I can’t tell if the gleam in her eyes is one of regret or pride.
My head tilts to the side, trying to figure this woman out. I let go of her face, brushing her hair away from her eyes. She’s practically shaking beneath the determined scowl on her face. She’s strong, trying to defy her fear and stand up to me. I could kill her so easily. I should. But she’s the only person who knows anything about my uncle. If I’m going to take him down, she’s my best asset.
Turning away from her, I look over the crappy motel. I’ve seen prostitutes living in better conditions.
“You have some balls coming after my fucking brother.” I rub my chin, glancing over my shoulder at her. She crosses her arms, her eyes glaring back at me. But she doesn’t say anything, adding to the guessing game of who this bitch is.
“So, you fucking Damian?”
She double blinks. “No, I’m not fucking him. Look, it wasn’t anything personal. A deal was a deal…well, it was supposed to be until the fucker lied.”
I scoff with a smirk, walking around the room.
“Damian a liar, who would have thought.” I wouldn’t trust that dick tart with a grocery list.
“Yeah, you’d think I’d learn all men have an ego the size they think their dick is.”
Raising a brow, I roll my lips to hold back a laugh. Sounds like baggage. Broken girls are one of two things: weak or strong. Which one is Monet? I want to find out. I want to see her both fragile and bold.
“Tell me why you made a deal with the devil.”
If she feeds me some bullshit line, I’ll fucking snap.
“It’s a long story.” She shakes her head.
Taking a step back, I sit on her bed. The springs squeak. The mattress is hard and shitty, reminding me of my hospital bed.
“I got all the time in the world, baby. Spill.”
She finally looks back at me, her eyes glossy, as if she might cry any minute.
“Okay,” she says, her voice stronger and the tears I thought she was about to spill disappearing.
Sitting here, I listen to her tell me about her ex and how he got her involved with the Titans and left her with a debt she couldn’t pay or escape. Damian told her giving me over to him was her only way at freedom, and when she found the list of obligations my father left behind, she informed him of them, hoping she’d be free.
“But,” she looks up through her thick lashes, “I didn’t tell him the last task.”
To kill Damian.
“How respectful,” I say, my tone crass. “Why? Why didn’t you tell him all of them?”
“Because I want you to kill that motherfucker.” Such ugly, threatening words coming from her sweet, pouty pink lips makes my dick swell.
I like it.
Love it even.
Rubbing my chin, I think about everything she just said, anger still hot and bubbling. “Oh, sweetheart, that’s going to happen either way, whether I let you live after what you tried to pull is the question.”
Her chest rises on a large inhale. She’s trying to calm her emotions and come off as unaffected.
“I get it, you’re a big tough guy.” She rolls her eyes and sits on the bed, making sure to keep her distance from me. I want to snatch her by the hair and stare into them. See if they hold that purple hue and dig into her soul for what she’s really thinking.
“Sleeping with Damian would have been a lot easier than trying to come at me.”
Standing, I look down at her. Her posture is straight, knees touching, hands in her lap. The way she sits like a good little submissive makes my hands ache to thumb her chin and tell her good try at attempting to proclaim her freedom. She almost made it.
“Bellamy is alive so Damian isn’t going to let you go. He’s going to want more or off you for knowing too much. But you already know that, don’t you?”
She crosses her arms, looking around the room.