She struggles to sit up, and only just manages it. “I’m not an invalid—”
“So you keep saying.”
“I don’t need to stay in bed all the time.”
I notice that there’s a stack of books by her bedside table. Apparently, she’s already gotten through a few.
“The doctor recommended bed rest.”
“Like you give a shit.”
“I want you alive.”
“Only because you can’t include me in your schemes if I’m dead.”
I give her a nonchalant shrug and slump down in the chair next to her bed. She angles her body away from me and her expression morphs into disgust.
“What are you doing?”
“Just came in to check on you.”
“Why?”
“Like I said, you’re worrying Nessa.”
Her eyes soften. Marginally, but I notice it. “She’s nice.”
“I’m aware.”
“How is it that a guy like you has so many decent people under your employment?”
I put my hand against my chest and pretend to look wounded. “I’m insulted.”
“Good. That was the point.”
I smirk. “It might surprise you to learn that I’m not the villain you make me out to be.”
“I don’t make you out to be anything but what you are.”
“Listen,” I say reasonably, “I’ll admit that I’m no saint. I’ve done horrible things. Terrible, in fact.”
She tenses a little, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Once, when I was but a wee lad, I even swapped out the frosting in an Oreo for toothpaste and fed it to my brother. But I’ve only ever given my enemies what they deserve,” I tell her. “I don’t hurt innocent people. If I can protect them, I do.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“Actually, you tried to kill me,” I remind her. “I was just defending myself.”
“Because you broke into my house.”
“To kill your brother,” I tell her. “Who you yourself have admitted is a fucking asshole.”
She bites down on her lower lip and I have to look away before my body betrays me. Like it does every time she’s close to me.
“You don’t get to decide who lives and dies.”
“The world is better off without some men, Renata,” I say softly.