“Do you know anything about this?” I asked, pushing her head onto the table with the barrel of my gun.
“No,” she whispered as a tear droplet formed at the corner of her eye. “I swear it. I would never—”
“Shut up.” I moved in close. “If I find out you had anything to do with this, if you lured me here with the sole purpose of what would happen, I’m going to hunt you down, and you’re going to beg me to kill you.”
Melina nodded and whispered a watery “okay.” I released her hair and turned my attention to the bleeding, pathetic fuck on the ground. Maybe he was telling the truth about not knowing who’d given him the box, but I didn’t care. Grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt, I pulled him into a standing position, my weapon under his chin.
“Surveillance footage. Now.”
Sixteen
SILAS
“Take her out, Si.”
Santino leaned back on the sofa, drink in hand and a reproachful look on his face. He’d been pleading with me for the better part of an hour to put a bullet in Helena and move on. Said he had a connection able to falsify documents to get me to the States under a different alias, where I’d work and help manage a gentlemen’s lounge owned by one of his uncles. It sounded simple, the thought enticing even. But the only way to maintain my anonymity was to tie up loose ends—one being Helena.
While I knew his plan was solid, and I wanted nothing more than to leave this life behind, killing her wasn’t an option I could live with. I’d had her, tasted her, dominated her in ways I knew she’d never allowed another soul. The thought of hurting or ending Helena’s life felt unnatural now.
“I’m not going to do that.”
He swallowed hard, placing his glass on the coffee table. Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Santino clasped his hands together, leaning his elbows on each knee.
“This broad has tried to kill you on multiple occasions. One being just last night.”
“Things are different,” I argued.
He scoffed and threw his hands up. “Why? Because you fucked her? Do you hear yourself?”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“It’s really not. You can get pussy anywhere, Si. My uncle’s place has more wet and willing pussy than you’d know what to do with. And none of those girls will try to cut your dick off.” He put his hands together in a pleading motion. “We’re brothers, and you know you can count on me, but I won’t stick around to watch you lose your head over some crazy chick—literally. She’s Ares, Si. And even if she wanted to play along in whatever fucked-up game you’re thinking, you know she can’t. She doesn’t have a choice. You’d be sentencing her to death.”
I shot to my feet and paced.
“So killing her is the better option?”
Santino shook his head indignantly. “Fuck, brother. That’s what you’ll be. Completely fucked if you stay here with this woman.”
Before I could say another word, our attention went to the door, and two soft knocks from the other side.
Santino pulled his side piece from his waist, slid next to the doorframe and out of sight while I cautiously approached the peephole. A sleek curtain of brown hair obscured Helena’s profile, and for a brief moment, I wondered why she hadn’t used her key card and grew suspicious. But I quickly dispersed those thoughts. We’d been intimate and had called an unspoken truce. I was letting Santino get inside my head.
Turning in his direction as I unlatched the door, I waved him off with one hand.
“It’s just Hel—”
The dark barrel of a 12-gauge was pointed at me, center mass. The woman I’d defended and decided not to hurt was standing on the other side of the threshold, her face twisted into a devastating scowl with streaks of makeup running lines down her cheeks where tears had carved a path. The long black coat had kept a Tac-14 hidden as she made her way to me, determined to fulfill her contract finally.
“Helena…what are you doing?” She clenched her jaw, breaths coming in fast and heavy. “Please, love, talk to me.”
“Shut up. Stop calling me that. Stop pretending… Just stop.”
My hands were up at my sides. Something was wrong. Her eyes were dark, gaze hollow and glistening with unshed tears.
“Hey, I’m not the enemy. Last night—”
“Last night was nothing. We fucked. You’re not special. I’ve fucked men and killed them in their sleep, and even as they came—You’re nothing.”
