The knife that had been in my hand landed neatly in a chest of drawers directly to Liv’s right, mere inches from her head. She glanced at the blade, still wobbling from impact, and took a step away.
“Don’t speak to me about Jeffers,” I whispered darkly, stepping forward. “Don’t give me this ‘we’ shit. This place, Purgatory, isn’t yours, you insane slut. The only ‘we’ in this equation is me and Jeffers. We started this place, we let you in here, wefuckyou—”
“I’ll tell him!” she hissed, raising her chin defiantly. I’ll tell him about—”
I cut off her tantrum with a swift grab for her throat, using my hold on her to drag her up against me. As I glared down at her, my fingers twitched around her throat. “Tell him,” I taunted her. “Tell him how the only woman he’s been with after losing his wife has been fucking his best friend. See how well that turns out for you.”
Liv sucked in a sharp breath of air, and I couldn’t tell if I’d angered her or turned her on. Probably both. As for me, I was just plain pissed and damn well sick of her shit. I seemed to have little patience for anything lately, least of all Liv.
“Make no mistake, Olivia,” I growled. “It’s you who’s owned, not the other way around.”
Releasing her, I held my ground while she took a hesitant step back and cleared her throat.
“He’d kill you,” she whispered, her eyes bright with anger, her nostrils flaring. “You know he would.”
“Correction,” I muttered. “He’d have you killed. And he’dtryto have me killed. We both know Jeffers doesn’t have the balls to do anything himself. But none of those useless sacks of shit you and he have doing your dirty work have ever bested me at anything. So you go ahead and tell him, and we’ll see who’s running this place in the end.”
Lies. All lies. Who really knew what Jeffers would do if he found out about Liv and me? All that mattered right here and now was that Liv clung to him, to the freedom and the power he provided her, even when he couldn’t provide for her in other ways, sexually or emotionally. If she lost Jeffers, she lost her power, and she knew it. It was the only card I had to play at the moment, so I played it.
“So, what’s it gonna be?” I asked, giving her a tight smile. “You going to pit me and Jeffers against each other and start a war that’ll end up destroying this kingdom of yours? Or will you turn your scrawny ass around and get the fuck out of my house?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she sniffed. “Give me the girl,” she said snidely, “and we’ll call it even.”
“No.”
I wasn’t giving Liv jack shit, especially not squirrelly shits-her-pants who was probably right now covering herself in her own shit again. I saw the look on Liv’s face, the dollar signs flashing in her evil, beady little eyes, and knew exactly what she was thinking. And I wasn’t going to let that happen, not to this girl, not as long as I could do something about it.
But why?the voice whispered.Why does she matter when no one else does? When I didn’t?
I hadn’t seen it coming, the sucker punch from those three simple words, causing me to falter. I sucked in a hard breath, releasing it quickly only to suck in another. I couldn’t seem to get enough air; there wasn’t enough air in the room. And all I could see washer. Her red hair, her blue eyes, and the snarl on her face as she lunged for me. And all I could hear was the pounding coming from inside the bedroom closet ...
“Are you fucking joking?” Liv shouted, shocking me straight out of my unwanted memory. “You can’t keep her! She doesn’t belong to you! Jesus, Eagle, forget the man she killed, do you know how popular a piece like that would be with the men around here?”
Liv was right. The girl would be a hit. The men would line up for twenty minutes with her, pay whatever price Liv asked, give away half their supplies if she deemed that the price. Liv would reap all the benefits, leaving the girl like all these other girls, broken and used up, with nothing to show for it. But the girl didn’t belong to me. Not yet, anyway.
With an impromptu plan forming, I turned away from Liv and headed into the bedroom to find the girl once again cowering in a small space, this time between a stack of boxes and a large broken safe. She was still naked, still wet, still filthy, and she still reeked.
“Get up,” I ordered her, crooking a finger. “And get dressed. Right the fuck now.”
Shivering, she stared at me with her eyes narrowed and full of distrust, and made no move to do as I said.
“Let me clarify,” I said. “You will do as I say because you don’t have a choice in the matter. I’m all you’ve got. Unless you want to be trapped in a room for who the hell knows how long, spreading your legs for whoever pays for it. Are we clear?”
Her mouth tightened even as her eyes filled with tears. She knew she didn’t have a choice, and I didn’t blame her for being angry with me. Oddly enough, I didn’t blame her for her tears either. In fact, the only thing I felt as I glared at her was ... pity.
She took her sweet time to get to her feet, making no move to cover herself this time, and pulled herself to her full height before she stepped out of the shadows. Droplets of water still clung to her body, and it almost seemed as if she were covered in tears.
“Look at her,” Liv said softly as she came to stand behind me.
The girl’s water-logged eyes went wide with fear at the sight of Liv, and acting on instinct, I moved in front of her, blocking her from Liv’s view.
“You need to trust me,” I muttered to the girl, grabbing the first article of clothing I found and tossing it at her. The shirt fell to the floor as she stared at me blankly, her lips trembling.
Bending down, I scooped up the shirt and brought it down over her head. “Just stay quiet, do as I say, and I’ll make sure no one touches you. Understand?”
She said nothing, didn’t even nod in response. It was too much, I guessed. She’d reached her breaking point and was shutting the fuck down.
Cursing under my breath, I tried to right the shirt over her body. Then, once she was covered, I pulled her forward and scooped her up in my arms, then stormed past Liv and out of the room.
