“I admire your tenacity,” he says. “You’d make a fine cop.”
I spit in his face. “The fuck I do. I fucking hate you.”
He stares at me like he’s not impressed or afraid. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
My eyes widen, and I blink a couple of times. “How did you—” I push the knife further into his skin. “Fuck that, it doesn’t matter. You messed with the wrong fuckers. Release her, or Iwillkill you.”
“Then you won’t get your way, regardless,” he quips.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Orion says.
“If you kill me, you will pull the entire police corps after you.” I don’t like the fucking smirk that’s slowly forming on his face. “So go ahead and try. See where it leads.”
My eye begins to twitch. “Listen here, motherfucker, you know damn well she doesn’t deserve what you did to her.”
“She did that to herself,” he retorts. “Killers don’t get a pass.”
“Then maybe you should’ve taken them down and arrested them, Mr. Justice,” Orion says.
“Trust me, I’m working on it,” he says. “If I’m not being threatened with murder.” He eyes us up and down. “Is she really worth throwing away your life for?”
Blood rolls down his neck as I growl, “I would fuckingdiefor her if she wanted me to.”
“Noble, but foolish,” he replies with a kind of darkness in his voice I haven’t heard before. “Especially considering you were already a hair’s breadth away from being locked up yourself.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
PING.
The doors to the elevator open. Luckily, no one steps out, or I would’ve had to kill them too for witnessing a crime.
Atreus smiles. “Oh … she didn’t tell you? She traded herself for your safety.”
The knife clatters to the floor as my entire body begins to shiver.
“She did what?” Orion mutters.
“She was adamant about protecting you two from the consequences of your very poor choices.” His eyes glimmer. “Seeing as I know you two are involved in all of the murders.”
When I take a step back, Orion grabs his throat and forces him back against the elevator.
“She is a goddess, and we should be thankful she graces us with her presence. And you? You … you take her existence for granted.”
Orion squeezes his veins so tightly that Atreus begins to struggle, and he attempts to fight him off, to no avail. Orion is much stronger than he looks, especially when he hasn’t been drunk in a while.
“You took her from us,” he hisses. “You need to pay for that.”
“You. Won’t. Kill. Me,” he grits.
Orion squeezes even harder as Atreus slowly loses his strength. “You think I can’t do it? You underestimate my need to get back to her.”
“She. Wants. Me. Too.”
As he nearly loses consciousness, Orion releases him from his grip.
“What are you doing? We need to kill him,” I say, picking up my knife.
Atreus coughs and heaves, rubbing his throat. “Because he knows that if he kills me, she’ll never forgive him.”
