“Why should I?” Aleksandr asks and presses the knife against the mans throat harder. His words have a double meaning. They ask both me, and the man he’s threatening to kill.
Why should he meet Carmine?
Why should he spare his life?
Only I have an answer.
“Because you agreed to work with us,” I remind him. Something about watching him tease the man with the blade, getting so close to slicing his throat open and not doing it…it makes me squirm where I stand.
It makes my blood hot, and my dick throb.
Some sick part of me wants to watch him finish the job. Finish the job and track bloody footprints all along the floor. I can imagine how that blood would looks smeared along Aleksandr’s hands and face.
I swallow down my sudden arousal, both embarrassed and completely unashamed by it.
Aleksandr sighs. “I don’t have the time,” he tells me. “If you haven’t noticed, I have shit to do.”
“I can see that,” I motion toward the man who is barely conscious now. “But if you’re going to work with us, if we’re going to work together, you have to meet Carmine. I’ll still be who you’ll go to for information, but…as much as I hate it…he’s the one in charge.”
“I can’t reject a meeting with Don Dresvanni, is this what you’re saying?” he asks me.
I chuckle lowly. “No, you can’t,” I agree.
“Where would you have me meet him?” Aleksandr lifts the blade boredly.
“The charity gala.”
His eyes flare with annoyance. “I already told you, I’m not going.”
“It’s the perfect excuse to talk to my brother,” I insist. “You’ll be…undercover, he’ll know this. You’ll be able to act as though you’re trying to lower the Dresvanni guard.”
“What will I tell the others about my sudden decision to attend?” he inquires.
I shrug. “They know that we found their bugs, that we’ll find out who put them there soon enough. Tell them that you’re worried we’re catching onto their plans and you should be there to make sure all goes as planned.”
Aleksandr hums. “I suppose that would work.”
“So, you’ll go?” I raise a brow.
“Maybe, if you are there,” Aleksandr tells me.
I blink at him. “I didn’t plan on it.”
Aleksandr tilts the knife left, then right. “Neither did I. We all make sacrifices.”
He finally places the knife to the man’s throat and slits it clear across, left to right, and blood pours down his chest as he starts to choke. His hands pull on his bindings and for a moment he looks fully awake in all of his shock.
I simply stand here and watch as he dies. Blood flooding and body going limp.
Aleksandr watches as though he’s simply tired. No shock, no guilt, no shame. Just exhaustion.
It’s quiet between the two of us. The heat in the room makes me even more tense, and I want to step closer to him. I want to spread the blood from the knife onto his mouth, and then I want to taste it.
God, what the fuck is wrong with me?
It doesn’t matter. I’ve done my job. I need to get out of here.
“I’ll see you later.” My eyes shift from the dead body to Aleksandr’s eyes and he simply nods. His own gaze looking to the side of me, like he’s not really looking at but through something.
