Page 3 of Silk and Sirens

Another hand encircled my wrist, tugging me back sharply. I kicked out, my heel catching his shin as I lifted the vial between us.

“Touch me again and I’ll tip the antidote on the floor.” I flicked off the lid using my nail, precariously tipping the vial.

His eyes locked on it, wide and bloodshot, chest heaving in shallow, frantic bursts as his legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees. His phone was alight in his hand, already calling a number. I immediately hung up and tossed the phone to the other side of the room.

“I never said you could share me,” I teased, adjusting my skewed blonde wig. “Now, who paid you to kidnap two young girls fourteen years ago?”

His eyes burned with helpless rage, his head tipped forward as if his neck couldn’t bear the weight. He went to lift his arm, his fingers managing to touch my calf before it dropped down with a thump.

“Beast … Beast is going to fucking destroy you,” he grunted, the threat mangled into wet, slushy syllables.

“Oh, I don’t think Sebastian will bother avenging such an insignificant little soldier like you. Does he know you were a guard hired to grab two girls walking home from school?” I kneeled, pinching his cheeks, my nails digging in almost to cut. “I distinctly remember you making me sit on your lap, not too different from how we just were. Your disgusting hands sinking beneath my skirt as I cried. I was thirteen.”

His breath came shallower now, wet and ragged, a thin string of drool slipping from the corner of his mouth to trail down his chin. He tried to speak, managing only a broken, “No … that⁠—”

“Don’t worry,” I whispered, moving my face closer to his. “This is going to be our little secret. I won’t tell your wife what kind of man she married. How her husband likes young girls, or that he’s capable of hurting children.”

“I’m … I’m …”

“Now, my sister fought, do you remember? She fought so hard. She was only fifteen, but she kicked and screamed so loud that she caused the driver to pull over, which was where I managed to escape. But she didn’t, did she?”

I stepped back, watching him claw for air, his chest hitching as the situation finally registered with him.

“No, she never made it home.”

His eyes went wide, a strangled sound humming in his throat.

“So, if you want this antidote, you need to tell me what happened after I ran,” I said calmly. “I want to know who hired you and when the last time you saw Mira Murdock was. Oh, and I would do it fast, because you have less than five minutes before you lose the ability to speak.”

His phone glowed in the corner, but I didn’t spare it a second’s glance as I waited with little patience for Isaac to let out a panicked garble, waited until he gave me something useful—and I knew he had something useful to give me.

The information finally spilled and, as it turned out, he didn’t know what happened to my sister after he did his job, but he did give me another name. Another person for me to interrogate until I had the answers I needed.

“An-anti … antidote?” he slurred, his eyes barely tracking me across the room as I redressed and removed any evidence of having been there at all.

“Oh, you mean this?” I held up the vial, rolling it between my fingers so the contents caught the light. “It’s just water and glitter. Pretty, right?”

“B-bitch!” he hissed, collapsing forward until he fell face first against the carpet.

He squirmed for a moment, my heels sinking into the pile as I stood over him. “Don’t worry, TTX is mostly undetectable unless someone knows exactly what to look for. You’ll just look like you had a heart attack. Now, would you like to look as though you were cheating on your wife and went out with a bang … or just a sad, lonely old man, wanking alone in a hotel room?”

He made a low, ugly sound.

Blowing him a kiss, I left him sprawled on the carpet of the overpriced hotel room. “Option B it is then.”

Chapter 2

Aeris

Of course he’d bitten me when I’d explicitly told him not to. Disappointing, really. Another arsehole who thought violence and domination were the only way to feel powerful. Pain and domination were kinks, of course, but only with the right consent and preparation. Very few men could naturally pull off an air of authority, and Isaac definitely wasn’t one of them.

Frowning, I applied the concealer to my neck, dabbing it in before covering it with glitter as an extra precaution.

“There’s a guy asking for you.”

I turned to find Steph standing in the doorway of my office, her stage outfit nothing more than a few scraps of fabric that showed off her tiny frame.

“I know you’re not even supposed to be working,” she continued, cocking her head to the side so her short blonde hair brushed her shoulder. “But he’s … insistent.” She was one of my Sirens, entertaining my guests with her sleight-of-hand tricks that were far more impressive when behind a locked door. She was also very good at taking things that didn’t belong to her, including information.