Page 20 of The Devil

“Dummy?” I really am trying not to laugh but feel my lips quirking.

She lets out a sound of utter frustration. “Fuck you.” She stalks to the door.

“Fuck’s sake.” I block her exit and close the door, pushing a button on the pad beside it to lock it.

She tries to pull at the doorhandle. “Are you serious? You don’t want me but you’re locking me in? What the hell?”

“I never said I didn’t want you, Amal,” I admit. That makes her pause if only momentarily. “But I do need you to hear me.”

“I don’t want to hear you. Just let me out of here and I’ll find my own way back.”

“Not likely, sweetheart.”

“Stop laughing at me!” she says, slapping her hands against my chest I guess in an effort to shove me. I don’t budge. Instead, I take her arms and give her a little shake.

“I’m not laughing at you and you’re not a joke to me. You’re quite serious, actually and what you’re doing? It’s not the way to go about anything. Not to mention it’s fucking dangerous.”

“No, the danger is what happens to me once I’m finished with school. Hell, maybe before. Maybe even when you take me back to Cassian. You know what will be expected of me. You know exactly!” Accusation sharpens her words.

I grit my teeth, draw in a tight breath. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. What’s it going to take for you to believe me?”

“It’s not up to you, Jet. It’s not even up to me. You think I don’t know what’s coming for me? Allegra bought me time, but what do you think Cassian will do when school’s finished and all those men Malek fucked who have waited long enough will want payback. That payback being a piece of me? You think he’s going to put his family at risk to protect the daughter of the man who terrorized and—” her voice breaks, tears threatening. She pushes through though, forces herself to say the words I know haunt her. “The daughter of the man who mutilated his wife.”

“He’s not like that.”

“He’s a mafia boss. He’s exactly like that and if you don’t believe that then I think you’re the one being naïve. Let me out. Just let me go. I don’t want to get in the way of your very clear loyalty to him.”

She tries to break free, but I don’t let her. “I’m not letting you go.”

She shakes her head. “What do you think he thinks every time he holds his wife’s hand? Who do you think he sees every time he looks at me? I’m not stupid, Jet. And I don’t even care about myself. I just need a little time to fix things for Daniel. To save him at least. Then I’ll do what I need to do to pay back Malek’s debt. Whatever. I don’t even care.”

“Well, I care.”

That makes her stop. Kindness always does, doesn’t it? It’s more dangerous than cruelty when it comes to tears.

Her lower lip trembles and I soften my hold as those tears finally spill. I tug her close and hold her tight, one hand at the back of her head, the other at her lower back. Even as she pushes against me, her body at once yielding and fighting me, I hold tight. I won’t let go.

She finally gives in and presses her forehead into my chest.

“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, but this isn’t the way.”

“If I’m not a virgin anymore, maybe he can’t… maybe they won’t want me.”

“They wouldn’t care. You’re being naïve if you think otherwise.”

She leans into me and I get the feeling she’s been holding up the world for herself and her brother all these years. And she’s tired. She’s fucking exhausted.

“Look at me.”

She shakes her head, tears she’s desperately trying to stop drenching my shirt.

“Look at me,” I say again, tugging her chin up. “Hear me once and for all. I am not going to let that happen to you. I won’t allow Cassian or anyone to give you away or hurt you. Ever.”

“You can’t stop it, Jet,” she says helplessly. “You can’t.”

“The hell I can’t. I’d marry you myself before I let that happen. Before I allow any man to lay a fucking finger on you.”

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