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“I won’t kill you.”

I would question why she would think I’d save her just to kill her, but considering who I’d rescued her from… Don Bianco was the type to play sick mind games. That wasn’t my style. If I was going to do something, I’d just do it. No point in waiting.

She took in a long breath. “Okay.” A little smile curved her lips. “You might regret that actually. Since you killed Don Bianco, I’m going to assume you knew who he was. You should know whoever found him is going to be twice as mad that you took me as they are that you killed him. You probably should have left me there. There was a reason I asked you for mercy. If they catch us, they won’t have any.”

I shrugged again. I never expected mercy from the Biancos if they caught me. Sure, they might be mad that I took Don Bianco’s plaything, but I doubted whoever found him would blame her. Unless they thought she somehow had something to do with it. Or maybe she’d done something to piss someone in his organization off and that was why she was in the cage.

It didn’t matter.

Hailey had told me not to kill any innocents, so here Ivy was. Not dead. Innocent until proven guilty. In which case I still might have to kill her. But that wasn’t my decision to make. Don DiNardo would make the call once I got her back to New York City and then he could explain it to Hailey if she was upset.

And Don Bianco’s men weren’t going to catch us.

I pointed at the bathroom door again and she let out a little huff of annoyance.

“Fine. But if you kill me after saying you won’t, I’m coming back to haunt you.” She gave me a little glare before turning on her heel and stomping to the bathroom.

I blinked.

That was unexpected. As was the feeling of my lip curling up on the side. Not in a sneer, but… I could feel it. Just the smallest hint of a smile. Shaking my head, I followed her to the bathroom.

Ivy

As I entered the small room, I looked around nervously, not sure of what to expect. Not that I’d stayed in many hotels before, but the few that I’d been in before my father had given me to Don Bianco had had shared bathrooms. If I’d had any thoughts of a second door to escape through, those were dashed immediately. The only exit, other than the door I’d just come through, was a small window, high on the wall.

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to climb through it, even if there wasn’t a hulking man crowding the doorway behind me, ready to snatch me up if I tried.

I turned around to face him.

“Um, privacy please?”

I was only a little surprised when he shook his head. He definitely seemed more on top of things than Don Bianco or any of his men. The don had never seen me as even the possibility of a threat, whereas Tomas never stopped watching me like a hawk. Not even during the car ride when I would have been foolish beyond belief to try and escape in the bitter cold, with no clothing or shoes.

“Use the toilet and then I’ll give you a bath.” He stared down at me, expression implacable as it had been in Don Bianco’s bedroom with the mobster’s body already cooling.

Wait, had he said he’d give me a bath?

This was… getting weirder by the minute.

I tossed my head. Fine, if he wanted to get his jollies off by watching me pee, I wasn’t going to let him know it bothered me. Even though the bathroom had been the one place I’d been able to have privacy in Don Bianco’s house. No one had bothered to watch me there.

Which had given me the opportunity to snoop around the don’s bathroom. Not that I expected to find much here, but it still showed that Tomas was smarter than the Biancos. I wondered where he had come from and why he’d assassinated the don.

Whether I’d find out first or escape first was up in the air, but I couldn’t help the curiosity.

Letting the scraps of fabric drop in a heap around my feet, I stepped out of them, fully naked. I didn’t fool myself into thinking that I was some kind of Aphrodite as I did so. Though slim figures were the current fashion for women, I knew I was more bony than appealing, not to mention dirty, and unless he was the kind of man who enjoyed seeing bruises on a woman, he wasn’t going to particularly like what he saw.

I mostly wanted him to know that I wasn’t going to be cowed.

Sitting down on the toilet, I kept my gaze focused forward, pretending he wasn’t there. It was still surprisingly hard to get started. I told myself it didn’t matter that he was watching, but it turned out it did. And when I did finally feel the flow of urine, I also felt a blush rise in my cheeks.

The fact that he stood there, unabashedly watching but not doing anything and not reacting in any manner, somehow made it all the more embarrassing. When I finished, I reached for the toilet paper, but he was already moving, his big hand getting there before mine.

Our gazes met.

“Spread.” He nodded at my knees.

For just a moment, I thought about defying him, but what did it matter? I’d been willing to let him fuck me if he was going to kill me. If he wanted to wipe my pussy after I went pee, that was hardly the worst thing that had ever happened to me. Even if it was odd.