Page 24 of Capturing Sin

He scoffed. “And to think you used to be fun.”

My stomach churned at the reminder of all I’d done. The sins I could never atone for.

“Piss off, Leo. Let me get to work.”

He scowled. “No. I’m going to get some answers out of this demon whore. You can play with what’s left.”

He swung the door open, and the demon bared her fangs with a hiss. The panic in her wide eyes betrayed her fear though. Blood rained from the cut on her arm, adding to the various splatters already covering her.

She wouldn’t survive a questioning. Not from Leo.

I scrambled for a way to save her. I could probably take Leo in a fair fight, but he was always armed to the teeth.

Not that I’d get away with just attacking him unprovoked.

“Did you ever care for me?” I blurted the first thing I could think of.

Unsurprisingly, the violent brute could never handle talking about his feelings.

He swung around, incredulous, slamming the door closed again, even as his blade stayed angled towards the demon.

The relief was instant, even as I ripped open the scab on my wounded heart, offering my pain up instead of hers.

“What the fuck, Liliana? You’re the one who ended things,” he snarled.

Deep down, I longed to see some kind of pain cross his rugged features, but only anger simmered in his narrowed expression.

I’d broken up with him for many reasons. It wasn’t just that he’d chosen to save someone else over me. I could write that off as her being in more danger. Maybe he’d believed I was strong enough to fight my way out.

The bastard left me for dead too, abandoning me amongst the bodies of our enemies.

But it was the memory of dulling sunshine eyes that struck me the hardest.

“Why did you even propose to me in the first place?” I asked the one question I knew would make him flee.

Because, deep down, I already knew the answer. I’d just never been able to face it before.

His jaw ticked as he locked the cell and strode towards me, aiming for the door at my back. “We’re done. The fuck does it matter now, anyway?”

My throat tightened at his dismissal. I hadn’t realised how much I needed him to admit it.

“Say it, Leo. I never took you for a coward.”

He paused, inches between us, staring down at me like I was nothing.

The scent of too much woodsy cologne overwhelmed my senses, triggering a memory of the last time we’d been this close—when he’d dragged me back to my apartment, kicking and screaming, after I’d tried to flee this place.

His gaze met mine, unflinching. “Your. Uncle.”

The two words hit me like bullets to the chest.

My controlling bastard of an uncle probably wanted to continue the family name. Breed his bloodline with other strong hunters, and nobody was stronger than Leo.

“To be the next hunter prime when he retires, right?” The words left numb lips as mere wisps of sound.

He scoffed. “What do you think?”

I’d wondered. Of course I had.

---