Page 59 of Heartless Sinner

Alexander remained quiet and brooding. I think he realized his best bet was the keep silent.

“You think I tied your brother to a chair without a valid reason?” I asked. “Marla. From the beginning, Dmitri’s murder was personal. Very personal. Whoever killed him hated him. And hated Sonya, although not as much. I think he still loved her a bit. He didn’t beat her first and the stab wounds were more precise, so she’d die faster.”

Marla shook her head once more, as if that one action could wipe away the reality she was facing.

“Your brother has sniper training,” I went on. “You know that. That bullet was never supposed to hit your father. It was a bad attempt to make us think a family war was starting.” I looked over at Alexander. “Dmitri was always the planner, you were the hitter. Shows in your poor execution of events here.”

Alexander’s gaze narrowed and flickered, the muscle in his jaw ticking. If I could just get him angry enough to admit what he’d done, a confession would at least go a long way in convincing Marla of the truth, although it wouldn’t solve the problem, and the decision, Marla now faced.

“Alexander ran off when you got to Sonya because he still cares about you.” I looked back at Marla, who stared at her brother with bright blue eyes, her bottom lip trembling. “I wondered why he let you live. You wondered that, too. We wondered about the sniper. We wondered about why Dmitri’s death was so up close and messy, and why the killer wanted him to suffer.”

“I…” Marla’s voice trailed off, strangled in her throat. “He wouldn’t kill his own brother. You have the wrong person.”

Her voice sounded wobbly. Unsure. I had never heard Marla uncertain before and I hated that I was the reason.

“Marla.” I took her by the shoulders. “Sweetheart, why would I do this if I didn’t think he was the guy? Do you honestly think I want to hurt you?”

“I don’t know!” she yelled, yanking herself away from me, doubts swirling in her eyes. “You could! We’ve known each other for a week, Vince, why would I trust you? Why would I trust this isn’t some kind of asinine test like whatever the hell it was your father did to me?”

“Because I wouldn’t hurt you like that!” I replied, desperate to convince her. “I’m not here to test you, Marla. You wanted the man who killed your brother and I hate to tell you this but here he is! Ask him yourself. I’ll leave, you’ll be alone, nobody will judge you, no matter what you decide to do.”

Marla shook her head, her eyes wet, her voice sounding utterly broken when she spoke. “How can I trust you?”

“Because I love you!” The words burst out of me and I immediately wanted to take them back, feeling like a complete idiot.

Toby and the other men standing around politely looked everywhere except at us.

Alexander snorted contemptuously. “You’re not actually going to fall for that line, are you?”

“Shut up,” Marla said, her voice a tangle of emotions. She wasn’t even looking at her brother, just staring at me.

“Why do you think I picked you?” I asked. “You were the woman I knew I wanted in my life. I just—had to win you over. I knew I could show you that I could be everything you wanted, that I was the guy worthy of you. The moment you walked into my apartment I wanted you. No one else.”

Marla swallowed and looked away. “I was just the smartest,” she whispered, as if that was the only thing she was bringing to the table.

I took her chin in my fingers and turned her face back to me. This was far from where I had hoped to say something about my feelings—the fact that we had an audience pissed me off—but I couldn’t let her think that I would ever willingly hurt or devastate her.

“You think you’re the only smart one?” My own voice sounded tight and desperate. “Marla, I could’ve found someone else to suit me. Let’s be honest here, your family can do nothing for me. I should’ve found someone else. I could’ve made it work with someone else. I didn’t choose you just because you proved yourself, I chose you because I wanted you. I knew you’d be perfect for me. I made a choice with my heart.”

No matter how I tried to justify it with my head.

I leaned in close, my mouth near her ear so that only she was privy to my deepest, most heartfelt confession. “You are my soft place,” I added, my voice barely a whisper.

Marla wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. I held her, felt her trembling uncontrollably, and smoothed my hand up and down her back to soothe her.

“I was terrified of how I felt,” Marla whispered.

With her face against my neck, only I could hear her. I was glad for that. We didn’t get a lot of privacy in our world, with our positions, but this was just for me, damn it.

“I was sure you didn’t feel the same,” she said quietly. “I thought it was stupid to let myself… fall for you.”

I stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. I hated that this was happening now, that this couldn’t be in our apartment, with privacy and time to revel in the warm sensation flooding through me—the knowledge that she felt the same for me.

Neither of us, I suspected, were all that good at soft words, romantic words. But I could feel it in every fiber of her being, from the way she trembled to the words she said.

Marla pulled back then turned and faced her brother again. She looked absolutely gutted at the truth staring back at her.

“What do I do?” she whispered, her voice ragged and torn.

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