Page 45 of The Sinners Gambit

“Except . . .”

“Except what?”

“Once I turn 40, I could choose to appoint someone if it was my choice. It was my parents' way of guaranteeing my future, but also giving me a choice when I was old enough and stable enough to do so.”

“And your birthday’s coming up. Oh my god, what if your uncle was hoping I’d kill you off and he’d be appointed on your will? You need to have your will checked.”

“Fuck, you really did your research, firecracker. That’s a good point, that crafty bastard. I’ll have Axel check.” I quickly shoot him a text.

“Killian, I never asked—who killed your parents? Did you ever find out after hurting that man?” she asks with careful pause.

“Uh, yeah. My uncle actually f—” My entire body goes rigid. “My uncle.”

I abruptly sit up as she says, “That’s why I asked. Your uncle could’ve easily led you the wrong way, like he did to me.”

“I’m going to fucking kill him!” I vow.

Naomi places her hands on each side of my face and pulls me to face her. “No, you’re not alone anymore.We’regoing to kill him, and we’ll make his pain last.”

“He needs to suffer for everything he’s caused.”

“That he fucking does,” she agrees. “How about we do it the night of the ball?” she proposes. It’s a night of dinner, shopping, workshops and all; like a fancy convention for serial killers. But there’s one strict rule: no killing at the party.

I shake my head. “You know the rule. We can’t kill at the ball.”

She smirks at me. “I know, but he’ll have his guard down because of that rule, and it may be the perfect place to kidnap him from.”

“I’m not opposed to that. He is always on edge. And he especially would be with us two together, but the ball may help ease his mind a bit.”

“We should think of different strategies with Axel and also up our training just in case.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Yeah, you need it.”

“Honestly, I was holding back. It would be a bit dumb to earn my freedom day one when I did all that work to come here. I meantyouneed to train more, I almost beat you guys a couple times without even trying . . .” She sticks her tongue out at me.

I lean forward and bite it, then kiss her before saying, “But falling in like on day four worked for you?”

Her eyes are glazed over in lust. “You always had me curious. Remember, I was stalking you too,Killer.But it was easy to chalk it up to being impressed from afar and focus on my misplaced anger.”

“Well, I’ve never been so happy that someone wanted to kill me before.”

“Me neither,” she whispers as she kisses me gently.

“We should get up and go plan with Axel. We only have a couple weeks before the ball,” I say with her lips still hovering over mine.

“Maybe in a minute.” She plants her lips back on mine, deepening the kiss.

I groan in agreement as I pull her into my lap so she’s straddling me.

Chapter 22

Naomi

It’ssuchanoddfeeling to have peace and restfulness throughout my whole body. The thought makes me conscious of the entire length of my body draped over Killian’s. He’s holding me close, bringing a smile to my face. My eyes flutter open, and I see Killian with the arm not holding me behind his head, as he smiles down at me.

“Good morning. You look beautiful sleeping peacefully,” he whispers to me.

“Why is my first thought that you’re being sexist and it’s because I’m quiet when sleeping,” I say.

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