Page 45 of Kingpin

At first, things fell silent. So, I knocked again. I heard a chuckle on the other side of the door before a resoundingCRACK. Then, the door whipped open.

“Beautiful, I’m busy at the—”

“I want to ask them some questions, Israel.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Not. The. Time.”

“Please. This is serious. I need to know why—”

“I’m already asking. Get upstairs and go to bed. I’ll have everything cleaned up by tonight.”

“I need to see them!”

His hand jutted out, wrapping around my throat. “And you need to learn when to listen and when to speak.”

My eyes widened as he tightened his grip around my throat. I’d never seen that look in Israel’s eyes before. I knew the monster had finally come out to greet me. The man everyone said he was. The satanic, hedonistic, miserable man everyone claimed him to be. It should have scared me. It should have deterred me. But the only thing it made me want to do was cup his cheek.

So, I forced my hand up to his face.

“Please,” I choked out.

Israel already knew that I wasBonnieand not Brianna, but I swore there were parts of him that didn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe he’d been so easily deceived. What if these men knew and their confirmations made his temper flare all over again? What if the part of him that had forgiven me,spared me, no longer existed? And then there was my uncle. What game was he playing? Why the back and forth, the push and pull? This was perhaps my only chance to get some kind of answers.

Israel’s eyes held mine. “What questions do you want to ask?”

“Let me go, and I’ll tell you.”

I didn’t think he’d comply. But, to my shock, he did.

“What do you want to ask?”

I blinked. “I want to ask them why they came to kill me, too. I need to know.”

“I already know. Why don’t you simply ask me? Why do you need them?”

“Israel, please. Just like you need to hear it from them, I need to hear it from them, too.”

“Hear what, exactly? What is it you think I want to hear?”

My face fell flat. “I might be a woman, but I’m not stupid. I know exactly what you’re searching for.”

Bradley chuckled. “A marriage spat. How quaint.”

I glared around Israel. “Shut up, or I’ll kill you myself.”

Deac spit a wad of blood onto the floor. “Is that before or after he figures out who you really are?”

I felt the entire world come to a grinding halt and my eyes slowly slid up to Israel’s. Rage flashed and then just as quickly, the anger fell away. His eyes froze on mine and for a second, I saw it. Fury, resentment—humiliation. I’d made a fool of him—and even these pieces of shit knew it. His gaze transformed into a blank stare.

I preferred his anger.

“Israel, hold on,” I said.

“I’ll see you upstairs,” he glowered.

“Israel, wait. Just let me talk—”

“Go! Before I slit your throat in front of them!”

---