Page 127 of Kai
Sorceress slitted her eyes at the merc again, alerting meshe was onto something. I stilled in my chair. The malevolence glinting in the merc’s bulging eyes as he licked Cece with his stare gave me the chills. I trapped a growl in my throat. The fucking pervert was undressing her in his head.
“Ugh, gross.” Cece twisted her mouth in a grimace of disgust. “He’s telling the truth. He does like me, or rather, he’s sexually attracted to the violence in me.”
Fuck the fucked-up beast.
We’d known Levine was a depraved killer on and off the battlefield. We’d also known he enjoyed pain, based on the cuts we’d found all over his body, and yet my stomach still soured when I spotted the obscene bulk swelling his underwear, visual proof the fucker got off on rage and violence. Add this to Cece’s latest observations, and we had complete confirmation we faced the cream of the crap.
As it turned out, Cece was doingtoogood of a job. Perverts like him looked forward to breaking their victims. The fight in Cece, her strength, her defiance, were challenges he couldn’t resist. She turned the merc on. Li had paid Levine to kill her, but now the merc wanted her… for himself.
Darkness stabbed at my mind. The violence pounding against my ribs announced that, when Cece was around, a caveman shared my headspace.
“You’re a sick son of a bitch.” The scowl I directed at the fucker was neither planned nor faked. “Make your wood disappear or you’ll leave me no choice but to agree with Cece and take care of the offensive object… with a butter knife.”
That shut up the fucker’s filthy mouth. Under his tighty-whities, his dick deflated, although I could still spot the plotting and scheming going on in his stare.
“Let’s do it and watch him scream,” Cece proclaimed with bloodcurdling enthusiasm. “We don’t really need him.”
“Youdoneed me.” The fucker lifted his bruised nose inthe air and eyed Cece as if she was a rare piece of steak he wanted to tear into. “You don’t know it yet, my tempestuous dearest, but you need me as much as I need you.”
Arrogant bastard. I should’ve let him drown at sea. Having interrogated many dickheads like him, I had a feeling about how he was gonna come at this next. I hated his angle already.
Keeping my face blank and my breath steady, I crossed my ankle over my knee, and ignoring the pull of the stabbed muscle and the stitches scorching my chest, I considered the fucker. Even in his sorry state, he still thought he was the smartest person in the room.
Fucking idiot.
His psychological profile was all over the map—narcissist, sociopath, psychopath—but Sorceress had struck the right note with her performance, activating his compulsions. This was good for me as an interrogator. It also made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t want this bastard anywhere near Cece.
“I’m tired of your bullshit.” Cece challenged the merc with a glower that should’ve boiled his eyeballs. “Are you gonna talk or what?”
“For you, I’ll talk.” The merc’s voice turned mellifluous. “For you, I’ll sing, dance, lick your toes, suck your tits, eat your tw—”
“Think before you finish that sentence.” I fought another impulse to launch out of my chair and beat the motherfucker to a bloody pulp. He brought out the worst in me.
A spark of fear flared in Levine’s eyes. Unfortunately, he bounced back fast. “You want information?” He cocked his head and flashed his teeth. “I want a deal.”
“A deal.” I hardened my stare. “How about I let you live?”
“Good one.” He made a decent attempt at sitting a little taller in his restraints. “I hear there are billions available tofinance the Astor sisters’ defense fund. I want in on that.”
Levine was well-informed, but given his assignment, I expected he would be.
“You keep me alive.” The asshole suffered from delusions if he thought he was in charge, and this was a negotiation. “You make sure your team does, too. Throw in a hefty bag of cash, an infusion of crypto, some new identity papers, and a plane ride to a place of my choosing, and we’re in business.”
No surprises there.
Cece narrowed her eyes at the merc again. “How do we know you’ll tell us the truth and give us the information you have?”
“BecauseIwill share anything you want withyou, my Cruella de Levine.” The merc fixed his disturbing grin on her.
“You must mean Cruella de Astor,” Cece corrected him swiftly.
“More of that later.” The motherfucker winked at her. “You are and will always be my best exit strategy out of this shitshow.”
This last bit was true, and yet I wrestled with the urge to throw him overboard and let him sink to the bottom. The piece of shit’s approach to Cece was his version of… what? Seducing his next victim? It was ridiculous, but we knew for sure that at least one of his victims had fallen for it. Levine had tortured her to death.
“He believes I’m his only exit strategy out of this clusterfuck,” Cece grumbled, glowering at the merc. “Well, fuck me.”
“Any time, any day,” the merc quipped, then shut his trap when I hit him with a murderous glare.
