Page 38 of Fearless
“Excuse me?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was this woman really that dense? “Meeting with an enemy club outside the gates in secret, plotting behind my back for weeks, if not months, does not happen by fuckingaccident.”
“Reaper, I know you’re not heartless,” she sniffed, trying to give me that sad doe-eyed look that worked on more desperate men. “You’re a good man, even if the way you left me was cruel.”
“I didn’t leave you. We had nothing to begin with,” I corrected her. “And you can stop trying to butter me up til I’m a soggy piece of toast. It ain’t gonna work.”
“I know, deep down, you don’t want to do this to him,” she went on like I hadn’t said anything. That was another thing I hated. Even when I just tried to have a normal conversation with her, she never fucking listened. “He’s one of your men.”
“You’re wasting your breath, Heather. My dog’s morning shit means more to me than him.”
“You don’t mean that. Reaper, please.” She leaned forward. If my desk wasn’t between us, I knew she would’ve tried to reach out and touch me. “Please spare him.”
“No. And I think you missed the whole point of you being here.” I crossed my arms. “Python’s fate is not up for negotiation. What I need to know is if he was operating alone or had allies in his little scheme.”
“But he was the only man who would share me!” she whimpered, a large sob wracking her chest. Now that she saw her crocodile tears and doe eyes wouldn’t work on me, she had no options left.
“Jesus Christ…” I set my elbow on the desk and rubbed my forehead.
“You’ve locked up the only man who cares about me, now you’re interrogatingmelike I’ve done something wrong?”
“If you knew about what he was doing, you should have told me,” I ground out. “So did you or not?”
She let out a dramatic sigh and carefully dabbed at the corners of her eyes with a tissue. “He bitched about you a lot. We both did, to be honest. He wants to run his own club one day. He’d be good at it, you know?”
“Absolutely none of that fucking matters to me,” I said. “Did you know he was conspiring with an enemy to kill me and my men?”
“No,” she finally said. “For all his complaining, he left that part out.”
“If you’re lying, Iwillfind out,” I warned her. “And I won’t be merciful just because you’re a woman.”
Her life is not yours to take.
I nearly pulled a muscle whipping my head so fast. The voice was unmistakable, but Hades’ demeanor hadn’t changed. His ears were pulled back in annoyance at the sound of Heather’s voice. His lips curled in the start of a growl, but she wasn’t a threat, so he didn’t react to her presence aggressively.
Do not reap. Her life is not yours to take.
She must have been telling the truth, then. It was the only conclusion I could reach.
Oblivious to my internal freaking out, Heather’s lips wobbled as she continued trying to work me over. “Reaper, please let him go. Brand him, keep him imprisoned, do whatever you need to punish him, but he deserves—”
“He deserves what Isayhe deserves.” I leaned back in my chair, itching for silence and a cigarette. “You can go now.”
“But—”
“You’re dismissed,” I snarled. “Must I remind you how much I hate repeating myself?”
Heather stood from the chair, defeated. I fished out a cigarette as she made her way to the door, then glowered when she paused in the doorway.
“Is she really so much better than me?” she asked without turning to face me.
Despite myself, I huffed out a harsh laugh as I lit my cigarette, then sucked in the first drag and savored it before I exhaled. Hades said he would protect Mari, so I felt zero guilt at the words that left my mouth.
“In every way imaginable.”
Fourteen
MARIPOSA
This is a bad idea. You told Jandro you wouldn’t get involved.
