Page 20 of The Sins That Bleed
I choke on a laugh at the nickname she’s assigned him, glancing at him to see his reaction. Of course, he beams from ear to ear. Fuck me.
“Did you just give me a nickname? Baby girl? Did you hear that, princess?” He looks at me like she hung the moon. “She likes me!”
He squeals with delight. I swear he has short-term memory loss from how freaked out he was a few minutes before. I’m envious of how quickly he can adapt to an environment and make everyone like him.
But Valeska’s words are quick to sober him, reminding us of why we’re here. “Does the name Alaric Vonbarro, mean anything to either of you?”
CHAPTER 10
The Deal
VALESKA
The atmosphere in the room instantly shifts as soon as that name passes my lips, growing heavy and tense as Rai and Nico send pointed looks at each other. No words are uttered but I see the conversation playing out over their faces. Only the sharp snaps and crackling of the roaring fire can be heard as I wait for them to respond. The quiet unsettles me. I have no idea how they will react to this and no matter how much I scrutinise them, their body language gives nothing away.
I’m impressed.
“We know he’s a billionaire with an empire of businesses under him, not all of them legal since he’s notorious for being able to get a hold of anything his clients want.” Rai shares.
So, it’s going to be like that. They’re only going to share the bare minimum with me until they trust me. Fine, I can play this little game too. I saunter around the chairs until I’m behind them and I watch Rai’s body tense.
Good, he takes is it as threat.
Nico, on the other hand, is relaxed and lounges back in his chair now that we’ve started talking. I think back to how he acted in the hall, a complete one-eighty when he was scared. Sunny and I will be laughing about that for a long time.
I brace my hands on the backs of their chairs as I lean down, Sunny watching placidly from my chair as the whole thing unfolds. However, her eyes have strayed to the blonde on my left too many times to be innocent.
I quirk an eyebrow at her and get a sheepish look in return.
“He’s also got a street name which I’m sure you’re already aware of…” I trail off to see if they’ll offer it up, but frustratingly they give me nothing.
Rai tips his head back to look at me. Now I have his attention and he’s waiting to see how much I’ll give him. All I can concentrate on is the exposed column of his throat as his blood pumps through it, calling me to take a bite and claim what is mine.
How easy it would be to sink my fangs into the delicate skin, hot blood spilling into my mouth and satiating the hunger he stirs in me. Draining him dry?—
“The Flesh Dealer,” I snap out and stand to my full height. It’s dangerous to be this close to him right now; it’s been too many hours since I last fed but I had business to attend to.
I glance at Sunny and the look she gives me means she has picked up on my thirst too. I need to get this moving so I can feed before I tear into his flesh and cause myself a world of pain. Why does he sing to the darkest parts of me? I want to cocoon him and hide him away as I take what I want from him.
He would beg me to take it all.
I storm over to the fire and hold my hands in front of it, the heat searing into my flesh until it’s almost uncomfortable, but it does the trick and takes my mind off my bloodlust. This conversation is uncomfortable for many reasons, but I don’t need to add a further complication into the mix.
I normally enjoy a bit of light murder, but these two don’t match my modus operandi—I have a reputation to uphold after all.
“You’ve been investigating all these missing people from the city, oui?”
“That’s correct, yes,” Rai confirms, but offers nothing else.
I stare at my manicure, talking myself out of slicing them down his pretty face to teach him a lesson for exasperating me, because it would ruin the fresh set.
And I unfortunately happen to like the way he looks.
“And you have had your suspicions that this goes all the way up to Alaric Vonbarro as the king of this trafficking ring, correct?” I scoff, the last king I met was a disappointment at worst and dead at best.
Rest in torment, my darling husband Kian.
“We’re not at liberty to say.”
