Page 18 of Make Me A Sinner
With the amount of shit that can go wrong with him and Serena in the same room, I don't argue. Just lead him out, knowing I'll be hearing from him soon. I'm just pissed off at myself that I hadn’t found out about this until now. But thenagain, even I don’t have access to all the places Whiro calls home.
He’ll have an answer for me. He always finds the answer. It's what he’s best at. But that doesn't mean I won't do a little digging of my own and see if I can come up with something.
I walk him to the door, and I know we’ll be in touch soon. But until then, I have another problem on my hands to deal with.I don't want to show Serena anything but coldness, keep my distance. But knowing she's scared like that does something to me I can't explain.
Why would she ever imagine I couldn't protect her from any man or god? No matter how hard I try to deny it, I’d bend heaven and hell to keep her safe. It's not something I've ever done for anyone else; maybe that's why it feels like such a torment to my soul. And she doesn't even deserve it yet. I'm well aware of that. But I know she’s the only one for me.
I turn to look at her. Her eyes are pointing at me like she's expecting me to say something to make sense of what she just heard. It’d be so easy to just ignore her and let her sit with it. Let her burn. But her hands are clinging too tightly to her T-shirt, and I know her mind is buzzing with a million questions—most of which I don’t even have an answer to—yet.
Still, I do have an answer when it comes to her safety.
I walk in front of the couch where she is sitting. Her eyes seem to be looking through me, like her mind drifted away, trying to figure out what this means for her. As much as I enjoy torturing her, I can’t leave her like that. I need to explain things to her. "Eyes on me." I place an order and wait for her to comply. Her big blue eyes lift to look at me, shining with what might be the beginning of tears. I love it when she cries in fear. But it's me she needs to fear, no one fucking else.
"You belong to me." I make that crystal clear to her. Maybe she didn't completely get that in her head just yet. "If I want to fuckyou, then I fuck you. I want to kill you, then I kill you.Me, no one else. I am the only one who can do any of those things to you. No one else on this earth can lay a finger on you as long as I'm still breathing. Do you understand?”
A veil of doubt slips from her gaze, only to be replaced by something else—relief. "Yeah," she murmurs, knowing it wasn't a threat. I'm not the kind to confess my feelings that easily, but I know she realizes what my words truly mean.
"Nothing's going to happen to you. Even if I am forced to burn this fucking city to the ground to prevent it. Don't doubt my words." I take a seat next to her, preparing to make some calls, when I feel her hand brush against mine. The touch so sweet, so welcome; like a breeze of air on a desert rock.
Her fingers curl into my palm, hoping I’ll keep her hand there, prisoner. But it's not enough to win my forgiveness. I don't close my hand around hers, and I don't pull her into my lap to reassure her, even though my body’s twitching to do just that. This time, she needs to give me time. And I need to take some sweet fucking revenge.
I spend most of the day making calls. Not exactly how I pictured for her return to Vegas, but my life’s never been easy anyway.
I haven't hunted in a while. Sure, I tracked her down, but that wasn't the same. I couldn't truly hurt her. Not the way I'm going to hurt the ones who threatened
eleven
-Set-
It took me a whole damn day to get a lead. I left last night to meet with some informants. This isn’t something I’m going to let my men handle, especially since they were too damn incompetent to catch the wind of the hit before Whiro did.
It’s a delicate situation, and I’m not going to let any loose ends slip, even though I have an idea of a person or two who could be behind this. But this isn’t something I can afford to guess about. I need confirmation. I need to be sure I'm tearing down the right empire, because honestly, I still don't know if this hit has to do with Nick or with me.
Even after spending the last 24 hours dismantling Vegas, I haven’t felt this refreshed in a very long while. That's probably because sleeping with Serena in my arms was my first decent sleep I’ve had in the last three months. I had weeks when I didn't even touch the bed. And when I did try to close my eyes, all I saw were memories of her, replacing any chance of drifting off. She kept me on the edge of my sanity, like I couldn't exist withouther. That’s something very difficult to handle for someone like me.
This is my last meeting of the day, and my best chance of getting something. One of my better informants has also been digging around, and I’m very interested to hear what he has to say.
We’re meeting in a strip joint where he’ll probably blow the money I give him on lap dances. But I know it's safer than a bar. People in this place are usually distracted by things, other than eavesdropping.
I find him sitting at the table in the corner. He's already ordered and has a half-naked girl parked in his lap. For an informant, he’s pretty oblivious to what happens in these places. The girls’ job is to make him drink enough to lose track of what he's ordering, then they’d spice up his bill without him noticing, and the army of bodyguards built like bulldozers doesn't leave the unsuspecting customers with much choice. Standard Vegas behaviour.
Not that I give a damn anyway, but I need him fucking awake.
I don't really like this guy, but he’s the only lead I have for now. He's the kind of sleazeball who always sneaks his way into any tiny crack and crevice, and that makes him very useful in this case.
I gesture for the broad to leave and grab myself a chair at his table. "What do you have?" I ask, straight to the point. I don't have time to waste with him.
"Almost nothing," the scared, disappointed tone in his voice ignites a nervous twitch in my arm. Did this idiot really call me here fornothing? "I mean. I'm not completely empty-handed. I've learned something, but I need more time… and some cash."
"Speak." I snap, since he's already toying with my patience.
"Someone accepted the job. It went off the market for now. That makes me think thatsomeoneis really good, since the onepaying him trusted him enough to seize all other offers. I'm still digging around. I’ll have something soon enough. I just need more money to push."
He's probably lying, and just wants to line his own pockets. Like I'm not paying him enough already. Still he’s been the only one who’s even remotely found a lead till now. And I can't afford to waste any time.
I'll deal with him later. Teach him, I'm not someone to be mistaken for a fool. But I'm not going to kill him. He’d be too much of a loss, and he might come in handy on other occasions.
Just as I’m reaching into my pockets to toss him a stack of greens, I spot a waitress coming toward us. I don’t want to make a show of the amounts I carry around, so I refrain from paying him—for now.
