Page 88 of Reaper & Ruin
Danika’s face didn’t change. She didn’t laugh, didn’t sneer—just stared at him like he was nothing more than an insect under a magnifying glass. Then, with a quiet click, she flipped the safety off her gun.
“I’m not joking, Giovanni,” she said. “Do it.”
His breathing quickened, his chest rising and falling as he glanced between her and me, the knife trembling slightly in his grip. “No,” he said finally, his voice firm.
Danika sighed, shaking her head as if she were disappointed. “Wrong answer.” She lifted the gun just slightly, angling it toward his chest, and her voice dropped. “You have three seconds.”
“Gio,” I said, cutting through the tension. My voice was calm, steady, even as my pulse thundered in my ears. He looked at me, his expression twisted with a mix of anger and panic.
“It’s fine,” I said quietly, my eyes locking onto his. I’d been stabbed before. I could handle it. It was fine. “Just do it.”
His head shook violently, the knife clattering against the side of his knee as his hand trembled. “I’m not stabbing you, Atlas.”
“She’ll kill you,” I said, my voice soft but firm.
“I don’t care,” he snapped, his voice breaking slightly. He dropped the knife onto the coffee table with a sharp clatter, the sound echoing through the room like a gunshot as Danika snatched it back up before I could. “Go ahead and shoot me. I’m not stabbing him, and I’m not continuing to play your sadistic fucking games.”
The tension in the room was unbearable, the silence stretching long and taut like a wire about to snap. Danika didn’t move her finger, resting lightly on the trigger as her eyes flicked between Gio and me.
And then, to my surprise, she laughed.
It wasn’t a full laugh, more like a sharp exhale, but it was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Well, well,” she said, leaning back and crossing her legs again, her gun resting loosely in her hand. “You passed the test, De Luca. Nice to know you’re not a selfish shithead like your daddy.”
Gio’s shoulders sagged slightly, the tension bleeding out of him as he glared at her. “You’re insane,” he muttered again.
She smirked, her gaze drifting toward me. “And you,” she said, her tone almost amused. “You really were just going to let him stab you, huh?”
I didn’t respond. She already knew my answer.
Her smirk widened slightly, and she stood, smoothing down her jacket. “Alright, boys. Upstairs. Now.”
I glanced at Gio, his brow furrowing as he stared at her like she’d grown a second head. “What?” he said.
“You heard me,” Danika said, her voice sharp. “Go back to your room and stay there. Let me think.”
“Not happening,” I said flatly, my voice cutting through the silence.
Her head snapped toward me, her expression hardening. Without a word, she raised her gun and pulled the trigger.
The bullet slammed into the wall behind me, missing my head by inches. The sound was deafening in the small room, the sharp crack ringing in my ears as my pulse spiked.
“I am not playing, Atlas,” she said, her voice ice-cold. “Get your ass back in that room before I decide you don’t need a head anymore. I need a moment to fucking think.”
For a moment, neither of us moved, the air between us crackling with tension. Then I stood, keeping my movements slow, and turned toward the hallway.
Gio followed, his footsteps heavy as we made our way back upstairs. Neither of us spoke until we were back in the room, the door closing with a quiet click behind us.
I leaned back against the wall, exhaling slowly as I rubbed a hand over my face. He paced the room, his hands still shaking slightly, his expression stormy.
“She really is fucking insane,” he muttered. “I don’t understand how you ever cared for her.”
“She’s testing us,” I said, pretending that I hadn’t loved the same woman he found horrid, or that it didn’t hurt me just a little. “And you passed.”
He stopped pacing, turning to look at me. His jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue.
We both knew that, for now, we were still alive.
