Page 26 of Burdens
“Amalia,” I whispered.
Tension crackled between us as she turned around, but she didn’t look at me. So I brought the hand from above her head and tugged her chin up, forcing her to meet my gaze. She stared up into my eyes, the glint of fire still there, but I could tell it wasn’t from anger.
She was upset and I was the reason behind it. I didn’t like it.
“What do you want? Throw more insulting questions at me?” she asked harshly.
I brushed my thumb back and forth along the side of her hand. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I was out of line and I shouldn’t have said what I said. I didn’t mean any of it, Amalia.”
The blazing hurt in her eyes dimmed at my words and for a moment, time seemed to stop as we stared at each other. Conflicting emotions flooded me when she looked at me, my mind battling with indecision.
I released her chin and gently cradled her jaw in my hand, the feel of her skin somewhat soothing against my hardened calluses. Her lips parted ever so slightly, and an intense desire to kiss her, to feel her lips against mine one more time instantly hit me.
One more time wouldn’t hurt, right?
The pad of my thumb swiped against her bottom lip, and she sucked in a breath. The sound acted as a tether, grounding me back to reality and the gravity of what I was about to do.
I dropped my hand like her skin was hot coal, stepped away from her and left, knowing this was the right decision to make.
I didn’t trust myself around her, which meant I needed to avoid her as much as I could. I couldn’t avoid her during class, but surely I could limit my interactions with her and stay away from her outside of it.
Yeah, I could do that.
Everything would be fine.
But even I knew that was a lie.
CHAPTER 7
NOAH (PRESENT)
Amalia wasthe last person I’d ever expected to see and despite ten years being gone, she was still just as strikingly beautiful as she’d ever been.
The serrated knife I’d driven into my heart when I’d left her felt just as fresh as the day I’d put it there. I didn’t have many regrets in life, but she was my most salient one.
I knew I’d made a mistake the moment I’d landed in Bemes after abruptly leaving the Academy. But I hadn’t had a choice.
I’d wanted to reach out, to go back after everything I had to deal with was over with and beg her to forgive me for leaving without a goodbye, but I couldn’t. I’d known it was a cowardly move, but I just…
Couldn’t.
Maybe her being here was a sign, but it couldn’t be one I read too much into. I had to focus on getting out of here and accomplishing what I came here to do.
Her presence unsettled me even more when I realized she was working for my father. Omar Barrera didn’t hire women to work for him unless it was to entertain his business associates.But by the jab she’d given me before leaving, that was definitely not what she was here for.
She must have done some terrible things for my father to appoint her to any rank, let alone employ her as his enforcer.
My mind mulled over our conversation, but it kept latching onto a small part that had bugged me ever since she said the words. She had called my father’s territory theirs.
Not his,theirs.
That fact left me with two potential conclusions. Either she was too good at her job even when the others weren’t around or the job had gotten to her. If the latter was true, it meant that if I wasn’t careful enough, Amalia could unravel the truth and jeopardize my plan to bring my father down.
Which might turn out to be a tad bit more difficult with being a prisoner and all.
I waited until her steps quieted and I heard the entrance door to the basement shut to move. I removed the ties around my wrists and my legs protested as I pushed myself up.
I brought a hand up to massage my throbbing jaw while I explored the cell I was held in. I studied the space to see if there had been any changes made since I’d last been here.
