Page 119 of Stolen Empire
He reaches across the table and scrapes some of the blood from my cheek with his thumb.
I flinch but don’t pull away.
“Because you’re more useful alive,” he says. “For now.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’ll use you to draw Dimitri out. We’ll let him know we have you. We’ll make him come for you. When he walks into our trap, we’ll reveal what you are. Then we’ll slit your throat in front of him.”
The words hit me hard.
Not because I’m afraid to die—I’ve been afraid since they dragged me in here—but because of what it will do to Dimitri.
The look on his face when he realizes what I am.
What I could have been. What he lost.
“He won’t come for me,” I say, but the lie tastes bitter.
“He will.”
The older man stands, closing the folder.
“He’s already in love with you. We’ve been watching him. The way he looks at you. The way he reacts when you’re in danger. He’s tied himself to you, and that makes him weak.”
I want to argue, but I can’t.
Because I’ve seen it too.
The way Dimitri’s eyes follow me.
The way his hands linger when he touches me.
The way he promised to protect me.
He does care.
More than he should.
And now that’s going to get him killed.
“You’re making a mistake,” I say.
“Dimitri's smarter than you think. He won’t walk into your trap.”
“He already has.”
The older man moves toward the door.
“The moment he let you into his operation, he sealed his fate—and yours.”
He leaves, the door slamming shut behind him, but the two younger men stay.
One grabs my hair, yanking my head back.
I cry out and claw at his wrist.
“You should’ve stayed in whatever gutter you crawled out of,” he says, his breath hot against my ear.
