Page 39 of Captive Audience
“I’m going to take my hand off your mouth, and you’re going to behave. Nod if you agree.”
She glared at me but didn’t nod. Fine. This could be a one-way conversation.
“I married you because I need you to find the person who had my brother murdered.” This time, she only blinked. “You’re good at that, right? Finding people who don’t want to be found? Finding the truth?”
Asha tried talking, so I removed my hand from her mouth.
“That doesn’t explain this goddamn ring on my finger.”
“I need leverage. I'll annul the marriage as soon as you find the Soul Collector.”
Her brow pinched. “The Soul Collector?”
“Aye. Sounds like a pleasant bloke, right?”
Asha moistened her lips. “Look, I’m really sorry your brother was murdered?—”
“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t understand. Niall wasn’t a bastard like me. He didn’t deserve what they did to him.”
He’d been the last of my family. I’d buried my parents, two sisters, and then Niall. All of them, gone. Nothing but rotting corpses buried deep in the earth.
The only thing that’d kept me going in the days followingNiall’s murder was vengeance. It’d taken months to ferret out every last member of the Albanian Mafia and wipe them from existence. They were the ones who’d killed him, but if I’d known their orders had come from elsewhere, I’d have continued searching for justice.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. People said time healed, but that old wrath rose like acid in my throat. It never stayed gone for long.
Asha stared as if one wrong move might set me off like a trip wire. “I’m sorry for your loss, but I choose my own cases, and I don’t work for criminals. You need to find someone else.”
“I don’t want someone else. I want you.”
For just a moment, my voice broke. She heard it. I saw it in the way her chin lifted, cautious but not cruel. Then her eyes steeled over again, reminding me who I was to her now.
“You can’t have me.”
“I already do.” I showed her the ring on my finger.
“Ever heard of divorce?”
“Ever heard of a billionaire with a hoard of scary lawyers who will ensure any court proceedings take decades?”
“So this is a hostage situation.”
“No. You can leave whenever you like.”
“Seriously?” She eyed me with skepticism.
“Now that I’ve explained myself, aye. I strongly suggest you stay so we can start working on the case, but I won’t stop you from going. You’re free.”
She wriggled beneath me. “Then get off me. You weigh a freaking ton.”
I rose slowly. As soon as I released her, Asha leapt from the couch and straightened her dress.
“There’s no way in hell I’m helping you. We’re not married, and you can’t tell me what to do.” She snatched up her shoes and charged for the kitchen to collect her purse.
“If you walk out of this apartment, you’ll regret it.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“You’ll be back.”
