Page 37 of Theo

“That’s right, sweet girl. Come on Daddy’s cock.”

She comes apart with a violent shiver, her eyes rolling back as her body floods with dopamine. I follow her over the edge, every part of me going limp as she collapses on my chest.

“That was...”

“Yep,” I agree, kissing her temple. My hand runs along her back, soothing the shivers out of her skin. I turn off the vibrator, toss it onto the bed next to me, and make a mental note to buy a new one for Merrick later.

“Where were you?”

My brain is too fried to temper my answer, not that I intend to ever lie to her again. “A body farm in New York.”

“What’s a body farm?”

“A legal body farm is used for scientific research on postmortem body decomposition.”

“And an illegal body farm?”

“Is used for dumping bodies you don’t want found.”

She hums against my pec, scraping her teeth over my nipple. “Whose body were you dumping there?”

“Bodies,” I correct, running a hand through her still-damp hair. “Eric Scruby and Donnie Hartman.”

Charity stops moving, her body stiff as a board. I realize what I’ve just said and, more importantly, how casually I’ve just said it. “Charity, I?—”

“You killed him?”

ELEVEN

CONSEQUENCES

CHARITY

“I may have alleviated him of the burden that is a lifetime without you.”

“Do not be cute right now,” I snap, pointing a finger in his face as if that is in any way threatening. “What the fuck did you do?”

The look in his eyes makes me instantly regret the question.

“I drugged him with a medical grade succinylcholine cut with adrenaline, then dropped him in a vat of slow-acting acid.” He pauses momentarily before adding, “I do not know the name of the acid.”

I stare at him for so long that my vision shakes at the edges. “Why?”

“He hurt you.”

“He didn’t.”

“He did, but for the sake of argument, I’ll agree that he didn’t physically hurt you,” he concedes, shuffling up the mattress to lean against the headboard. “He wasn’t going to stop, Charity. He was still in your apartment when I got to New York.”

“You took him out of my apartment building? You could have been seen, Theo! There are cameras.”

“It was fine, Viper. I had Marco with me.”

“Oh, well, as long as you had Marco.” I’m aware that sarcasm isn’t actually helpful in this conversation, but it makes me feel a bit less manic. “I would have handled it on my own.”

“I know, but I didn’t want you to have to.”

He sounds so sincere I want to scream. Of course, the giant asshole thought he was helping by slowly and horrifically killing my ex. “How did you even know where my apartment was?”

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