Page 83 of Corrupted Heart

“Or…”

I stiffen, my mind going a little blank when her fingers brush my arm. Flinching, I yank my hand away. Amaya grins.

“No, you’re not scared of repercussions. Not my Kratos. He’s not scared of anything.”

Nausea and a pain I can’t identify wash over me.

My Kratos.

The words are like chains that never left my wrists and ankles.

Amaya’s eyebrows lift. “No, it’s not fear that keeps you from hurting me.”

My reality bends, like watching heat pulse off a parking lot in July.

“I think it’s that you still care too much,” she purrs. “That’s it, isn’t it?—”

With a loud snarl, I wrench myself away, taking a step back as I glare pure hate at her.

It’s not fear of repercussions. And it’s not that I give a single fuck about her.

The only thing stopping me from snapping Amaya’s neck with my bare hands is that I’m fairly sure touching her at all will shove me into a hole so deep I’ll never climb back out again.

“Kratos—”

“Why are you fucking here?” I snarl savagely—so much so that she flinches a little. But she recovers again, smirking haughtily at me.

“You’ve been ignoring my calls.”

“And I’ll continue to do so,” I snap. “We have nothing to discuss. Stay the fuck away from me.”

She smiles. “We both know that’s not an option for you. Not when you were such a naughty boy.” She wags her finger at me. “Need I remind you that you sold guns to a United States CIA officer, Kratos? Being naughty like that has its consequences.”

Amaya grins.

“Luckily for you, because of our”…she smirks up at me…“history…”

My head swims again.

Be a good boy for me, Kratos…

We’re not done yet…

You’ll never find anyone like me. No one will love you like me…

My thoughts glitch as I rip myself back into the present.

“I have a way out for you, Kratos.”

I don’t respond. Amaya eyes me steadily.

“It involves your engagement to that silly little mafia ballerina princess.”

Alarm bells whine in my head.

“Tell me, Kratos,” Amaya murmurs quietly. “Does she know what you are? Would you dare show her the darkness I know you’ve still got inside?—”

“Careful, witch,” I snarl with a venom that catches even me a little off-guard.

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