Page 106 of Twisted Cage

“That’s the lie you want me to believe?”

Roddick shrugs, the dismissive gesture the last fucking straw. I’ve spent my morning being calm, reasonable, downright fucking sweet. I’m past my limit and my gut tells me Roddick’s hiding something.

My knife is out in a second, the tip pressed into his dress pants right next to his balls. “So let me ask you, Roddick, is he still taking a walk?”

“Shit! What the fuck is wrong with you? You don’t aim a knife at a guy’s junk unless you mean it.”

“Who says I don’t?” With a flick of my wrist, the blade slices through fabric, straight down to skin.

“Owwww! Dammit.” He leaps back and grabs his junk. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Stop fucking playing with me. Where is he?”

He tugs the crotch of his pants up, inspecting the damage. “You drew blood. Goddamn. You’re a piece of work, you know that?”

I take a step closer, my knife in hand, ready to go one more time. “Yes, and now you do, too. I’m not in a gown and heels today, Roddick. Do you really want to see what I’m capable of?”

“The den. Satisfied?” He growls, the tone like the one he used last night when he yelled at me. “He’s at the fucking den.”

Of course he is. After I made it clear those men are mine. Fury came over me in a hot wave, spiking my temper and annihilating the relief and happiness from no longer having to hide Lexi from the people I love most. From watching Nikolaj move from acceptance to getting to know his niece.

Konstantin will fuck me any way he wants to in order to pay me back, but this… taking this from me, knowing what those men could have cost Lexi? He knows what I’m capable of. He knows I can handle myself, especially in a room full of subdued men.

He only did this to knock me down a peg. He took it because he could. “Take me to him.”

The vein in his left temple throbs, his face turning red. “Oh, fuck no.”

How many are dead already? Is the guy who shot at me even alive still? If I get there and he’s killed them all, so help me… “So you want me to slice your balls off?”

“If I take you to the den, Konstantin puts a bullet in my head. So yeah, living sounds better.”

“Okay,” I say with a casual shrug. “But I don’t see the point of living if taking a leak means dribbling piss out a sad little hole until it runs down your taint, but let’s do this.”

He scoffs, but his gaze darts down to my blade. “You wouldn’t.”

Curling my fingers around the hilt of my second blade, I slide it free and dig the tip into the skin over his jugular. A drop of blood rises out of the tiny puncture, slowly growing bigger until it breaks free and trickles down his throat.

“Hear me and hear me good,” I say, backing him up a step at a time until he’s pressed against the island, his head cocked at a strained angle. “I’ll stick your cock and balls in a fucking pickle jar full of formaldehyde and make them the centerpiece to this kitchen island so every one of you has to see them day in and day out, reminding you exactly why you shouldn’t fuck with me.”

“Fuck it. If he wants you to stay put, he needs to put you on a leash. Let’s go.”

Taking the blade from his throat, I wipe the blood on his pants and slide it back in my sheath, keeping the other just inches from his junk. “I thought you’d see things my way.”

34

NIKOLETTA

The door opens as I’m picking up one of my most vicious serrated blades.

“Miss me?”

The sound of Nikoletta’s voice sends my blood racing through my veins. My insatiable hunger for her mixing with the adrenaline coursing through me a dangerous combination in the confines of the soundproof room.

The swift urge to confess to Nikolaj when he asked me if I knew about Lexi had me biting down on my tongue until it bled. Lying to him is against my nature. The weight of my original sin where Nikoletta is concerned already carved away at my reason until I took stupid risks and invited more danger.

For everyone.

Every lie erodes at the foundation of what I’m helping him build and I hate her for putting me in that position, too.

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