Page 169 of The Sinner's Bargain

I didn’t argue.

I let him lead me to the staircase and started up. He was watching me when I glanced back, his scrutiny calm and protective. Their unwavering focus sent tingles of heat up my spine as I reached the top and rounded the corner.

I don’t know what made me stop or slip up against the wall just before the stairs, but the sound of raised voices had me creeping to the edge to peer over. I hadn’t seen another person come or go since my arrival, except the sheriff, and the thought of anyone just showing up in the dead of night made me curious.

Thoran stood in the foyer. A stunning vision in his dark suit and darker expression. The face he wore with me, the one that softened around the hard lines and smiled easily, was replaced by one of impatience and thunder. It was the face of a man who had no qualms about taking a life and walking over the body. This was the face he wore with the outside world and God help me, but I loved both.

Next to him, Vance stood still and somber with his hands neatly folded at his front and a deep furrow between his brow. Neither man spoke as they waited for the newcomer.

I wasn’t sure what I had expected when the door did finally open, and a small gathering of people stalked into the foyer. Three of Thoran’s men clustered around two others.

One I didn’t recognize.

The other...

My breath caught. The air seized my lungs and froze my limbs. I had an inexplicable urge to throw up and scream at the same time, but all I did was stand and stare as the monster from my nightmares stepped into my home.

My life.

Again.

“Brixton,” Thoran said coolly. “I thought we were meeting tomorrow at the hotel like we discussed.”

Jarrett with his dark hair slicked back and his sharp features set on polite, inclined his head. He wore a dark suit over a white button up, but the front strained over a belly I didn’t remember him having the last time I saw him. There were lines carved into his once passably handsome face that hadn’t been there either. But the evil was fresh and angulating in the dark, oily pits of his eyes.

“I had a bit of spare time on my hands of late,” Jarrett drawled. Oozed. “You must have heard I had a bit of bad luck of late and I just couldn’t wait a moment longer to have her.”

My insides twisted as every word sank into my soul.

He was there for me.

Thoran had told him.

He was going to take me to Jarrett in the morning.

He’d betrayed me.

No!

Thoran wouldn’t. He loved me. I knew that with every ounce of breath in my body. Unless his friendship was equally important. Both things could be true. He realized what my name was and immediately called Jarrett the moment he no longer needed me to save his inheritance.

I had to shake the hysteria before it consumed me entirely and forced myself to listen.

“She’s upstairs,” Vance said briskly. “I must say she has been a handful.”

Jarrett chuckled. The sound vile skating along my skin. “I do apologize for any inconveniences she may have caused you. I will of course pay for any extra ... handling, she required.”

I wasn’t wrong.

They were talking about me.

My heart thumped in my chest even as the muscle cracked straight down the center.

“Take Mr. Brixton to my office.” Thoran said to Cyrus. Once the group had left the foyer, he turned to his advisor with annoyance crowding across his brow. “Were my instructions not clear?”

Vance inclined his head. “Quite clear, sir. I assure you.”

Thoran sucked in a calming breath. “I have half a mind to make him wait until we bring her to him like we agreed.”

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