Page 21 of Manacled Hearts

I swing at him again, catching his jaw, but not hard enough to make him shut up about her.

Was she happy to go, or did she fight you?

“Ice cream? Really? What the hell is your goal there?” I ask.

What flavor did she get?

“You tell me,” he counters, swinging his leg in a turning kick that catches me in the hip.

“I’m minding my own business. You should too.” I haven’t seen the girl since I went to Katya’s a few days ago.

He scoffs and I spurt toward him, side-kicking him in the stomach before swinging for his jaw again. But my fist doesn’t connect. He swats my hand away, kicks my feet from under me, and slams me back against the floor.

“And what is your business, Hennessey? Does it have to do with the shiny black card Katya gave me this morning?” He presses his forearm into my chest, his amber gaze pinning me in place.

My eyes widen, and I lift my leg, attempting to push him off. Why did Katya give my goddamn bank card to him? She was supposed to use it on Evelyn herself.

“Or maybe it has to do with the two people who were told to keep an eye on her, help her, follow her around, even if they are assigned to Katya and the building?” he continues, pressing just a bit harder into my chest before he snaps back and rises.

He offers me his hand to help me up, but the pulse in my temples rages. I grab his hand and use all my force to swing my legs around, hook them around his ankles and pull him down, throwing him over my head. The floor of the ring shakes like a goddamn earthquake, but I’m even more furious when I rise and find Madds snickering to himself as he lies there.

I draw a deep breath, trying to steady myself, because he’s reading too much into this. There is no ulterior motive. “I was simply trying to help Katya, since she took on this situation, and it’s unfair to leave her on her own. We need her to be focused on the escort service.”

“Situation…” he repeats as he rises back to his full height. “So, are you going to go see the situation again?”

Yes.

“No. I have no reason to,” I answer.

“She’s a smart woman, you know,” he says, and I lunge at him just to shut him the fuck up.

I don’t want to hear any more about the silver and gold eyes that have haunted me since the moment she came out of that godforsaken container. I don’t want to be reminded of the glow of her olive skin. Her wheat-colored hair that grazes her too-slim waist. Nor of the look of disdain she shot me the last time I saw her.

The girl can’t occupy any space in my mind.

I’m a sick bastard for allowing any of these thoughts.

“She’s been taking care of her sister for the best part of two years.” Madds deflects my attack, but I block his back.

Why has she been doing this?

“Working to support her through school, while dodging the authorities. She’s resourceful. She fooled the system.”

Then she got herself kidnapped by the scum of the fucking earth. The same type of bastards who took—no!

“She asked about us,” Madds continues, distracting me from that dangerous train of thought.

“What did she ask?” I stop, scowling at him.

“Who we are. What we are.” He throws a combination of jabs and crosses that I just about manage to block.

Why the hell would Evelyn ask these things? She doesn’t need to know who we are, and she doesn’t need to know what we do.

“And you didn’t find that strange, Severin?”

“No.”

Fucking idiot!

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