Page 35 of When Kings Rise

I nod.

"I'm not a dumb, spoiled, rich girl. I'm educated. I can tell when people are lying, and you do nothing but lie," she accuses, her voice a mixture of anger and disappointment. Her abrupt words make me stop walking this time.

“I have to be deceitful in my business,” I answer honestly. We have so many secrets to carry. Sometimes, the lies can get tangled with the truth.

“What business?” she probes, but her voice isn’t as sharp anymore.

“Imports,” I answer.

“Liar.”

“Be careful, sweet Selene,” I whisper and give her a warning glance.

“I know what you are.” Her voice is heavy, too heavy, and I don’t like it.

I immediately go with humor. “Fuck, are you going to call me a vampire?” My attempt to deflect with humor sounds feeble even to my own ears.

“How do you know about that movie?” She counters, a smirk playing at the edge of her words.

“How does an intellectual such as yourself know about that movie?” I retort.

“You are redirecting the conversation,” she accuses, pinpointing my tactic with ease before tightening her jacket around her perfect frame.

“You are easy to redirect,” I shoot back before I run my thumb along my lips, lips that she glances at for a moment. I swear her blue eyes soften before they ignite again with something close to fear.

“You are a killer,” she states, a declaration so raw that it strikes a chord inside me that hasn’t been pulled since I was a kid.

“Am I now?” I reply, with a raised brow, attempting to regain control of the conversation, and steering us back into a more humorous footing.

“Stop it! I know what you’ve done. And who you’ve done it to,” she insists, her voice a mix of anger, fear, and a daring kind of courage.

“You have entered a dangerous world, Selene,” I warn.

“So, you’ve done it. You’ve killed people. Men, women, and children,” she states, a cold summation of my sins laid out in the open, each word a weight, each accusation a mirror reflecting a version of myself I've fought to keep hidden, not just from the world, but from myself.

The discipline of masking my emotions has been a cornerstone of my existence since childhood, a necessary armor forged from the unforgiving punishments from Victor and Andrew. I have perfected the steady stare and a firm lip that has seen me through countless situations. Yet, Selene's accusation causes me to pause. It's a microsecond of hesitation. To any onlooker, it would have been invisible, insignificant. But Selene’s eyes widen.

Her reaction is immediate; her breath falters, and then she sprints back toward the safety of her home. Her steps are panicked, and it takes me a moment to respond.

I chase after her. As I run, my mind races, trying to piece together the hows and whys of her accusation. She's made it clear she knows about the killings, the lives I've taken, even mentioning children—a detail so specific, so damning, that it sends a chill through me.

Howcould Selene know? Her inference, her mention of children, implies she believes Brien Cahill is among my victims.

I push my body harder, and the need to understand andclarify become my sole focus.

She’s made it nearly to her home, running alongside the building, when my arm circles her waist, and she’s airborne before I swing her and pin her to the wall. She’s breathing heavily and, straightaway, she starts to fight me.

As I cover her mouth with one of my hands, anger races through me. “The world isn’t fair. Sometimes your parents are shitty, and you have a shitty life. Sometimes, people die who shouldn’t have died. Sometimes, a father drives up a gambling debt, so his son gets killed for it.” My emotions become erratic; I’ve never lost control like this, and it isn’t fair, but I‘m not working to make the world fair. I am working to get what is mine.

Tears fall from her eyes and soak my hand. She stops fighting me, and I remove my hand from her mouth. She licks her tears before she glares at me. “You are a monster.”

Her response cuts deeper than any knife I've ever wielded. I agree with her.

I press my body against hers.“I am a monster with clearances, allowances, and ultimate freedom. I could tear into you right now, and nothing would happen to me.”

My anger turns to something darker as I look down at her wet lips. Raising a hand, I run my thumb along her bottom lip. She swivels her head quickly away from me. Like my touch disgusts her, I grip her face, forcing her to look at me. “This kind of monster needs to be pleased, or no one is safe.”

Her heavy breath fans across my face. My movements are abrupt and almost frantic as I press my lips to hers. She doesn’t kiss me back, but that doesn’t hinder me from taking what I want.

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