Page 97 of Conquered

“This is no joke, my sweet Sara. The person is out for revenge. He will stop at nothing to get it. And know this. You’ve been identified as my weakness. As such, the person or persons will try and use you against me.”

“By making me hate you?”

I took a deep breath, nodding. “Possibly. At minimum, they will make you fear me, telling you I will hurt you.”

“Will you?”

“I haven’t lied to you at all. While I haven’t told you every one of my past activities, you’re a very smart girl. I’m certain you now understand why.”

She took a few seconds before nodding. At least perhaps now she better understood my caution and my continued anger.

“And I will never, ever hurt you, Sara. You’re very important to me, even though it was a mistake to bring you into my life.”

“Because I’ll always be ammunition?”

“Yes. After this is over, you will be free to go if you want. In fact, I suggest you consider leaving town.” The ache in just saying the words surprised the fuck out of me. Since when did I ever let something I wanted go?

Since I’d found the one thing I couldn’t own.

Her love.

I could keep her captive for the rest of her life, showering her with beautiful things but I wasn’t that kind of man. I wanted more.

Much more.

The question was, could I provide her the kind of life she deserved? It would seem we were both having a difficult time keeping our eyes off each other. Partly because she was trying to figure out whether she should run screaming from me. Maybe she should. But I was just enjoying basking in her beauty, knowing the moment might be short lived. However, whether or not she wanted it, I would protect her. No one would dare touch her again.

Even the way she was dragging the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip remained far too provocative, which wasn’t what I should be thinking about.

I watched as she brought the drink to her lips, closing her eyes as she took a sip. When she lowered the glass, she darted her eyes back and forth. “I need an answer, Easton. Are you or are you not this Angel of Death the press mentioned?”

“As I said to you before, my sweet, some answers will terrify you.” I attempted to touch her face and she glared at me defiantly.

Her laugh was bittersweet. “We’ve been embroiled in writing about murders so cleverly handled, so masterfully envisioned that our serial killer can’t be arrested because there is no evidence. And our heroine is in the process of falling in love with him. With a madman killer. Imagine that.”

We locked eyes for a few seconds before she spun around on her heel, heading to the leather loveseat. As she sat down, her actions were as if she was trying to command the room.

As well as the man.

Her glaring continued and I walked closer. “You want the truth?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Yes, I’ve done some very bad things in my life, some things I’ve already told you about. And yes, I’ve killed before.”

“For your father?”

I laughed. “Not really. Even in the end after we’d chased the bastards, inflicting wounds, none of them were allowed to be mortal wounds. Our father had the pleasure of issuing the final blows. However, in the business of the Saint family, those betraying us cannot be allowed to continue without punishment.”

“Consequences for their actions.”

She was far too matter-of-fact about this, so much so I was beginning to question if I’d missed something about her. “Yes, little fawn. As with everything in life.”

“So you are the Angel of Death, avenging innocent victims by eliminating the people who attempted to hurt them. Yes?”

Everything about her smugness should piss me off but it was her way of understanding. I walked closer, never allowing my eyes to leave. “You asked for the truth and I’ll give it to you. However, you will never be allowed to divulge what I tell you.”

“Yes, consequences.”

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