Page 88 of Fool's Gold

Everything inside me shifts into a dangerous calm.

He doesn’t get to do this to me. He doesn’t get to go out all macho and tell me he loves me in a fucking note. I need him alive to say it to my face because I refuse to let some bitch and her bully of a boss steal my future with him.

Our next life? Fuck that. I want this life, too.

I grab my cell and dial, waiting for the call to go through.

River answers with a chuckle. “You’re supposed to be at your big movie premiere tonight. Don’t tell me you flaked out early to go have sex with your new boy toy, and you need pointers?”

“Round up your media contacts,” I tell her without waiting. “We’re about to break the internet.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Silver lining?

I don’t have to fuck Celeste.

Instead of diving for my dick, she used a stun gun, zapping me in the side of the neck to incapacitate me. A coward’s way out, like me with booze.

The no-sex bit is the tiniest fucking silver lining I’ve ever faced to date, but it’s better than nothing, and being tied to a goddamn chair definitely gives a man some time to think things through.

Waiting to die.

It’s the Stanic special.

He’s pulled this move on a thousand different people before, and I’ve helped him. Once upon a time, in my younger days, I stood at his side and learned his tricks to make people talk.

He ties you up long enough to work on your pleas and then waits to hear exactly what you have to say before cutting you into tiny pieces. First, he starts with the tips of the fingers, hacking away, leaving raw stumps behind. Then he chops off the fingers themselves, followed by the hands. And if you’re really lucky, he slits your throat before he moves on to the feet.

I’ve got a nasty feeling in my gut; I’m not going to be so lucky. He’s been waiting for a chance to get me under the blade for a while now. Celeste was just another punishment for me. A warm-up before the main event.

I let my head drop over the back of the chair and stare at the ceiling. This is the end.

Not like I thought there would be an actual way out of his noose. Even my years of freedom were dogged by them.

Heels click along the concrete, and I know without opening my eyes the ice bitch has returned.

“I’m sick of your bullshit,” I start in a low tone. “Do it already.”

“I think it’s adorable how you act like you’re not afraid of me. But I’ve seen grown men much older than you shit themselves at the end. It happens to the best of them. You don’t have to keep a strong face for me. If you’re afraid, let it show.”

“And give you the satisfaction? I’ll pass.”

I’ve worked the clamps over my arms to the point of bloodying myself. Those are a dead end, too. They’re not budging.

Celeste clucks her tongue. “Marcus, we’re past the point of playing with each other. Unless you want me to.”

“I’d rather deal with Stanic.”

Metal snicks against stone, and when I pry my eyes open, she’s got a knife against a polishing stone. “And he’s given you over to me,” she reminds me. “He has no time for you anymore. You’re not his primary interest any longer.” She scoffs. “You’re not even a blip on his radar. He expects everything to go through me, and I am not in a position to disappoint him.”

Rather than use the knife on me, the bitch twists her index finger along the side of my neck. I jump at the touch, and her eyes light with satisfaction.

“I know I get under your skin, Marcus. I don’t need to fuck you in order to do it,” she murmurs.

“You’re the one who tied me down, sweetheart.” I smile even though the undersides of my arms are drenched in sweat, perspiration also trailing along my spine and my tailbone. “If I’d known you wanted to be kinky, I would have done my best to oblige you. As it is, you’re making it tough to get a hard-on.”

The light in her eyes dims, although her mouth remains twisted in feral amusement.

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