Page 105 of Killer Kiss

His nickname for her had always made my skin crawl.

So slowly it looked painful, Fawn got to her feet, her gaze glued to the floor. She limped from her hideout in the corner, across the room, reminding me so much of that wounded cat.

She took the steps, one at a time, each movement causing her to wince in pain.

“Are you okay?” I dared to whisper.

But it was clear she wasn’t. It was clear she hadn’t been for a really long time.

This entire situation was my fault.

When she’d disappeared from our basement, I’d assumed he’d killed her.

But now I realized that had been wishful thinking. I wasn’t stupid enough to think he would have let her go, not after how long he’d spent searching for her.

So I’d convinced myself he’d killed her.

Because between that, and being Eddie’s prisoner, death was certainly the better option.

A red haze dropped down over my eyes. I whirled on my brother, but he was quick to pin me to the wall with his meaty forearm, his gaze burning into mine.

He cocked his head to one side. “Do you understand yet, Zane, how actually stupid you are? How you know so little about the real world that it’s embarrassing? You think because you turned twenty-one that you’re some big man, but you have no idea. Now tell me what you told her sister. Every word so I can work out how to fucking fix it all.”

For the first time since I’d entered the room, Fawn’s gaze lit up with hope.

She gripped my hand, her fingers weak and cold, but her voice was strong. “Ophelia? You saw her? She’s here?”

Eddie twisted her arm, wrenching it backward so sharply Fawn let out a scream. He shoved her up against the railing, pushing her backward.

Her feet lifted off the floor, her hair dangling down, her one free arm reaching and scratching at Eddie, trying to get a hold on him to stop herself from falling backward and plunging to the solid concrete floor below.

I didn’t think. Just acted on impulse, lunging for her.

My fingertips brushed her arm, just barely getting a touch before Eddie let her go.

Fawn fell over the edge of the railing, landing in a heap at the bottom, a tangled mess of arms and legs, blood, and dreams that ended the day she’d had the unfortunate luck of meeting him.

I stared at him in horror. “What have you done?”

He held a hand out toward Sim, who handed over the phone.

Eddie passed it back to me. “Send it.”

I blinked, not understanding what he was saying.

He shoved the phone at me harder. “Send Ophelia fucking Hanover the video of her sister falling to her death.”

I stared at him, the horror of what he was asking me to do too much.

“No.” I couldn’t do that to Fawn’s sister.

“Do it or Mom can join her down there. The two of them rotting together. How does that sound?”

I stared at him with every ounce of disgust I could dredge up. “I hate you,” I whispered. “One day, when I kill you, the world will be a better fucking place for it.”

Eddie slung an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in as he added the video to a new message chat he’d started with the number I’d saved for Ophelia. He picked up my finger, forcing me to be the one to press ‘send.’

He kissed my cheek, his lips as hard and chapped as he was. “You wouldn’t have the balls, Zaney boy. You wouldn’t fucking dare.”

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