Page 62 of Seduce & Destroy

“Fine.” I hung up.

When I departed from the darkness of the woods, Sorren was there waiting for me. I gave him the cold shoulder, but still threw a punch into his side as I passed for good measure. He worked under me. Don’t get it twisted.

But like a good puppy dog, he followed me inside the house. Round each corner. All the way to the family kitchen away from the other soldiers. Laney showed me it one night when she had a midnight craving for red velvet cake. I was shocked they had some. I wasn’t used to this rich people world.

After I found some day-old pasta in the fridge, I plopped down at the secluded table in the corner. “Look, who got let out the dog cage.” He didn’t find it funny, but I did.

He sat across from me before he spoke. “Kenna, they know.”

“No.” I lifted a fork in his face. “They think they know. I’m not in handcuffs yet. Unlike you.” No, you stared down the barrel of a gun.

“You will be.” He said far too soberly for my lunchtime reflection. “And I was only there because I was slightly aggressive toward Forrester. Dumb fucker.”

Couldn’t agree more. He deserved his fate.

“But look how fast they killed my brother after they found out. I didn’t get a goodbye.”

Perhaps, I should have been more sympathetic, but the snark refused to simmer down within me. He almost had me killed, but he knew my identity and he showed me that he wasn’t above disclosing sensitive information. “Did they even know you’re related?”

“No. And don’t tell them that.”

“Well, there you go then.” I mocked with my hands up. “And…I would never. That’s suicide. I’m not stupid.”

“Just…” He tried to find the words. “It’ll be too late once they realise. There’s chatter in the barracks. They’re looking for a traitor. Whether it's authenticated or not, they will shoot first and ask questions later.”

Oh, I know.

“I’ll be fine.” But I wasn’t fine. In moments like these I wanted a pair of arms around me. Usually, I wasn’t picky with who, but lately there’s only one person I’d like to hold me, and I haven’t seen her since last night.

After a long pause, Sorren noted a sombre truth I wished could be erased from my thoughts. “She can’t save you.”

In my bones, I knew it, but it was in my mind where twisted thoughts of a loving paradise were facing off with visions of romantic tragedy. I won’t betray my family. But I also can’t betray her.

I stared at the table and gently shook my head. A pit forming in my stomach.

“I won’t save her either.” He continued. “I saw the tape, she was the one to do it. She killed him and then, she sat across from me in his office. Prim and proper. Sweet even. All I could see were flashes of Dylan’s mangled and bruised body. Tell me why I can’t exact revenge on her.”

“You know that it was Richard Ravencroft’s hand to play.”

He bolted up from his seat and slapped his hand down on the table. “She… She buried that bullet in his brain–I can’t let that go.” Tears sprung in his eyes, but his pupils were wide open. Intense with want. Then he looked directly at me. “Forget Richard, I want to kill her.”

I shook my head again, pained, it was a hard image to paint in my mind. If I were him, I wouldn’t think twice. He was far more noble than me. Much more disciplined.

Then, a shy smile crossed his face, and my heart sank. “Maybe, I already am.”

I stared at him, multitudes of possibilities passing through my head.

“Killing her, I mean. You know the anxiety medication she takes?”

“Migraine.” He cocked his head at me, so I clarified. “It’s migraine medication.”

He nodded before speaking again. An agonising pause. “I soaked her pills in tea tree oil.”

No. “Sorren!” I shot up from the table. From the doorway, eyes tracked my movements in a split second before continuing on. That moment of hesitation, that doubt, could kill me. I lowered my voice into a calm tone. Oral intake of tea tree oil was toxic at best, lethal at worst. I needed him to understand. “Replace those pills immediately! This is my operation, stand down. Trust me, please.”

With heavy lids, he blinked slowly as if he were staring at someone he pitied. I didn’t need pity. I’d survived too much for it to be minimised by a lesser man. Don’t get caught in a war of hearts, blood will always be thicker.”

Did he think he knew better than me? “Hearts can change.” I hoped. Attachments were dangerous but I knew in my healed heart that she was worth it.

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