Page 56 of Seduce & Destroy

She nodded and grabbed my jeans.

“No, no, no,” I said. “You’ll have me, but not now. I’m yours.”

Even in the dim light, she looked cute when she pouted.

I laid down beside her, me the big spoon and Laney the little one.

“What happened today?” I asked, kissing her behind the ear and drawing her closer to place a hand under her pyjama top.

She sighed, and I saw her eyes flutter shut as if she were in pain.

“That bad, huh?” My thumb caressed her stomach, coaxing.

No words tumbled out of her mouth. It was a rare moment when Laney was without them. Only a grave revelation would do that.

“I think you’re a Karstein.” She whispered and turned toward me in my arms, placing her hands on either side of my face as she examined my features. “The dark hair. Tall build. Penchant for automatic weapons. I didn’t want to admit it, but I somehow always knew you were too good to be true.”

My hands paused their caressing. “Is that right?”

“At first, I denied it. My teenage fantasy is my enemy, I couldn’t, no, wouldn’t believe it. You’d told me things, things that didn’t make sense as a Karstein.” The look in her eyes was cold, a mirror image of her father and her hands constricted. “But then, I thought back on all the things you didn’t say. And suddenly, the picture was whole.”

She grabbed my chin roughly and turned my head to look at the painting we’d hung over her fireplace—my grandmother.

My jaw locked at her force as she lent all her weight on that hand, pushing my face into the bed and using her grip to climb on top of me into a straddle, knives in hand.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t slice your throat right this second.” She turned my face back to face her and trailed the blade’s edge along my jawline, gazing intently at my features as if committing it to memory and never meeting my eye.

“You wouldn’t.”

The blade pinched my skin at her added pressure. “And why ever not?”

I cocked my head to the side. I needed her eyes on me. “You like me too much.” My hand went to her hip, stroking the skin under her shirt. “Even love,” I whispered.

Her face slackened.

It startled her enough that I could get her under me in one swift move. However, the pull on the bed sheets also pulled Laney’s laptop from her bedside table, bringing it crashing to the floor with a loud thump.

A voice screamed her name outside her door, but she kept quiet while maintaining direct eye contact. My heart thrummed. Merciless bitch.

The door swung open, and I lifted my hands in defeat. “Step away from her right fucking now. You shouldn’t be in here!”

I concealed the little knives in my sleeves and let myself be dragged from her body and out the door before I yanked on the guard’s grip and slit his wrists with the knives to set me free. Something I hoped to be akin to a papercut. Minor but devastating.

As I felt now.

Chapter 21

LANEY

Ihated doctors.

Early this morning, Father informed me an attending doctor would visit me to check me over. The past four weeks had rocked things off-kilter, but I didn’t think it would have to come to this. I’m fine.

I waited in the dimly lit library on the eastern wing of the estate. It was cold and damp as if the books contained the moisture of the past, not just the words. The shelves went from floor to ceiling enveloping the entire room with a cosy, yet imposing feel.

The night before had been rough. I transposed her facial likeness image captured on intake on the painting. It was a perfect match. I was crushed, and so angry. Why did I turn a blind eye to her before she earned it? Was I that gullible that only an ounce of attention would have me foregoing my family’s security. I couldn’t admit this to Father.

At exactly three p.m., a stocky-looking fella walked in behind my father, a couple of steps behind his long stride. He wore nothing that indicated his medical authority except a badge with his name that, thankfully, had MD written after it.

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