Page 32 of High Stakes

Silas.

“I talked to them last night,” she whispers, her voice muffled. I look down and she’s pressing her face against my chest. “They didn’t know about the fire. Well…They knew that it happened, but they weren’t a part of it,” she adds softly.

“And you believe them?” I ask because I’m genuinely curious. I trust her judgment implicitly and if she believes them, then so do I. If she wants them dead, well, I always keep extra duct tape and a shovel handy.

“I want to,” Emelia admits quietly, and takes a deep breath, like she’s inhaling my scent. “I really fucking want to.”

“Why?” I press her. I know the answer, but I want to see if she will admit it. If not to me, at least to herself.

“I won’t say it,” she deadpans and levels me with a ‘don’t even fucking start’ look.

“Okay, Megara,” I chuckle and give her a squeeze before leaning down until my lips brush the shell of her ear. “Then can I?”

She nods once and her teeth sink into her lower lip. “If you must.”

I lift my hands and cradle her face between my palms. My thumb strokes her lower lip, pulling it from between her teeth. “You are the most infuriating, arrogant, self-destructive little devil I have ever met,” I tell her, and stroke the pads of my thumbs along her high cheekbones. “Your sarcasm knows no bounds and your homicidal tendencies borderline on the insane. Sometimes I wish you would put a bullet through my skull to put me out of my misery.”

“You’re doing a really shit job, did you know that?” she snarks but I can see the emotion pooling in her eyes when I lean my head back and meet her gaze. Her lip trembles and she leans her right cheek into my hand.

“Shut up and let me finish,” I demand with a smirk. “You’re impatient. You’re demanding.” I lean my head forward until my lips graze against her forehead. “You’re terrifying. You’re beautiful. I would kill for you. I would bleed for you. Both of which I do, frequently,” I add, and she chokes on a giggle. “I loveyou, Emelia, and I would die a thousand times over for you. You own my very soul, every broken piece of it.”

She trails her fingers up my chest and briefly traces along the healed scar above my heart. “No dying,” she whispers and continues to drag her fingers up my body until she’s cupping my face, mimicking my hold on her. “But I will settle for some homicide. You know how much I love looking at you covered in blood.” She pulls my face down and meets my lips in a searing kiss, pouring her passion and emotion into the touch. “I love you, too,” she murmurs against my lips between soft kisses.

It takes a tremendous amount of willpower on my part, but I pull away and hold her at arm's length. If I don’t put distance between us, I won’t be able to think coherently. “We should go. I do believe you need to tell them the truth before Hayden does something exceedingly stupid.”

She rolls her eyes but nods in agreement. “Whatever do you mean?” she asks sarcastically and smiles when I drop a chaste kiss on her nose. I can’t help myself. The taste of her skin is like a drug, and I’m far too weak to fight this addiction.

We take the black Audi R8 because, and I quote, she ‘likes the way it hugs the curves on those winding backroads’. My stomach, on the other hand, could do without the tire-squealing turns. When we pull up outside, the living room lights are on and I can see the colors reflecting off the glass of the TV. “Do you have any weapons?” I ask her as we ascend the front steps.

Emelia looks at me over her shoulder and winks. “Not the sharp kind.”

“Good,” I mutter under my breath. “Because if this gets ugly, I do not want to be scrubbing blood out of my beard tonight.”

She rolls her eyes and knocks on the front door. Three quick, hard raps. The lock on the inside of the door clicks loudly before it pulls open, revealing a very tired-looking Declan. His face is still slightly bruised from his fights the other night and I have atwinge of guilt. Maybe I should have pulled him out of it sooner than I did.

Declan’s eyes widen as they slide between me and Emelia and his hand falls away from the knob. The shock and disbelief written across his face is only there for a moment before he composes himself. “Hayden,” he calls over his shoulder.

The assassin appears a moment later with a bowl of popcorn in tow. “Angel?” he asks, his voice soft and cautious. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk,” she says, and walks past Declan like she fucking owns the place, without so much as glancing up at him. I shrug when he looks back at me and follow her inside. She hops up onto the counter and crosses her ankles, swinging her feet like she loves to do when she’s too high to reach the floor. It reminds me of the night I met her all those years ago in the casino.

Declan closes the door and takes a seat at the kitchen table. Hayden sits backwards in a chair and drapes his arms across the top. “Emelia, we know why you left and —” Declan starts but Emelia cuts him off by raising her hand. He falls silent immediately.

Damn. I knew she had a way with them, but seeing her in action…How they also worship the ground she walks on…Her display of power is intoxicatingly erotic, and I find myself wanting to obey her every order.

“You’ve had your conversation. Now it’s your turn to listen. I’ll do the talking.” Her voice is commanding yet soft. A conundrum, much like herself. Both men nod and Declan motions for her to continue. “I want to believe you,” she begins. “I want to believe that you are telling me the truth. That you knew nothing of the explosions and the fire, of innocent people being burned alive.” Her voice catches and her emotionsleak into her words. “So,” she says after she clears her throat, regaining her composure, “I do.”

“That’s it?” Hayden asks incredulously. “No groveling? No pleading? No begging?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to you on your knees in front of me.” Her voice drops a few octaves and takes on a sultry tone.

My stomach flutters and dips at the thought of her standing above them. What a fucking display of power.

“Why?” Declan asks cautiously.

“Seriously?” Hayden hisses, and slaps Declan on his bicep. “Don’t fuck this up for me.”

Declan rolls his eyes and leans forward, staring intently at Emelia. “Why do you trust us?”

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