Page 103 of His Pretty Little Duet

Interesting.

“Bored with shopping?” I ask, a grin tugging at the corner of my lips while her eyes seem to search for something within mine. As though I’m under interrogation, as well. Vinny rounds the girl and removes her gag, gently so.

She shakes the sensation away, releasing a little cough and working her jaw in circles. She jumps straight in with, “What are you going to do,MayorButcher? You can’t dispose ofme.People will look for me if I go missing, and I’m sure my dad will have Stormy River raked for my body. You’ll go to jail.”

“Which is where you belong,” I state plainly.

“You can talk.”

I like her.

This is an interesting development. I smile, amusement floating through me. “You have me surprised. I’m very rarely surprised. But I’m far more disappointed in you than surprised by you. You see, the people I typically have bound to a chair don’t have silver spoons up their arses. They are struggling. Their poverty makes them weak. Stupid. What’s your excuse for burning down homes and threatening lives, Kaya?”

She locks her jaw, tight-lipped, seemingly withholding something while her narrowed blue eyes attempt to defy her transparency. “Just like you said.” She shrugs, but it’s a bullshit gesture because her chest has picked up pace—she cares. “I’m bored with shopping.”

Not convinced, I study her face for any tells. Then drag my gaze down her body, halted by a thin necklace hanging between her breasts. I walk towards her. She shrinks back in her chair,even as her pretty, blue eyes narrow and follow my movements. She’s playing at being tough, but not very well.

I hook the shiny silver chain with my finger and pull the pendant from between her cleavage. I display the piece on the pad of my fingers, smiling as I read,“Princess.”

“Well,” I say smoothly. “Are you going to tell me the truth, girl? Or am I going to have to get it out of you?”

She speaks through clenched teeth. “Ihavetold you the truth. I’m bored. Like you don’t know the truth already.”

I drop the pendant, the slinky chain falling back between the mounds of her chest. Turning my back to her, I hear her gasp at the abrupt action, at the dismissal. I walk to Vinny’s side. “Go to her father and tell him he’ll need to pay the damages to homes and keep?—"

“No!” she cuts in.

I smile at Vinny, who grins in return. Slowly, I turn to face her again. “What is it, Kaya?”

She leans forward.“I’llpay it back.”

“It’s millions of dollars.”

“I’ll”—she reaches for a plan—“I’ll work for you.”

I laugh. “Whatever could you offer me?”

“I’m smart.”

“So am I. Look, Kaya, your father has plenty of money. Just let him save you from this mess your boredom has gotten you into. You might not get any prison time at all. It all matters little to me.”

“I don’t understand. You’re serious?” Her brows weave in, and I don’t quite understand her question, her apparent confusion over the situation, but I don’t show that fact. “You seriously don’t know?Fuck.Don’t involve my father.”

“Why?” I ask. Heavy waves outside the warehouse walls beat through the following seconds of silence. A small smile creeps across my lips as I say, “Princess.”

She sneers at me, realising I knew her father was her weakness all along, but alas, what I don’t know is why the hell she thought I was playing at my inquiries.

The petite brunette shakes her head in a way that shows her stupidity taking root inside her young brain. She looks at her bound wrists, muttering, “They blackmailed me into starting the fire.”

“Speak up, girl. I can’t hear you.”

She peers up from her clasped fingers, meeting my unaffected gaze. Within her blue eyes she portrays less fear than men have drowning in theirs given a shared situation. “You won’t bring my dad into this, then?”

“You are in no place to make demands.”

“Please.”

I level her with my gaze. “I will consider it.”

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