Page 88 of Merciless Prince
“I’m getting really sick of repeating myself on this issue,” I said, rolling my eyes upward. “But for the millionth time, I was alone that night in the grotto. I’m the only one who saw anything.”
Derrick leaned back, lifting his palms. “Hey, I get it. You’re scared, and you’re trying to be a good friend to whoever you were with. But we really don’t want to hurt them. We just want to make them an offer.”
I raised my brows. “An offer?”
“You know the Hellfire Club has access to a lot of money, right? That’s all we want to do. We want to offer you and your friends a payout. We’re willing to beverygenerous.”
“If that were even remotely true, you would’ve offered me money from the start. But here I am,” I said, sweeping one arm around the sparse room. “A fucking prisoner.”
“That’s Killian’s fault. He wanted to do things his way. But I told him from the start I thought we should try being nice to you. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, right?”
“Maybe, but the ship has really sailed on that one, hasn’t it?” I said, raising a scornful brow. I took another sip of cherry soda and set the can down on the bedside table. “Also, it doesn’t matter howniceyou are to me, or how much money you throw at me. I’m not going to forget that I saw you stabbing a guy to death in that grotto.”
“That’s something we can discuss later. I know what it must’ve looked like to you, but we had our reasons for doing what we did.”
“Oh yeah? What were they?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“I can’t tell you that right now. But I can promise you this—we would never kill someone like you. Or your friends, whoever they are.” Derrick reached a hand out to me, and I flinched. He immediately drew back. “Shit. Sorry. I wasn’t going to hit you, I swear. I was just going to pat your arm.”
“Oh. Right,” I muttered, letting my shoulders relax.
“Look, I know Killian has really fucked this up by doing things his way so far, but I promise, things are going to be different from now on,” Derrick said, tentatively reaching out to me again. He gently patted my leg and gave me a sympathetic smile. “We just want to know who your friends are so we can talk to them. Then we’ll offer them the payout. All we want is for them to keep their mouths shut about what they saw, and like I said, we’re willing to be very generous.”
“But they’re already keeping their mouths shut! They think it was just a movie shoot!” I said, throwing my hands up. “I’m the only one who ever suspected it was something else!”
A triumphant light filled Derrick’s eyes, and my heart sank.Oh no.
I’d just fucked up. Badly.
Derrick had been so nice to me since he entered the room—something I wasn’t used to with Killian—that he’d thrown me off my guard. As a result, I’d gone and blurted out an acknowledgement that I wasn’t alone that night in the grotto.
Now, Derrick knew it for a fact. Soon, the rest of the Hellfire Club would know it too.
“Keep talking,” Derrick said. A smirk tugged at his lips as he spoke, and I sensed a distinct change in the air around us. His whole ‘nice guy’ persona was clearly just an act. I could tell by the way he was looking at me now, like an apex predator setting its sights on a small, defenseless animal. “Give me your friends’ names.”
“I didn’t mean what I said,” I murmured. “I… I misspoke.”
“No you didn’t. Give me the names.”
I shook my head and pressed my lips into a flat line.
“Hey, don’t be like that,” Derrick said, scooting closer to me. “We were getting along so well. Let’s keep it going.”
I noticed he was staring right at my mouth through slightly narrowed eyes as he spoke. Suddenly feeling self-conscious about the mess I left on my face when I wolfed down the food, I briefly licked my lips with the tip of my tongue and wiped around them with my thumb to remove the droplets of sauce and soda.
“I can take care of you, Shay,” Derrick said softly, moving even closer. “I can protect you from the others.”
As he spoke, the hand on my knee slid upward to rest on my thigh. I pushed it away. “Please don’t touch me,” I said, heart pounding.
“Come on, don’t be like that.” Another smirk tugged at Derrick’s lips, and the hand returned to my thigh. “Let me help you.”
“I don’t need that kind of help,” I muttered, shoving his hand away again.
“You don’t have to play hard to get with me,” Derrick said, leaning so close his breath tickled my nose. “I won’t judge you, and no one else is watching. It’s just us here.”
“I’m not playing hard to get,” I said in an acid tone. “I just don’t want you. All I want is to go home.”
His face darkened. “No one likes a tease, Shay.”
