Page 71 of Hearts Of Darkness

Waiting.

It’s like he wants me to react badly and hurl angry words at him… To draw first blood. That way, he can come back at me with another of his contradictions, just to show me how powerful he is and how weak I am. I guess that’s what makes his next move so unexpected. He lifts his gun from his lap and slides it across the floor in my direction. It skids across the tiles and lands within touching distance of the bed.

“Take it,” he says harshly. “You get a free shot at me today, Eve Miller.”

I lurch forward to grab it, and then aim it at his head. “You sicken me, DanteSantiago.” I can scarcely see through my tears.

“I sicken myself sometimes.”

“How can you look at yourself in the mirror?” I’m shakingso badly; the gun is jerking all over the place. “How many people have you killed? How many lives have you shattered?”

“My life is not a tale of morality, but you knew that already.”

“I knew nothing!” I swipe my hand across my face and swing my legs out of bed. “Becauseyouchose to deceive me. What gave you the right to bend my every rule, my every impulse in your favor?”

He laughs, but it’s a bitter, painful sound. “Do you really think the odds are in my favor, right now? My business is fucked, my brother betrayed me, and the woman I desire most in the world is pointing a goddamn gun at my head.”

“You deserve it. You deserve everything that’s coming for you. I hope you rot to death in some African cell.”

“Does that mean you’re not going to kill me?”

He almost sounds disappointed.

“Do you wish to die that badly?” I rise to my feet, the gun still trained at his head. “Is there any part of you that feels pain or regret, or are you just numb all over?”

“I’ve felt something these past two weeks. With you. I’ve felt more than I have in years.”

“Don’t say those things! You don’t have the right anymore!”

“Maybe so, but if today is the day I die, I do so with all my truths unveiled.”

“Truths?You want to talk about the truth? Who’s the girl in the photograph, Dante?” I jerk my head at the nightstand. “Is she your daughter?”

His shoulders jerk as though an electric current just passed through his body. It’s the first visible reaction he’s given mesince I woke up and found him sat there on the floor.

“Why do you care?” he says, recovering quickly. “Take your vengeance and do it now. Don’t forget to unclip the safety first.”

My eyes widen at his contempt. He’s trying to goad me. This man doesn’t just enjoy inflicting pain on others, he enjoys inflicting it on himself, too.

“Don’t think I won’t do it, Dante. You have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of this moment.”

“Five years isn’t it, my angel?”

“Stop calling me that!”

“Just fucking do it!” he roars suddenly.

Tears start trickling down my cheeks in rivulets of pain. The world tilts and distorts.

“I put a price on his head, Eve,” he says, taunting me again. “I never pulled the trigger, but I may as well have. He kept calling me, begging and pleading for his fucking life…”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

“I sent Grayson to finish him off, but by the time he landed in Miami he’d already OD-ed. Grayson couldn’t be bothered to waste the bullet.”

My grief is an unstoppable hurricane now. The room is spinning out of control.

“Jesus Christ, haven’t you heard enough?” He throws himself onto his knees in front of me. Before I can stop him, he’s grabbed the muzzle of the gun and is pressing it tightly against his forehead. “Pull the trigger,” he orders, gazing up at me. “This is your one shot. You will never get another chance after today.”

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