Page 70 of You Belong With Me

I lift my chin at her. “What’s your name?”

She pulls in a breath at my commanding tone, and I notice a spark of defiance in her eyes. Hmmm, interesting. I wonder if she knows who the fuck she’s dealing with.

“My name is Eden,” she says, lifting her chin. She sucks in another breath, and I can tell she’s nervous. “Eden Savano.”

Oh. Shit.

This chick has my attention now. In fact, we all perk up a little.

“Savano?” Christian removes the towel from his neck, and tosses it on the leather sofa, then steps toward her. “As inShadow and AshSavano?”

She swallows and glances down, twisting her hands. When she looks back up, her eyes connect with Christian’s. “Yes,” she says. “Sin Savano is my brother.”

A bomb could go off in this room, and it wouldn’t shock us as much as that statement does.

Christian is the closest to her, and he shakes his head, half-laughing. “You’re either super ballsy or super fucking stupid to walk in here like this…”

Jackson lifts his chin, arms crossed over his chest. “Why are you here? What do you want?” he asks her, his tone brusque, per usual.

Her eyes travel over each one of our faces. It looks like she might be regretting her decision to waltz into the lion’s den, and she’d be right. This wasn’t smart.

“I, um…” She sucks in a breath and starts over. “There have been rumors circulating about what happened here a few weeks ago, and in a world like ours, I know what that means…”

Christian’s face is hard, and unflinchingly cruel. He’s been like this ever since the ambush over a month ago. “Why don’t you enlighten us?”

“My brother moved on you, and I know something like that can’t go unanswered,” she says shrewdly.

“Movedon us?” Ash laughs like she can’t be serious. “Your brother slaughtered one of our members on thefront-fucking-lawn.” His tone reflects the anger we all feel.

“You killed our cousin,” she replies.

If only it were that simple.

Ash moves like he’s going to come at her, but Christian lifts his arm, blocking him. My brother's gaze never leaves Eden’s face. “If you’re here to make a case for your brother, then you’re wasting your breath.”

She swallows. “I’m not here to make a case for him. I’m here to offer myself as payment for what he’s done…”

Silence.

The fuck?

I glance over at the other guys, and they look just as confused as I feel.

“What does ‘offering yourself for payment’ mean exactly?” Ash asks.

We’re all watching her skeptically. She’s a Savano, which automatically makes her untrustworthy. Is she just another Trojan horse, like Gabriel was? Someone who can get inside, and then give Shadow and Ash the keys to our kingdom? I don’t know Sin Savano personally, but from what I do know, he’s ruthless enough to use his own sister to get to us.

Fuck,if he thought we’d take his mother, he’d probably send her in, too.

She lifts her hands. “It means…I’ll do whatever you want. My brother has no idea I’m here, and we’re very close. If he thought you’d kidnapped me, for example, I know it would kill him.”

Christian approaches her, and she flinches when he reaches out to grab her chin. “Whateverwe want?” he asks darkly.

She’s trembling, but my brother doesn’t seem to notice. Under normal circumstances, I might intervene, because it’s clear this chick is terrified. But she’s a Savano, and Savanos aren’t entitled to mercy in this house.

She hesitates, but eventually, she says, “If it means you won’t hurt Sin, then…yes, anything.”

Oh, fuck, she’s going to be sorry she said that.

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