Page 43 of As the World Falls

“No,” I snap. “It’s not. We haven’t discussed your punishment for Friday.” Not that I could give her the punishment I actually want to.

“Look, I’m sorry. I got a little overly curious and?—”

“You don’t go near my things, Cecilia. I don’t care what little mission you’re on here, but you will respect my office and personal belongings. Do you understand?”

She looks like she’s grinding her teeth as she glares back at me, and I revel in her irritation. “Yes,” she manages to say.

I lower my voice, leaning onto my desk. “I want you to say you understand.”

She bites down on her bottom lip like she is trying to stop herself, and when she releases it, my eyes roam over the tiny teeth marks left on it. “I understand, Mr. Kingston,” she scowls cunningly.

I smirk and lean back into my chair. “Good girl.”

“You know, if you’re just going to act like a—” Her voice dies off, and I look back at her and see her eyes scanning my face with a level of what looked like concern. “Is that…is that blood on your face?”

I touch my hand to my cheek, where her eyes are zoned in, and pull away, spotting a small amount of blood on the tips of my fingers. “Huh,” I remark. “Guess I missed a spot.”

“Why is there blood on your face?” she exclaims.

“That is none of your business.” I couldn’t help but enjoy the shock and pure fear freezing her face and leaving her eyes wide as she looked at me. It was good for her to realize that she shouldn’t get too comfortable, that I wasn’t a nice man, and that I could never be nice to her.

“I’m serious. Why the hell is there blood on your face?” she asks more assertively.

I stand from my chair and walk around it to stand in front of her now. I lean over her and watch as she gasps, leaning back into her seat as I plant both my hands on the arms of it, caging her in. I drop my head so that my face is inches from hers. I look down to her chest, where I can see her heart racing, and then bring my eyes up to meet hers again.

“Do you want the truth, little owl? Do you want me to tell you that I broke into a man's home this morning and interrogated him? That I removed his thumbs and beat his knees in so that he would have to hobble back to his boss and tell him that I was coming for him next? Is that what you want to hear?” I ask her, tilting my head to observe her better. She’d probably love to know her brother helped me, that he was the one to beat his knees in with only a lead pipe. She’d whisk him away from me and destroy everything I am in mere seconds if she knew that truth. God, I loved it.

Her eyes pierced mine like she was fighting not to cower, but I could tell how shaken she was with her rapid blinking and how she was gripping her dress on her thighs like it would keep her grounded.

“Is that true?” she whispers. My attention is dragged to her mouth as she speaks, and it feels like the room gets ten times hotter as I hover over her, so fucking close.

“No,” I murmur, watching her lips as she breathes sharply. “I cut myself shaving this morning.”

She doesn’t say anything else. Her eyes bounced around my face like she was terrified of the truth right before her but didn’t want to confirm it. I stand up now and sit behind my desk, grabbing the tissues and wiping my face clean. She’s still staring, and I enjoy the way she looks petrified. Maybe showing her the real me would scare her enough to leave me the hell alone.

“As for your punishment,” I say, retaking her attention. “Today, you’ll be spending some time with the design team. I want you to do some real work while you’re here.”

Her eyes furrow, and it’s like every trace of fear is gone as she regards me. I didn’t like how quickly she could snap in and out of it with me. Like she could forget how bad of a man I was. I didn’t want people to forget that.

“That’s it?” she asks.

“Trust me, Cecilia. If you weren’t Tobias’s sister, your punishment would be far more grueling and less appropriate, but there’s a boundary not to be crossed between us.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means just that.”

She sighs. “What am I doing with the design team?”

“I want you to brainstorm ideas with them, like you did in the meeting. All that bullshit about love and warmth…reiterate it to them.”

She now narrows her eyes at me in the curious way she does. “You think love is bullshit?”

“I don’t think it’s real, little owl. At least not for some people.”

“How can you believe that and try to sell it through your jewelry?”

“Haven’t you noticed that it’s only about money and power for me? I don’t care what or how I sell it just as long as I do.”

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