Page 56 of A Twisted Gift

He holsters his gun and flexes his hands. “Run.”

Chapter seventeen

Erik

Before Raina’s knife even hits the ground, she’s already spinning on her heels and sprinting out of the dining room. I give her a few seconds before strolling after her, passing by Charles’s body without a second glance.

All I care about is Raina. I was expecting her to kill Charles for her own vengeance, but she did it for me, too. I’m not sure if she knows how much that means to me. That it healed a part of me that I assumed would remain broken forever.

I step out of the room to find her scrambling around a corner. A giggle floats my way, and I find myself smiling, too. I want Raina happy, and tonight is just the first step in ensuring she always is.

“You better run, little rose,” I call, “because when I catch you, I’m never letting you go again.”

The sound of her on the stairs reaches my ears, and I take off in a light jog. I don’t want her havingtoomuch of a head start. Just enough to think I won’t catch up.

At the top of the stairs, I glance to my left and my right, trying to determine which way she went. Her bedroom is to the right,which is the most familiar territory to her, but she may have gone left to try to fool me.

Just as I’m turning toward her room, there’s a creak from behind me. I whirl around and take off in that direction. Raina must hear me coming because she gasps and flies out of the closet she was hiding in. Within seconds, she’s only a few feet away from me, and I overtake her effortlessly.

Raina squeals with delight as I snatch her up, my arms locking around her torso.

“Got you,” I whisper, grinning at the way she squirms and struggles against me. “Aww, look at you, still trying to get away.”

She finally stops, her chest heaving. “You won, you won.”

Spinning her around, I cup her cheeks. The moment Raina looks at me, her eyes soften.

“Erik,” she whispers, angling her face upward.

My grip on her waist loosens as I lean down and kiss her. She moans, and it’s the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.

And a ruse.

Just as quickly as I caught her, Raina slips from my grasp. She bolts down the hallway, laughing, her hair streaming after her.

And I can’t even be mad. A little bit of teasing only makes it more satisfying when she truly can’t escape me.

Raina dashes through the second floor, running from room to room and taking a few shortcuts I must’ve missed when I studied the blueprints. I almost lose her once or twice, but I catch up again as she’s running down the back stairway.

“Ohhh!” she shouts when she looks back and sees me at the top. She rushes down the rest of the steps and into the hallway near the kitchen.

I almost catch her there, but she just manages to avoid my grasp.

“Too slow,” she taunts.

It’s so reminiscent of playing tag that it makes my heart pang. How many times did we try to find a way to get her on my side of the fence so we could play together?

Now she’s all mine.

Raina disappears into the living room, and I follow right behind her. With a laugh, she dodges me, skirting around the couch. I surge forward and tackle her to the ground right by the Christmas tree, careful to make sure she doesn’t hit the floor too hard.

“Got you now.”

She rolls onto her back and wraps her arms around my neck. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

Bringing Raina into a sitting position, I lift her sweater over her head, her bra coming next. This may only be my second time undressing her, but I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of it. Revealing her body piece by piece, knowing she wants to give it to me?

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