Page 39 of Syndicate of Sin Bundle

“You know, I’m only doing this to be able to kill you one day,” she said, aiming again.

I placed my hands on her shoulders and pushed them down slightly, so she would relax. “If you could actually aim, maybe, one day, you will,” I said, leaning closer to her and steadying her hips. “Now, look down the sight, aim for the middle circle, and follow through with it.”

Though Roxie tensed with me behind her, she looked down the sight and pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed through the air and shot right through the very edge of our target. It was something, but not good enough.

We stayed at the shooting range for two hours, perfecting Roxie’s aim. She had hit about everywhere, except the center of the target, and was getting frustrated with it. Yet, instead of giving up, she continued to mutter how she was learning this to kill me one day and promised me that she would.

“Let’s take a break. You’ll never hit it when you’re angry.”

“You can shoot someone when you’re angry,” she said back. “I can too.”

She aimed one more time, pulled the trigger, and watched the bullet pierce through the corner of the target. She shook her head and reloaded her gun. “This is so damn stupid. I don’t even want to”—she pulled the trigger—“do”—she pulled the trigger again—“this.”

When she finished, I took the gun out of her hands and tried to keep my cool. “We’ll work on it later. For now, you’ll stay with me, so I know you’re safe.”

“I already told you that I don’t need your protection.”

“Why can’t you just accept my fucking help?” I asked, snapping.

Why did she have to try hard to get on my nerves every chance she got? She couldn’t come easily or quietly, had to make a huge deal out of the smallest gestures.

Roxie threw her tattooed arms into the air, brown eyes widening. “Because you kill people! You sell drugs! You do illegal shit and hurt people for your own benefit! Why the hell do you think I don’t want your help? I don’t want to go to jail for your fucking mistakes. If you—”

Before she could speak another word, I slapped a hand over her mouth and pushed her into another room. Struggling against me, she smashed her hands against my chest and tried hard to get out of my hold. But I didn’t let her go until the door was secured shut.

“You can’t fucking scream that shit to all of Boston,” I sneered at her.

Nobody else had dared to fucking talk back to me, never mind tried to get me fucking arrested, like she just had. She said what was on her mind and didn’t give a fuck about who heard it.

“If any one of my men did that, they’d be fucking dead by now.”

“Well, it’s good that I’m not one of your men, huh?”

“You know, Roxie, for a split fucking second, I was going to let you off the hook and give you a fucking pass to not kill that man, but screw that. If you don’t want my help or my protection, bring me that man’s head, and I’ll stop.”

It was a lie. She and I both knew it. I would never let her leave me, never stop protecting her.

But she wouldn’t be able to do it, not now anyway. I knew it, and I was banking on this making her stick around because I knew if I forced myself upon her, we’d be fucking married tomorrow, and she would loathe me for everything that I was.

“You said that last time.” Roxie stepped back and crossed her arms. “And you still fucked me, like I wanted you to.”

Brat. She was a fucking brat.

“Well, I fucking mean it this time.”

Roxie uncrossed her arms and smirked at me, as if she had one-upped me. “There are other ways to get you to touch me like that again. I assure you, Cristian, you don’t have more control of me than I have of you.”

I grasped her by the neck. “Like you flirting with Marco?” I asked, keeping my gaze focused on her so I wouldn’t fucking break something. At the fucking sight of him touching her the other night, I’d almost lost it. “You flirt with him again, and I’ll make you put a bullet straight through his head.”

She didn’t back down because she didn’t think I’d actually do it. He was the best fucking man I had in this family, most loyal too … except when it came to Roxie. And I fucking hated the bastard for that. I didn’t know how many times I had to prove to her that I’d do anything to have her as my wife, but I’d do it over and over and over until it was burned into that pretty mind of hers.

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roxie

Though Cristian had killed man after man in front of me, I didn’t think he’d actually kill Marco. He had trusted Marco enough to watch me overnight, hadn’t killed him already for merely helping me, and had put his trust in Marco probably since he had taken over this business.

Killing him would be more of a hassle. It’d probably be easier for him to just let me go, like he should’ve done a long time ago.

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