Page 43 of Come to Head

Moving my fingers around, I felt a frayed part of the rope.

Hope infiltrated my panic.

I could do this.

Iwoulddo this.

“I’m not a ghost. Just the brother of a man that died because of you.”

Of course it fucking was. Sebastian is dead. I watched his head obliterated in front of me.

I still haven’t even had the time to process that yet.

“So how about this weather?” The question escaped me raspily before I could take it back. The line myfatherhad instilled into me. It was a coping mechanism. I had used it countless times prior in anxiety, and now here I was spewing it at my would-be killer.

I had one moment of satisfaction where absolute confusion flickered across his face before it settled back. His lips quirked at the corners in a smug grin.

He bowed down, whispering into my ear, “The forecast doesn’t look good.” His disgustingly hot breath was slimy as it fanned me. “At least not for you.”

I wanted to lose my cool, to dissolve into a useless puddle, to scream and cry, but that wouldn’t help.

Yara needsme, my dad needsme. My men. They will kill each other withoutme. I need to be okay for them. For my job. I'm going to kill this mother fucking asshole, just like I should have killed his brother.

It wasn’t my time to go, I had just found everything I needed to truly be happy. And I was determined to be fuckinghappy. I fucking deserved it.

I would make it out of this alive.

The smell of cigarettes permeated my nostrils and I surveyed the room as best I could. What I needed to do was come up with a plan. Because it was time for me to save myself.

Emilio had taken care of Sebastian for me, but now it was my turn. Maybe this was the universe’s fucked up way of giving me a do-over. Of letting me exact my own revenge. I would be strong, I would escape this York brother on my own.

If only to prove I could.

Chapter 26

Christian

Why couldn’t Sebastian stalk a less connected woman?

The step-daughter of a Landon with ties to the Castillosandthe McKells.

Christian stared down at the woman. She was…weird.

She wasn’t crying, or asking for help, or screaming.

She was fucking humming and it was annoying the shit out of him.

“You can leave now; I will call you back if needed,” he directed the three men in the room with them. He could manage one girl by himself.

What was she going to do? Kill him with her off-key humming?

He waited for them to leave before refocusing his attention on the woman below. He still laid atop her, his weight compressing down onto her body.

“You are the reason my brother died,” he reminded her, grabbing her by the throat and pressing her further into the bed.

He pushed his lips to her. They were soft, but otherwise, not noteworthy.

“I don’t see the fucking fascination. A plain fucking woman. How did you attract my brother? He doesn’t typically go for women like you.”