Page 62 of Cruel Ice

Maybe I’ll kill two birds with one stone.

Or maybe, maybe if he played things just right, the world would think the two birds had killed each other.

Sometimes, blood was just bad. Evil. Tainted. And the only way to destroy that evil? Kill the whole fucking family line.

Chapter Fourteen

“Didyou really offer to help him bury a body?”

Royal was gone. The door had just shut behind him as he exited, and Marley hadn’t been able to hold back the question another moment. She needed the truth, and it was long past time Declan spilled all of his secrets to her.

Declan’s hand pressed to the wood of the giant door. Two heavy, wooden doors made up the entrance way. Both had elaborate carvings on them. Roaring lions.

Declan had offered to let Royal stay the night. Royal had refused. He’d made a quick phone call and had a mystery friend waiting to pick him up. Royal had stayed only long enough to ask some questions about Declan’s abduction. Like Marley, Royal had wanted to know one main thing…

Who hates you so much that they abduct you and want to torture you in a dirty, dank basement?Because when it came to hate, that was on a whole other level of twisted. A level that terrified Marley.

But Declan had given no answers. Other than…I have a lot of enemies.

“I offered to bury the body. Seemed like a helpful thing to do.” His broad back was to her. “You should go up to your room.”

Or sheshouldstay exactly where she was. Marley chose to stay. “The house seems extra quiet tonight. No staff are here, are they?” They were alone, she knew it.

“The minute Royal got in the limo, I sent a text ordering everyone else to leave.”

“Including James?”

“Everyone. No one can know my brother’s secrets.”

She rocked forward onto the balls of her feet. “I was here while you grilled him. And while he grilled you. I know the secrets that both of you possess.” Though she felt as if she’d only skimmed the surface with the two men.I want more.

“You’re my fiancée. Sooner or later, you’ll know everything about me.” He shoved away from the door. Turned toward her. “Every single dark part. You’ll wish you didn’t know, but it will be too late by then.” A reckless smile curved his lips as he began to close in on her. “Maybe it’s already too late.”

Her breath came out in a fast rush. “I’m not your fiancée. I’m your PI.” An important distinction.

His smile dimmed. “I fucked you three hours ago.”

One hand fanned her face because she suddenly felt hot. “Has it been three hours? Already?” And he’d been keeping track?

He stopped right in front of her. “You’re not wearing panties.”

Her thighs tightened. Her sex clenched. “Good of you to remember that important piece of information.” It had been way awkward talking to the men minus underwear. But if she’d left the room to correct that situation, she might have missed vital intel.

The wall was right behind her. He put his hands on the wall, on either side of her body, caging her as he leaned in close. “How many times do I have to tell you?Goodhas nothing to do with me.”

Her hands rose to press lightly to his cheeks. “And how many times do I have to tell you…you don’t have to lie to me?”

He blinked.

“You are not your father. I get that he was screwed up.” Oh, boy did she get it. Talk about a deranged mind bent on causing pain and wreaking havoc. “I get that he hurt you. I get that he?—”

“He probably fucking murdered my mother. You get that, too, don’t you? She left him. Got sick of being the wife of a killer and a monster and a freak who only knew obsession, not love. She ran away, and he couldn’t let her go. He could never let go of the things that belonged to him. So he chased her down—or he had his men do it—and they ran her off the road. Her car exploded. She died in a fiery blaze, and I was left without my mother. Without my brother. I was left to be raised by him.” His expression seemed cut from stone. “What do you think that did to me? What do you think he made me become?”

“Declan…” Her hands remained on him. And, helpless because his pain hurt her more than she would have believed possible, Marley did the only thing that she could think of to stop the sorrow and rage that poured from him. She rose onto her toes. She pulled his head toward her. Her mouth pressed to his. Tenderly, softly.Lovingly.Did he get that? Did he get that she didn’t see him as some terrible evil? Because he wasn’t. The more she was with him, the more she saw him as…

Her Declan.

“You don’t want to do this,” he growled against her mouth.

---