Page 43 of Breaker

Taking a deep breath, inhaling the warm, exhaust scented air, I smooth my skirt down, then adjust my sunglasses as I look up at the tall building, trying to calm my breathing.

People mill about, talking on phones and texting. Cars honk and an engine roars again. I glance over and spot a black motorcycle—one of those crotch rocket things— parked a few cars down at the curb with a rider dressed all in black, his shiny visor on the helmet reflecting the bright morning sun. A black leather boot like the ones our men wear rest on the curb. Thick black gloves grip the handlebars. Clyde grasps my hand and tugs me forward, pulling my attention back to him.

“Cora!”

My heart slams into my chest and oil pools in my gut. I turn just in time to see Zane headed in my direction, arms outstretched like he’s going to—

I wince as his arms wrap around me and I’m pressed to his sleazy chest. He’s nowhere near as tall as the boys, nowhere near as built and it feels like being coiled up in the slithering body of a serpent, its cold body squeezing me too tightly. His cologne invades my nostrils, making my stomach roil. Zane smells like musk, but not underline with woodsy lust, he’s dank and venomous. Being hugged by this creep is a betrayal not only to my senses but to Delly and to the men.

And I’m expected to marry him. Part my legs for him. Birth his babies.

I have got to figure out a way out of this.

“Thank goodness you’re okay,” Zane says stepping back, holding me by the shoulders to run his eyes over my body.

I plaster a smile on my face. “I wasn’t aware that my well-being was a concern for you.” Behind me, I’m aware of Clyde slipping away to wait by the door. He can’t stand Zane, but he’s leaving me to fend for myself like the coward he is. “Or that you had any concern for anything or anyone other than yourself.”

That slithering smile curls into something dark as he drops his hands from my shoulders. My stomach lurches. I need to remember who he is.

Rune didn’t pick him to be his second because he’s decent. He picked him because he’s viscous. Cunning. And can mold himself to be anything to get himself ahead.

And mold he did.

Zane knows how to play the game and the slimeball will turn on someone on a dime. I’ve witnessed first-hand just how good he is at hiding what he’s really like under his Ken doll appearance.

He shakes his head, that smirk turning from slimy to knowing. “So much like your mother.”

My teeth gnash together to keep my mouth closed, but the words still slip out. “Funny. I wasn’t aware you knew my mother.”

His jaw tics. “In passing. You can’t work for Rune as long as I have and not have met the infamous Caroline Julian.”

“Infamous?” I ask sweetly, adjusting my messenger bag draped over my shoulder. “In what way?”

His gaze rakes down my body, making me wish I had chosen a different outfit. With how his hazel eyes drink me in, I’m regretting my heels and skirt. I wish I’d opted for pants so he couldn’t see the shape of my legs, the slenderness of my ankles.

Licking my lips, I step away, not sure how to deal with his open surveying of my body. Zane’s always been obsessed with Delly, rarely looking my way. Having his full attention is extremely uncomfortable, making me feel like a bug under a microscope. No wonder Delly was constantly trying to avoid him. But I guess now that Zane’s been told I’ll be his wife, he thinks he can behave in whatever manner he likes.

We’ll see. If I can handle Rune, I can deal with Zane and his serial killer vibes. Asshole probably killed kittens as a boy or peeped inside girls windows.

Or had a fetish for sniffing older women’s underwear.

His eyes slip back up to mine, leaving my body tingling with unease, that knowing grin still playing on his lips. “In what way does any woman become infamous, Cora?”

This time I don’t bother attempting to stop my mouth from opening. “Fraud, extortion.” I lean in to whisper, “Murder.”

His eyes light up. Not what I was expecting.

“This is going to be fun,” he says.

I make a conscious effort to look unfazed, as my insides scream. No one besides Rune, knows that I know my mother had his wife killed. And Rune knows I know because he flat out told me the day he took me in and set me down in what would be my bedroom.

I can still smell his cologne as he hugged me close and told me that I was traitor blood. That I was lucky he was kind and compassionate, and the only reason he didn’t kill me was because Delilah loved me, and her heart was broken enough.

He made sure I knew my place, and that my life was only valuable as long as his daughter loved me. I was well aware of how little I was worth before Rune took me in. And was made aware of how lower I’d just fell. But to have him say it, made me want to cry not just myself, but for Delly. Maybe that’s why I always felt the need to protect her.

She didn’t know her father was bad.

But I did. And I knew at ten just how to detect vile men, and the one before me is just as bad as Rune because he’s a traitor like my mother.

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