Page 9 of Vengeful Lies

“You’ll be coming home with me tonight.” The moment his hand goes for my throat, I grab the knife from my garter and slice at his torso. His reflexes are fast enough that I cut through his shirt and just barely scratch his skin. I can make out the glisten of blood through the cut in the fabric. He looks down curiously and then back up at me with a smirk.

“Unfortunately for you, knives are my favorite playthings.”

I lunge for the door, but with lightning speed, he pulls out his own knife and throws it. The knife embeds itself in the wall beside the door I was about to escape through, and I come to a screeching halt.

Adrenaline pumps through me as I throw my knife into his left leg. He clutches his thigh above the wound, cursingviciously, and barely keeps himself upright. I curve a wicked smile, satisfied with my aim.

I’m startled when one of his men, Hawke, busts into the room with a blonde, his lips on hers as he hurriedly begins to undo his belt. He tears his attention away from the woman, belatedly realizing he’s stumbled into something. Their entrance awkwardly breaks the lethal tension as I slip through the door behind him.

“Not quite.” I hear the smooth voice of Dutton behind me. Before I can swing to face him, a cloth is placed over my mouth, and I know after the first inhale I’m royally fucked.

CHAPTER 5

Eli

I’m furiously tapping my finger against my leg, insufferably pissed off by a certain little smart-ass vixen who is currently tied up in an old warehouse in which I like to do some of my more unsavory business.

“I mean, it’s kind of funny,” Hawke says, breaking the silence. Ford and Dutton stare at him in disbelief, but the moment he meets my gaze, he simply chuckles and shrugs. “She got one up on you. Credit is due when it’s due, no?”

When my silence continues, he sighs. “I’ll remove myself from the room.” And he does precisely that.

“I’ll go and beat some sense into my brother,” Ford says, excusing himself as well.

I choose to focus on the small hole in my thigh from her cute little knife wound that has since been stitched and bandaged. I’m currently waiting for little miss to wake up from the chloroform Dutton surprised her with earlier.

She mumbles under her breath, and Dutton peers down at her, a loose lock of hair shifting over his forehead. I don’t like how close he is to her, so I clear my throat. This grabs his attention, and he looks over his shoulder at me.

“Why didn’t you just kill her?” he asks.

“Because I would like to know who put her up to this little stunt.”

“She’s pretty,” Dutton adds.

“She’s wearing a mask,” I deadpan. We could’ve easily removed it. In fact, Hawke had to display a discipline he’s never known when I told him no one was to remove it. This is my prize to unwrap as I see fit.

“A mask doesn’t hide her figure or—” Before I can cut him off myself, her massive gasp to consciousness draws both of our attention.

Her amber gaze scans the room as she fights her restraints. Her eyes remind me of a tiger’s—wild and untamed.

“Motherfucker,” she curses with a groggy voice. “Big mafia boy couldn’t fight his own battle. Had to get his friends to help pin me down?” she snaps with as much tenacity as a wild animal caged with no way of escape.

I remind her of the words she used against me only hours ago. “It’s nothing personal, just business, Kitten. Don’t be upset because I took a much more effective approach.”

She rolls her eyes as if I’m being a petty fuck, but she doesn’t even know the meaning of the word yet. I want to smack the brat out of her. “It’s come to my attention that you don’t realize how serious this is.”

She blows a piece of her hair from her eyes as she focuses on Dutton, and I don’t like her looking at anyone or anything other than me, especially when I’m commanding her attention. When I’m in a space, people only look at me. Only givemerespect. This little vixen should already be six feet under.

“I wouldn’t call this serious. But I must confess, I’m used to doing the tying up, not the other way around.”

Dutton’s eyebrow arches and a sly smirk crosses his features. My glare warns him to be silent and that he better fucking wipe that smirk off his face. He immediately complies.

“I’m assuming pretty boy did the tying up. I can’t imagine you being so delicate and patient,” she says dryly.

I take three long strides until I’m looming over her. I pinch her cheeks and pull, wanting to stop that sharp little tongue of hers. “I can be delicate,” I lie.

She scoffs. Fucking scoffs. But when she focuses on me again, there’s an undeniable fire in her amber gaze, something I want to break into a million pieces. Had she chosen to fuck with any other man, it might have worked in her favor. But she is shit out of luck here tonight. I release her cheeks. “Who sent you?”

She shrugs, even in the tight restraints, as if she’s in the most comfortable seat in the room. “I told you, I don’t know the name of the client. I just get a communication with the name of the target.”

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