Page 57 of Dangerous Deceit

His shoulders loosen. He thinks we’re on the same side.

“So where is it, then?” he asks. “You got it in one of these dumpsters or something?”

So eager to work. Too bad his motivation is going to waste.

“You want to work that badly?” I ask.

“Gotta prove myself.” He taps his chest. “Gotta show you that you won’t regret it.”

I regret a lot of things already. When Cherry told me Patrick put his hand on Vi’s arm at the wedding reception, I should have beaten the fucker within an inch of his life. Given him a physicaldemonstrationthat, even if he is my brother-in-law in a roundabout way, he will never be excluded from debts.

That regret ends tonight.

“Your cousin thinks I should start you off easy,” I say with a hint of amusement in my voice. “Niceand slow, you know?”

“Vi doesn’t know shit,” he says.

“My wife doesn’t know shit?” I say. Then I laugh hard. This is fucking insane. Patrick, the sad little fuck, thinks I’m laughingwithhim. He lifts his shoulders. “I don’t trust sluts. You shouldn’t either, man.”

My vision tunnels as I focus my rage on that head of blond hair. My lips pull back.

“She’s a slut, huh?” I say in a low voice.

“Get her drunk. Trust me,” he chuckles. “She’ll do anything.”

“Jay said she was a virgin.”

Patricks stiffens, realizing his mistake.Yeah, I know your family lied to me.I curl my fingers one by one, readying my fists. My knuckles crunch in the gloves, but I keep myself steady.

I can’t kill him yet.

“Yeah, that’s because Dadthinksshe’s a virgin,” Patrick says, trying to clear his mistake. “But trust me, man. You should get your dick checked.”

I keep my face pleasant. “Yeah?”

“Vi lied to my dad, and now she’s lying to you.” He shakes his head. “Everyone lies, but lying to your uncleandyour husband? That’s unforgivable.” He gives a nervous laugh, making it a joke between us. Like we’re on the same side. The despicable little shit is throwing his cousin on the ground like she’s a piece of trash, and I want to stomp on his skull until it pulps beneath my feet. “I can make it work for you though. Dad is susceptible to blackmail, and if we work together, I can?—”

Does his stupidity and lack of respectreallygo so far as to blackmail his father, or is this another game he’s using to fuck with me?

“You’re willing to turn on your own father?” I ask. “Everyone lies, huh? You’re even willing to lie to your own family, aren’t you?” I lean in closer. “Have you lied tome?”

Sweat beads Patrick’s forehead, and he glimpses around like someone is watching, but forces himself to lower his shoulders, keeping it cool. He knows he may have just exposed his family as a bunch of liars, but he’s still trying to make this deal work, to pull one over on me. That greedy, stupid son of a bitch. It’d almost be admirable if it wasn’t so fucking infuriating.

“That’s not what I meant,” he says quickly. “My family is just messed up, you know? My dad has wandering hands. My cousin pretends to be a prude when she’s always ready to?—”

“And what does that make you?”

“Your next biggest seller.”

His grin is wide; he truly believes it. He’s got balls to be saying that right now, and confidence like that is a good quality in the criminal world. But my skin tingles, boiling on edge. I imagine hanging him by hooks between his toes, dipping his body into a vat of acid as he screams bloody-murder, the skin curling away from his bones, his eye sockets receding until there’s nothing left but a partially liquefied skull.

Niceis not giving into my impulses.

Niceis not torturing him to death.

“That’s nice,” I say. Then I laugh to myself. “Nice.What a fucking word.”

“I can be nice. Let me prove it to you,” Patrick says eagerly. “Give me a chance. Tonight.”

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