Page 18 of Heartless Game

Shoving away from him in my chair, I stood, still trembling, but lifting my chin and calming my voice despite my fear.

“No, let me tellyouhow this is going to go, Isaac Silver. You may know my last name, but I know something bigger: You and the Kings are distributing Vice and Vixen for your father, aren’t you? I have evidence that you’re in charge of the entire set up here at Reina, and the nearby schools like Tabb, as well as where it’s coming from.”

“And what’s your proof?” he asked calmly, but his right cheek twitched again.

Pulling up the video, I pressed play on my phone and showed it to him. He watched until the video ended. Then he looked up at me, and this time, he couldn’t school his expression. Shock, rage—and sheer hatred shone in his gorgeous dark brown eyes, revealing the monster underneath.

The monster I’d known was there all along.

Triumphant, I ignored the threat in them, too excited about my checkmate in the game we were playing.

“Here’s the deal,” I said. “Either you give me the evidence to put your father away for life, or I’ll expose you and the team for dealing in date rape drugs. You’re under enough scrutiny as it is, this will ruin all of your futures. No hockey career for you—or for any of them. What do you think’s going to happen to your teammates, to the rest of the Core Four then?” Sweetening up my voice, I added, “It’s an easy choice, Isaac. I know how you feel about your father. I know how you feel about your team. Just give me what I need…and all of this goes away.”

I exhaled, my heart racing from exhilaration, anticipation, and yes, underlying fear. But my mother’s terrified face flashed in my mind. I was doing this forher.

Slowly, Isaac rose to his feet, towering above me. He stepped forward, and then again. I held my ground, even though I had to crane my head back to look at him. He wasn’t going to intimidate me, not this time. I was done with being intimidated by the Silvers.

He was so close we were breathing the same air, our legs touching, my chest brushing his six pack and sending sparks through my body.

“You’ve done your homework, haven’t you, little snoop,” he mused, and there was a hint of admiration in his voice. “Unfortunately, you got two things wrong. First, that video’s old: the team isn’t in the Vice and Vixen game anymore. We learned the harm it can do.” He blinked, and the monster disappeared for a moment, leaving behind a man filled with regret.

But then he blinked again, and the monster was back. “Second, I’ll do anything for my family—and my team.Anything. You may think you’ve won, you may even think this is mutually assured destruction, but one phone call and you’re dead. And then how are you going to expose any of this? Not only that, I will make sure anyone you love, anyone you have left in the world…they’re dead, too.”

My heart froze.

“You wouldn’t,” I said. “Even you’re not that big of a monster.”

He leaned down, his lips almost on mine. I caught his scent: earthy and dark, with a hint of something fresh and surprising. Something that always stuck with me, long after he was gone.

“You bring out the monster in me,” he said. “And he’s thirsty for blood—yours.”

7

Isaac

Iwas bluffing, of course. I knew her last name, knew she had some reason she wanted to destroy my family. My sister had gotten me little to nothing about Tovah Lewis. Therehadbeen a police APB out on someone with the same name once, but whatever the case had been, it went dead. I’d thrown the threat out there as a test. Based on her reaction, I was onto something.

Not to mention, if she knew who my father was, she knew I wasn’t bluffing. I could get her killed. And maybe I should. I meant what I said: I’d do anything to protect my family, and I considered my team my family, too. I might hate my father, but I had siblings to protect, cousins I cared about. If my father fell, then so did the entire dynasty, leaving them easy prey for the vultures who would come. Tovah had revealed herself as a true threat, and as my father always said, threats had to be put down.

No.

Everything in my body rejected the idea of a world without her in it. I loathed that I felt that way, but it was the truth. Death wasn’t what I wanted for the fucking snoop. Not when she brought out the violence I tried to hide from. Not when I wanted her so badly I couldn’t think about anything else except hockey—and sometimes, not even that. So, I was going to make her life hell and finally get what I wanted from her. Extract my pound of flesh, in a way that would make my cock happy and finally end this obsession for good. When I was done with Tovah Lewis, she’d be nothing more than a broken shell. And I’d be free, no longer haunted by her face, her voice, her goddamned scent.

Oh, this was going to befun.

Placing a heavy hand on her delicate, rounded shoulder, I began to push down firmly. I wanted her on her knees, but for now, forcing her to sit back down in her chair would do. Especially because, short as she was, it put her at nose level with my cock, and with her gazing up at me with that wild fear and even more wild defiance, it made it easy to imagine her in this position for other reasons.

My cock picked up on that, straining in my jeans like it could pop through the zipper and make its way into her hot mouth.

All in due time.

“Like I said earlier, here’s how this is going to go. First, you’re moving in with me. Can’t risk you trying to publish the story.”

“I’m not moving into the hockey house,” she protested. “I have no interest in being surrounded by you fucking slobs, partying all the time, and?—”

Offended, I put out a hand. “I don’t know who you’re calling a fucking slob, but we keep things clean. We have a maid.”

“Of course you do,” she scoffed.

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