Page 28 of Double Dare

He nods and turns me around. Placing his hand on the small of my back, he leads me out of his room and down the stairs. In the foyer, I see Dario waiting with a confused expression. Adrian ordered him here by telling him his debt was cleared, so I’m sure seeing me alive is alarming, but it’s too late. He’s fallen into our web, and there is no escaping now.

“Come” is the only word Adrian breathes as we pass by him and start toward the dining room.

Once we’re all inside, Adrian pulls out my chair and ushers me to sit. Once I’m seated, he kisses the top of my head and points to the chair across from me. “Sit, Dario.”

Dario settles in his seat, glancing around the room nervously. “What’s going on?”

Folding my hands in front of me, I look at him. “I completed my dare.”

He glances at Adrian, then back to me. “What?”

Instead of trying to explain, I reach for Adrian next to me at the head of the table. Grabbing my hand, he lifts it to his lips and presses a kiss to the top. “I love you.”

I smile. I know it’s only part of the plan, but hearing the words fall from his lips—even though I know they’re not true—sends heat tingling across my body.

“Okay. I don’t see why I need to be here for this. He wasn’t even supposed to know, Danica!” Dario screams.

Laying his palms flat on the table, he goes to stand up. Adrian picks up his fork and slams it into his hand. “Sit. She isn’t done talking.”

He cries out in pain, and it makes me wince the slightest bit. Not because I feel bad, but because it’s annoying. I see him as nothing more than the monster he is now. This isn’t the boy I grew up with. This isn’t the boy I loved.

This is a beast, molded and carved from fucked-up circumstances, wearing my brother’s skin.

“I completed mine, but you didn’t complete yours.”

He stares at me with watery eyes. “Yes I did. I left.”

Adrian cuts in. “You and I both know you didn’t.”

He shakes his head. “Okay. Okay! Maybe I didn’t, but I won’t fight you on the inheritance. It’s yours,” he directs at me.

“I want more than that.”

His mouth falls open. “I have nothing else to give you.”

Smiling, I reach down and slide the revolver Adrian gave me from under my dress. Laying it on the table, I speak again. “I want to play one last game.”

“Why? There is nothing else for you to win. It’s all yours.”

“You’re going to play, Dario,” Adrian says coolly.

He shakes his head. “You don’t know the rules. I have to agree, and I’m not agreeing.”

Adrian grips the top of the fork between his pointer and thumb before giving it a slight twist. “Yes you are.”

“Fine!” Dario screams, the rest of his body squirming in his seat. “I’ll play!”

“We’re not playing double dare, Dario. I have a different game in mind.”

His eyes bounce back to mine. Silently, he begs me not to do what I’m about to. Tears well in the corners of his dark orbs as his body shakes, and snot spills from his nose.

“Russian roulette.”

He shakes his head and reaches for the fork in his hand. “No. I’m not doing it, Danica. I don’t want to die.” He cries.

Standing, I reach over the table and push his hand away from the fork. Grabbing it, I press down as hard as I can. “That’s clear considering you exchanged my life for yours. Why should I have fucking mercy on you when you didn’t have an ounce for me?” I yell.

Dropping to his knees, he grabs at the wrist of his pinned hand. “I’m your brother!”

---