Page 71 of The Devil's Thorn
“No,” I say, steady. “I thought I’d observe. Learn. Find a weakness.”
That earns a small smile from him.
“You think I have weaknesses?”
“No one is untouchable.”
A pause. Then I exhale. Time to give him something. Just enough.
“The truth is… I’ve been looking for someone.”
He tilts his head slightly.
“Go on.”
“Someone responsible for my family’s death.”
It slips out softer than I intended. But I let it hang there—intentional.
“Yourfamily?” Rafael echoes.
I nod once. “They were murdered. A long time ago. The case was buried. Everyone who should’ve cared… didn’t. But I know the circles they moved in. The people they did business with.”
I meet his gaze, voice tightening.
“And a lot of those people gamble in your casino.”
Rafael says nothing. But I see it. The flicker. The shift behind his eyes. Like something justclicked.He studies me now like a whole new puzzle.
“So you thought if you played house long enough, the truth would just… slip out?”
“It was the only place I could get close enough,” I say.
And it’s a half-truth. Close enough tohim.Close enough to kill him if I had to. But I don’t say that part. Not yet.
Rafael leans back slightly, setting his drink down on the bar top. He folds his arms across his chest, the fabric of his black button-up stretching over his forearms.
“And the two of them?” he asks, nodding toward Kellan and Ash. “Bodyguards? Brothers? Lovers?”
Ash scoffs. Kellan mutters, “Jesus.”
“They’re mine,” I say flatly. “That’s all you need to know.”
Rafael smirks.
“You don’t get to decide what I need to know.”
I don’t respond. I don’t have to. Because whatever he saw in me tonight—it gave me leverage. More than I had before.
He walks forward slowly now, stopping in front of us, arms loose at his sides again.
“You’re skilled,” he says, eyes on me. “You don’t panic. You handle a weapon like you’ve lived with one. And you didn’t hesitate when it mattered.”
His gaze drops once to my arm. To the blood there. Then back to my face.
“I could kill all three of you and leave your bodies in a landfill. No names. No ties. No one would ever find you.”
Ash tenses. Kellan growls something under his breath.
