Page 69 of Begging for Mercy
Tossing the pencil shards in the trash, I throw my sketchbook onto my bed and spin around in my chair, leaping up to lock my door. I need to think. I need to plan. Let Mercy and Sam have their fun with each other—I don’t give a fuck about that. It’s what comes after that sets me on edge.
Because if she really does sleep with Kane, I’ll have to intervene… and that might be what finally breaks Kane’s heart.
Chapter 25
Kane
All of a sudden,the video on my phone disappears.
I click through the folders, thinking that my fat fingers have mis-clicked, but no. It’s gone. Wiped from existence in the blink of an eye. I didn’t even get to rewatch it once. It’s justgone.
“Zane,” I sigh, cracking my neck. I’ve been sitting in one place for hours, playing with the paints that I’ll eventually use for Mercy’s portrait. I normally only create a few for each target, but for Mercy, I think I’ll start with half a dozen. Maybe more. I have to capture the sunlight reflecting off of her eyes just right—which is why I’m in Zane’s surveillance app to begin with; I’m looking for a still image of Mercy standing beneath rays of golden sunlight when the live feed pops up, and she isn’t in her room.
So I click around until I find her standing outside with Sam.
Confessing to him.
At first, I’m elated.Finally, they’re getting somewhere. Mercy has been moping in her room all week, and it’s downright depressing to watch. Not that I mind the doom and gloom—it’s given me an endless fountain of inspiration to pull from. When I’m not pinning Zane to the wall and kissing him senseless, I’mcovered in paint as I try to embody Mercy’s essence on canvas, falling just short of satisfaction.
I need to see her in person before I can finish a single painting.
And therein lies the problem; Zane’s watching me like a hawk. Shacking up with him is fun—he’s even more skittish now that he knows I’m liable to pounce on him at any moment—but he won’t relax. Not completely. After spending years with him, I know how to read his moods. He’s happier now, but he’s still finding something to brood about. If I had to guess, it involves Mercy.
The minute the video suddenly disappears, Iknowit is.
What he doesn’t realize is that I was watching Mercy’s confession in real-time. I heard everything.
She loves Sam.
She wants to be with him.
But shelikesme.
The cheesiest grin splits across my face, and I jump up off the floor, dropping my phone and spilling my paints.Yes.This is it. The wheel is in motion. By this time next year, Mercy will be madly, hopelessly in love with me. Hell, I bet I could do it in six months. Three.One.
Shit, could I really pull that off?
As I ponder the logistics of stealing that much of Mercy’s time, I realize the huge, glaring flaw in this plan.
She already loves Sam.
But she’s notinlove with him. Wracking my brain, I think back to the night he joined our game. What was it he said? Did she have to love him or fallinlove with him? Do the semantics even matter?
I know that Sam will argue that he’s won. He’ll try to end our game early. Any excuse to keep Mercy all to himself. If he can get rid of me and Zane, he’ll have no competition for her heart. I washoping that he would consider my offer of sharing her, but from how fucking pathetic he gets at the merementionof my cock splitting his girl in two, I doubt he’ll go through with it.
No, Samson Wright doesn’t like to share.
Mercy does.
That’sthe linchpin. That’s how we win the game. By stealing Mercy from Sam’s arms. The best part is that she’ll come willingly.God, it’s going to be a bloodbath, and I amherefor it. My cock swells at the thought of Sam and me fighting over my sweet Siren. The way those pouty lips will part as she begs us to stop, tears spilling down her face as I cut Sam down in front of her. Her heart will crack with every one of Sam’s broken bones. It might notactuallygo that way—we don’t usually resort to bludgeoning people to death—but a man can dream.
I drag in a breath and groan.Fuck, that turns me on. I grab my phone and leave the studio, flying up the stairs to tell Zane the good news. He won’t be as excited as me, but I’ve got this infectious quality about me. By the time I’m done explaining how perfect this plan is, he’ll be on board. It’s even better that Mercy loves Sam, because the heartbreak is going to absolutelykillhim.
I’m a goddamn genius.
“Zane!” I turn his bedroom doorknob to find that it’s locked. “Hey, bitch, open up. I have an idea.” I knock loudly. “I know how we can make things more interesting with Mercy.”
“I’m busy.”
