Page 19 of Behind the Scenes
“I’ll have you, Laura,” she stated, lifting the knife, and I couldn’t stop myself from watching as the droplets of blood ran down. She wasn’t going to use it on me. Somehow I knew that deep in my core. But that didn’t stop the hair from raising on the back of my neck. “I told you, don’t you remember?”
My eyes dropped to the man on the ground. It was hard to make out anything about him from his crumpled form.
“And how are you going to accomplish that? By murdering someone I don’t even know?” I blamed my brashness on the shock.
She let out a laugh.
“You don’t recognize him?” she asked and placed her shoe on his chest to push him to the side.
When his face came into view, I swallowed thickly.
“He’s the prosecutor on that case you’re running with that club owner. Did you know he was coming here tonight too? No doubt to get some dirt on you,” she said. “I know the club owner is a big client, and this one was giving you trouble, so I just took care of it for you. Who I really wanted to take care of was that fucker you keep around as a fuck toy, but he’s too high profile. For now.”
“So this is some sort of… fucked-up gift for me? Like when a cat brings its owner a dead mouse or something?” I asked, not willing to talk about how she knew about Lenard.
“It’s a love letter, darling,” she replied in a whimsical tone as she closed the space between us, pressing me against the wall, her body flush against mine.
She ran the blunt edge of the bloody knife down my cheek, careful not to prick my skin. I could feel the wetness. I could sniff the coppery smell. Maybe I should recoil, but I didn’t.
“My love letter to you,” she whispered in my ear. “And the thing that will tie us together for the rest of our lives.”
Shivers traveled up my spine.
She’s fucking crazy.
I didn’t even know who she really was. The only interaction we’d had had been in her trailer. Everything else had been done through her assistant.
How had she gotten so… obsessed with me?
But the real question was,how the fuck am I going to get out of this?
Her brown eyes were watching me intently, so focused on every single minuscule muscle twitch that I felt fully and completely out of my comfort zone.
I’m not in control here.
I had stood in front of wealthy, powerful people for my entire career. I had watched them scrutinize me, appraise me, try to get to know me.
But Harley’s attention was something else entirely.
It was electric. I shouldn’t want more, but I did.
“I’m guessing the restraining order pissed you off?” I asked, tilting my head away from the knife, grasping for a way out.
Her eyebrows pushed together. “Pissed me off?” she asked. “On the contrary, I’ve never been moreintrigued.”
My gaze trailed down the blood splattered on her face and neck.
“I hope you know this will create more trouble for me than anything else.” My eyes shifted back to hers. “If this is really some type of love letter, you should have been more careful.”
Her free hand grabbed my neck. She wasn’t hurting me. Her skin was warm, her touch gentle. But the threat of what shecoulddo to me caused my heart to jump.
“Then tell me, darling,” she whispered. “What else could I have done to have you by my side?”
There was a purr in her tone. A dangerous, exciting sound that I shouldn’t have enjoyed as much as I did.
“This won’t tie us together in any way. This was all you.”
“Yes, it will,” she warned. “Especially since I already called the cops.”
