Page 44 of Nauti Kisses (Nauti 6)

Marlena narrowed her gaze as her lips curled into a sneer. “Still such a stupid little virgin. Sex for its own sake is a waste of time and energy,” she snapped. “The two of you have been wasting both, no doubt. ” The gun lifted. “But since you have so little time left, what does it really matter?”

Sierra didn’t think John’s shoulders could tense further, but they did just that. They felt like iron or steel as she clenched her fingers around him.

“What do you think that gun is going to accomplish, Marlena?” John asked then. “Killing us? It will get you nothing but a fucking prison sentence. If you live long enough, that is. ”

Deadly, uncompromising, it was a warning Sierra would have definitely heeded if she were in the other girl’s shoes.

Marlena’s answer was another classic sneer.

“I would have never been forced into this decision if you had just returned to Boston and resumed the engagement as you were supposed to do. You could have fucked your little bunny all you wanted to then and I would have been all for it. All I needed was your ring and your influence, darling. ”

“As long as you and your little crime family had their greedy fingers in my bank account you mean?” John growled.

Surprise glittered in Marlena’s eyes. “You think it was your money I wanted?” A light laugh left her lips. “Darling, it wasn’t that. It was your prestige, your law firm, it was your sterling reputation and your ability to save the worst of the criminals from their own crimes. My family needed your legal abilities, not your money. ”

John stared back at his ex-fiancée in shock. He couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth.

“What the hell makes you or your family think I would have ever defended them? What the hell makes you think you’re going to fix the problem by threatening us?”

“I’m not simply going to threaten you, I’m going to kill you, John,” Marlena promised him. “I made a lot of promises to my family, and there are very few ways to make up for the fact that I couldn’t deliver. Killing you is one of them. ”

John stared back at her silently for long moments. “You’re telling me they demanded you kill me?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you I broke a promise and now I have to prove my loyalty to them in another way. This is the only way I have of doing so. There are very few entrances into this world, John. And if getting what I want means I have to bloody my hands a bit, then so be it. ”

“And that’s all life means to you?” he asked her, suddenly realizing that her apparent lack of emotion truly went clear to the soul.

The realization didn’t surprise him, though he imagined it should have. After all, he had been engaged to her, and hadn’t known the true measure of the woman she was.

Marlena shook her head at his question. “I didn’t say I would enjoy killing you, John. ” She glanced back at Sierra. “Though I believe I will truly enjoy killing your little sex bunny. I think I want to hurt her first though. Hurt her in ways she can’t even imagine for daring to attempt to take what was mine. ”

The hell she would.

As though Marlena weren’t holding a gun, John reached over, snagged his pants from the floor, and making certain he was between Marlena’s gun and Sierra, pulled them on and zipped up.

“Do you think you can keep sheltering her, John?” Marlena asked curiously. “Once I put a hole in your heart, I will have a clear shot to your little whore. ”

Marlena peeked around John’s shoulder and smiled back at Sierra.

Sierra hadn’t moved. She sat with the sheet pulled to her breasts, simply watching Marlena. There was a strange glint to her gaze, a darkening of those marbled gray eyes that warned John she was up to something.

He just prayed it was something that wouldn’t get her killed.

Turning his gaze back to Marlena, he stared at the gun once again. She was too far away from him to jump her. He wouldn’t have a chance of getting to her before she fired.

“John, I know you so well,” Marlena murmured. “Well enough that we’re going to take your little houseboat from the docks and go down the lake a bit. I’d hate to have anyone see me leaving once I’ve completed this little task. ”

He shook his head. “I’m not going to cooperate with this, Marlena. You’re not going to kill anyone. ”

Her smile was condescending. “Don’t test me, John. I know your guilt complex. I was going to be nice and kill you first, but if you keep pushing, then I’ll kill your little whore first and make you watch. ”

John’s jaw clenched. He was growing sick of hearing Sierra referred to as a whore.

Marlena laughed. “I can see how irritated you’re becoming, lover. ”

John shook his head again. “Not irritated, Marlena, confused perhaps. What makes you think I’m going to allow you to do any of this?”

He was perhaps two feet closer. Not nearly enough.

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