Page 14 of Reclaim (Deadly Hearts 3)

“I would drag the knife up the inside of her arm, hard enough to draw blood, and then repeat it on the other side. When she whimpers with fear, I’d slash her wrists, first her left, then her right and watch as she slowly bleeds out before I…”

“Stop,” he says, and pushes me away from him. “If you continue with that, we will be spending the rest of the afternoon doing exactly that, and I’d much rather get on with why you came to me in the first place.”

“Saving her from me?” I taunt, enjoying myself way too much under the circumstances.

“Saving you from me,” he replies.

“I thought you didn’t care about her?”

“I don’t. I mean I will bend you over and fuck you senseless until you beg me for mercy, which I won’t give you and keep on fucking you until you collapse.”

“Liar,” I murmur. “You’d want it the other way around.”

He lets out a loud laugh and runs his hand over his head. “Ah, you got me, love. But you are messing with my head, Ruby. You are way more vicious than your file gave you credit for.”

“You have a file on me?” I murmur.

“Of course. I told you, you are of great interest to me.”

I find this all a bit weird and too much of a coincidence. Has Vinnie set me up after all…it’s starting to look that way.

“Don’t you have one on me?” he asks darkly.

“Actually, no. This was unplanned. An old friend gave me your name and said you were the guy I needed to speak to. Liverpool…not my city. Don’t know it or the players. That’s why I need you.”

He looks taken aback for an instant and then he laughs. “Brutally honest. I love it. Who is your old friend?” He perches on the edge of a desk and folds his arms over his quite muscular chest.

Time to test the waters.

“Vinnie,” I say, knowing he will know exactly who I’m talking about.

“You know Vinnie?” he asks in surprise.

“Do you?” I ask with more caution than I’d like, creeping into my voice.

“That bastard is my stepbrother. What’s he really send you here for? To take me out?” he says, surprising me, but also confirming my suspicions that this isn’t about Tiff at all, but about Adam himself. And if I felt like I was stuck in the middle before, now I’m wedged between the proverbial rock and a hard place, and I don’t really know which way to turn to try and squeeze out.

“That was his plan,” I say slowly and gauge the reaction, which comes as a surprise.

Adam laughs so loudly, I think he might bust his gut open.

“He’s such a wazzock,” he snorts. “Oh, Ruby. What the fuck have you just walked into?”

“Good fucking question,” I growl, stepping forward and grabbing Adam by his gold chain and twisting it to yank his head forward. “Start talking or you’ll be the one I start slicing up into little pieces.”

The fire in his eyes flares up but not out of anger. He is aroused and it almost makes me back off.

Almost.

I’ve been set up here and the need to know why is far more important than my fear of being assaulted again.

“Buckle up,” he says. “You have walked into the middle of an intercity gang war that is going to shed more blood than you have seen if you don’t take your cute arse back to where it belongs.”

I take that in for all of a second before the anger rises. “Manchester is my city,” I snarl at him. “Try to take it and I will gut you and anyone else who comes near it.”

“Whoa,” he says, holding his hand up. “Way I hear it, it’s not yours anymore…Vinnie is making his move to take it.”

“That cunt!” I spit out and turn, hand on my hip. “I’ll fucking kill him.”

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