Page 99 of King of My Heart

His brows furrow slightly. I press myself against the wall as his hand goes to my hair. I squeeze my eyes shut when he brings his face down.

Close.

Closer.

But when I open them, he’s backed away already, and instead of his face, he’s holding something in front of me. A small feather?

“You had something in your hair,” he says, bemused.

A shocked pause.

“I-I was changing the sheets,” I finally reply. Because that’s what matters right now. Justifying myself for having a tiny feather in my hair.

He takes a step back and looks around, suspicious. “I’m not here to hurt you, Rachel. Just to keep an eye on you while Rose does me a favor.”

I straighten, trying to give myself more height, trying to show I’m to be taken seriously too and it won’t be like when Lik and him took me by surprise.

“Not here to hurt me unless she doesn’t do what she’s told,” I snap back as I put a hand on my hip to show my irritation.

I understand what I’m doing is risky. Snapping at someone as dangerous as him it’s practically suicidal, isn’t it? I think I’m doing it on purpose. I want a reaction out of him. And the thrill of what that reaction could be electrifies me.

To my disappointment, he doesn’t even bother replying. He walks further into my house, going through the door that leads into the living room and I’m the one who has to follow. His long legs force me to accelerate, and I can feel every single bruise on my body. He’s already on the other side of our long room and looking into the backyard through the floor-to-ceiling windows by the time I catch up.

“Hey,” I bark, wondering where my confidence comes from. “Don’t ignore me.”

I catch up, settling right behind him. “I’m talking to you. Just barge into my house, threaten me, and make yourself comfortable, why don’t you. All the while, you blackmail my girlfriend into doing some shady shit for you. And how the hell did you get past the gate?”

He turns around slowly, a small smile pulling at his lips like his silence brought him exactly what he wanted.

“Rose isn’t your girlfriend.” I don’t like the way he says Rose. His British accent is not pleasant to the ear, it’s uptight, and he makes her name sound bitter.

I scoff, lost for words. He didn’t have to throw shitty truths at me in such an effortless manner.

“She’s not yours either,” I finally bite back.

Way to go. Really got him there.

God, I feel stupid and immature right now.

He shrugs. That’s all.

That. Is. All.

He walks around me and carries on with his visit of the house. He is so exasperating. I follow after him, retightening my robe when it loosens.

“Why are you even doing this?” I keep asking.

I didn’t miss what he said when we were at his cabin. He kills for a living, and he wants to kill people Rose knows. People from the Volkov family. And I know they’re the ones who took her. I had overheard Jake talking about them. I heard Sam and his boyfriend, Lik, talk about it too.

Volkov is a known name in Stoneview. That family has run the underground belly of our rich town for many years. Multiple politicians who live here are involved with them: CEOs and other powerful men who are just too greedy to stay legal.

Sam’s silence is getting on my nerves. I follow him around as he checks some rooms in my house, and there are a lot of rooms in a Stoneview mansion.

“Is it the guy who kidnapped her? Is that why you want to kill him?”

He opens my kitchen door and goes to a cupboard. Helping himself to a crystal glass, he walks over to the fridge and presses the water jet with the rim.

“Hey, asshole, do you ever talk?”

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