Page 70 of His Puppet

“I have a knife!” I yell through the door. “If you take one step into this house, I won’t fucking hesitate to use it!”

“That’s cute. Thanks for the heads up.” He pulls his boot back, and I push the door shut. I quickly turn the lock and take a step back.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he says, his voice muffled by the door. He sounds uninterested, worlds away from the sick amusement in his voice the first time we met. “I’m as pissed about this as you’re about to be.”

I hesitate a few moments, looking over my shoulder at the kitchen and debating whether to actually go get a knife. I turn back to the door and bite my lip.

“We’re working together today. Boss’s orders,” Victor says.

“Blade would never—”

“Bladeis not my boss. Mr. Gruco told me to come get you. You’re coming with me to a bar downtown.”

I stare down the door like it’sthe one I don’t trust. My feet have been braced apart and my knees bent, ready to run at any given second, but now I stand straight.

He sounds so sincere… And annoyed. Annoyance, coming from Victor, is good. It means he’s not getting his way, which means he’s probably telling the truth. But why the hell would the Grucos want me to work with him? Better yet, why would Blade allow it?

Victor kicks the door. “Come on, open up. We gotta go.”

I narrow my eyes, then turn and head to the kitchen. What makes the most sense to me right now is that Victor is a master manipulator. That’s the only thing I’m sure of.

I grab a paring knife from the block and grip it tight, holding it at my side as I walk to the entryway. Victor is banging on the door and saying the same useless shit, but he quiets when I open it, keeping my knife-wielding hand hidden behind it.

“I want to talk to Blade,” I say, my voice hard and holding an authority I don’t have.

Victor rolls his eyes and takes a step back. He raises his hands in a ‘whatever’ gesture and lets them fall back to his sides. “So talk to him. Just hurry the fuck up. I have other things to do today.”

I squeeze the knife. “I’m sure you do.”

Victor looks at me expectantly, then raises his brows and twitches. “Well?”

“I don’t have a phone.”

He sighs, shakes his head, and pulls his cell phone from his pocket. He thrusts it toward me, and when I don’t take it, he scowls.

“Call him and put it on speaker.”

He moves his dark eyes from my face to the door, right where my hand is hiding on the other side. Amusement lights up his face, and his lips lift into a smirk.

“Do you have a weapon, princess?”

“I already told you I did, and don’t fucking call me that.”

He snickers and starts tapping on his phone. He holds it face up in front of him while he calls Blade on speaker.

“Hello?”

Just hearing Blade’s voice calms my nerves, but I try not to let Victor see it, and I never take my eyes off him.

“Why the hell is Victor saying I’m supposed to do a job with him?”

Blade sighs, and I can see him running his hand through his hair, his eyes closing.

“I know it isn’t ideal…”

“Blade, what the fuck?”

“I know. I know. But it isn’t as big a deal as it seems. Lorenzo just wants you to go with Victor and slip something into someone’s pocket. That’s it. He wants subtlety, and Victor is about as subtle as an elephant in a figurine store. I don’t agree with it, but he thinks you two would make a good team.”

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