Page 16 of Cruel Bargain

“I can’t tell you until after you promise.”

“How am I supposed to promise anything when I don’t know what I’m promising?”

I curl my fist in frustration. “Just say you’ll do what I ask!”

He sits up, puts his junk away, and pats the couch. I take a seat. He looks at me, his eyes drifting from my mouth to my neck to my body. “Fine. I’ll make the deal.”

“My father sold me to that club for booze and…other things. But my little sister…she’s still with him.”

“Fuck...”Alistair mumbles under his breath. He buries his face in his hands. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I feared what you and your people would do to her.”

“What we would do to her? You’ve been here for months and I haven’t touched you.”

“Youhaven’t touched me. There are other men here. I know how Gage took Remi. My sister is only twelve.”

“You think we’d rape a twelve-year-old?” he says, clearly offended.

“I wasn’t sure what you would do.”

“Fuck!” he says again, looking straight ahead at the wall.

“He wasn’t always a bastard. When the dead came, my mom died. We wandered the streets, making it into the older district on the east side, taking shelter in the basement of one of the older houses. Number twelve on Chapel Street.”

“Are you sure your father didn’t sell her off too?”

Panic needles me. “I…I—oh, God!”

Strong arms wrap around me. “It’s okay.”

He shouldn’t be this close. It’s not safe.

But his firm hold on me is the only thing keeping me tethered to sanity.

“I was too scared. I didn’t want her to…to end up here. Like me.”

“I know. You didn’t do anything wrong,” he whispers, his stubble rubbing against my neck. His scent fills my nostrils, invading my senses. It’s so different from the feminine scents I’m used to.

Since I’ve arrived at the Keep, I’ve never been this close to him. And to my growing horror, I kind of like it.

I push away, because this is supposed to be about business, and I don’t want him to see me all emotional. Alistair backs off, respecting my need for space. It doesn’t make him a good man, but there are worse monsters.

Here goes nothing…

“So, here’s the deal. If you rescue my sister and bring her somewhere safe, I’ll let you do whatever you want to me.”

“You mean bring her to the Keep?”

“No—”

“She won’t be touched. I promise.”

As I’m about to argue, unleashing a maelstrom of fury, my anger suddenly quells.

I believe him.

If Alistair says she won’t be touched, I won’t fight him, because as much as I’ve shown him the worst parts of me, he hasn’t failed me yet.

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