Page 37 of Dark Deviant

A shiver skitters down my spine. He’s holding onto that bottle the way I imagine he’d grab onto me now, the way he did back at the house. Fuck him if he thinks that’s going to scare me. I can’t afford any shows of weakness, or he will pounce on me like a feral cat.

“You brought us here for a reason.” I hate the tiny quiver in my voice that shatters my façade of strength into sand. “Now you need to make sure your daughter has what she needs. That includes a place to sleep. I don’t give a damn about myself. Daniela is my priority. And you need to get on the same page.”

“My priority is finding out who killed my mother.” The light from the fixture above him casts a golden hue over his head. If he was anyone other than the monster he’s proven himself to be, I’d think he might be an angel.

Except he’s already proven over and over that he’s pure devil.

“Well, guess what? You’re a parent, and priorities change. Why don’t you focus on what’s alive and in front of you instead of lamenting over something you won’t ever get back?”

My mouth snaps shut when I see the sparks of fury explode from his hateful gaze like flames shooting out of a Roman candle. He lets go of the vodka bottle and creeps toward me. I take a few steps back, my eyes darting left and right for a weapon, anything to protect me from this lunatic.

Unfortunately for me, the knife block is nestled in a corner of the counter across the room. Not like I could grab one from the wooden casing and wield it with a sleeping baby in my arms, anyway.

I swallow hard, the bottom of my flip flops slapping against the hardwood floor as I move out of his path.

“Don’t you fucking dare tell me what I should focus on.” His voice drops to a low, predatory growl. “And don’t think you can use that baby as a shield. Nothing can protect you from me, Larysa. Nothing.”

His expression morphs into something chillingly demonic, the whites of his eyes barely visible.

Fuck, he really is the Devil.

Evil incarnate.

Okay, maybe I went a little too far that time.

But screw him if he thinks I’ll cower.

“I’m holding your daughter. What are you going to do, hit me?”

His lips curl upward, but there’s nothing warm and fuzzy about his smile. In fact, it’s the scariest one I think I’ve ever seen. “Hit you? Why would I do that when there are so many other fun ways to torture you?”

My pulse slams into my neck like a tiny fist, my throat tight like it’s being pulled by a noose. “I’m not your plaything.”

“Playing indicates fun.” He grips me by the shoulders, digging his fingertips into my flesh so hard, I wince. Short, sharp painful gasps of air lance my lungs. He slides his hands up the sides of my neck, resting them threateningly around my collarbone. “And there’s nothing fun about what I’m going to do to you.”

Chapter15

Danil

I’m a fucking liar.

Before I held that knife to Larysa’s throat earlier tonight, I wanted to make her suffer the most excruciating pain imaginable. It was the only way I felt I could level the playing field with her brothers, since it’s exactly what they did to us, whether or not they admit to it.

I know the truth.

Vengeance brought me to her doorstep.

But some twisted cocktail of lust, depravity, and ferocity led me to a place where revenge is just out of my reach.

Now I’m left with a raging hard-on, a baby, and a woman who has my head in a complete twist, not to mention the faceless enemy who may be tracking us both.

It’s fucking poetic when the hunter becomes the hunted.

Even more so when the hunted becomes the victor, in every sense of the word.

Larysa’s back stiffens, her fake violet eyes wide with shock. “Don’t flatter yourself into thinking that anything I do with you could be even remotely considered ‘fun.’” She points down the hallway of my condo. “I see a lot of doors. Which one is the bedroom? I’m finished with you and your whole badass, broken, anti-hero routine. Maybe some girls find it sexy. I’m not one of them.”

My jaw tenses. She’s lucky she has the baby in her arms because the things I would do to her right now to shut that smart mouth are illegal in all fifty states and Canada.

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