Page 15 of Silent Vendetta (Vendetta Duet)

For the sake of people’s safety, I’d go along with this charade, but I didn’t have to let him touch me. I tried to yank my hand back discreetly, but the motion caught Rinaldi’s eye, and she glanced at me with furrowed brows.

I offered her a smile—it didn’t reach my eyes, I bet, but it was a smile all the same—and Hunter did as well. Rinaldi glanced between the two of us, some internal thought taking place, and after a slight hesitation, she returned her attention to the search by stepping further away.

“Careful,” Hunter whispered in my ear. I could hear that he was smiling for everyone else to see, the heat of his breath invading my earlobe. “You need to cooperate, Little Leopard.”

I dug my nails into his skin.Hope that hurts.I smiled for the people around us and motioned with my chin for him to lean down, whispering in his ear.

“Don’t ever call me by that fucking nickname again.”

He pulled away enough to meet my eyes and had the audacity to let humor dance through them like he was the old, playful boyfriend again. He leaned in so that his hot, devil breath once again burned my ears.

“Such a foul mouth on you. I remember when it screamed my name.”

I dug my nails in harder, relishing the grimace he tried to hide. He was not winning this. If I was going to be held hostage and maybe even die, he was not winning this battle.

To everyone else, we probably looked like we were canoodling, whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears.

But I was trying to verbally destroy him.

“I faked it all,” I lied.

Hunter brushed his thumb along my lower lip. It took serious restraint to not chomp it off, and then he leaned his mouth close to me again, his lips grazing my ear like the touch of a spider’s web.

“Bull.”

“I’m going to head upstairs,” Rinaldi said, snapping me out of this banter.

“I’ll show you around,” he said, but when he walked forward, he kept his grip on my palm.

Rinaldi’s eyes flicked to our joined hands, a subtle shift in her expression.

“You don’t need to follow me,” she said. “I can search on my own.”

“This is my home,” Hunter said. “There are valuable things here.”

Rinaldi paused on the staircase, her voice curt. “Are you suggesting we might steal something?”

“Of course not,” he said in a smooth tone with just a pinch of sharpness. “I would never say that.”

Say.An interesting word choice instead of the wordthink. A passive-aggressive accusation.

Rinaldi glared at him. “Luna, can I speak to you for a minute?”

All my humor faded. One wrong word to her and everyone’s lives could be at risk.

Rinaldi pulled me off to the side, far outside the reach of Hunter’s evil ears. And I bet she noticed Hunter didn’t follow the uniformed officers upstairs—poking holes in what he’d just said.

“Look, I’ll get right to the point.” She kept her voice low, her eyes darting to Hunter, then back at me. “If he’s being violent with you, I can help you.”

“He’s not,” I lied.

“I know you’re saying that, but I can sense something off with your body language. I have seen my share of DV calls, Luna.”

While Hunter’s affection could be construed as a boyfriend relieved I was okay, it could also be interpreted as controlling. Especially by a trained eye.

“Trust me, that’s not what’s going on.”

I wasn’t sure if she believed me, though, since her face remained tightened. As more cops funneled up the staircase, she seemed to be waiting for me to confess. But each second she stood here, Hunter was probably growing more anxious.

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