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“What I don’t get is…” He tightened his grip on the knife, placing the blunt edge of the blade on my collarbone and gliding it up my throat, ever so slowly. My breath hitched. “…why the only person in this family with an actual functioning brain became everyone’s designated bitch,Octi.”
Ah.
A question for the ages.
I contemplated lying to him for a moment. The truth was, by far, the most vulnerable thing one could share about themselves.
But I decided against it.
Zachary Sun would call me out on my bullshit before I even finished my sentence. There was no point hiding things from him, even if I knewhewas full of secrets.
Distinctly aware they could very well be eavesdropping, I lowered my voice, swatting the knife away from my chin.
“I have some issues to sort out before I can part ways with them. Legal stuff.” I scowled. “Anyway, didn’t you come here to yell at me for the pendant?”
Yes. I was so desperate to change the topic that I didn’t mind being shouted at.
“Yelling is hysterical and pointless. You deserve punishment, not a slap on the wrist.” With the tip of his knife, Zach tilted my chin up to meet his eyes. “Which brings me back to our deal.”
I swallowed hard, somewhere between pissed off and intrigued. I really ought to be scared of this man.
I didn’t know why I couldn’t bring myself to conjure that particular emotion. Maybe because he seemed too controlled to kill someone offhandedly.
Or maybe it was something else.
The way he held his knife almost reminded me of how my elderly neighbor clutched on to his walking cane. Or how the toddler acrossthe street held on to her blankie.
As if he used it often. Casually. Like an accessory to help him with his daily tasks.
I pinched my lips together. “Aw, what will you do? Force me into marriage like that psychopath friend of yours?”
Everyone knew Romeo Costa had dragged his Southern belle wife down the aisle by the ear, kicking and screaming.
That they were now the most praised and admired couple in this zip code didn’t matter in the slightest.
Their origin story had forever seared into my brain.
How he’d locked her in that golden cage of his.
How she rattled the bars, bent them into the shape of his heart, and wore him down, chipping his exterior bit by bit until he was completely and undeniably hers.
A legend of a dark Romeo and a stubborn Juliet, the rumor mill whispered.A rewritten classic where everyone got their happy ending.
I wasn’t Dallas Costa, though.
If, by some wild stroke of disaster, Zach Sun forced me into marriage, I wouldn’t play the long game.
I’d probably stab him in his sleep with my épée.
Zach reared his head back, staring at me as if I’d hallucinated him. “No offense, Miss Ballantine, but I would sooner marry a wild coyote than you. At least the coyote would be exceptionally more pleasant to spend time with. Plus, if I feed it, I might have a chance at domesticating it.”
I smiled, making sure to flash my canines. “Careful. It might also kick your ass at Go.”
“Easy there, Little Octopus. I do recall you ran away from the game because you’d backed yourself into a trap.”
I could finish that game fine.
I’d replayed it in my head before bed every night since the soirée. The side effect of a stellar memory and an unhealthy obsession with victory.
