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“You lied to me before. Let’s agree that you won’t lie to me ever again. You don’t lie to me. I don’t lie to you.” She wet her lips. Tasted him. Ached for him. “Fair?”
His head jerked.
She guessed that was a yes. “Why were you locked up? And, clearly, you were innocent. So someone was framing you.”
A furrow appeared between his brows. “Clearly?”
Yes, clearly. “My father wouldn’t have hired a criminal to guard me.”
“Why not? Criminals know all the best tricks.”
She shivered. Tiredness had begun to pull at her, and she feared the adrenaline coursing through her body might be preparing for the promised crash. Not that she’d confess that info to Midas. “Don’t joke.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Midas…”
“I was suspected of killing three women.”
Her heart stopped.
“Breaking their necks and thrusting knives into their hearts. A very specific signature, I can assure you.”
The room seemed to spin. It was a lucky thing that she was already on the bed. “Wh-what?”
With deliberate steps, he came back to the bed. Leaned forward. Put his hands on either side of her. “That’s fear.”
Her mouth had gone dry.
“The way your voice trembled? You’re afraid. The way you are looking at me right now? You’re afraid. And that’s why I need to keep my hands off you. I warned you that when you knew the truth, you wouldn’t want me touching you.”
She couldn’t look away from his eyes. “You didn’t kill those women.”
“For a while, no one believed me when I said that very thing.”
He’d been locked away? For multiple murders?
“There was a very, very good frame job in place, you see. DNA evidence left behind. Witnesses who saw a man fitting my description. In case you didn’t notice, I do tend to stick out in a crowd.”
Her hand rose and pressed to his chest. Right over his heart. “Who framed you?”
“The real killer, of course. Isn’t that how these stories go? He needed a fall guy. He picked me. A dumb kid who trusted the wrong person. Lucky for me, though, a young FBI agent came along. Someone who believed me. Who helped me to prove my innocence. The real killer was caught. Convicted. Sent to live the rest of his life in a cage. End of story.”
If that was the end, then why was he pulling away? And he was. He’d already retreated from her. “I didn’t hear dirty details. I heard…” She wet her lips again. “I heard a terrible story about you being put through hell. But you were innocent. You were cleared. And now you protect people.” She wouldn’t touch on him lying to her. Or how it hurt. Or how she didn’t know what to feel or think any longer.
“The real killer was a true monster. He got off on the pain he gave to his victims. And he had a whole lot more than just three vics.” Midas had made it to the bedroom door. It was partially open. When they’d rushed inside, kissing, feverish, they hadn’t shut it. He opened it fully. His hand curled around the wood along the edge of the door. “The detectives were right about one thing at the hospital. It isn’t easy to break someone’s neck. Not at all like you see in TV shows. It takes considerable force.” He stared at his hand as it gripped the door’s edge. “But when you’re someone like me—with my size and strength—and the vic…the victim is someone like…” He trailed off. Swallowed. “When the victim is someone so much smaller and delicate, it gets easier. You just have to know how to snap the bones in the right way.”
Nausea rolled within her.
“He was big like me. And he found out—dammit, I don’t need to tell you this. You already have enough nightmares.” A ragged exhale. “Why am I giving you more? You don’t need more.”
She climbed from the bed and found herself creeping toward him. Her hand reached out to him. “Midas.”
“He was my own fucking father. He’d killed women—so many of them—during my whole life. Sometimes, I was even in the same house with him, and I didn’t know what he was doing.” His fingers tightened even more around the edge of the door. His knuckles turned white. “He was going to have me pay for his crimes while he got off scot-free. My dear old bastard of a dad.”
Alina sucked in a sharp breath.
His head turned so that his gaze collided with hers. “And those are the dirty details. I’m the son of the devil, sweetheart. And you don’t want to fuck me. You don’t want my hands on you. You don’t want anything personal happening between us. That’s why I have my rules. Because no one wants the evil that is buried in me. But I swear, I swear I can keep you safe. I will keep you safe. Because I know how to fight monsters. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”
