Declan braces a hand on the mattress, leaning close enough that our faces are only inches apart. I feel the cool touch of a blade against my cheek. Shit. I didn’t even see him draw the knife. My breath catches, but I don’t move, holding his gaze. His lips twitch at the corner but that’s all he gives me, hiding his emotions behind his I-don’t-give-a-fuck stare.
“Why would we kill you when you’re so much fun to play with, Poison?” He draws the flat side of the blade down my cheek to my jaw, barely scraping the skin there with the sharp tip. “Believe it or not, we are serious about this deal, but we won’t wait around forever for you to make up your mind. We’ve got better shit to do.”
“Like?” I push back, because apparently I have a death wish.
He drops the blade to his side and leans away, leaving me breathless and missing his masculine scent.What is wrong with me?
“If you took the deal, then maybe we’d fill you in.” He backs toward the door. “Akio will be back later to lock you in for the night. Enjoy your dinner. Or don’t. Do whatever you want.”
I frown, confused, as he retreats from the room. Why does it feel like he was attempting to be nice just now? Even if it was in his own fucked up way. Yeah, he pretended to threaten me with the knife, but I know he wouldn’t have hurt me. Declan didn’t need to bring me dinner either because he knows I would have gone down to get it myself soon. And,if I’m not mistaken, he sounded a little hurt that I was avoiding them. Weird.
I snatch up the glass of wine, again wondering how I got here, so worked up over these men.
The wine must have put me to sleep because the next thing I know a loudbumpcomes from upstairs, startling me awake. I push to a sitting position on my bed and rub the sleep from my eyes.
Several sets of heavy footsteps sound from the floor above me, which tells me the guys are huddling in Matteo’s office. In all of my snooping over the past couple weeks, I know for a fact that if they all meet, it’s in Matteo’s office.
A grunt of pain echoes from above and a niggle of worry pinches at my gut.No, not worry, you mean curiosity.
Glancing over at the clock on my nightstand, I see that it’s only half-past nine, which means I have at least half an hour before they lock me in my room for the night. I still have some time to be nosey. Slipping out of bed, I walk on silent feet out of the room and up the stairs, pausing right outside the open door to Matteo’s office.
I peek my head around the corner. It’s dark, save for a lone lamp on the desk and the flashing lights from the computer monitor as Akio, mask shoved up to his forehead, types furiously on the keyboard.More Cerberus shit.
Declan is hovering over a shirtless and bleeding Matteo who is leaning back in his chair with a drink in hand. They discarded both of their masks on the floor.
“You won’t need stitches,” Declan announces, swiping a washcloth over the ugly wound on Matteo’s side. “You’re lucky. He could have fucked you up pretty good if you’d grabbed him at any other angle.”
“Fuck off,” Matteo grumbles before tossing his head back and draining the amber liquid in his glass. “I had everything handled.”
“He’s not lying,” Akio adds. “I just rewatched the footage of us jumping him before I deleted it. You’re lucky, brother.”
Matteo adjusts his position in the chair with a groan. “I’ll repay him for the new scar tonight when he wakes up. Finish getting whatever footage you need so we can expose this fucker.”
Do they have another prisoner here?They never told me what happened to the man they were interrogating when I interrupted them and Declan exposed who he was, but then again, why would they? I haven’t agreed to their deal, so I’m kept in the dark.
Whatever. I really shouldn’t care. I should go back downstairs and leave them to do whatever they are doing. But just as the thought enters my mind, Akio steps back, revealing the video playing on the monitor screen, and my blood turns to ice in my veins.
An average looking white guy with glasses and a receding hairline stomps into view, dragging a girl who looks barely older than eighteen behind him by the hair. There’s no sound coming from the video, but I can tell that she’s screaming. The girl claws at his pant legs, her face contorted in fear. The screen flips to another video, the same man but a different girl. This time, she’s naked and bruised, and he’s… he’s…
My stomach roils as the video flashes from one girl to the next, then the next, on and on. All of his victims he beats and assaults. Tears track down my numb cheeks, but I can’t look away, needing to memorize each face, needing to find a way to help them. God, there are so many,too many. My breaths come too quickly, my mind whirling to the past,I’m pinned; always pinned, then back to the present as each horrible moment plays across the screen.
What happened to the girls? Did the guys find them, save them? Or is that why they brought this man back here? To interrogate him. Punish him.
A dark part of me hopes they do. An even darker part of me wants to join them.
Clarity hits me like a bolt of lightning.
What am I doing? I’ve been refusing to take their deal to get back at the guys for what they did to me, but in reality, I’m not helping anyone, not myself, and especially not the girls on the screen. But what if I can help them? If all Cerberus wants me to do is answer their questions, if they truly think I might have any knowledge that could help end this fucking suffering, then fuck, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything.
The thought triggers me into action, and I step into the room, voice steady and sure. “I’m in.”
Three sets of eyes whirl to me.
Akio turns the monitor away, not wanting me to see the horror. He’s too late, and by the sorrowful look in his eyes, he knows it is too. “You shouldn’t have had to see that.”
I shake my head. “No. I shouldn’t have. But I did, and I’m glad because… I want to help. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to accept the deal, but if the conditions stand, I’m in. I’ll help you.” I gesture to the screen. “And do whatever I can to save people like them. In return, Cerberus helps me and then I can go back to my life.”
Akio is nodding before I finish speaking. “Yes. Deal.”
