I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and reached for the knife again. The man I was in the process of drawing a pentacle on was squirming in his seat. I had taped his mouth shut, so he couldn’t scream, but his bouncing around trying to free himself was rather annoying. “Can we do tea or whatever you want after this? I was in the process of something here.” I waved the knife in his direction. She looked around and backed up, hopping onto a table.
“I’ll watch. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you work. What card did he draw?”
“Queen of Pentacles— reversed.”
The man was starting to get loud under the tape. I reached out and stabbed his gut quickly, making sure not to go too deep. Just enough to shut him the fuck up.
Corrine nodded. “Makes sense. He was stealing from everyone.” She leaned forward and looked at the man in the chair. His eyes were wide, and he was sweating profusely in the cool chamber.
“You were this close to leaving for paradise island with all of your family's money, leaving them for dead. To beg in the streets. So close.” She pinched her fingers together and shook her head. “You forced your wife to quit her job and pop out six little wildlings. That’s not the way to treat them.” She tilted her head and stared at him. The guy’s eyes suddenly rolled upwards, and his head sloshed to the side. He fainted.
“Are you done?” I asked her. “Can I finish this?”
She nodded eagerly, and I continued carving the star surrounded by a circle into his rather large gut.
“It’s so crazy how accurate cards always are. I love watching you work. I need to do it more often.”
“There’s a reason I work alone, Corrine.” I reminded her as I worked. He woke up during the process, and I opted to put him out of his misery, stabbing him square in his chest.
I stood then and dusted off my hands as if I could clean all the blood that easily. I frowned as I looked at the slumped-over body.
“He’s got a wife and kids? Should someone take care of this, so they don’t see it? Maybe act like he ran away, left the money?”
Corrine slid off the table and came over to me. She wrapped her thin arms around my waist. I shivered. She was so slim it made me uncomfortable to touch her. “His wife was the one who put out the hit. They’ll be fine. Come.”
A black town car sat parked and ran in front of the shop. Thankfully, I had walked to the location. She opened the door for me, and I slid in. I wasn’t surprised to see she had a driver. Corrine slid in next to me, and then we were off.
“A mini-mansion? How original,” I muttered as we went through the gates of her property. “Don’t let Arsenio see this place. He’ll lose it.”
She laughed. “He’d probably try to get me to trade. I do hear good things about his home, though. I should make a visit soon.”
I was grateful that she didn’t force me to do a tour like Arsenio had done. Her house was twice his size. The decor was completely different from his. While Arsenio had lots of white and gold, Corrine had chosen a dark, gothic theme for her home.
She had servants who served us warm cups of blood. We sat in her tea room and stared at each other. She was about to grill me, and I wasn’t giving her anything she could use to hurt me. Or Scout.
“You’re close to breaking your curse. How close?” she asked, getting right to the point.
“Does it matter? I’ll let you know when it happens.”
She clicked her tongue. I hated when she did that.
“Why are you so—”
“Angry?” I smirked. “Maybe because last time you had me come see you, it was to break up the fight Dante and Tully were having. Fuckers knocked me into next week.”
I recalled that night very clearly. They were throwing fists at each other, and when I intervened, they changed directions and worked together to kick my ass for stepping in.
“That was an interesting choice they made. But they stopped fighting each other, didn’t they?” She looked up at me from the rim of her China teacup. I didn’t find it as amusing as she did. Being the little brother of the group sucked.
“Why now? You’ve been holding onto those last few souls for a long time now. What’s changed?”
“I’m ready.” I shrugged.
“Does this have to do with Ludovica? Because she thinks she has friends now?” Corrine’s fake charm suddenly stopped. She set her cup down and glared at me. “Do you think that breaking your curse is going to allow you to live a normal eternity?”
I started to shrink in my seat. She started to rise, and I flinched. I wasn’t even sure why. She’d never hit me. Even if she did, I could snap her in half. Corrine truly embodied her sin, and it was terrifying.
“No, but—” I started, but she cut me off.
