Page 148 of Hard Bargain

That moment was pure oxygen.

“You remember,” Knox said. “Good.”

He was supposed to be terrified. Shaking. Asking Dominic to handle this for him—that was how victims behaved in the stories. But nothing about Knox felt like prey. He felt awake. The pain in his ribs and the burn of half-healed flesh weren’t weaknesses. They were proof he was still standing.

Mercer hadn’t ruined him. He’d done the exact opposite.

Knox stepped closer until his shoes touched the dried line of blood on the floor. Mercer flinched, the chain overhead rattling. “You taught me something,” Knox said. “That I don’t break easily. Now you get to learn that lesson from the other side.”

He reached out and ran a knuckle under the crusted cut on Mercer’s cheek. Mercer hissed at the contact and Knox let the sound curl through him like music. “I’m not afraid of you anymore,” he said.

The darkness Dominic had seen in him from the very beginning was stretching open inside his chest. It didn’t feel foreign.

It felt like him.

It had always been him—built from slammed doors, raised voices, harsh punishments, and parents who never chose him first. Hardened by years of carrying everything alone and never once being allowed to set it down.

This wasn’t something Dominic had put in him. It was something Dominic had recognized.

Knox turned to the table against the wall, lined with stainless-steel instruments laid out in careful order. It wasn’t theatrical, just tools designed to do one thing very well. His fingers closed around the first knife.

Behind him, Dominic’s silence was absolute. Knox didn’t need to look back to feel the approval in it.

Cassian lingered in the doorway, arms folded, eyes narrowed in what looked a lot like respect.

Mercer tried to lift his head as Knox leaned in close. “Stay awake,” Knox whispered. “You told me I cried pretty. Let’s see how you look.”

Mercer wheezed something that might have been a plea. Or a curse. Knox didn’t care which—both fed the same fire.

He straightened, rolled his shoulders, and set to work.

Chapter 38

Dominic

Mercer had finally gone silent. The last sound he’d made still echoed in Dominic’s head even though it had stopped a full minute ago. His body hung limp against the wall, blood dripping from dozens of cuts, hitting the floor in a steady rhythm.

Dominic hadn’t lifted a hand. He’d stood back and watched while Knox handled it—never once flinching. Every time the knife opened new skin, Dominic had felt the heat coil tighter in his gut: worry, pride, and hunger braided together so tight he could barely breathe around them.

Now it was over.

Knox wiped the blade on his thigh, a careless swipe that added to the blood already there. He took a deep breath and turned around.

And met Dominic’s eyes.

Oh fuck.

What Dominic saw knocked the air out of him. Knox’s eyes were blown wide, bright with adrenaline and something hotter. Blood spotted his face and streaked his chest, his hands stained dark. He stood there, strong and alive, lit from within by something dangerous and devastatingly beautiful.

Dominic’s body reacted before his brain caught up. Instinct overriding everything—every rule, every rational thought—heat hitting low and hard, his pulse slamming into his throat. He tore his gaze away just long enough to find Cassian. “Leave us.”

Cassian opened his mouth, maybe to ask if Dominic was sure, then saw whatever was living in Dominic’s stare and thought better of it. The door clicked shut behind him.

All that was left was the drip-drip of Mercer’s blood and the sound of two men breathing too hard.

Dominic stepped forward. Knox did the same. They met halfway, inches apart, the smell of blood and sweat and madness thick between them. Dominic’s thoughts tumbled—you’re perfect, you’re terrifying, you’re mine—but none of it made it to his tongue because his tongue had better things to do.

He grabbed a fistful of Knox’s hair and hauled him in. Their mouths crashed together, copper flooding Dominic’s senses as Knox’s tongue pushed past his lips. Knox moaned into it, the sound vibrating through Dominic’s chest and straight down to his cock.