Page 81 of Hard Bargain

Cassian’s smile widened. “Seems only fair we return it.” He offered it to Dominic, handle first. Dominic took it without looking away from the man. The blade was still stained where it had caught his arm earlier. He held it for a moment, testing the weight, saying nothing.

“Please—” The attacker’s voice cracked.

Dominic stepped closer until he was standing directly in front of him. The man’s back pressed harder into the wall as if he could somehow sink into it. “You tried to kill me,” Dominic said quietly. Then he drove the knife into the man’s thigh, careful to avoid the major arteries that would have ended this too soon. He wanted him in agony, not dying. Not yet. There were still answers he needed first.

The scream tore loose instantly. The blade slid deep through muscle before he yanked it back out. Blood welled up fast, streaking down the man’s leg and dripping onto the floor.

Dominic stepped back half a pace and watched the man fight for breath as the pain hit him in waves. “Who sent you?”

The attacker gasped, shaking his head, trying to force words through the pain. “I don’t—I swear I don’t—”

Dominic stepped forward again. This time the knife punched into the other thigh. The scream that followed was louder, broken by a choking sob as the blade tore free. The man sagged against the wall, legs trembling, blood running down both legs now, soaking into his shoes.

“Isn’t he going to bleed out before he talks?” came Knox’s voice from behind him, sounding hesitant.

Cassian let out a short laugh. “Relax, kid. He knows exactly where not to stick a knife if he wants someone alive. Man’s basically a surgeon when he wants to be.”

Dominic didn’t bother replying to either of them. He turned to look at Knox instead. He was still standing in the doorway where he’d been since they entered, but he wasn’t the same as when they’d walked in. A faint flush had risen along his neck and cheekbones. His lips had parted slightly. The focus in his eyes was sharp and unwavering as his gaze moved over the man hanging against the wall.

Then his eyes snapped back to Dominic, locking onto him with an intensity that was almost palpable.

And there was nothing reluctant in it.

Not fear. Not disgust.

Something else entirely.

If anything, Knox looked more alive than Dominic had ever seen him. He held his stare for a moment, trying to place the expression, and arrived at a realization that should not have surprised him as much as it did.

Knox wasn’t enduring this.

He was enjoying it.

Cassian must have noticed the same thing, because he let out a delighted bark of laughter. “Oh, now that is not the reaction I was expecting.”

With only the three of them as witnesses, Knox didn’t look embarrassed at being caught. Here, he had nothing to apologize for and he knew it. But there was a flicker of awareness in his eyes, an acknowledgment that outside these walls, in the normal world, this kind of fascination would be met with a very different reaction.

Dominic watched him for another second, then turned back to the man on the hook. “Who sent you?”

The attacker’s breathing had turned frantic, each inhale hitching as the pain in his legs pulsed through him. His head hung forward before he forced it up. “I don’t—”

Dominic moved before the excuse could finish. The blade slid into his side, careful to avoid any organs. He left it there for a moment, feeling him jerk helplessly before pulling the knife free.

The man sagged forward as much as the hook allowed, gasping.

Dominic waited.

The man opened his mouth, a choked sound emerging instead of words. He sucked in a desperate breath, his chest heaving with the effort. “Please,” he managed.

Dominic stepped closer, the knife a cool threat against the sweat-slick skin. “Who sent you?” The blade pressed a fraction harder, underlining the question.

A pause.

“Last chance.”

The composure finally cracked. “Mercer!” The word burst out of him, forced loose under pressure. “Mercer sent me—”

Dominic went still.