Page 189 of Split You Open

I press my lips together and glare at him, deciding that saying nothing is probably my best bet.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you?” he asks, not needing to be prompted to continue. “No, you probably don’t. But trust me when I say, it’s been a long time coming.”

Dixie shoves his hands into his pockets and studies me closely.

“You know, I see the resemblance between you and your father. When William told me he had a kid, I half expected you to look monstrous given how fucked up that man is.” Arnon’s eyes darken as they slide over me. “But you, Blair, are absolutely lovely. Even covered in blood, you are… my type.”

I suppress a shiver as his eyes rake over me.

“But, as beautiful as you are, your looks won’t save you,” he sighs. “He worked so hard keeping you a secret, not only after he faked his own death and took up contract work but before that, too—did you know that? He told me one night after drinking just a little too much. Blurted out he had a kid somewhere out in the world and that he was disgusted by it. He went on to tell me that he considered any extension of himself a weakness. He wanted to hunt you and your mother down to kill you so that he wouldn’t have any. He wanted greatness and he feared you would somehow steal that from him. I’m so glad that he decided not to do that. Because now he has his infamy and a weakness for me to exploit.”

Oh boy, this man is a talker.

How the hell were he and Dad close, even a little bit? Dad hates conversing for long periods of time. I have a feeling this man could talk for hours, and I’ve only just met him.

But maybe that’s what I need for him to do—I need Arnon to keep talking.

The longer he talks, the longer I live and the more time Dad has of putting distance between himself and this asshole.

My eyes slide from Dixie’s face to the ceiling of the SUV in an attempt to avoid his strange smile.

“You know, he did try to kill me. A couple of times, in fact,” I tell him. “I actually just found that out recently.”

“Did he now?”

I hum in confirmation. “Well, like I said, he tried.”

“You might be his first failed job, then.”

His tone makes me wary, so I look back at Dixie to find him beaming at me as if he’s impressed. I give him a one shoulder shrug. Instantly, I regret it as pain from the bullet wound just beneath my collarbone flares up.

“Dad said that he killed your first wife, is that true?”

The abrupt change of conversation doesn’t throw Dixie for a loop. He blinks once but his smile doesn’t falter as he says, “That is correct.”

“And… you’re going to kill me now for revenge, right?”

“That is correct.”

The confirmation makes my stomach riot but I hold his gaze, refusing to show any sign of fear. “Even though I saved your second wife and kid?”

Arnon’s smile grows wider. “I thought you’d bring that up. My daughter told me of your heroic act. At first, I thought she might be making that up, because why would you set them free? But then my wife confirmed that it was true.”

“Does that earn me any brownie points?”

“Are you begging for your life, Blair?”

I scoff with indignation. “Nope. I’m just seeing if that matters in the grand scheme of things. It’s not like I killed your wife after all.”

“And it wasn’t like Aurora did anything to William and yet he still killed her.” Arnon’s smile falters. Something sinister flashes in his eyes before he pushes it out of sight. He opens his mouth to say more but his cell phone rings. With a sigh, he pulls it out of his interior jacket pocket and checks the screen. “Shit.”

I raise a brow. “Everything okay, Dixie?”

The smile falters just a bit before Dixie fixes it.

“I prefer Arnon,” he corrects as he shoves his phone away to give me his full attention. “Dixie was from my younger, more rash years. And yes, everything is fine. I’m just running behind schedule. I wanted to meet you before I killed you but it took longer than I expected for you to wake up. I’ve been pushing this call, and others like it, back all day. They can wait a moment longer.”

Dread pools in my stomach as he moves to stand straight.