Page 66 of Where Sinners Repent

Fuck.

My eyes squeeze shut, as if I can pretend I didn’t just see a dead body. Of course, Kai doesn’t let me. His hand shakes my head softly, and my eyes land back on the body.

“Looks like my brother started without me,” he whispers, finally removing his hand from my lips.

I could scream now. Cry and beg. I know it would be futile.

Pure fear kicks through me, and I struggle against his hold. Leather crinkles against my back, reminding me exactly who is holding on to me. As if I could ever forget.

“Kai,” I whisper, and suddenly I'm dropped to the ground.

My feet stumble against the concrete as Kai reaches into his pocket, cocks his arm back, and throws before , twisting in time to see Kai reach into his pocket, cock his arm back, and throw before I even see the other person.

The knife lodges in the man’s throat, and he drops with a gasp.

“Fuck,” I whimper.

Kai doesn't watch the body fall. Doesn’t confirm his knife hit the mark. He already knows.

The man was made to kill. His eyes are on me, waiting and watching for my reaction. The only sign of life is the small puff of breath that fall from his nose.

In the shadows like this, with a man bleeding out behind him, he looks deadly. His endless eyes, unblinking; glued to mine.

It sends a shiver through me, and not all entirely from fear.

“They took everything,” another voice whispers from the shadows, and my entire body jolts with shock.

Kaleb emerges from the shadows as if he's been there the whole time.

Looking back at Kai, his eyes are still fixed on me.

“Every single fucking container is empty,” Kaleb growls.

I turn to him, and he's also looking at me. Glaring, actually, lip curled as if my presence has filled his mouth with a bad taste.

My heart batters against my chest.

“I've got one tied up in a shipping container,” Kaleb mutters, eyes still boring into me. “He's alive... just,” his smirk turns cruel.

“Get him,” is all Kai says.

Kaleb nods once but doesn't move straight away.

His eyes take in the rest of me, sliding down my body in one slow sweep before coming back to my eyes. Nothing respectable, nothing kind shines there. And then he's gone.

“You've proven your point, Kai. Take me home,” I plead, my voice taking on a panicked edge.

He gives me one slow shake of his head.

“Take me home, Kai. I want to go home.”

Again, that slow shake of his head.

Those gloved hands slide into his pockets as he moves towards me in slow, deliberate strides. Altogether too casual for the man he is.

“I don't think you do get it,” Kai murmurs. He stops just in front of me. Lifting his hand to run a gloved knuckle down my cheek, “but you will.”

It shows how sick I am, the way a jolt of heat hits my core at his promised threat.