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I pulled my earbuds out and sat up straight, grabbing my phone to navigate to the app that would show me the feed from all the security cameras. It was the middle of the night, and I wasn’t expecting anybody, but I could swear I heard knocking at my door.
Brandon was pissed at me, Keira was probably sleep, and so was Maite. If this was Kev, thinking he could change my mind… I was cussing his ass out via the mic; ’cause I wasn’t opening my damn door.
Except… I didn’t see anybody.
Weird.
Was I hearing things?
I didn’tthinkthere was any way I could have imagined a sound so vivid and loud, so I tapped into the section that would show me any recorded “events”. Anything that had set off the motion detectors or certain sound sensors would be logged.
My eyes narrowed at my screen. There was definitely an “event” from a moment ago, but on the video clip, there was clearly nobody there at the door.
I frowned.
Maybe it was some wild animal or something?
I shook it off, dropped my phone beside me and closed my eyes again, trying again to force myself to relax.
Shit.
There the sound was again.
This time I got right up, grabbing my gun from the nightstand before I headed for my front door in the dark, checking the camera feeds on my phone again on my way. There wasstillno one there, and still nothing that would explain something like this. Just before I rounded the corner to my front door, the knock sounded again, clear as day. And yet… nothing on the camera.
What if the camera is hacked?
The thought stopped me in my tracks.
What if I was being shown a pre-recorded loop or something, and there actuallywassomeone there? With my back to the wall, gun raised, I shot a text to Teo. He was the tech whiz around here and had installed my security system in the first place.
My next move was to call Brandon. If someonewashere, if thiswasan attack…
Shit.
A loud thump made me abandon the idea of a call—I needed to defend myself,now. If I was going out, itwouldn’tbe quietly.
I turned the safety off on my gun, made sure I had a bullet in the chamber… and opened my front door, ready for whatever was on the other side.
Nothing, still.
What the fuck?
“Expecting someone?”
I turned my weapon towards the source of the voice, finger on the trigger. Before I could squeeze, the gun was snatched from my hand, and the next thing I knew, I was pinned against my front door, my hands twisted behind my back, my face pressed against the cold metal.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Onyx murmured in my ear, sending a deep prickle of something fear-adjacent over my skin as I wrestled against him. He was heavy, too sturdy for my efforts to get away to do anything more than make me lose my breath. “You wanted to know what I do, right?” he asked. “You wanted to know what the thorns meant?”
I sucked in air for my distressed lungs to answer. “That you break into defenseless women’s homes to rape and kill them?” I guessed, still struggling in vain against his hold.
“Calling yourselfdefenselessis a stretch of massive proportions, sweetheart.” He chuckled; his breath warm against my skin before he very suddenly released his hold. “And I’m not here to do either one of those things to you.”
“How thefuckdid you get in my house?!” I asked, rounding on him, fists raised. “And I’m not your damn sweetheart. Is this funny to you?”
“Not at all.” He shrugged, leaning against my foyer table. “It’s very serious. I’ve never raped anybody personally, but killing? Maiming? Interrogation? Torture? I’m your guy. You wanted your answer, so there it is.”
My heart was still racing as my eyes narrowed, my brain working overtime to process his words. “So you’re... what? CIA gone wrong or something?”
