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But Callum, surprisingly, beat me to it.
“Knock it off!” He grabbed his brother by the arm, pulling him away from Eli. “Keep your shit together.”
I rushed towards Eli, whose head lobbed slightly. I took his head in my hands, trying to assess the damage. “Eli?” I could feel his breath on my wrist, and he blinked several times. He was okay, just stunned. With that knowledge, I felt a bit better.
“He’s fucking fine,” Caleb grumbled.
Callum laughed slightly, and the sound of it terrified me. “The drugs are probably still coursing through his system. He’s not going to be much use.”
Drugs explained how Callum got the drop on Eli. Callum wasn’t small, but compared to Eli, he looked like a twig.
“What do you want?” I asked, trying to control the trembling in my limbs. This entire situation felt wrong to me.
Callum stepped towards me. “I wanted to talk.” His voice was calm, but it did nothing to make me feel better. In fact, hearing the eerie calmness of it took me back to that night in my family foyer. Never before had I been surer than in this moment that Callum was in the house that night, which meant that he had participated in the killing of my family.
And that meant that he’d brought me here to kill me.
“About what?” There was a tremble in my voice. “And why couldn’t we have done this more…” I looked around, trying to search for the word. “…amicably.”
This made Callum snort. “You know why.”
He reached into the pocket of his jeans, and I stiffened. Callum pulled out a pocketknife.
Caleb’s eyes went wide, and he stepped forward. “Woah, woah, woah!”
I got to my feet the moment Callum released the blade. “What the hell are you doing with that?” Caleb asked. He genuinely sounded concerned, and if the situation were different, I might have called him a moron. “You said you just wanted to talk to her.”
Callum made no move to advance. “I do.” He pressed the index finger of his free hand against the tip of the blade. “I just want her to know that there are consequences to lying to me.”
I gulped but remained silent, placing my body between Callum and Eli. This was between us.
“You said you weren’t going to hurt her. That’s why that asshole is here.”
Callum placed a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. It was probably meant to be reassuring, but there was something about it that made me think that Callum was lying to his brother. He planned to kill me. I knew that with every fiber of my being.
“I told you why we have to do this. You trust me, right?”
Caleb nodded. He looked back at me, and I saw the uncertainty in his eyes. His weakness made me sick, and I cursed myself for ever getting involved with someone like him.
Callum was going to kill me. Despite what he said to Caleb, I knew that in my bones. I suspected that Caleb knew it too.
But I wasn’t going to go easily, and not without making Callum admit to what he’d done. I would not die before I knew the truth.
“What is it you want?” I asked, trying to sound less afraid than I was.
Callum smirked and turned to me. “I think you know what I want.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, showing as much defiance as possible. I was the daughter of one of the most dangerous men in the world, and I would not die afraid. “Are you going to tell me why you killed my mother and brother?”
Caleb made a sound in the back of his throat, but Callum didn’t react, which told me everything that I needed to know.
“I’m assuming that that’s why you went through all this trouble.”
Callum smirked, and Caleb’s eyes dropped. “I told you that she knew. She’s smarter than you gave her credit for.”
Callum was toying with the knife. He was enjoying this.
“Why?” This question was for Caleb. I turned at him, trying not to let tears fill my eyes. There was no point in shedding them. I wouldn’t give either of them the satisfaction of my tears. “What did they ever do to you?”
