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She squeezes her eyes closed and forces a shaky breath through her lips. “Neither will you. I know you better than that.”
“Apparently not.”
She cracks an eye open, peering up at me.
“I should kill you,” I muse.
I don’t mean to say it, but the thought is so loud inside of my head that it forced its way out.
It’s what a don should do. It’s what the job title requires.
Ruthlessness. No mercy.
“I gave you the chance to tell me the truth; instead, you denied everything. You should die for that.”
If she was anyone else, she’d already be dead. I don’t want to unpack why she’s still breathing.
But if I givethatany thought, especially right now, Benjamin is as good as gone. I need to maintain control. Absolute control. It’s the only way to get enough information to track him down.
The moment I admit to myself the real reason why Piper is such an exception to every rule I’ve ever known, that control is gone.
Just one more thing she’s stolen from me.
Piper bangs her head back against the wall. The single bulb in the center of the closet casts her closed lashes in long shadows across her cheeks. “I’m already dying.”
“It’s a closet, not a coffin. Relax.”
I brought her in here because I knew she wouldn’t be able to relax. That was the point. She needs to be uncomfortable. I shouldn’t be trying to comfort her.
But the sight of her chest heaving with every breath, her lips parting as she inhales and exhales slowly… All of it is making it hard to remember why we came in here in the first place.
It’s the way I felt with her pinned to the couch, arms spread, back arched.
I wanted to touch her.
A change of scenery hasn’t lessened that desire. If anything, the cramped space is amplifying the feeling.
She’s so close.
Her eyes are still shut when I cross the distance between us. My hand snakes around her neck, and she stretches onto her toes.
I press my lips to her ear. “Where is he?” I close my eyes at the way my voice manages to crack with the pain I can’t—won’t—let her see.
“I don’t know.” She starts to shake her head, but stops when I squeeze.
Desire and anger brew a toxic cocktail in my gut. Her life is in my hands, and I’m not sure what I want to do with it. I could do what any other don would do in my stead. Or… I could do whatIwant.
She fights for a breath, but I only let up just enough for it to shudder through. Old instinct wars with new. Yet another problem I don’t have the time to face.
When I do release, she collapses against me. She’s gasping for oxygen with her forehead resting on my shoulder. I can see straight down the front of her shirt. Her chest rises and falls, and I feel my breathing synchronize with hers.
I’m as breathless as she is.
Fuck.
“Tell me the truth, Piper,” I rasp.
She looks up at me. Her eyes are glassy with unshed tears and her brow is furrowed. “What are you going to do to me, Timofey?”
