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My unblinking glare gives him the answer. He steps closer, now inches away from my knife. My eyes turn opaque. Priest and I have become experts at reading each other, but the past that Sirenna and I share, that’s beyond his reach.
“Laredo Cordoba and Boris Perenko at the red underlights.” He utters the sentence calmly, knowing it’s all it takes for me to understand exactly what he means. I nod, and he finally steps away, leaning his hand on the counter sleekly, close to the rack of knives. My own tightens around my knife, and a faint smile ghosts over Priest’s lips.
“Kelly is scheduled in a few weeks,” he says with that deep calm that announces he’s ready to unleash a fucking storm. “But expect her to drop in before that. Mariana won’t report anytime soon–” she knows better than to cross Priest, “–but The Order already has suspicions. They don’t buy the story of you protecting Sirenna Carter, of course, because you could have done that without moving her in with you.” His eyes darken with meaning when he reaches the point he’s been wanting to make all along. “Not to mention that you kidnapped her husband to pull her into your web.”
I stand like a block of ice in front of him, just waiting for him to finish.
“You need to put an end to it,” he says.
I offer no response, emanating cold like an iceberg. His jaw hardens, and he steps back, putting distance between us.
“It’s how it is, then,” he says. “She stands between us. The question is, for how long?”
“Until I’ve had my fill of her,” I answer flatly. A knowing grin spreads over Priest’s deceivingly handsome face.
“I don’t presume that will be anytime soon, by the look of it.”
He pauses at the door. “Just remember, Zayne–there can be no addictions for men like us. The very reason we were chosen was that we weren’t prone to that shit despite our...make-up.” He holds my eyes for a few moments. “Punish her enemies, if that’s what you need. I hope you make it a grand experience. Do whatever you like with her husband, too. The Order couldn’t care less about the bastard anyway, and the Blood Fist Triad sure as fuck doesn’t need him either. There would only be Jax Vaughn left in it if you take Perenko down too, and I’m pretty sure Vaughn would be delighted to remain the sole ruler of the underground fighting network. He’ll probably dismantle it.” He cocks his head to the side. “Which is what you intend to do with the streets, too, isn’t it? Take your drug off of them, dismantle the whole network?”
My only answer is a focused stare.
“The Order would never allow it,” he says darkly.
“The Order didn’t develop the thing,” I bite out. “I did. It’s not for them to decide what happens with it.”
“You would deprive the world’s most disadvantaged of the only piece of heaven they’ll ever experience? All for her?” Then, his tone more piercing, “There are boys out there, in ditches, who will only ever know that piece of happiness.”
“It’s like stoning them to death before others skin them alive,” I say on a low growl.
“Something you were very much okay with until she came along. What changed?” But then he answers it himself. “Oh, I see. She’d turn from you in disgust if she knew what you unleashed onto the streets.” The grin on his face turns sleek. “But that doesn’t change the past, Zayne. You already are that guy.”
“I never meant to do harm, and you know that damn well. What I created isn’t a common drug, it’s not an opioid or a stimulant. It wasn’t designed to ease people into death but to help them back into life. Thanks to the likes of Joseph–and you–it has been misused.”
“It’s the only way to spare those boys more suffering,” he argues, and it’s one of those rare moments when I’m sure he’s talking about himself, too. “Most of them are walking suicides, and that overdose, it’s the easiest way for them to go.”
“It’s not the only thing we can do for them. I’m thinking of something new–”
“The drug was your idea in the first place,” Priest points out. “To make things easier for boys like you.” Then, quieter, “And like me. To give them an easy way out, like you and I never had.”
“Is that why you supported me on this? Even when The Order had second thoughts? Because I’m doing something for people you wish someone would have done for you?”
He opens his mouth to answer, but a shuffling sound outside the kitchen stops him. The steps are faint, careful, as if the person were trying to keep their presence secret, but there’s no fooling our sharp senses. Priest steps out from the doorframe into the hallway, his face locking in a frosty expression.
“Let her pass,” I say through my teeth.
Sirenna keeps her eyes on him like she would on a stalking predator as she presses herself past the doorway.
She’s not one to look scared even if she is, especially when the threat is a man, so all she does is scowl. She’s made a purpose of standing up to the powerful, and now I understand why. Joseph entered her life at a time when she needed guidance and maybe also protection, though she would never admit it. Even so, she was always smarter and more talented than Joseph, which is why he wanted to own her so badly. When he realized she was only making herself small in order to please him, he started hating her. He tried to humiliate her in the hope that it would reduce her to a piece of ass and elevate him. Like any worthless bastard, he tried to squash her under his boot in order to feel superior.
He’s lucky all I’ve done was beat the shit out of him for that. I will do more soon.
Sirenna is a natural at keeping on a poker face, but as soon as she’s past Priest she hurries over, winding her arms around me.
I pull her against my body. She tucks herself into my side, seeking my warmth and, even though she’d never admit it, my protection.
“I’ll leave you then,” Priest says, his eyes dancing between Sirenna and me. He gestures to the kitchen island. “Do you pretty little thing, have a pretty little breakfast, and tell each other little secrets. But don’t forget.” He dips his chin, exuding an air of foreboding. “Secrets tend to kill pretty things.”
With that, he turns and disappears from sight.
