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“I won’t. And if you say I should trust him, then I will.”
“Thank you.”
I’m used to people doing what I want. But they do it because I pay them, or because they fear the consequences of disobeying me. To have this sort of compliance based solely off of trust… It’s a different feeling altogether.
Payton’s thumb brushes against my palm. “Thank you for telling me. I’m sure there are a lot of men in your position that wouldn’t, but I’m glad you did.”
I lean forward. “There’ll be no secrets between us, Payton. No lies. No half-truths. If you ask me, I’ll tell you. And if I ask you, you tell me.”
I watch as she accepts this. “How did Arthur die?”
I should’ve expected that. But I’m not about to go back on my word. “Badly. But not badly enough.”
“What do you mean?”
I let my memory replay the details of that night.
The fear in his eyes.
His screams when I started to rip his finger off. The number of yanks it took me.
The pain he must’ve felt.
The way his eyes bulged while he choked on his own appendage.
“I did it before you told me––” My chest expands as I inhale, trying to calm my rising rage. “If I would’ve known that he was planning to sell you, I would’ve made him suffer for weeks. Not mere minutes. I would’ve––” I think of all the things I would torture him with. All the vicious ways I could prolong his torment. But I don’t need to put those thoughts in Payton’s mind. “I would’ve made him beg me for death, rather than surprising him with it.”
“You did it before I told you…?” She doesn’t look shocked, just pensive. “I guess you would’ve had to, unless you went and did it right after I told you, before your party. Does that mean you went to North Dakota?”
Great time for me to implement the no secrets rule.
“The first night we slept together, I woke up in the middle of the night and flew straight there. I have a plane. That I fly,” I clarify.
“But if I hadn’t told you everything…”
“I knew enough from your nightmare on the couch. The night we met.” Her mouth opens and closes. “I knew he’d hurt you. And that’s all I needed to know.”
She nods, and I watch her throat bob as she swallows hard. “Was my mom there?”
“No. She was working. We left her alone and torched the house. But if you want her gone too, just say the word.”
“No,” she whispers. “She never did anything to hurt me, but she never stepped in to help me either. So she can stay right where she is. It’s what she deserves.”
Payton keeps nodding, her breaths on the verge of ragged, so I take the mug from her hands, and set both of ours on the nightstand.
“Come here.” I move down the bed until I’m lying on my back, arms open.
Payton crawls into my side. “Thank you, Nero.”
My arm tightens around her. “You never have to thank me, Payton.”
She snuggles further into my side. “But I always will.”
I let my eyes slide closed. “I’d give everything for you.”
Her palm presses over my heart. “But I’ll never ask you to.”
CHAPTER68
