Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“And if I let him walk out of here and he burns us?”
“Then you end him.”
His jaw sets and he glares at me, though I’m not sure he’s really seeing me in this moment. He’s processing, thinking, putting his brilliant mind to work, but I’m not sure that works in my favor. “I brought him up here to kill him,” I say, making my case, one last time. “And yet he’s alive when I’m not known for my restraint. Something is telling me to wait. When do I wait, ever?”
His eyes narrow ever-so-slightly. “More than you give yourself credit for which is only part of the reason I trust you.” He cups my face and studies me. “If you ask me to do this, I’ll do my best to give him one more night. I do not promise two.”
“You’ll do your best?” I challenge at the ridiculous statement.
“If he says one wrong thing about you, Lilah, I’m done. He’s done.”
“Try not to be done. Not yet.”
His lips press together, his voice flat. “We go out there as one, but you leave us alone to talk.”
I don’t miss the way he’s ignored my last plea. I’ve pushed him as far as I can push him at this point, so I simply agree. “Yes.”
“If he pushes me the wrong direction, he dies anyway,” he stresses yet again, building up the expectation. I give his dad about a thirty percent chance of surviving the night.
“Yes,” I say again.
And with that, he releases me and opens the door.
Chapter Twelve
Upon our entry into the apartment, the first thing I notice is Kit and Jay acting like idiots.
They’re sitting side by side on the chairs opposite the couch where Roberto is sitting, just watching the kingpin drink Kane’s booze in excess. I can feel their panic their uncertainty about how to stop the impending disaster, but neither moves a hair to take the damn bottle. I’m not sure anyone but me can get away with letting that man down Kane’s prized whiskey, but here we are, doing it anyway.
Me and Kane step behind the chairs and Kit and Jay scramble to the far side of either of us. A glance at the coffee table and bottle tell me that Roberto has indeed proven himself a hearty and foolish drinker, having downed an impressive amount of that expensive liquid. His father really does want to die tonight.
Or maybe he assumes it’s already done. He’s a dead man where he sits.
Kane’s eyes lock with his father’s stare and I have no idea what silently ticks between them.
In the meantime, Kit is glaring at Roberto from the right side of the couch, a willing supporter of Kane over his father. I like Kit more every day, even if he does eat too many of my donuts, and bitch like a chick. But where his actions please me they do not please Kane.
“Kit,” Kane warns, the words a tight band. “Take Jay and wait on me in the hallway.”
Kit grunts but complies, and he and Jay walk toward the door.
Silence ticks by until the two men have left us alone with Roberto but still no words are spoken. The air crackles with Kane’s dark energy, his power, and I wonder if Kane himself realizes how much he overshadows his father at this stage of their lives. If he doesn’t, I believe he soon will.
I do not belong in the middle of what must transpire between father and son. I’ve done my part. I’ve set this stage. “I’ll leave you two to talk,” I say, speaking to Kane, but watching Roberto and when my dear ol’ father-in-law looks at me, my lips quirk, as I add, “I won’t expect you any time soon.”
Roberto’s flinch is barely perceivable but it’s there, right along with his dread and fear. I wonder how many people would love to see such things in this monster and I pause one extra moment to revel in the joy it would bring to many a victim’s family. And he has victims, too many to count I would gamble.
Another beat, and I say nothing else. Roberto at this point, respects my ability to kill and I feel a moment of remorse. I can never surprise him with my true self again. I leave them there then, two of the same blood, but not of the same heart, but Kane’s father would be foolish to underestimate the brutality in Kane. There is darkness in my husband that he has long grappled with, long hungered to destroy, but in moments like these I suspect, he allows it to consume him.
Almost.
And I know from personal experience that “almost” consumed by darkness is not “almost” dangerous. It’s downright destructive. But I trust Kane to control himself, to check himself, just as he checks me when needed. I cut away from Kane, and he lets me walk away. In fact, I can almost sense relief in him. No matter how I hold my own, Kane has seen his father at his most brutal, and he doesn’t want me near him. I’ll be shocked if he allows him to live, but at his core, Kane is an intelligent, strategic person who can see beyond his emotions.