Chapter Ten
By the time the kingpin has rounded the table, he’s reaching for me, but much to his surprise, the blade I’d palmed with the whiskey bottle is immediately at his throat.
He freezes as I pierce his skin, and the blood oozing down his throat is my sweet reward.
This night only gets better. Seconds tick by and I wait for him to use his big body for leverage, welcome it even.
That’s when he becomes useless to me and my blade goes in his belly.
Time stretches and we just stand together, one move from a deadly ending. I could kill him. I should kill him, but the idea that he reclaims the role of kingpin, rather than Kane, is a drug better than any he’s ever sold before tonight.
Abruptly, he lifts his hands in surrender, and with gut wrenching regret, I allow him to back away. “I’m giving you space,” he declares.
The desire to kill him burns inside me, and the idea that I chose not to is already ripe and punishing. It’s just plain pissing me off. I motion to the couch, irritation in my tone. “Go sit your ass down.”
His eyes meet mine, dark and piercing. “I didn’t believe you, but you like it, don’t you? Killing. Blood.”
“Oh, sit down, Roberto. If I needed a therapist, I’d go get a pie. You won’t need either if you test me.”
His chest lifts with a breath and he shakes his head in disbelief before he rounds the table and sits down.
I claim my seat across from him and pour him another drink.
“Go ahead. Drink it. It’s likely your last drink.
Or don’t. I don’t give two fucks. But please be stupid enough to make me regret letting you live. ”
His gaze narrows on my face, seconds of his inspection bleeding into action. He downs the drink as if he doesn’t want to piss me off. Good plan. “Do you know why I like to stab bad people?” I ask.
“Justice?”
“I guess that’s a politically correct answer, right?”
His brow arches. “What’s the not so politically correct answer?”
“Necessity. And you know how I came to that conclusion?”
“Why do I feel this is a trap of some sort?”
I go on as if he hasn’t spoken. “The Society hired someone to drug me, rape me, and kill me. Kane came home early and saved me, and as he held the bastard, I just couldn’t help myself.
I stabbed him. Over. And over. And over again.
Put that on repeat. I didn’t stop until Kane pulled me off of him.
” I tilt my head to study him. “Was that one of your men, Roberto?”
He actually pales. “It was not. I did not know.”
The solemn way he says those words tells me nothing.
He’s a monster. He’s a liar. He’s better off dead.
The world is better off with him dead. “I see. Well, if it would have been you, I was going to thank you. It changed me. It molded me. And I’m going to use what was created to kill them all.
Not in rage. Not in revenge. In calculated necessity.
And you, Roberto, would be good to remember what I say next.
If you hurt those I love, my brother, my husband, innocent people close to me, innocent people in general, I will come for you.
I will kill you. I will enjoy it. Are we clear? ”
It’s right then that the door to the foyer opens and I know Kane, Kit, and Jay, are all about to claim their place in the room. And they have a place. Roberto does not. “Are we clear?” I repeat, a bite to my words that is nothing compared to my blade.
He holds my stare despite the men at the door. “We’re clear, Lilah,” he states directly.
I study him a beat and believe he understands I mean what I’ve promised.
“Good,” I say. “You might want to finish that bottle while you wait for me to talk to my husband. Kane may very well not be as generous where you’re concerned as I was.
” With that, I leave him there and walk toward Kane, while Kit and Jay step directly in front of Roberto.