Page 104 of Beneath the Light of the Moon

“He does.” She cocked her head. “Do you want all the explicit details?”

The corners of Mikko’s eyes crinkled in distaste. “There’s nothing to tell.”

“And how would you know?”

His fingers tightened around her legs as his eyes glinted with mischievousness. “There’snothingI don’t know about you.”

“Lies.” The heat of him between her legs was distracting. “If you truly knew, you would’ve killed me already.”

“I have better uses for you than death,malyshka. Don’t play coy with me,” he gritted out.

“And here I thought you’d figured it out by yourself, you smart, little daddy’s boy.”

Lie. Lie. Lie.

“Where did you put Ivan’s eyes?”

“This again?” she scoffed, narrowing her eyes up at him.“Nowhere.”

“Stop lying to me!” He abruptly stood, hands in her hair before she could even attempt to fend him off. Sparks of pain tingled across her scalp, a yelp echoing out of her throat as he bent her head back. Again.

Squinting up at him, Anika sneered. “It’s not a lie,” he pulled harder, tears pricking the corners of her eyes, “it’s anomission.Maybe if you actuallyreadthe file your friend pulled on me, you wouldn’t be so daft. No wonder Alek—”

“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he snarled, but his grip loosened. She’d surprised him with that little piece of intel. “But I see right through you.”

“You see what I want you to see, but you’re too dense to realize that,” Anika spat back at him. “Why do you think it took so long for us to end up here? Because that’s what Iwanted.”

“Shut up—”

“Ask your friend, the one with the different hair color every other week,” she continued, “I’m sure he’ll tell you.”

“Don’t bring him into this, Iswear…”

“Myhouse,myrules.”

Releasing her, he stepped back. He was fuming, and she could feel the anger coming off him in waves, but she didn’t care. It felt good to get under his skin and make him uncomfortable in return.

Finally able to take a deep breath, she choked down air still tainted with his cologne.

“I know you left your spare key out for me,” he countered.

“I–what?”

Mikko kept talking, anger making his tongue loose. “You invited me in, targeted me first—don’t forget that.”

“I did no such thing,” she lied.

“Shut up.”

“No.”

Slipping the gun from his waistband, he aimed it at her again. “Maybe I don’t have a better use for you…maybe Ishouldshoot you right now.”

Anika cocked her head. “Go on—kill me.” His silence made her smile. “You seem to crave violence so much, yearn to see me dead, then do it.Give in. Be just like daddy dearest.”

His jaw ticked. “Only after you tell me where Ivan’s eyes are. Where Dimitri is.”

She laughed manically.