Page 27 of Cruel Pawn (Cruel Duet #1)

I rattled the chains, and his eyes went right to them.

It was human nature to look at something when it was shaken in front of you.

Chains, maracas, boobs—they all worked. I drove my fist into his stomach while his focus was elsewhere, a nice feeling of revenge shooting through me like adrenaline, like euphoria.

I might have resented my killer upbringing, but fuck I loved fighting.

I danced back, a grin on my face as Icarus’s face contorted with pain and fury.

“How about this,” I said, biting back a wince, “I pay you double what your client did, you unfasten my chains and walk away from here a rich man.”

“I’m already a rich man.”

So why kill people? It clearly wasn’t for the thrill, and if it wasn’t for the money—nope, he was coming at me again and I didn’t have time to ponder this. I jumped across the coffee table, accidentally knocking off the copy of Alice in Wonderland, and skidded across the wall.

“Take Arden’s hit too, then,” I tried, my skin tightening across my face, my back. My heart pounded without restraint now, sweat beading across my skin. “That’s worth a hundred grand.”

“I’m not here for him,” Icarus replied, sidestepping the destruction in the kitchen, trying to read my intention. He expected me to run, and that was supremely tempting, but I had chains and nowhere to go.

“You have to know you’re not making it out of this shack,” he said, letting me back up further, my feet hitting the cold floor between the sofas and the bed.

“Cottage,” I corrected, and threw the knife, aiming true this time.

He swerved at the last damn second, almost like he was taunting me, and my nostrils flared as I exhaled.

Hard. Probably not my smartest move to throw my only weapon, but I was a resourceful woman.

I’d find another. And at least I had more slack on the chain over here.

“Are you scared to get up close with me, Icarus? Almost like you know I’ll win in hand-to-hand combat. ”

He scoffed. “Try to seduce me more like.”

I shrugged. “It’s entirely possible I’m not wearing underwear right now.”

His eyes dipped. Sucker. I danced back and grabbed the heavy lamp from the bedside table, sparing half a thought to wonder if Arden kept knives in the drawers.

A shadow fell over me. Shit, he was fast. I raised the lamp and only had enough time to drive it into his ribs, not his head like I’d planned.

I expected the blow to knock Icarus away.

My mistake. He grabbed my arm, shaking the lamp from my hand, and threw me onto the bed, using his weight to pin me beneath him.

“You’re really, really not my type,” I said through gritted teeth, a flicker of camaraderie in my chest as Aegi yowled that threatening sound again. Closer than I’d expected.

I latched my legs around Icarus’s waist and threw my weight up into him, trying to knock him aside. Failed. Shit. That cold prickle of warning moved through me again as his hands wrapped around my throat, meaty and powerful, but I gritted my teeth and tried to push him off me again.

Actually, strangulation was a good idea.

I threw my arms up and crossed them, forming a lovely little cradle for his throat, yanking the chains tight.

Alarm and surprise flashed in his blue eyes.

I wanted to taunt him about flying too close to the sun and giving himself a dumbass name—unlike Rook, which was the coolest name—but his hands tightened, cutting off the last of my air, and I wouldn’t waste what I had in my lungs on a taunt.

But seriously, what contract killer calls themself Icarus?

My face began to burn, my lungs protesting the sudden scarcity of oxygen, but I cinched the chains tighter around Icarus’s throat, and smirked at the bastard, daring him. Kill me and I kill you, too.

I threw my knee up, but the angle was all wrong for kneeing him in the dick. I tried to flip him off me again, but he was too damn heavy, and I was beginning to grow weak. But so was he. Desperation made him punch me. Both my hands were occupied strangling him so I couldn’t exactly repay the move.

Aegi yowled, right beside us, and his eyes darted away from me in surprise.

I released the chains from his throat and threw my body up against his, knocking him onto his back on the mattress.

Deja vu hit, but this wasn’t Arden. Deep down, I knew Arden wouldn’t really kill me.

Even if I wasn’t sure of his motives, he didn’t want me dead. Icarus did.

He fought the moment his back hit the mattress, and I grunted at the impact of his fist in my ribs, right where they were already bruised.

When he bucked, I didn’t fight, allowing momentum to carry me up his body.

My thighs landed on his upper chest, and I would have really liked some underwear right now. But needs must.

I was out of breath, in pain from half a dozen different places, but it was almost easy to clamp my thighs around Icarus’s throat, wrench him onto his side, and snap his neck.

I fell back onto the bed, panting hard, my throat viciously sore, my ribs throbbing.

Aegi howled at the top of her lungs, leaping onto Icarus’s chest and sinking her teeth into his shoulder. The one I didn’t stab. Ha, now he had symmetrical wounds.

“Dead,” I told her, gasping for breath, adrenaline still rife in my body. “He’s dead.”