Page 69 of Into the Blue

In a tone that matches my own, she simply says. “I didn’t.”

Waving the book between us, I hold her gaze. “You don’t expect me to believe that you found this kind of information by accident. Things that could fuck all my shit up if it got out.”

“I didn’t come here to look for secrets.” That wasn’t an answer.

There are too many things that aren’t adding up.“Why do you know how to look for them then?” I counter.

That shuts her up. Her eyes dart around, looking for what I don’t know, but she won’t meet my gaze.

Fuck.

There it is. That flicker of something I didn’t want to believe.

She’s not just some girl caught in the crossfire between me and the Fayes.

Negative energy pulses around us. I don't know if it's me or her causing it.

I fucking hate gambling. I had no idea that I was gambling when I had a heart for two fucking seconds. My teeth grind over an outburst I can’t afford to make if I plan to get any answers at all.

Racquelle feels the shift. She squirms in my grip still firm on her neck. “I don’t know what you think you saw,” she murmurs, trying to make space between us. “But I swear—I wasn’t trying to take anything. I just—needed to know.”

“You want to know somethin’?” I say, voice like thunder in the small space. “You should’ve asked.”

She shakes her head as best she can with my hand still around her throat. “Would you have told me?”

I grin, but there’s no warmth in it. “Not a fuckin’ chance,” I sneer, but I’m unsure if that’s true. I’ve told her a lot. More than I’ve told anybody who wasn’t there to see the truth themself. I’ll lose myself too quickly if I start recalling all the information I’ve given her in pillow talk and otherwise. “But I’m gonna show you.”

The silence between us grows until it’s loud enough to scream. Racquelle stiffens, her eyes pleading for space or for any reprieve.

Even in her fear, she’s beautiful.

Maybe more so.

Chapter 22

“Don’t do this,” I try to reason with him. “It’s not going to end well for you.” I can’t help that it sounds like a threat, but that is what I’m telling him. A threat.

He was a mark.

I played my part just like how I was supposed to.

The hurt and betrayal in his eyes crawls under my skin anyway. No amount of rationalization could save me now.

I should have done this differently. I know that now.

Maybe he would have heard me out. We could have allied peacefully.

But, Liezel has what we need to carry out the third part of the plan.

All while he held me in that office, the solution we needed was in motion.

“Ha,” a humorless laugh comes from his full lips as he secures the last of my restraints to the bed. “You’re threatenin’ me when it’s you tied up to my bed?”

He had a point.

From his perspective, I was definitely in the worse position between the two of us.

“Please, Milo. Let me explain.”