Page 11 of Lines Drawn (Crimson Bonds #5)

He shakes his head vigorously. “I…I don’t wanna die, but I don’t want to be tortured either! That’s not what I signed up for.”

“What did you sign up for then?”

“I…”

“He’s not going to tell us shit,” Emilio says.

Sam cries and his face goes pale when Emilio takes a step toward him. “Easy, Little Monster. Have some patience. Let Sam talk. If he helps us, we’ll help him, right?”

I look up and hope Emilio will go along with my game. It’ll be so much easier to get results if he trusts me.

He sneers, as his emerald eyes flash with a dangerous fire. I don’t let it bother me, the little mostro doesn’t scare me. I won’t deny that he’s good, and efficient in what he does, but there’s still some honing to be done.

“Fine.”

I look back to Sam and try for a friendly expression. “Now, what didn’t you sign up for, Sam?”

“I…I thought it was just going to be a fire. No problem, right? I’ve set hundreds of them. But well…then you caught me.”

I hum in sympathy. “Yes, we did. Who told you to start the fire?”

“I…I don’t know.” Emilio scoffs. “I really don’t!

It was some woman. I only saw her face once.

She had scary blue eyes, like yours, but a bit darker in color.

And brown hair. It was smoothed back, and she wore a pantsuit—probably cost more than what I make in a year.

She simply told me I was to teach some guys how I start my fires, and if I did, she’d never tell the feds it was me.

” He sniffs. “I’ve set so many fires and never got caught.

I don’t know how she found me, but she did. ”

“Thank you, Sam. Is there anything else you need to tell us?”

He looks at me with large, fearful brown eyes. “N…no,” he whispers. “I’ve told you all I know. Please…please, don’t do to me what you did to them.”

“Shhh, it’s okay. We won’t.”

On quick feet, Emilio moves behind Sam, grabs him by the hair, making the young man whimper, and slits his throat.

I get blood all over my front, but it doesn’t bother me, these clothes aren’t mine anyway.

Once Sam is dead, Emilio tosses him to the ground. “It’s definitely the feds then,” he says quietly. “A mysterious woman was the one who was giving orders to the guy Marcus and Keegan dealt with, remember?”

“We knew Court wasn’t the one behind it, that it wouldn’t stop with him, but fucking hell, they couldn’t give us more than a fucking month to get our shit together?” I shake my head in disgust.

“Apparently, they think we’re weak, Grande Mostro.”—I snort at the way he turns the name I’ve been calling him on me—“They thought they were getting one over on us.”

“I do love proving people wrong,” I muse.

“Me, too.”

“Let’s go, there’s nothing for us here.” Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the earbuds and toss them onto Sam’s body, to be disposed of with everything else.

I turn for the door, but Emilio stops me. “Wait.” I look at him and enjoy the way he seems to struggle with finding the right words to say. It takes him a moment, his frustration clear as he tries to organize his thoughts.

“How are you not jealous?” he finally asks. “That I’m with Hollis. And Roman is with Ignacio. I…I don’t understand?”

“What is there to be jealous of? I am Hollis’s, and he is allowed to do what he wants.

He owns me, not the other way around. Similar to how you are not jealous of Cristian and your Master.

” I try hard not to sneer. “You are not a threat to me. Benjamin isn’t a threat to my relationship with my other lovers—he’s part of it, even if he doesn’t have anything more than friendship with them.

Roman and Ignacio…that’s harder because I don’t like Ignacio, but I will tolerate him so long as Roman and Benjamin still have feelings for him.

And whatever Jude has with Antonio, it is something he cannot get from the rest of us, so it works. ”

I study the boy, seeing how truly lost he is in the interrelationships department, and curse inwardly. I might not enjoy the feelings that my lovers force to course through me, but Emilio seems to be a sinking ship when it comes to them.

“I…I am Master’s… How can I have everything I want with Hollis when I have him?”

I sigh. “That is something you’re going to have to speak with your Master and your…Hollis about. Unless you want him to tell you to leave Hollis alone?”

“No!” he snarls, taking a step forward. “He’s mine!”

I nod once. “Then there you go. It’s as simple as that. Take what you want, Emilio. You can have your Master/Daddy and…whatever Hollis is to you.”

“He is… He’s a bright light, an angel who helps keep me sane, and…my–my… He’s someone special to me, okay?”

“Okay. As long as you and Hollis know what he means to you, why does anyone or anything else matter?”

“Master…he is my everything.”

“And I am Hollis’s, but that doesn’t mean he’s not allowed to have you, too. The same can be said in reverse.”

He seems to turn my words over in his mind, because he nods slowly. I don’t know what conclusions he’s come to, but there’s a lightness in his eyes and his posture shifts, his back straightening as if a weight’s been lifted off his slim shoulders.

“Thank you, Ten.”

“You’re welcome, Mostrotto.”

He rolls his eyes. “Really going with that?”

I shrug. “Benjamin says you’re a homicidal teddy bear. So why wouldn’t ‘little monster’ be fitting?”

He shakes his head and brushes past me for the door. Before he can reach it though, I stop him. When he looks at the hand on his arm, I release him quickly, and he meets my gaze.

“Thank you,” I say lowly, even though we’re the only two conscious in the room. “Thank you for taking care of Hollis when I wasn’t there.”

His features soften. “He’s mine, as I already said, so why wouldn’t I?”

I give him the smile I normally reserve for family. “Why indeed. Still, I am thankful. He needs you.”

“I need him, too.”

Something profound seems to pass between us, and just for a moment, I wonder what his soft lips would feel like pressed against mine, but I dismiss the curiosity. “Let’s get back to il nostro amante then.”

Emilio leads the way out of the room, and for once, I am happy to leave death behind, retaking my facade of a functioning human. Though, this time, I am not alone.