Page 164 of Ruthless Creatures

David says, “You were always good at finding people, Kazimir. I suppose you still have contacts inside the Federal Aviation Administration who you can bribe to give you access to flight logs and passenger lists?”

He sounds shaken to his core, but trying to be brave. Kage ignores that and growls, “I should kill you for what you’ve put her through.”

I whisper, “Kage, no. Don’t hurt him. Please.”

When he glances at me, his gaze softens. “I won’t, baby. I promise. But only because you don’t want me to.”

He looks back at David, and all the softness turns to ice. “For the record, we had no idea you’d gone to Tahoe until last year. We didn’t have a man inside the bureau until then. So either your WITSEC contact was lying about us closing in five years ago or you are. My money’s on you. You always were full of shit.”

I want to turn to see David’s expression, but I can’t. My gaze is glued to Kage’s face, while my befuddled brain runs on a hamster wheel, spinning wildly with questions.

If he’s not going to kill David, why did he follow me here?

Why is he still calling me “baby” when he knows I know his game?

And why would he risk his own life just to sleep with me?

He must’ve known his boss wouldn’t tolerate disobedience. He’d have known his head would be jammed on a spike if that asshole Maxim discovered he didn’t kill me right away, but instead played around for months without getting any information from me about David…

Or maybe that phone call from Maxim was all part of an elaborate plan to scare me into desperate action? They hadn’t gotten anything from me yet, so they staged a big dramatic confrontation that would definitely make me talk if I knew anything?

But then why would Kage have shot Viktor? Was that part of the plan, too?

I don’t know. I don’t know! Gah!

He’s still a liar, no matter what. He never told me he knew David. He knew David was in the mafia, married, stole money, ran away and went into hiding, and all the rest. He knew all of that while he fucked me senseless.

But was that really lying or was it something else?

Something like… keeping secrets.

Which I one hundred percent agreed to.

Oh god.

Startling me out of my thought blizzard, David says, “You’ll want the money. I can return all of what I took from Max—”

“I don’t want your fucking money, Damon.”

David’s gulp is audible. “What do you want, then?”

Kage looks at me again, and now his eyes are burning. Two burning dark coals of love.

“My girl.”

We’re silent again. I feel David staring at my back, but I can’t turn to look at him. I’m falling too deep into Kage’s eyes.

Finally, David says, “If Max knows you disobeyed him and you don’t return the money—”

“I’m dead. I know.” Kage’s tone indicates he gives zero fucks.

“You’rebothdead.”

“He won’t touch her. I’m dealing with it.”

I whisper, “Unless…”

At the same time, David and Kage repeat, “Unless?”