Page 165 of Ruthless Creatures

I moisten my lips, trembling all over. “We go into hiding.”

Kage’s eyes flare with heat. He lowers the gun to his side and says softly, “We?”

I close my eyes and draw a breath, gathering my strength. Then I open my eyes again and look at him. “Don’t think I forgive you. I don’t. I just need a new place to live. I can’t sleep in that house anymore, knowing Viktor’s ghost is lurking around.”

His voice full of love, Kage says, “You liar.”

“Right back at ya, gangster.”

From somewhere else in the house, a woman’s voice calls out, “Honey? Where are you? I’m home!”

I’m stunned for a second, then I turn and look at David’s face. It has, somehow, turned even whiter than before. He’s the color of copier paper.

Behind him, an attractive brunette rounds the corner into the room. She’s young and curvy, smiling widely, but the smile wipesclean off her face when she spots the three of us standing there, and Kage holding a gun.

She freezes. Looks back and forth between us with wide eyes.

“Nikki?” she says, her voice high and tight. “What’s going on?”

Alarmed, she raises a hand to her throat. The huge diamond on her left ring finger sparkles so brightly it’s almost blinding.

Still waiting for me, my ass. God, men are so disappointing.

Looking at David, I say quietly, “How long did you really wait for me to find you?”

He swallows. Moistens his lips. Shifts his weight from foot to foot. “A year.”

Kage says drily, “Now do you want me to shoot him?”

I wait for the pain to hit, but it never comes. I feel nothing.

After all this time, I don’t care anymore.

Kage walks around the sofa and picks up my travel bag from the floor, slinging it over his shoulder. He shoves his gun into the waistband of his jeans. “Come on, baby. Time to go.”

Then he stands there waiting, holding out a hand.

I walk over to him and take it.

Before we go, I turn back to David and say, “By the way,Damon,your kids don’t look Sicilian. I saw pictures. They look exactly like you.”

As we’re walking out, I hear David’s new wife say loudly, “Who’s Damon? Whatkids?”

If she’s lucky, it won’t take her more than five years of her life to find out the truth about the man she’s calling Nikki.

I hope she gets half of that one hundred million.

I’m sure she deserves it.

FORTY-THREE

KAGE

From the time we leave Damon’s, Natalie doesn’t speak to me.

We spend the night in a hotel suite. I order room service and draw her a bath. I watch her eat in silence that’s suffocating. I listen to the sounds of her bathing from behind the locked bathroom door and want to kick it open and force her to talk to me.

I don’t.