Page 120 of Savage Hearts

But then the assassin takes deadly aim and pulls the trigger. “Except there’s nowhere else on earth you’d rather be than here, remember? Which means my kidnapping you hasn’t been punishment for anyone.”

“They don’t know that.”

“But I do.”

Is he deliberately trying to humiliate me?My throat gets tight. My eyes fill with water. I whisper, “Mal.”

Ignoring my distress, he says, “I know that if Declan O’Donnell could see you now, he wouldn’t be worried. Neither would your sister. They wouldn’t like the situation, obviously, because of who I am. But they’d know you were safe. They’d know you were happy, wouldn’t they, Riley?”

His tone drips acid. He wants it to burn, and holy hell, it does.

Leave it to a man to take something beautiful and crush it in his fist.

I roll off his chest, muttering, “Fuck you.”

Before I can rise from bed, he captures me and presses me down against the mattress, flattening me with his weight, pinning my arms over my head. He stares down into my eyes, all fire and fury, his tone as sharp as the edge of a knife.

“You can keep your fantasies and your forgiveness. I live in the real world. A world where actions have consequences. And don’t forget that I’m not the one who started this.”

“You could be the one who ends it.”

“He murdered my brother!”

“And I took a bullet for you. I could’ve died.”

“You didn’t.”

“No, because you saved me. Do you know why?”

He growls, “Don’t fucking say it.”

“Because you’re good. Deep down inside, you’re a good man.”

He’s got that wild look in his eyes again, the unhinged one I saw earlier. Only this time, it’s less panic and more rage.

It doesn’t deter me.

“Glare at me all you want, I know it’s the truth. You stuck up for your brother when he was getting harassed. You didn’t mean to kill that guy in the bar. It was an accident. Since then, you’ve been working off a debt that will never be paid, just so your family would be safe. You’ve been doing what you’ve been doing all this timefor other people.”

Through gritted teeth, he says, “Stop. Talking.”

“You didn’t kill Spider. You didn’t kill me. I’m starting to think you don’t really want to kill anyone, you’re just used to following orders.”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“You could walk away now, couldn’t you, Mal? Now that everyone you love is gone, you don’t have a reason to keep doing what you do for Pakhan anymore.”

He shouts, “No, I don’t—but I want to!”

We lie nose to nose, breathing hard and staring at each other, until he gets his temper under control. Then his voice comes low and hard.

“This is my life. This is who I am. Don’t go making up pretty lies to tell yourself. To make yourself feel better that you fucked a killer.”

“I hate you right now.”

“You should hate me.I’m not good.I’ll never be good. I told you once that I’m the worst man you’ll ever meet, and that was the truth,malyutka. Like it or not, it was the truth.”

He releases me, rising from the bed to stalk naked into the closet. He disappears inside it, reemerging quickly, fully dressed. He’s holding a black bag in one hand and carrying his overcoat.