Page 18 of The Hitman's Prince
“It’s not,” I protested, trying to pull back to look at him, but he forced my head down into his lap again.
“I didn’t ask for your opinion.”
He shoved me out of the way and stood, and I crumbled onto the floor at his feet. He kicked me in the ribs, and I curled into a ball, barely trying to hide my body from him as he kicked me a second time, and a third, a fourth, until he grimaced and grunted in pain. Vince bentover and braced himself on the edge of his desk, staring at the wall instead of looking down at me.
I didn’t blame him. I didn’t want to see me either.
“Why are you here?” he asked, stepping over me and walking toward the fireplace. He joined his hands together behind his back, and I kissed the carpet he’d walked on to get there.
I came back because I was miserable without him. Lonely and unhinged and scared. I knew that he was alive, but I didn’t have much information beyond that. I’d been laying low for fear of his retribution, but I’d isolated myself from his affection, and in a very short amount of time, he’d managed to get me addicted to him. The days had turned long and the nights were unmanageable. I didn’t expect forgiveness—I wasn’t even sure I wanted it. I’d shown up hoping he’d offer me mercy and put a bullet in my head to end my fucking misery.
“There’s nowhere else for me,” I answered.
“And what makes you think here is a place for you anymore?”
I pressed my forehead into the carpet and screwed my eyes shut, listening to the sound of Vince’s footfalls across the floor as he came back to me.
“Please forgive me,” I whispered, shaking my head. I reached forward until my fingertips grazed the tip of his shoe, desperate for him to touch me again.
He did, kicking me to the side and stepping onto my hand with all of his weight. The bones in my fingers threatened to shatter, and I screamed,grabbing my wrist tostopmyself from pulling away, thrashing beneath him as he twisted his foot, trying to grind my knuckles to dust. Vince let out a tired breath and finally put his shoe back onto the carpet, which didn’t help the situation any. Pain seared up my arm, and what did it say about me that I would have tolerated it a thousand times over?
That I would have begged for it.
“Get up,” he said, kicking the inside of my elbow. I cried out and scrambled to my feet, my arm limp at my side. Vince went to the desk and holstered his gun, the look he gave me so murderous, the weapon only felt like overkill. “If you can pay your penance, I’ll entertain the idea. If not, I promise what comes next will be worse than death. Now get the fuck out of my office, Orion. We’re going to church.”
Chapter 14
Jacob
Aloud banging on the front doors of the church had me stepping into my slippers and shuffling out of my small apartment and through the chapel. The pounding grew more insistent with every step, and I sent up a prayer hoping the person on the steps was someone in need and not someone trying to rob me for the silver. The latter was less likely, but not completely out of the realm of possibility. The last thing I expected when I undid the heavy locks and pulled the door open was to find Vince Angelini standing in front of me, fist still raised in the air.
Beside him stood a man I’d never seen before, Vince’s other fist tangled tightly in his hair. He was shoved to his knees, where he landed with enough force to shatter his kneecaps, but his face remained unfazed by the rough handling. I imagined his bones remained intact.
“Mr. Angelini,” I said, glancing between the two men. “To what do I owe this late visit?”
“When you asked me to dinner, you weren’t asking me to dinner, were you?”
The man on his knees grimaced, eyes downcast.
“I don’t understand.”
“It was dinner as a cover. Dinner as a preface, correct?”
I licked my lips, heart kicking into high gear. It was imperative in my line of work that I be able to read people and understand the things they intended even if they weren’t the things they said. And yes, Vince was correct. My ask of dinner had been little more than a ruse to test the waters for things that usually came after dinner, but he was a live wire, frantic and sleepless. I didn’t know which was safer here—the truth or a lie.
Before I could answer, Vince reached behind him, pulled out a gun and pressed it against the other man’s temple. “Which was it, Father?”
“It was a preface,” I answered quickly, holding my hand up in surrender. “It was a cover.”
“Tell me exactly what you wanted from me,” he said next, jaw clenched. He shoved the other man onto the ground, his hands landing near my feet, the gun now pointed at the back of his skull.
“I didn’t have?—”
Vince fired, the bullet burying itself into the marble, inches away from my foot and the other man’s face.
“I wanted to fuck!” I shouted. I yelled it, hoping myvoice was loud enough to cover the ringing in my ears from the gunshot.
“More detail,” he said next. “How did you want to fuck? Orion likes when I hurt him, and I’m rather fond of that myself. I like to fuck him while he’s unconscious sometimes, at least…I did.”