Page 235 of The Wicked

Now I liked to think that I had a stronger sense of reasoning, even though I knew, deep down inside me, that the foolish girl still lived. I hoped that she could find someone who wouldn’t break and ruin her as the first person did—

The door pushed open, and I gasped at the sudden sound it made as Elio walked in, snapping me out of my thoughts.

When I took in his appearance, I frowned.

He looked… disheveled, hair a tousle on his head, shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows, the hem untucked from his pants. Head dropped low, studying the file he held, brows drawn down in concentration.

The door closed by itself as he came to stand opposite me, a reasonable distance away.

“I apologize for the delay,” he spoke into the silence. “Today has been… harrowing, and I suppose I have you and your”—without looking at me, he dismissively waved his hand as if trying to find the right word—“cohorts to thank for it.”

He didn’t seem… angry. But there was a vibe to him that made my stomach churn.

I looked around his body, realizing he didn’t carry a gun, so he didn’t plan to kill me.

“I won’t keep you long, as I have political and business activities to see to after I am done here; I only have a few questions for you and—”

“Would you at least look at me while you address me?”

The silence after I spoke was more deafening than the one that had been in the room before he arrived. It was almost as if his breathing had stopped as he stood ramrod straight—his gaze not shifting from that particular spot on the file, his grip tightening on it a little, barely noticeable, but I caught it, just the same way I had noticed the shift in his false calm behavior.

“It’s obvious you’re angry, which you have every—”

“Stop talking.” He still sounded calm, but that edge had changed from nonchalant totrying to seek control.

“Keeping your anger in and trying to be mature about it will only make things worse for you—”

“Stop talking, Zahra.”

“You can’t shut me up; you’ve tried a couple of times.”

Slowly, he closed the file and dropped it on the table beside him, and then he raised his head, shoving both hands into his pockets before his gaze locked with mine.

I couldn’t hide how I sucked a breath in, how my nerves seemed to fly in different directions underneath my skin, seeking shelter from the burning heat in those eyes.

The controlled anger in them had me almost bowing at how in check he was with his emotions—even though I knew he could explode any second.

“What do you want, hm?” he asked. “You want me to hit you?”

I shrugged. “If that would make you feel better, I can take a punch.”

He watched me, brows drawing down a little, not in confusion, but in a frown that told me how frustrated he was with me, how he didn’t want to be here but, for some reason, had to be.

He momentarily looked away from me to a spot on the wall before shaking his head. “I was sitting on my flight today, thinking about what to do to you,” he said, looking back at me. “I asked myself, what punishment could I give to this woman? I scrapped anything physical because, frankly, that would be too boring and a waste of time and energy.”

I had a retort at the tip of my tongue but held back as he took a step closer and continued talking.

“And then I thought… how about something mental—something that would have her spilling all the truths she guards so fiercely, but I figured that would hurt me mentally more than it would hurt you, and I was at my last straw, so I scrapped it. I thought about it for minutes before deciding there was no pointto it. I asked myself why I should dwell on something that might not matter in a few days.”

He took another step towards me, and I had to raise my head a little to look at him.

“Some things, Zahra, just do not deserve my attention, but then I had the burning need to get answers to my questions, and that’s the only reason you’re here.”

Another retort pushed at me, but I knew it wasn’t time to joke around and mess with him; he was barely hanging on by a thread with his anger.

I might be tough, but I knew when poking the tiger needed to be suspended.

“You already know I plan to let you and your friends go. I just need to know why you did some of the things you did.”