Page 67 of Thorns of Silence

“Get him,” I said, my voice uneven now. “Make sure you keep him alive for me.”

Cesar shot me a disapproving look. “They ate together. Not even at a restaurant. It was after school.”

“Don’t care.” I held his gaze. “He should have run the other way.”

“Dante—”

“It’s all good,” I told him, steepling my fingers and raising them to my chin. “She can go on as many dates as she likes. We’ll just buy more shovels and bury them all, one by one.”

“I gotta tell you, Dante. My back can’t handle that many bodies.”

I waved my hand, ignoring the pain. I had gotten used to pretending I didn’t feel it over my lifetime.

“She wants to play, so we’ll play.”

“Maybe she likes dating,” Cesar suggested helpfully—fucking not. If she wanted a date, she should have come to me.

You would think I’d see reason. Anyone else would. But hearing those words only made the wheels in my head turn, and I dove into the alluring possibility of spinning the web around her and seeing all the trouble I could cause.

“Dante, the girl clearly plans to kill you.”

I nearly laughed, remembering our conversation after we fucked. Goddammit. I was getting hard again thinking about it. Gimme a fucking break. Yes, her pussy was fucking glorious, but I needed my brain right now.

Back to the conversation… She said she knew me. Clearly she didn’t though, because I thrived on a challenge.

“Don’t do it,” Cesar warned, eyeing me warily. “I know that expression.”

His words did nothing but spur me on, making my plan all the more appealing. Phoenix claimed she knew me. If she really knew me like she said she did, she would know that I would stop at nothing.

Then a thought struck me and I grinned viciously. “She doesn’t really want me dead.”

“She shot you. Trust me, she wants you dead.” Cesar shook his head with disbelief. “You’re delusional.”

I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. “No, she just intended to injure me.”

Cesar blinked. “She got pretty damn close to your heart.”

“Yeah, with her Cupid’s arrow, but not with the bullet.” I rubbed my hands together, not feeling much of anything but the thrill of the chase. “It’s just a longer kind of foreplay.”

He said something else, but I was no longer listening, scheming my own demise. And hers.

As long as we went down together.

TWENTY-SEVEN

DANTE

Iwas back in Trieste. Castle Miramare.

My bullet wound, courtesy of Phoenix, had healed nicely. I’d decided to commemorate it with a tattoo, but the flesh was still too sensitive.Soon.And I had just the design in mind for it.

Christmas was tomorrow, and it was clear that my brother had no intention of ending his spiraling. I wouldn’t have come at all, but I knew Mother expected us, and I couldn’t leave her alone on Christmas Day withthatman.

The moment I entered the castle, I spotted my mother wearing her pink kimono.

She smiled, making her way over to me in short steps, and when she hugged me, her small frame barely reached my chest.

“I’m so happy you’re home for Christmas.” Her eyes darted behind me but all she found was Cesar. “Where’s your brother?”