Page 41 of Threads That Bind Us

“What did you mean when you said we were no different?” I ask again, my voice a lot stronger than I actually feel. And it’s not fear or revulsion making my heart pound in my throat and my bloom hum. I feel almost like I’m disassociating, having an out-of-body experience. Only potent desire is grounding me.

Kayden doesn’t answer, his bloody lips pressed together in defiance, but still shaking. I lock eyes with him as Charlie and I press the tip of the blade into his kneecap together.

“Fucking psycho bitch!” Kayden sobs, the words coming in broken breaths.

I feel Charlie shift, plunging the knife deeper, under the bone of his kneecap, and Kayden’s screams become more frantic.

“You don’t fucking speak to her like that,” he commands, his voice deadly, the smooth flirtation I detected earlier gone.

The hairs on the back of my neck raise, and I nudge my knuckles against his on the handle.

“The artery goes behind the knee, right? We need more time with him.”

Charlie releases a long breath behind me before he loosens his grip.

“Thank you,” he murmurs, his lips a hair’s breadth from the skin of my spine, and a flush crawls up my chest.

“One more time, Kayden,” I say neutrally, putting just a slight amount of pressure on the blade to tilt it up. He screams, and his blood flows thinly down the weapon to my wrist. “Explainwhat you meant.”

“Fucking stop!” he begs, animalistic sounds tearing from his throat.

“Fucking answer,” I reply, holding the blade still.

Charlie’s not guiding me now, just brushing his fingertips over my knuckles gently. The logical part of my brain knows it’s concerning that I can feel that toucheverywhere, but something instinctual is taking over.

The feeling I had in the alley—the control, the vindication—is nothing compared to this. It’s like I’ve only known the surface of myself my entire life, and now that I’ve dived below, I’ve discovered a riptide. The sensation is magnified one thousand-fold by Charlie’s warm body hovering behind me, his eyes tracking my every movement, his skinso closeto mine.

Kayden has his head thrown back, his eyes pressed shut and leaking tears. I shrug.

“Suit yourself.”

But before I can move more than a centimeter, he’s screaming.

“No, fuck, stop,” he pleads, his voice cracking with agony.

I still, looking up at him with raised eyebrows and a placid smile.

“Something to contribute to the conversation?” I ask.

Charlie huffs a laugh behind me.

Kayden pants hard, watching the blood seep out of the gashes in his leg, and I wonder if everyone looks like this when they know they’re conceding to their own death.

“No one from Konstantin’s team approached me,” he says, and Charlie’s hand finds its place on top of mine again. Kayden must feel the pressure, because he whips his head up to stare at me. “I fucking swear they didn’t. Someone told me in April that I was reporting to a new handler. They started giving me more money, telling me I was working on higher-profile shit, that I shouldn’t worry about the girls and thetrafficking.” He chokes on some of the blood still filling his mouth.

“And at what point did you realize you were no longer reporting to The Syndicate?” Charlie asks from behind me, voice condescending and authoritative.

“You don’t fucking get it, dude. Iamworking for The Syndicate. You just don’t know what’s going on in your own fucking house.”

Charlie grasps my hand tightly and pushes the blade, shoving it further into Kaden’s body than before. His scream is piercing, agonized, but Charlie doesn’t flinch, even as my hand pulls back against him.

“How about you start from the beginning, huh?” Charlie’s tone is so light and carefree you’d think we were having this conversation over a pleasant dinner.

Kayden pisses himself, and I wrinkle my nose.

“The new handler,” Kayden sobs, straining against his restraints. “She gave me cash, said I’d been switched to a new team. Guns, not trafficking. I thought I’d be checking in on small arms dealers, since you guys are so high and fucking mighty about yourgreater goodshit. But I just passed information, facilitated deals. Arms into Estonia and Lithuania. Smoothing over shit at ports.”

Kayden’s panting now, sweat sticking his t-shirt fully to his chest, shivering from the cold. I wonder if he’s going into shock, but Charlie doesn’t seem concerned.