She turned around then, a small, almost hopeful smile on her face as if a weight had been lifted off of her for saying the words. But when she came face-to-face with me, her smile faltered and her eyes widened.
Fear.
Realization that this was over for her.
She was afraid, and that immediately took root, covering her expression, changing the air around us. It grew frigid, cold.
I said nothing as I stared at her, watched how her body instantly reacted, how her flight-or-fight instinct rose up. She lowered her gaze and looked at my hand, the one that held the gun, the weapon that would end her life.
“Wait. Wait, please.” She stammered the words out, stumbled over them. She backed away from me, but the wall stopped her retreat. I stepped inside, went closer to her, my cock rock-hard. Then again, it didn’t take much effort to do that.
She was searching the room for a way out, but the only escape was the door behind me. She’d have to get through me to get there, and that wasn’t going to happen. She was small, tiny really. I could see the appeal she had for Dom, the fact that she was so feminine, the dark-red hair, the big green eyes. She had a petite frame, but I could see her womanly curves.
Yeah, I could see the attraction, but fucking a woman, getting your dick wet, was a hell of a lot different than keeping her as some kind of treasure.
I was right in front of her now, staring down at her, seeing her big eyes staring up at me with fear and the realization that this was it. But as I looked into her eyes, I felt something shift in me. I thought about what she said, how she said it. I thought about what she must feel for Dom, that she sounded like it was so… true.
“You think you have feelings for my brother?” I tipped my head slightly to the side, examining her. Although she didn’t cry, I knew she was on the verge. But she was strong, and I had to give her credit for that.
She was strong. But she wasn’t stronger than me.
She didn’t answer right away, but I saw the way her throat worked as she swallowed, could see in her expression she was thinking about my question.
“I-I don’t know.” I liked her honesty. “But I know what I feel for him seems… right.” The last part was said almost too softly for me to hear.
She ran her hands up and down her thighs, and it was the first time I realized she was wearing Dom’s clothes, a pair of oversized sweats and a white T-shirt, both far too big for her. She was swimming in the material.
“You think I’ll tell, turn you in.” She shook her head. “I won’t.”
“You might,” I said evenly, calmly.
She shook her head again, the determination on her face more evident now. “I won’t.” The way she whispered that had a lot of strength behind it.
For the first time since this all started, since I knew what I had to do where she was concerned, I actually found myself questioning whether this was really the best option. Who was I to stand in the way of one of my brothers getting what they wanted? We’d had nothing growing up, nothing given to us but beatings and lessons on how to steal and survive.
But one of my brothers actually happy, getting something they really wanted? Well fuck, that almost made my cold, dead heart warm.
I leaned in close and stared into her big green eyes. “You know it would be so easy for me to find you if you ran.” I let that really sink in. “It would be so damn easy to know what rock you crawled under to get away from me if you tried to turn us in.” She didn’t move, didn’t even breathe. “It would be too fucking easy to sneak into your bedroom at night and wrap my hand around your pretty little throat and squeeze the life from you.” Despite the fact that I knew she was terrified, she stayed still and calm, didn’t outwardly show her fear.
I had to give her credit.
“I won’t tell anyone about you or this, because… because of how I feel for Dom.”
I lifted a brow at that.
But before I could say anything, before I could lift the gun I held and point it right between her eyes—if I would have done that in the end anyway—I heard someone racing down the stairs.
Not just anyone… but Dom.
Chapter Fifteen
Dom
I’d known something was wrong when I’d seen the basement door open, and then I felt the coldness fill the air.
Cullen.
I knew he wouldn’t have let this be. It wasn’t who he was, wasn’t his nature.
And when I’d rushed to my room, expecting the worst, ready to go toe-to-toe with my brother for taking away from me the only good thing to ever come into my life, my heart had jumped to my throat.