Lie (Betrothed 8)

When he slid his hands into his pockets, it was clear he wasn’t going to take it. “It’s a gift. Keep it.”

“Look, I don’t need your charity…”

“If you wanna show your gratitude, you’ll take it.”

My hand shook as I held the envelope, and I knew he had me bested. I would be indebted to him for the rest of my life, so he could manipulate me into doing whatever he wanted. I lowered my hand and kept the cash.

He hadn’t smiled once since he’d rescued me. He used to make a lot of sarcastic remarks, give me a lot of boyish grins, but now he was stone-faced. “You’ve improved.”

I absent-mindedly touched my cheek, noticing the way I wasn’t so sensitive anymore. “I heal quickly…”

“Good.” He gave me a slight smile before he turned away.

I didn’t want to watch him go again. He gave me this money because he still wanted to take care of me even though I wasn’t his problem. “Heath?”

He turned back around and look down at me.

“I think I’m gonna tell Damien what happened.”

“Do whatever you want. But I said I’ll take care of it.”

“That’s not what I meant…and you haven’t yet?” It’d been a week, and I’d hoped all the girls had been released days ago.

“It’s a lot more complicated than you understand.”

“Then make me understand.” I should only be kind to him after what he did for me, but I couldn’t stop the accusation from entering my tone. It was important to me that those women go free.

“Alright.” He nodded to my door so we wouldn’t continue this conversation in the hallway.

I walked inside first then tossed the money on the table.

He shut the door behind him. When he stepped closer to me, he slid his hands into his pockets. “The Skull King collects money from every underground business in the city. That’s why I was there in the first place.”

“I know that.”

“If I put a stop to their business, that means we stop getting paid. And we’re talking millions of euro here.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, turning vicious. “We’re talking about innocent people here.”

He raised his hand to proactively silence me. “I get that. But if I shut them down, my men won’t be happy.”

“So? You can make money doing other things.”

“And that’s what I’m trying to figure out. If I take this away, I need a substitute. And if I go in there and shut them down, they could always retaliate. I know I’ll win, but it would still create lots of other problems. And there’re a few men under my rule who would love to take my place. The instant I’m unpopular, they might try to overthrow me.”

“It sounds like a medieval drama.”

“When you live without rules, it can be. So give me time to figure this out.”

“The longer you wait…”

He lowered his hand. “I’m doing the best I can, and I will fulfill my promise to you.” He looked at me with his fierce blue eyes, turning into the leader he claimed to be.

I backed off. “Alright.” I knew he deserved my trust, the benefit of the doubt, but I was so passionate about this, it was hard for me to stay calm. “The reason why I want to tell Damien the truth is so he’ll know what you did for me…and he’ll drop this feud.” If Damien knew that Heath saved my life, saved me from a life of slavery, he could leave the past in the past.

“You would have to explain how we knew each other to begin with. Because there’s no way I would look through those bars and decide to save you out of the goodness of my heart. He knows that’s not who I am.”

“Well…then, I’ll tell him how we know each other.”

He shook his head slightly. “That I kidnapped you and intended to use you as a bargaining chip to kill him? And if you refused to cooperate, I would kill you?”

“But you let me go…”

“Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t change what I did in the first place.”

“But if I talk to him, I could convince him to understand.” My brother would do anything for me, listen to me even if he didn’t like what I had to say. If he could hear the emotion in my voice, he would drop his need for vengeance.

He shook his head slightly. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I’ve done too many terrible things to him. I’ve done things you don’t even know about. It’s not gonna happen.”

I bowed my head in disappointment.

He stood there for a long time, just staring at me. “Nothing has changed between us. Just because I saved you doesn’t mean you are indebted to me. You know where you stand with your brother, and I respect that.”

I didn’t want to try to make this work because I owed him. I wanted more of him because now that I’d had a piece of him, I realized just how damn good he was.