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“Long time no see, tiger cub.” The deep, raspy voice washes over me. Hearing it is like being swaddled by a thick fluffy blanket. I’m safe and secure, in a place where no one can do me harm.
“I missed you, too, cub,” he whispers, raising a big black gun, fitted with a suppressor. “Do not move.” My breathing stops. The muffled gunshot wheezes through the air.
With Belov and Az gone, I’m the last one of his psycho minions.
I reach under my seat to pull out the gun I’ve hidden there. Sticking it into the waistband of my pants at my back, I exit the car.
If I let myself be taken out, I wouldn’t be able to make sure the girl is okay. I need to make sure she’s safe, and that need is stronger than the wish to finally end my existence.
And I will not allow a potential threat to live anywhere near my tiger cub.
How could I watch over my girl if I’m dead? The night she tied her scarf around my thigh and then offered me her hand, my life became hers.
Keeping my eyes on my cub, I unbutton my left shirt sleeve and roll it up to my elbow, then grab the knife I keep sheathed at my ankle. My blades are always razor-sharp, so it only takes the slightest pressure to puncture the skin on my forearm. Purposefully, knowing exactly what it takes not to sever the muscle tissue, I slowly drag the tip of a knife from my elbow toward my wrist. Blood runs down to my hand once I’m finished with the grisly deed, big red drops fall onto the sidewalk and land at my feet. The cut is shallow, but long enough to require several stitches. Enough of a reason for
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“Are you planning to hurt me?” “Never.”
“I don’t like anyone touching my hair,” he says. I suck in a breath. Considering all the pinching, prodding, and squeezing I’ve done while patching him up, I didn’t expect that he would care if I touched his hair. “I won’t do it again.” His eyes lower to my lips, and linger there for a heartbeat. Then, he quickly looks away. “I don’t mind when you do it, cub.”
“Why don’t you like it when someone touches your hair?” I whisper. “It’s the only thing that’s mine.”
“You, my tiger cub, are a ray of light in the absolute darkness my life has become and has been for a very long time.”
“For the light to shine, darkness must retreat. It’s what’s meant to be.”
“Even if all hell breaks loose, I’ll be there, tiger cub.”
“I dream about you, tiger cub.”
“Another piece of you, mine now,” I growl. “You can’t have it back.”
Each beat of my heart, it’s hers. For nearly a year, every cell of my being has been hers.
“Fuck you? No, I don’t like that term.” He grabs me behind my knees, pulling me closer. “I’m going to take you, Nera.” “What’s the difference?” I pant while the tip of his cock teases my entrance. “What I take, I keep forever,” he says with a wicked smile. Then, he buries himself all the way to the hilt.
“Am I?” she asks. And then, she plunges the sharp tip of the scissors into the middle of her left palm. “Jesus fuck!” I leap off the bed, staring at her hand as blood seeps from the wound. Grabbing the closest thing I can get my hands on, I remove the white pillowcase and, as carefully as I can, take her injured hand in mine. “Why did you do that? Fuck! Let go of the damn scissors.”
“You said you don’t care about other people getting hurt.” “You are not other people!”
Massimo lifts his handcuffed hands and lightly brushes Zara’s cheek with the back of his fingers. “Hello, Zahara.” His voice is strange as he says it. Softer. Almost like it was before.
My sister just keeps staring at the ground, her body stiff. Her knuckles look nearly white as she grips the hem of her blouse. Massimo’s hands fall from Zara’s face, and then he walks away with the security guards trailing after him. “Zahara?” I lift an eyebrow. No one calls my sister by her full name. When she was little, she couldn’t pronounce it, so she kept referring to herself as Zara, and it kind of stuck. I doubt anyone in the Family even remembers her actual name. She takes a deep breath and lifts her head, her gaze slicing directly to the large figure in an inmate’s uniform getting
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I was ready to leave my family just so I could be with him. My hand flies to my mouth, stifling a sob. He was at my father’s funeral! And still, he stayed away, not bothering to ask me how I was doing. I thought . . . I thought he loved me. But, you don’t let your loved ones hurt alone, without offering comfort. Was it all a game for him? Was I? A silly girl persuaded to fall in love, only to be dumped in her most desperate hour? He left me when I needed him the most. Lies. It has all been lies and nothing more. “Why?” I scream into the night. The answer to my question is sudden, relentless
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“Even when I was on the brink of madness, barely alive and unable to grasp where or who I was, I remembered you.”
The familiar hurt pierces my chest. He’s leaving . . . Again.
“I’m Kai Mazur. Mrs. Leone’s new chief of security.”
“She looks just like you, tiger cub,” I say softly and turn to leave. “Yes. Except for her eyes,” Nera answers, her voice hoarse and trembling. “She has her father’s eyes. Pale-gray, like the break of first light to end a starless night.”
“Every breath,” he continues. “Every heartbeat. Every drop of my blood is yours. It has all been yours from the moment we met all those years ago. If you want it, I’ll carve my fucking heart out and lay it at your feet. It’s yours, and always will be.”
“Ask me anything, but that.” The look in his eyes as they meet mine is so full of torment and sorrow. “If I tell you, you’ll hate me forever, cub. Say the word, and I’ll confess every dark sin of mine to you. Just not that one.”
“I already know,” I whisper. “I know it was you.”
A tear slides down his cheek.
“Take my gun, cub. I’ll kneel before you, so you can shoot me in the head.” His voice sounds so broken, making me hurt from the weight of pain I can hear in it.
“While I was confined, most of the time I didn’t know where I was. Or if it was day or night. And sometimes, I didn’t even know who I was.” He pulls out and lowers his head until his face is a hair’s breadth above mine. “But even though I was delirious, disconnected from reality, scattered flashes from my memories kept invading my mind.” He slides back inside, sinking deeper. “A red scarf. Warm hands, sewing up my skin. The taste of chocolate cake.” His hand grips my chin, tilting my head for a kiss. “Soft voice, reading some nonsense about cows to me, while a delicate finger moved under the
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“You, my tiger cub, were the only thing I remembered.” He lowers his head and buries himself inside me. “My everything.”