Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Jay was right. I am in love with her. Completely, irrevocably, dangerously in love.
The realization should terrify me. Instead, it just makes me want to kill anyone who even thinks about hurting her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Saylor
We walk up the drive to Maison Rouge in comfortable silence. Blue’s hand rests on the small of my back, and I’m trying to look normal while my purse contains mysterious blue pills from Grimlock’s resident poison dealer. The velvet bag moves against my hip with each step, a gentle reminder that I’m officially in the murder business now.
“I have something for you,” Blue says as we reach the front door.
My stomach does a little flip. “What kind of something?”
“Another chance.” He opens the door, watching my face carefully. “You don’t have to if you’re not ready.”
Oh man . . . here we go . . . Another chance to prove I’m not completely useless at this whole revenge thing. “I’m ready,” I say, but less confident than I’d like. “Actually, I went to the apothecary today with a goal. Got myself a different tool for the job.”
Blue’s eyebrows rise with interest. “Did you now?”
I pat my purse. “Turns out knives aren’t really my thing. All that blood and stabbing.” I make a face. “Duffy had some suggestions for . . . cleaner methods.”
“Poison.” Blue’s smile spreads slowly across his face. “Very respectable choice. Requires patience and planning. Much more civilized than hacking people apart.”
“That’s what I thought.” I’m so glad he approves. “Less mess, less chance of me puking on everyone.”
“Absolutely. Some of history’s most effective killers preferred poison.” He opens the door wider. “Let’s see how your new approach works.”
I follow him down the stone steps, my hand gripping the velvet bag through my purse strap. The basement smells like damp stone and old blood.
Hans stands guard beside a chair occupied by Leroy Crow. His expensive suit is now wrinkled and stained with dried blood, his left hand wrapped in crude bandages that haven’t quite stopped bleeding from where I drove the carving knife through his palm last night. Even wounded and captive, he still manages to look smug.
“Well, well,” Blue says pleasantly. “Look who’s recovered enough to join us again.”
Leroy looks me up and down with clinical detachment. “Still playing at being a killer, I see. Tell me, did you enjoy watching me bleed all over your precious dinner table?”
“More than I probably should have.” I set my purse down on Blue’s knife table, fingers working to retrieve my purchase from Duffy. “How’s the hand feeling, by the way? Still tender?”
“You’ll find out soon enough when I return the favor.” His smile is pure cruelty despite his obvious pain. “I have to say, you showed more spine than I expected. Most people hesitate before stabbing someone.”
The smug satisfaction in his voice, even while wounded and tied up, makes something cold settle in my chest. Good. I need that ice-cold rage to get through what I’m about to do.
I pull out Duffy’s bottle of blue pills, holding it up to catch the basement lights. “Well, Leroy, today’s your lucky day. I brought medicine.”
Leroy squints at the bottle. “What are those?”
“Health supplements.” I shake the bottle, listening to the pills rattle. “Very good for you. Open wide.”
“I don’t want medicine.”
“That’s unfortunate, because you’re going to take it anyway.” I unscrew the cap, tapping one of the blue spheres into my palm. “Come on, just one little pill.”
Leroy stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. “You want me to swallow random pills? Absolutely not.”
“Oh, come on. It’s just one tiny little pill.” I hold the blue sphere between my thumb and forefinger, giving it a small shake. “Look how pretty it is. Matches Blue’s beard.”
“I’m not swallowing anything you give me, you deranged bitch.”
“Rude.” I step closer to his chair. “Hans, could you hold his head still?”
Hans moves behind Leroy’s chair, placing his massive hands on either side of the man’s skull. “Is very small pill, yes? Should not be difficult to swallow.”
“This is ridiculous,” Leroy snarls. “Blue, call off your psychotic girlfriend and let me die with some dignity. Use the axe like a professional.”
Blue leans against the wall, arms crossed, clearly enjoying the show. “I’m just here for moral support.”
I try to pry Leroy’s mouth open with my free hand. “Come on, just open up. One tiny pill.”
Leroy clamps his lips shut tighter, shaking his head as much as Hans’s grip allows. I try pushing against his jaw, but he’s got those muscles locked down tight.
“Hans, pinch his nose.”
“Ah, is good idea.” Hans releases one hand from Leroy’s skull to clamp over his nose. “Now he must breathe through mouth, yes?”
Leroy holds his breath for an impressively long time, his face turning red, then purple. Just when I think he might pass out, his mouth opens in a desperate gasp for air.