I’m known for violence.
The underworld in Chicago bleeds with the evidence of my victims, and even the strongest men in the city cross the street when they see me walking toward them.
But I’ve never known the thirst for blood like what’s beating through my body right now. The motherfucker must have a death wish because that’s the only way he would be talking like this about my woman.
Part of me wants to put a bullet between his eyes and rid the earth of his filth, but the other part, the part of me that craves blood and cruelty, wants to drag his death out for hours, maybe even days, making each form of torture worse than the last.
I land another harsh kick to his ribs, making sure to hit the same spot over and over again. It hurts more that way, makes my victim wish for death even though he should know he won’t get away with it that easily.
Movement in the corner of my vision tears my gaze from the man crumpled at my feet, and when I bring my eyes up to meet icy blue, my cock twitches in my sweatpants. I’ll be the first to admit to being turned on by some fucked-up shit, but this is the first time I’ve ever had a hard-on while looking down the barrel of a gun.
The corners of my lips quirk up at the sight of Snow holding the weapon in shaky hands, her wide stance is perfect, and her grip on the trigger should worry me, but it doesn’t.
She’s not going to shoot me. She might think she will, she might even try to, but when push comes to shove, she’s going to come to her senses and realize what I knew the moment we locked eyes all those years ago.
We belong together.
It’s a simple thought, one that I’ve been trying to show her, but she’s fighting it, and hell, I’m enjoying every ounce of her hesitation. It will only make my victory that much sweeter.
“What are you doing, my little Snowflake?” I ask, my eyes holding hers.
“Let me go,” she whispers.
“Or what? You’ll shoot me?” I chuckle, taking a step toward her.
Snow flinches at my movement, her back pressing into the wall. If I thought she was capable of pulling the trigger before, I’m sure as hell not now. She’s scared of the weapon she’s holding, and that just won’t do. I can’t have my woman afraid of the thing that might be the difference between life and death one day. “Yes.”
I nod, taking another step closer to her, my hands held at my sides where she can see them. Although I don’t think she’ll shoot me, caged animals are capable of all kinds of things when they’re trying to escape, and I need to remember I’ve taken everything away from her. I’ve torn her life from her grasp and she’s not going to go down without a fight. And let’s face it, it’s her fight that’s always kept me on my toes. “Give me the gun, Snow.”
“No.” She shakes her head, tears pooling at the corners.
I take a breath, allowing some of the rage to fall away as I take another step toward my fractured Snowflake. “So, I let you go, and you don’t shoot me, is that the deal?”
Snow nods, the gun shaking slightly as she trembles from the weight of it.
“I see. And you think that I would just allow you to walk away like that? You think I’ll just let you go after obsessing over you for ten years?”
What little color she had in her cheeks drains away and her reality settles upon her shoulders. She needs to know there isn’t anywhere on this earth she can hide from me. I’ll hunt her down like a lion stalks its prey, and when I have her back within my sights, she’ll be given none of the freedoms I’m currently willing to afford her.
“If you ever want true freedom, my dear Snowflake, you’ll have to kill me.”
Her eyes widen at my words, the meaning of them settling over her and doubt crosses her face. Snow isn’t a violent person. She doesn’t have it in her to be cold and unfeeling like her brothers and me. She’s the guiding light that sees me through the darkness of my own soul, and although the only way she will ever truly be granted freedom is by killing me, she’s not capable of it.
“So what’s it going to be?” I ask, closing the distance between us until the cool barrel presses into my chest. “Do you want your freedom badly enough that you’re willing to kill for it? Are you willing to dirty your soul for the sake of escaping me?”
Snow swallows, fear flashing through her eyes. She had to have known I was going to call her out, that I would never believe she was going to pull the trigger and end my life.
“Give me the gun,” I demand, my voice soft but there’s no mistaking how serious I am.
“No.” She shakes her head.
“This only ends one way, Snow. You know there’s no escape. You know you can’t pull the trigger and you know if you don’t, I’ll hunt you to the end of the earth.”
Tears fall against her pale cheeks, her grip faltering for just long enough for me to grip the barrel and move it away from my chest. Although I’m confident she couldn’t pull the trigger and end my life, especially when I’ve seen the glimmers of affection for me, I would be remiss to underestimate a Saint James, even one as innocent as Snow.
The moment the gun is pointed away from me, I draw her into my arms, holding her fragile body against me as rough sobs claw from her throat. The fear and sadness pour from her like rain on a cloudy winter’s day, and she relaxes into my hold, taking the comfort I offer her.
She grips the gun in one hand and my shirt in the other, anchoring herself with her own internal war. She hasn’t allowed herself to admit it yet, but she doesn’t want me dead, she doesn’t even really want to leave here, she just isn’t ready to accept it yet. She will though. She’ll see just how happy she can be here, how happy I can make her.
Slowly, I move us closer to Dwayne. She needs to be punished for threatening me, and for trying to escape, and I have the perfect way to do it.
“She makes you weak,” the bound man gurgles, the corners of his mouth leaking with crimson red. “Your father and uncles understood how a woman should be treated.”
“The way they treated women is one of the many reasons they’re dead,” I growl, pulling Snow from my chest and turning her until her back presses into me. My arm steels across her torso so she can’t move away from me. “And now a woman is going to be the one to take your miserable life.”
Snow’s body stills in my grasp, her breath hitching as my words settle over her. She may not have been able to pull the trigger on me, but she will be ending a life tonight.
