Page 90 of Redemption

He laughs. How can he have such a nice laugh? “What? Assassins don’t read books? What kind of a guy am I, then?”

“Comics. Dark. Adult.”

He laughs again and takes a sip of the steaming black liquid. I have to force myself not to follow the cup with my gaze as he puts it to his lips and drinks.Instead I take a too-large sip of my tea and burn my tongue. Tears well up in my eyes from the pain.

He grimaces. “A bit on the sweet side.”

Oh, no.

“But it’s all right. Thanks.” He takes another sip.

I tremble when I set the teacup down a little too fast.

Christian puts a large warm hand over mine to steady it, making jolts shoot straight to my core. I pull my hand out of his, rubbing the spot where he touched me.

“Are you nervous, Ker?”

There’s no use denying that. The best lie is the one closest to the truth. I nod and feel a desperate need to change the subject. “Assassin. That’s what you are? That’s what you call yourself?”

His lips tighten a little. “It’s just semantics.” He shifts and looks a bit uncomfortable.

“What do you do then?”

“I don’t think you want to know. I have no pleasant stories to tell you.”

“I think you owe me that.”

“I don’t owe—” He snaps his mouth shut and gives me a hard stare.

My heart takes a leap up to my throat, but I force myself to meet his gaze.

“What the fuck is it you think you need to know?”

“Do you work for the mafia? Is Salvatore your capo?” I swallow hard, my breath hitching. “Is he your… uncle?”

Christian frowns, his lips tightening, then he scoffs. “These are things you shouldn’t want to know. It’s not good for your health.”

“Does it matter at this point? Apparently, I know too much already. Right? Enough to get a hitman coming after me?” I narrow my eyes as I look at him.

He sighs and raises his eyebrows. “I’m not here as the hitman now, Kerry.”

“Was it in your job description to seduce me?” I blurt out.

“Fuck no. No, Kerry, it wasn’t.”

“Then why did you?” I whisper. “What was the point? It was nothing but cruel.”

He pushes his fingers through his hair and stares at the ceiling. “I don’t know how to answer that. You won’t like whatever I tell you.”

My whole soul clenches up. But I want to know. I want to know if he planned to seduce me the whole time, if he played a cruel, twisted game. Would he have killed me right after sex? In my own bed, with his seed still in me? During? Why did he seduce me? Why did I fall for it so easily? Nausea rises in me as the memories flood back.

“Did you know you were going to kill me? When I… When you followed me home?” I rock back and forth on my chair, the pain hitting me full on after having been suppressed for so long.

“Do you want to know what it is I do? What I do for a living?” he snarls.

My mind spins, and even though he clearly chickens out and wants to change the subject, I’m happy for it. I nod.

“I’m a hitman for the mob. Yes. I kill people for money. Torture if needed. There’s no sugar coating that. It’s what I do. It’s what I was born to do. And yes, Salvatore is my fucking uncle.” He looks away, at the window. “Never had much of a choice,” he adds in a lower voice.