Page 67 of When Sinners Fear
“Where? Is he here?” A surge of panic runs through me. “Knox, you can’t. He’s dangerous. It’s not safe.” I start rambling with the thought that Reed could be here – anywhere.
“Stop.” Knox spins around and grabs my hands, stilling me. “The only danger you should concern yourself with is me.”
He gazes, not hiding that part of him at all. And I know. I do. I felt him, and I’ve seen his threats and his family. But to me, he’s far from just that. He’s safety in a way I can’t explain.
Sighing, he walks away from me. “Reed isn’t here. We’ll travel to New York. He thinks he’s still under the protection of the Canes. He isn’t.”
“Cane. Logan? Who is he?” He leaves the room, heading for his study as if dismissing my questions. I follow without thought. I’m not done. “Answer me.”
He keeps walking, unfazed by my growing anger. “Careful with your tone, Peyton. I’m trying for patience, but you’re pushing again. He’s an acquaintance, that’s all. A business associate.”
“What kind of business?”
He stops, turns, and looks at me. “After all of that, that’s the question you want to ask?” He stares at me, his eyes no longer showing any sign of warmth. These are cold and deadly, the same eyes I witnessed when we were in hell together. The eyes of a man talking of murder.
“Can I be there?” I ask.
“Peyton.”
“Don’t placate me. Don’t tell me I can’t or it’s not for a girl like me. All of that changed the moment he locked me up to punish you.” There’s venom in my voice, a hatred that’s only grown in the darkness I tried to lock away. That’s the feeling sitting in my gut and making me want to lash out and scream.
“You didn’t come back to ask about killing Reed.”
“No, wait.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to kill him, I can’t, no, that’s not what I said. Not what I meant. Just that knowing he’s gone – knowing it’s over might help me to move forward.” That and a negative pregnancy test, but I keep that to myself still. One problem at a time.
He places a hand on his desk and looks at me, frowning as if this isn’t something he’d considered I’d be back for. He’s right, I didn’t come for this at first, but now I know, and I can’t get it from my mind.
“You really want this?”
“Yes.”
“Come here.” I do, without even thinking about it. I’m right back there again when he uses that voice, like his strength is what I’m clinging to. His hand goes to my cheek, and he keeps boring his gaze into me. “Looks like little Peyton finally found some bitch to use.” He leans forward and tips up my chin toward him so he can place a soft kiss on my lips. His thumb runs over them after, lightly caressing. “I won’t stop you coming with me if you want to, but don’t be so quick to rule out pulling the trigger yourself. When you see him again, you might think differently.” My eyes look up into his, and I wonder how this man could be the monster I’m beginning to fear he is. “Go upstairs and get settled. We leave in two days.”
CHAPTER TWENTY - FIVE
KNOX
The last few days have been some morph of time that got us nowhere. I was just waiting for the time to kill to come. We talked and we existed and we fucked again, as if we were living in a world where nothing mattered other than the eventual goal of death. I don’t know how she felt about that, but I do know that none of it should have meant anything to me. I should have treated her like a problem that would soon be over. Or a memory that needed cleansing out of me. I didn’t do either. I lived some kind of dream for a few days, maybe hoping to outrun my nightmares with her.
And now we’re crossing ground like the band of assholes we are with only one thing in mind. Different cars maybe, but we're all thinking the same thing about Reed, and he doesn’t know we’re coming for him. I look to the left and watch Dante’s car push around me. He’s fixed on the road in front of him, probably riled as hell to get there quicker so he can watch flesh burn. It will, too. Jackson Reed will still be alive when he’s lit up, and he’ll feel every goddamn second of his death.
Abel looks at me from the passenger side next to him and then slowly focuses back on the target in front of us. Kai, Mariana and Shaw are already waiting close to the meet point. They went up two days ago and sent the jet back for us. They’ve been scoping out every place within a two-mile radius of where Reed will be. Like him or not, Kai blends in well and Hunts Point is as bad as it gets. He’s only just been recognised as one of us in our own state let alone New York, so they’re as useful as it gets for covert operations in this scenario.
The flight was quiet. There were many reasons for that, but the biggest one was Peyton being in the cabin with us. Dante knew, within a fucking heartbeat, that she knew nothing of what we are. He scowled at her the entire way, like she shouldn’t have been there. He was right, she shouldn’t have been. But I’m not taking her right to avenge her pain away from her if she wants it. Abel was different. He was as cordial as cordial gets toward her. Part of me was amused by the gentle interaction. For such a heinous asshole, he did a good job of lightening the pressure she must have felt with the three of us around her. Age seems to suit him with his manipulative techniques.
“How will it happen?” Peyton asks.
“What?”
“How will you … kill him?”
I pull off the main drag and filter lanes. “Slowly.”
She fiddles with her fingers, tapping her thumb like she does, and looks away from me. “This is harder than I thought. I thought I’d be ready.”
“You will be. You’ll see him and remember, and you’ll be wanting your own slice of revenge.”
“I don’t think like that.”