Page 99 of My Sweet Poison
I stopped breathing.
Pierce set the glass down on the side table. Slowly. His fingers lingered on the stem.
The word “murder” hadn’t felt real until this moment. It crashed through me now. Pierce was going to die in this room, by my hand.
Jameson’s warning scraped through my memory. “Make sure you see it through. You don’t want to make an enemy of me.”
Pierce picked up the glass again.
I forced myself to look at the fire.
“You seem distracted.”
I turned back. His eyes hadn’t left me. “I’m fine.”
“Are you?” He took another sip, watching me over the rim the entire time, as though he already knew the answer. As though he was testing me.
I pressed my fingers against my pulse, a gesture I immediately regretted.
Pierce noticed. He always noticed.
“You’re pale.” He set the glass down and stood.
My heart lurched. “I’m tired. That’s all.”
He took a step toward me.
“Pierce—”
“Tell me why now, of all times, you want to reminisce?” He stopped two feet away. His brow furrowed as he raised a hand to his head, then looked at me. “What did you do, Skylar?”
I blinked as I stepped back out of arms’ reach. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Mm.” He retrieved the glass from the table without looking away from me and held it up to the light, swirled it once more.
And then his posture slackened. One hand reached for the arm of the nearest chair, missed and caught it on the second try. He lowered himself into it. He rested his head in his hand.
I didn’t move.
Couldn’t.
The fire hissed and snapped. The clock on the mantle kept its count.
Then he slumped. His shoulder hit the armrest. The glass rolled from his fingers and landed soundless on the carpet, the brandy spreading dark and slow, seeping into the wool fibers.
Gone.
Just like that.
I stood in the middle of the room and didn’t know what to do with my hands. I stumbled to the window and pressed myforehead against the glass. Grateful for the cold. Tears came. I couldn’t stop them.
What or who was I crying for? Pierce? Myself? I didn’t know the answer.
Somehow, someway, in this tangled web of revenge I’d allowed Jameson to pull me into, I’d lost the reason why. I’d lost the purpose of it all. It had been so clear to me when I began…but now…I wasn’t so sure.
I stared at Pierce’s lifeless form.
It was a little late to be questioning my motives.
