Page 48 of Gatsby's Starlet
I stepped toward her again, slower this time, my voice dropping into something quieter… more controlled. “You brought her into this,” I said. “Don’t start acting like you didn’t.”
Guilt flashed across her face. “I just want to help you,” she said, but it sounded weaker now.
“And you’ll keep doing it,” I replied. “Because you know how this ends if you don’t.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed, her eyes searching mine like she was still hoping, still stupid enough to think there was something else there for her. “There has to be a line,” she whispered. “Something you won’t do.”
I stepped in close again, close enough she had to tilt her head back to keep looking at me. “There is,” I said.
Hope. It lit up her face so fast it almost made me laugh.
Then I killed it.
“You cross me,” I finished, my voice low and final, “and you’ll find it where my lines stop.”
Her breath caught.
I reached up, brushing a strand of her hair back like the gesture meant something, like I hadn’t just stripped her down to nothing. “You’re useful to me, Ruby,” I said, my tone softening just enough to confuse her again. “Don’t make yourself disposable.”
Her eyes closed for a second, like she was holding onto that, onto the softer edge I gave her like a scrap.
And there it was.
That was why she stayed.
I stepped back, already done with the conversation.
“Now give me what I want,” I said, nodding toward the bed. “Then go get your precious sister and get out of here.”
She hesitated for just a second, and then she nodded, and followed the order. Fuck, these desperate bitches were a dime a dozen.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
HOW LONG WASI going to have to wait?The room felt too big and too quiet, like the air had shifted into something heavier, something that pressed in from all sides, and I stayed where I was for a second longer than I should have, staring at the table of drugs, at the guns laid out like they were nothing, like this was normal, like I wasn’t sitting in the middle of something I had no business being part of.
“Relax.”
Kane’s voice came from too close, close enough that my shoulders tightened before I even turned, my body reacting first as I found him leaning back in his chair, legs stretched out, watching me like he already knew exactly how this was going to play out.
“I am relaxed,” I said, even though my hands were clenched tight in my lap, my fingers digging into each other hard enough to ground me.
He smiled at that, slow, knowing, like he enjoyed the lie more than the truth.
“No, you’re not.”
The silence that followed stretched out, thick and uncomfortable, and I shifted in my seat, inching back just enough to feel like I had some control, even though I knew if he decided otherwise, it wouldn’t matter.
“You always this quiet,” he asked, tilting his head slightly as he studied me, “or just when you’re scared?”
“I’m not scared,” I snapped, the words coming out faster than I meant them to, louder than I could pull back.
That only made his smile deepen. “Yeah,” he said softly, like he was humoring me. “You are.”
My stomach tightened at the way he said it, certain, like he could see straight through me, and I looked away, scanning the room again, searching for something, anything, that would give me an out, even though I already knew there wasn’t one.
“Don’t worry,” he went on, his tone almost casual now, like we were having a normal conversation instead of this, “if I wanted to rape you, I would’ve done it already.”
That didn’t help.
