Page 8 of Beautiful Ruins
Which, naturally, made me want to know everything about her.
“You’re in my house,” I bit out, as I loosened the ties at her wrists.I left the ones on her feet for good measure.
Her gaze stayed on me—open, unapologetic—dragging slowly over my face, my shoulders, the scars I didn’t bother hiding.I felt it like fingers tracing skin.Most people couldn’t hold eye contact with me for more than a second.
She didn’t even blink.
“You always knock girls out and bring them home,” she demanded, “or am I getting the deluxe package?”
I smiled before I could stop myself.“Depends how cooperative you plan to be.”
Her lips parted, then curved.“Figures.”
Still no fear.No shaking hands.No hitch in her breathing.Her pulse was steady at her throat, calm enough to be irritating.Either she was the best liar I’d ever met—or someone had sent her in dirty, untrained, and entirely disposable.
Both options annoyed me.
“Who sent you?”I challenged.
She laughed.Actually laughed—short and surprised, like the idea had caught her off guard.
I stepped closer, close enough that she had to tip her chin up to keep eye contact.“People don’t wander into abandoned basements by accident.”
“I wandered,” she spoke casually.“Not by accident.”
I watched her face carefully for any micro-movements.A flinch.A swallow.Anything.But there was nothing.I didn’t get the vibe that she was being deceptive or calculating.
“Try again.”
Her smile widened, slow and maddening, before she rolled her eyes.There it was—open defiance.It wasn’t rehearsed or clever.It was just real enough to get her killed quickly.
“You’re scary,” she said, “but you’re not very good at this.”
“At what?”
“Interrogation.”Her gaze flicked upward.“Also, you’ve got a piece of wire stuck back there.”
Before I could stop her, she reached up.
Fast.Casual.Unexpected.
Her fingers brushed my temple and plucked something free from my hair like she was fixing a loose thread.
I froze.
She held up a thin strip of copper between her fingers.“This.”
I took it from her slowly.Recognized it immediately.
“Leftover,” I revealed.“From the last place I blew up.”
Her eyes widened—not with fear, but curiosity.It flickered briefly before fading, her interest deflating as her mouth pulled into a frown.
“That’s… not reassuring.”
I leaned down until we were eye level, close enough that she could feel the threat settle in.“Neither is waking up restrained in my house.But here we are.”
She swallowed.Once.There was the crack.
