Page 36 of Brutal
She came to dinner with purpose. She thought she was being careful. She was. Careful enough to interest me. Careful enough to make me wonder who taught her to move toward danger without flinching.
I rest my hand on the cool glass of the window, the ring heavy against my skin, and think of Delaney’s mouth, Delaney’s pulse, Delaney’s gaze holding mine as if she wanted something from me, as if she hated herself for wanting.
Nate is right about one thing.
She isn’t random.
Neither is what I’m feeling.
And I have no intention of letting it end at dinner.
8
DELANEY
Next time you come to me.
I can still see the words long after the screen goes dark.
I don’t delete them.
I don’t respond.
I let them linger like a challenge.
He didn’t ask to see me again. He didn’t suggest it. He simply told me what the next move was.
I should ignore it.
That would be the smart thing to do. Continue with what I started—the quiet questions, careful conversations, the people who don’t look at me like they already know I’m hiding something.
People who don’t make my pulse leap with a single touch.
The next day I move through the motions of my morning. Coffee. Toast I don’t finish. Notes spread across the table in neat stacks.
The bartender’s voice loops back through my head.
It happened too fast… It was already going to happen…
I tap my pen once against the page.
It seemed planned, I write. Or at least inevitable.
The Vexley name is written in the margin of my notes, underlined twice. It’s appeared enough times now that I can’t pretend it’s coincidence. Business dealings. Property ties. Quiet mentions from people who don’t like to speak too loudly about certain families.
I glance back at my phone.
Next time you come to me.
I breathe in slowly.
No.
I’m not waiting for him. He challenged me not to, anyway.
If I want answers, I’m not going to get them sitting in my kitchen, circling the same half-formed theories.
And I’m not going to get them by letting Samson Vexley decide when—and if—I’m allowed back into his orbit. He made it clear that the next move is mine.
