Chapter 5: : Chapter 5

I’m furiously tapping my finger against my leg, insufferably pissed off by a certain little smart-ass vixen who is currently tied up in an old warehouse in which I like to do some of my more unsavory business.

“I mean, it’s kind of funny,” Hawke says, breaking the silence. Ford and Dutton stare at him in disbelief, but the moment he meets my gaze, he simply chuckles and shrugs. “She got one up on you. Credit is due when it’s due, no?”

When my silence continues, he sighs. “I’ll remove myself from the room.” And he does precisely that.

“I’ll go and beat some sense into my brother,” Ford says, excusing himself as well.

I choose to focus on the small hole in my thigh from her cute little knife wound that has since been stitched and bandaged. I’m currently waiting for little miss to wake up from the chloroform Dutton surprised her with earlier.

She mumbles under her breath, and Dutton peers down at her, a loose lock of hair shifting over his forehead. I don’t like how close he is to her, so I clear my throat. This grabs his attention, and he looks over his shoulder at me.

“Why didn’t you just kill her?” he asks.

“Because I would like to know who put her up to this little stunt.”

“She’s pretty,” Dutton adds.

“She’s wearing a mask,” I deadpan. We could’ve easily removed it. In fact, Hawke had to display a discipline he’s never known when I told him no one was to remove it. This is my prize to unwrap as I see fit.

“A mask doesn’t hide her figure or—” Before I can cut him off myself, her massive gasp to consciousness draws both of our attention.

Her amber gaze scans the room as she fights her restraints. Her eyes remind me of a tiger’s—wild and untamed.

“Motherfucker,” she curses with a groggy voice. “Big mafia boy couldn’t fight his own battle. Had to get his friends to help pin me down?” she snaps with as much tenacity as a wild animal caged with no way of escape.

I remind her of the words she used against me only hours ago. “It’s nothing personal, just business, Kitten. Don’t be upset because I took a much more effective approach.”

She rolls her eyes as if I’m being a petty fuck, but she doesn’t even know the meaning of the word yet. I want to smack the brat out of her. “It’s come to my attention that you don’t realize how serious this is.”

She blows a piece of her hair from her eyes as she focuses on Dutton, and I don’t like her looking at anyone or anything other than me, especially when I’m commanding her attention. When I’m in a space, people only look at me. Only give me respect. This little vixen should already be six feet under.

“I wouldn’t call this serious. But I must confess, I’m used to doing the tying up, not the other way around.”

Dutton’s eyebrow arches and a sly smirk crosses his features. My glare warns him to be silent and that he better fucking wipe that smirk off his face. He immediately complies.

“I’m assuming pretty boy did the tying up. I can’t imagine you being so delicate and patient,” she says dryly.

I take three long strides until I’m looming over her. I pinch her cheeks and pull, wanting to stop that sharp little tongue of hers. “I can be delicate,” I lie.

She scoffs. Fucking scoffs. But when she focuses on me again, there’s an undeniable fire in her amber gaze, something I want to break into a million pieces. Had she chosen to fuck with any other man, it might have worked in her favor. But she is shit out of luck here tonight. I release her cheeks. “Who sent you?”

She shrugs, even in the tight restraints, as if she’s in the most comfortable seat in the room. “I told you, I don’t know the name of the client. I just get a communication with the name of the target.”

“And you’re what, a trained assassin or something?” Dutton asks. My scathing glare has him realizing his mistake.

A slow smile crosses her fuckable, plump lips. It was only by chance that I noticed her tonight, and I still don’t have any information on this woman. I still don’t even know her fucking name. Dutton asking that question outright gives her that revelation.

“I couldn’t possibly be,” she says sarcastically. “I’m just a woman. I couldn’t possibly be deadly.”

I smirk at that, thinking of an ample number of women who people should be terrified of. “The wound to my leg might say otherwise.”

“I was being polite. I could’ve aimed for your chest.”

“So why didn’t you?” I ask, twisting my features into an uncharacteristic smirk. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for me already, sweetheart.”

She seems to shrivel at my smile. “Hey, pretty boy, you’re going to have to train him better at smiling because that shit is creepy as fuck.”

In my peripheral, I can see Dutton is trying his hardest not to grin.

“Leave us,” I say to him. He seems hesitant as he looks between me and Kitten, the tension palpable, but he makes the better judgment to excuse himself. Because I don’t take disobedience well. The length of time it takes him to leave the warehouse sobers her up enough to realize the precarious position she’s in.

I drag a chair closer to her and hang my hands casually over the back of it. I’m curious what she looks like. I can tell she has high cheekbones, come fuck me lips, and a sharp nose. I pull the knife from my pocket, and she swallows hard. Her jaw is clenched, and I can tell she’s trying her hardest to save face. I’m impressed.

“Are you sure you want to die for this cause? I can be very accommodating if you tell me the truth. Tell me who sent you,” I say as I casually lift the blade toward her face.

She’s grinding her teeth but doesn’t break eye contact. I can sense and smell the fear on her all the same, even if it doesn’t break through to the surface.

“I told you I don’t know,” she responds tightly.

“Vengeful lies will have you winding up dead, Kitten,” I explain. Curiosity gets the better of me as I slice the ribbon of her mask, and it falls to one side. My eyes widen slightly at my first glimpse of her.

Too beautiful.

Too tempting.

As most deadly things are.

And those iridescent amber eyes, despite the hint of fear flaring in them, refuse to look anywhere else.

A tigress indeed.

When she doesn’t speak, I do. “What’s your name?”

Her eyebrows crinkle in confusion. It’s barely noticeable as she tries to mask her reactions, but very few things go unnoticed by me.

“I don’t have any family to go after if that’s what you’re angling at.”

My lip twitches. Beautiful and smart. But deadly being the most vital factor to remind myself of.

“I’ll make you a deal. You tell me your first name—your real first name—and I’ll let you go. Lie to me, and I’ll kill you.”

Her eyebrows bunch again. “And why would you let me go?”

“Perhaps I’m feeling merciful tonight.”

She bursts into laughter, and it’s the wildest, most unhinged, beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. “You’re fucking with me, right? You’re just going to let me walk out of here?”

“I’m a man of my word.”

She looks me up and down. “Even though I put a knife in your leg and I’m still most likely going to try and kill you?”

She’s either too honest or cocky to mention the fact that she’ll still go after my life. Maybe I’m a sadist, but I feel hardly satisfied by this short-lived cat and mouse game. And I can’t help but feel there’s something more going on here. I need to figure out who the puppeteer is pulling her strings.

“I’ll have you know, my mother shot my father in the leg on their wedding day, and they’re still happily married. So a knife wound is nothing but foreplay to me, Kitten.”

“Why don’t you hand me the knife and let me tie you up, and then we’ll see how much foreplay you can handle.” The imagery her words conjure shoots straight to my cock.

Fuck me.

Where has this woman been all my life?

“Tell me your name,” I demand.

Most sane people would do anything to survive, but this woman seems to be built as stubborn as they come.

Finally, however, she exhales, defeated. “Jewel. My name is Jewel.”

I stand, pushing through the pain in my leg that is most certainly stirring a reaction in my cock. I have every belief it has nothing to do with the wound itself but with the woman tied up in front of me. With a clean slice, I cut away the ropes. I almost expect her to come out swinging, instead, she remains still, warily watching me.

“If I were you, Jewel, I’d make sure not to leave town. No matter where you run to, I will find you. You stay in town until I flush out your client.” I turn my back to her and head for the door, satisfied with the way she looks dumbfounded and furious at the same time. I make a point to flip her knife in my hand as I walk out, deciding to add it to my collection.

“I’ll have one of my men drive you home. Full disclosure: if you try anything on them, they will brutally murder you,” I say as I look over my shoulder with a cruel smirk.