SWNOVELS Alluring Darkness: Chapter 32
Our kitchen is unnaturally silent as I walk down the stairs. Usually, I can hear Kaden and Jace arguing about something or other while they’re eating breakfast. But not today. Part of me is glad for that, because I’m still trying to come to terms with what happened last night.
I broke Raina.
To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed. I had begun to think that she might actually be indestructible. That she could take whatever I throw at her and just throw it right back at me. But apparently, she is normal after all.
And now that I hold her brother’s life over her head, she is going to start acting like everyone else around me. Backing up and bowing down and being utterly fucking boring.
With a sigh, I shake my head as I round the corner and stride into the kitchen.
I trail to a halt and blink as I find the last person I ever expected to see in my kitchen today.
Raina is standing in the space between the kitchen island and the wall, and she’s boxed in on all sides by my brothers. Kaden and Rico are standing on either side of her, blocking the way out on both sides, while Jace is sitting on top of the island with his legs dangling over the side. All three of them watch her with suspicious eyes.
My gaze shifts to what looks like a pile of wrapped sandwiches next to Jace.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Raina showed up.” Jace picks up one of the sandwiches and tosses it in his hand a couple of times. “With these.”
Raina flashes me a smile. “Peace offering.”
“Don’t eat those,” I snap at Jace while I narrow my eyes at Raina. “They’re probably full of poison.”
“That’s what I said,” Rico comments.
“Yeah, I figured that out too,” Jace growls. “I’m not stupid.”
I keep my eyes on Raina. “Why are you here?”
“To, uhm… clear the air after last night.”
I snort. “You mean you’ve come to make a deal.”
“If you’re here to beg,” Kaden adds, a sadistic gleam in his eyes. “Then you really should be on your knees.”
Raina cuts him a rather impressive glare before returning her attention to me. “I’m not here to beg. Or to make a deal. I’m here to make sure that we both know where we stand now.”
“We’ll see about that.” I smirk at her before sweeping my gaze over my brothers. “Don’t eat or drink anything that she brought. You…” I lock eyes with Raina and jerk my chin. “With me.”
I start towards the study across the hall. Raina attempts to follow, but the path out from between the island and the wall is blocked by Kaden. He remains standing firmly in her way for a few seconds, watching her with smug amusement. Then he steps aside.
After shooting another glare his way, she stalks after me.
Hope flares to life in my chest. Maybe I haven’t broken her completely after all?
The study is probably the tidiest place in the whole house since we rarely use it. But there is an elegant desk with a grand chair, and dark wooden bookshelves along the walls. I close the door once Raina has crossed the threshold as well. Then I move so that I’m standing in front of her, trapping her between my body and the wall behind her.
“So, you wanted to know where we stand?” I begin. “Exactly where we’ve always been. I hold your life, and your brother’s life, in the palm of my hand, and I’ll continue to play with you until I get bored and decide to crush you.”
No fear floods her face this time when I threaten her brother. Instead, she snorts and rolls her eyes at me. I take a step closer, pressing farther into her space.
“You think I’m joking?” I demand.
“No. I just think you’re delusional.” A sharp glint creeps into her green eyes. “Because if you ever threaten my brother again, I will kill yours.”
“Like you tried to do with those sandwiches?” I scoff and shake my head at her. “Did you really think they would be stupid enough to eat them?”
“Of course not. That’s why I put the poison on the wrapping paper instead.”
Coldness explodes through my chest, and deafening silence rings in my ears.
Raina flashes me a vicious smile. That smile that makes her look like a goddess of death. “Their skin absorbed the poison the moment they took those sandwiches from me.” She shrugs. “It should be making its way through their bodies as we speak.”
Rage and panic and terrible fear slam into me like a lightning storm. I made her think that I was going to execute her brother yesterday, so I wouldn’t put it past her to take revenge for that. And she is insane enough to actually go through with it and kill three people without batting an eye. Cold sweat trickles down my spine. If she actually follows through on this and kills my brothers, I won’t be able to survive it.
My hand shoots out. Grabbing her by the throat, I slam her up against the wall and hold her there so high that her toes are barely touching the ground. “If your poison kills them, I will torture your brother to death.”
She doesn’t even try to fight back. Doesn’t even try to get my hand away from her throat. Instead, she just looks back at me with that fucking death goddess grin on her face. “But your brothers will still be dead too.”
I tighten my grip on her throat, cutting off her air completely. She doesn’t panic. Only continues holding my gaze.
Fear and panic rip through my soul. All I want to do is to just snap her skinny little neck, but she’s right. If I kill her, or her brother, she won’t give me the antidote.
Using every ounce of willpower I possess, I release my grip on her throat and let her drop back down fully on her feet. But I don’t step back.
She brushes her hands down her shirt before looking up at me again and arching an eyebrow. “So, are you finally ready to have an adult conversation?”
The fucking insolence of this girl…
I work my jaw a couple of times before managing to growl, “Yes.”
“Good. Alright then, first things first. I didn’t actually put poison on the wrapping paper.”
For a few seconds, I can’t process her words. So I just stand there and stare at her, dumbfounded.
“Or any part of those sandwiches,” she continues.
“You didn’t?” I blurt out at last.
“No. So your brothers are not poisoned or hurt or dying. They’re completely fine.” She lifts her shoulders in a shrug. “I just wanted to make a point.”
Relief crashes over me like a tidal wave. Staggering a step back, I draw in a deep breath to calm my thundering heart. Raina just stands there, watching me.
Once that terrible storm of fear and panic has drained completely from my body, other emotions take their place. Like fury, for tricking me into thinking that my brothers had been poisoned. But I’m also impressed. Really fucking impressed, actually.
Cocking my head, I study this dangerous woman before me. I have never met anyone like her. I have never met someone who challenges me the way that she does. Someone who doesn’t shrink back in fear but instead steps up and hits back with equal insanity.
“And what point would that be?” I ask at last.
“That if you touch my brother, I will poison yours.”
“I thought I made it very clear last night that you do not threaten my family.”
“And this is me making it clear that you do not threaten mine.”
Another wave of grudging admiration pulses through me, but all I say is, “Connor tried to shoot me.”
“No.” She holds my gaze with serious eyes. “Someone had tampered with his rifle.”
I snort. “Yeah, right.”
“It’s true.”
“Doesn’t matter. Accident or not, he almost shot me. He deserves whatever I decide to do to him.”
“And if you do anything to him, I will poison your brothers.” She gives me a mockingly sweet smile. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m an incredibly skilled chemist.”
Despite myself, I huff out an amused breath. “I have noticed.”
“So where does that leave us?”
“At a stalemate, I suppose.”
Silence falls over the study. Morning sunlight shines in through the windows, illuminating the dark wooden furniture around us and making Raina’s intelligent green eyes glitter.
The expression on her face sends a pang through my heart.
Last night, I kidnapped her from her bed, tied her up and put her in my trunk before driving her out into the forest, putting a gun to her head and tossing her a shovel, and telling her to dig a grave. Most people would be pissing their fucking pants if that happened. But what did she do? She threw the shovel back at me and told me to dig it myself.
Then I made her kiss our boots and grovel at our feet before I pretended to execute her brother just so that she would know what I will do if she ever so much as looks at me in a way I don’t like. And how does she respond? Not with unconditional surrender, like any sane person would. No, she waltzes in here and threatens to kill my brothers if I ever touch hers again.
My whole soul aches as I watch Raina stare back at me with utter confidence on her features.
Fuck, I can’t let this girl slip through my fingers. She’s mine. And she has been mine since the day she carved Small Dick Energy into my car. She makes me crazy and not crazy and she is exactly what I need.
“But I can be persuaded to leave your brother alone,” I say before I can change my mind.
She raises her eyebrows. “Oh?”
“If you sleep here.”
“You want me to fuck you in exchange for my brother’s life?”
The hilarious part is that she doesn’t even look offended by, or opposed to, the idea. I don’t know whether to laugh or punish her for that.
Shaking my head, I reply, “No. I meant exactly what I said. I want you to sleep here. In this house. In my room. With me.”
Her brows furrow in confusion as she stares back at me, bewildered. “Why?”
Since I don’t want to explain to her that she somehow helps me sleep, I just flick my wrist and start to turn around. “Fine, if you don’t want my mercy then—”
“Wait!” She grabs my arm to pull me back. “Alright, alright. Fine, I’ll sleep here.”
Turning back around, I shoot a pointed look down at the hand she still has wrapped around my forearm, and then raise my eyebrows expectantly.
She rolls her eyes but then releases my arm. “So we have a deal?”
“You will sleep here.” I hold her gaze. “Every day. Unless I say otherwise.”
“And in exchange, you will leave my brother alone,” she finishes.
I nod. “Deal.”
“Deal.”
My heart does an absolutely ridiculous backflip in my chest.
And I swear I can see a satisfied smile lurk on Raina’s lips as well.