Page 74 of Empire of Lust
“Tell me,” I whisper, bracing myself.
“It was Lucas. I’m sorry. I really am.”
I close my eyes, forcing myself to accept. “Are you going to kill him?”
His grip on my hand tightens. “What makes you ask that?”
“Let’s skip the pretending.” I say it with as much affection as I can, so I don’t hurt his feelings. “I know that’s what you want to do because I know you.”
“You want to hear the truth?” I open my eyes and nod slowly, even though I dread hearing it come from his lips. “All that’s been in my head since we got the confirmation is the different ways I could extend his life as long as possible while making him wish I would take mercy and kill him quickly.”
He leans in, staring intensely. Looking into my soul, it seems. “But that wouldn’t be fair to you. You’re the person he hit, which means you get to decide.”
I can’t believe I’m hearing this. “You want me to decide if you kill him?”
“You’re the only one with the right to make that decision.”
I wish I could believe he was joking, but I know better.
A man’s life is in my hands—when he could have ended my life easily. When he has already robbed me of five years.
“There’s one more thing,” he murmurs. “From the footage, it looks like he sped up halfway down the block.”
Yes, he did. I remember now how the engine revved like he was picking up speed.
It was deliberate. Lucas deliberately hit me. He tried to kill me.
But is that worth a death sentence?
CALLUM
Come on. Make the right choice. Give me the go-ahead.
This is a big step. I wish there was a way to make her understand what it means for me to leave this in her hands.
Control is my thing. Before I met her, it was the one sure thing that would always get me off. Knowing I called the shots, that I held lives in my hand. Everything happens according to my schedule—when I’m damn good and ready.
Then along comes this girl, and everything I thought I knew about myself went out the window the moment I stopped thinking of her as a child and saw her as the woman she is. It’s times like this, sitting on the edge of the bed and waiting with bated breath for her to make up her mind, that I almost wish we’d never met.
But that would be a mistake, like cutting off my nose to spite my face.
In the end, this is for her sake. A small sacrifice on my part, so she’ll feel like she has the room to make choices for herself. I know how important that is to her. And if it means making sure she doesn’t get it into her head to run off again, it’s worth swallowing my pride and risking sparing that murderous motherfucker’s life.
He sped up. The son of a bitch sped up, probably once he saw her crossing the street. He sped up because he wanted to kill her.
My Bianca, my little bird, a woman he never knew even over the course of five years. He never learned the first thing about her, or else he would never have wasted the chance to love her.
I’ll give her credit. She gives it real thought, her brow wrinkling, teeth digging into her lip. That she’s even thinking about it tells me I haven’t imagined the darkness lurking inside her. She has a gentle soul, but somewhere in there is a streak of darkness. There has to be. Why else would she be so drawn to me even when she knows the man I truly am?
“Part of me wants to see him dead,” she admits, using her free hand to pick at the duvet. “Does that make me a bad person?”
“Are you really asking me that? Because you know what I’m going to say.”
Her lips twitch in the beginnings of a smile that never quite forms. “I know. But that’s what I have to ask myself.”
“You’re human, and you just found out your ex tried to run you over. I would have to wonder if you were telling the truth if you said you didn’t think about spitting on his grave for at least a second.”
“Oh, I was going to do that. I just figured it would be years from now.” My brave girl tries again to smile, but she doesn’t quite get there.