Page 46 of The Associate
His breath, hot against my ear. “What are you doing out here all alone?”
I don’t say anything. I just stare after Mia, even though she’s turned the corner. I feel something cool against the base of my throat. “Fucking do it!” I spit.
“Feisty one, aren’t ya?” Rico chuckles. I feel the vibrations of his voice against my back.
“There’s no point in me playing nice, considering you were watching me earlier today and now you’re standing here with a knife to my throat,” I argue. “So just fucking do it! Slit my throat, take away the one person my father has left.”
Rico freezes for a moment before I feel the blade move across my collarbone. Not drawing any blood yet.
“I don’t think I will though,” he ponders, the knife moving slowly.
“Why not?” I am curious now.
“Well, you see,” he begins, his pressure easing up on me slightly, “I thought about just kidnapping you, taking you back to Blackmere, and making you my wife because I know that shiny ring on your finger is a fake. You cannot con a con man, darling. So, I’ve thought about taking you for myself whilst making sure that your father and Viper will never see you again, but…”
“But what?” I squirm against his hold.
He pauses when the guy in front of us glares at him. I guess he is saying too much, but he is the boss, so he can say what he wants.
He runs the knife a little further towards where his friend’s knife had cut into my arm, the blood starting to clot. Thankfully, it isn’t that deep.
“Oh fuck off Jace, you know damn well what this is.” He glares at the other man.
“Boss, you really shouldn’t be telling her this. She will run back to daddy dear and then it will be over for us all,” Jace says “He will level our whole fucking organisation in one swoop.”
What Jace over there fails to realise is that my father is well past the scheming and trying to take out his enemy. “Do you really think so, Jace?” I ask.
“Shut your mouth you stupid bitch!” he yells, taking two large steps towards me, slapping the back of his hand across my face.
The hit is still stinging as he steps back. I want to place pressure against it to relieve the pain but I hold my place. A metallic taste fills my mouth.Motherfucker!I want to scream at him and kick him in the balls. Nothing would make me happier, but I keep my cool.
“What the fuck, Jace?” Rico growls. “If she goes back to that mansion, bruised and bloody, who do you think Sal is going to send after us?”
Jace’s eyes widen as he looks at Rico. “Exactly,” Rico says with more annoyance in his voice now. “It ain’t going to be the fucking tooth fairy!”
I have managed to wiggle my hand into the pocket of my leggings and wrap my hand around the blade. I pull it out slowly to minimise my movements. Rico is too busy arguing with Jace to realise what I am doing.
Doing the best that I can, I manoeuvre myself slightly so that I can thrust the knife into Rico’s side, catching him just above the hip. Hot blood runs down my hand and drips from the knife.
Rico lets out a pained yell before releasing me as he drops to the ground, but not before he manages to cut a line with his knife across my left collarbone and down to my right breast. The blade moves quickly, leaving me standing in shock for a moment. A sharp pain burns across my chest. The warmth of the blood runs through my cleavage.
The cut is not an intention to kill, it is to prove a point.
I feel a sting at my side but adrenaline is keeping me moving. My hand instinctively moves to it.
I run. Jace tries to get hold of me, but, just as he steps in front of me, I pause, tilting my head in his direction. He stops, confusion crossing his features, and, in one quick motion, I kick out in front of me. My foot connects with his balls. He crashes down to the pavement, holding his junk.
“You fucking whore!” he yells in agony as I take off running again. I’ve been called worse in my time. But that motion was oh so satisfying.
I sprint back to the mansion. I hear Mia barking in the distance and the further I run, the louder her barks get. Adrenaline is all that keeps me running.
I am getting closer to the mansion and see lights being turned on in some of the rooms. Well, this is going to be an interesting entrance.
Running up the driveway, I see that Mia is at the front door, still barking. “It’s ok girl, I’m nearly there,” I say, just as the door opens.
Mason is standing there with a look of shock on his face. “Viv?”
“I can explain.” I push past him and into the foyer.
