I wished I could, but my mouth had a mind of its own. My father always warned me about my defiance, calling it a Fallon curse. And yet, here I was, embodying it in full force.
Makros shook his head. “As beautiful and stubborn as a goddamn mule.”
“You said goat last time,” I corrected, despite myself.
His eyes darkened, and before I could regret opening my mouth, the gun was back in my face.
Shit.
My pulse pounded loudly in my ears. This time, he looked serious. His fingers slid to the trigger.
“As you wish, then,” he said with a shrug.
“Wait!” The word shot out before I could stop it.
A slow smirk crept onto his face, victory glinting in his eyes.
“If I can’t teach you with kindness, then I’ll teach you through fear,” he murmured. “You have ten seconds to say two words: I do. Anything else, and you're dead.”
He began to count.
Panic gripped me, squeezing the breath from my lungs.
Ten.
No. I wouldn’t let him win.
Eight.
But I couldn’t die yet.
Six.
I wasn’t ready.
Five.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“I do,” I breathed, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.
His smile widened as he lowered the gun. “Good girl.”
Then, he did something that made my blood run cold. He tossed the gun to the bed.
I rushed and grabbed it, pulling the trigger. Shit it's—Empty. The bastard had been playing me the entire time.
My entire body trembled with rage. “You–”
He laughed. A rich, taunting sound. “You Americans really are as dumb as they say. Or is it just a Fallon thing? Your father was supposed to be this big-shot, yet he went down like a house of cards. I expected a fight. What a damn disappointment.”
How dare he talk about my family like we were nothing? Dumb? The Crawfords and dumb should never be used in the same sentence.
Now, he made me wonder how he had taken out my father so easily? Nothing about this made sense. My father had been powerful, untouchable.
And yet, he was gone. No. My lovely Daddy, the one who had my back. You, I swear I'll make you pay. You and your entire family.
“You're a little too quiet now,” Makros drawled, watching me closely. “Plotting my death already?” He
