He scowls. “You can’t drop people into ponds and get away with it.”
“You can’t break into someone’s apartment and get away with it.”
His face blanches. “I didn’t—I?—”
“The apartment of your ex-girlfriend, whom you’ve filed a lawsuit against, and very publicly threatened.”
“You attacked me!”
“What would you expect from a monster?” I hunch toward him, spreading my wings as wide as possible to make a large imposing figure. For once, I’m very glad to be perceived as a monster.
“You—you—tried to murder me!”
“We both know if I wanted to murder you, that you’d already be dead.” I grin, trying to make it wide and weird—the kind of smile Tiffany always said was unsettling, the one that’s terrified so many people.
“Are you threatening me?” Colin looks like he’s trying not to piss himself. Too bad he’s in the lake, and I will never know if he did.
“Step foot in Piper’s apartment again and find out.” I chuckle. “I will gladly use every resource at my disposal to be sure she never has to see you again. And I am a rich moth, with many resources.”
“You wouldn’t bankrupt yourself,” he scoffs.
“I’d spend time in prison for her.” I laugh, because it’s true.
Colin’s eyes widen. It’s not quite a threat.
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
“Settle your lawsuit with Cryptech, and you will walk away from this, or wade away from it, through about twelve feet of duck shit.” I gesture to the pond. “But you will never see Piper, or speak to her, ever again.”
I pull my phone back out. It’s Piper’s face again on my screen. My heart swells when I see her picture.
“Is everything alright, my flame?” I ask as I answer the call.
“Mercutio and I just pulled up outside your place,” she says. “But I don’t have a key?—”
“We will rectify that immediately.” I’m en route as the words leave my mouth. Leaving Colin, standing in the middle of the pond, surrounded by various water fowl. Although the water is plenty foul with just him in it.
Piper is waiting for me outside my apartment—cat carrier in one hand and a duffle bag in the other.
Her face lights up when she sees me. “Are you alright?” she calls, when I am still quite far away from her. When I land in the parking spot in front of my building, her eyes search me like I may have an invisible injury.
“I’m fine, my flame.”
As soon as the words are out of my mouth, she rushes me, throwing her arms around my middle. “I can’t believe you did that.” Her voice muffled by my chest.
“You won’t see him again.”
“Did you—?” she asks quietly.
“Kill him?” I joke.
“Leave him in the duck pond?” She laughs.
“He is probably wading through two feet of duck poop right now.”
She giggles and pulls back to look me in the eyes as she says it. “You didn’t have to do that for me.”
“I didn’t do it just for you,” I murmur, helping her collect her things from her car. “I did it for me. I am tired of being called a monster. I may as well act like one.”
