KESTER.
My entire body trembled, and I knew she could feel it as my grip on her small wrist tightened by the second.
Why?
Why couldn’t she see what she was doing to me? Why couldn’t she understand that I was losing my mind over her? That every second she spent clinging to the idea of another man was driving me to the edge of something dangerous-something I wasn’t sure even I could control.
Why couldn’t she fucking let that maggot go?!
I hadn’t killed him yet because it would break her. But she keeps making it difficult for me. Fuck!
“Fuck it, Kasmine, who gave this to you?” My voice rose slightly, and my heart thundered in my chest.
She wasn’t responding, and her silence was killing me.
Why? Was she too scared? Or was this an attempt to save him from what was to come?
She tried to yank her hand out of my grip. The nerve to think she could.
“Kester…” She searched my eyes with those eyes which had held rage and jealousy when she saw June ascending the stairs a moment ago, and I was certain she found nothing but the same rage simmering in mine.
She licked her lips and hesitated for a fraction of a second too long. “I… I got it myself.”
Lies.
I sucked in a slow breath, dragging my tongue over my teeth, my jaw clenching so tightly it ached.
“I hate lies,” I muttered, my voice low, lethal. “And you know it.”
I thought I was beginning to get her to feel the same way I did, especially after seeing how she tried her best to conceal her emotions when she saw June today. I saw the way she clenched her small palms and blinked rapidly. The way her eyes widened when June wrapped her hands around mine.
I had seen her jealousy.
I had felt it.
And I loved it.
It made me believe, for one stupid, fleeting moment, that maybe-maybe-she was beginning to feel what I felt. That I wasn’t the only one slowly being consumed by this insanity.
So they were all lies?
“It is Jake, isn’t it?” Her breath hitched. I smirked. “I might just have to have a conversation with him after all,” I murmured, tilting my head slightly to the side, taking in the way her body trembled, how her breathing had turned shallow.
“No. Please don’t, Kester,” she whispered, pressing her lips together to stop their quivering. “It wasn’t him. I swear…”
“You swear? With your life?” I dragged the words out, savoring them.
She didn’t answer.
Of course, she didn’t.
“You ruined everything, Mine. We were meant to have the perfect evening tonight,” I whispered, leaning down and pressing my forehead against hers, “I had so much planned out for us.”
“I’m sorry, Kes. But I…”
“Shhh… No more lies,” I lifted my head and looked into her eyes, “And ‘sorry’ can’t fix everything. I wish it could.” I let the silence that followed wrap around us like a blanket before speaking again, “You want him instead, right?” I asked, but she was quiet.
“Hmm? Kasmine? You want Jake, don’t you?” I whispered, but she only avoided my gaze. “Okay.”
My eyes flickered down to her wrist again, to that cheap piece of metal tainting her flawless skin.
Without another word, I lifted her hand higher, running my fingers over the engraving one last time before tearing it off.
A sharp inhale escaped her lips, but I ignored it, slipping the bracelet into my pocket like it had never fucking existed.
She had no idea.
No idea how close I was to breaking something.
To breaking someone.
And if she wasn’t careful…
That someone would be Jake.
***
I could swear June was already regretting her decision to attempt this joke of a family dinner she had planned out.
What was she thinking? That we’d all eat, talk, and laugh like normal people? Funny.
She had tried bringing up a topic or two to lighten up the gloomy mood Kasmine and I wore, but she failed woefully.
Thankfully, she read the room and kept the fuck quiet. Besides, I never asked her to go through all the troubles she had gone through to prepare all these meals.
Dinner ended faster than a teenage boy’s first fuck. Kasmine had hurried to her room over an hour ago, but I sat in the living room, still brooding over Jake. I had to do something about him, but I felt handicapped in this situation. If not for Kasmine, his corps would be in the concrete of an upcoming market complex by now.
My thoughts were interrupted by the soft footsteps of someone coming down the stairs.
I already knew it wasn’t Kasmine.
She wouldn’t come down so soon.
She was probably still curled up in her room, trying to pretend she wasn’t fucking aching for me the same way I was for her.
The footsteps slowly came closer.
June.
I exhaled through my nose, jaw tightening.
She stopped a few feet away, shifting her weight slightly. When I didn’t acknowledge her, she took a step closer, and that was when I saw what she was wearing.
She had changed out of that red dress she’d paraded herself in earlier, swapping it for something even worse.
A nightie-if it could even be called that.
Thin, white lace.
Sheer. Practically see-through.
It stopped high up her thighs, the hem barely covering anything, and the deep V at the front exposed the curves of her breasts, the dusky peaks pressing against the delicate fabric like she wanted me to notice them.
Desperate.
Pathetic.
She should’ve known by now-I don’t give a fuck about her.
I dragged my gaze back to the empty glass in my hand, swirling the last few drops of whiskey absently, waiting for her to take the hint and leave. But of course, she didn’t.
Instead, she crossed the space between us and settled herself across my lap, straddling one of my thighs like she belonged there.
The audacity.
I almost shoved her off immediately, but she was gripping my shoulders now, pressing in closer, her breath warm against my cheek.
“I don’t get it, Kes,” she murmured. I exhaled slowly, tilting my head back against the couch, my patience wearing thin. “What is going on?”
“Not interested, June.”
“You always say that,” she whispered, her nails lightly grazing my neck. “But you never actually give me a chance.”
I could feel her eyes on me, searching for something-anything-that would tell her she had a sliver of hope.
She didn’t.
But that wasn’t stopping her. “What do I have to do to make you love me?”
“I love you,” she breathed, pressing her body closer against mine. “I always have. I don’t understand why you won’t let me prove it to you.”
A humorless chuckle escaped my lips. “Prove it?” I finally looked at her, arching a brow.
She nodded, leaning in, her lips brushing the shell of my ear as she spoke. “If you love me back, I’ll do anything for you. Anything. My father will approve the partnership you’ve been wanting. Your enemies will become my enemies. I’ll be yours-completely.”
I tilted my head slightly, watching her with dull amusement.
Desperate little thing.
She was clinging to the idea of me like I was the only thing keeping her from drowning.
Pathetic.
I had already grown bored of her, but she wasn’t letting go.
And then, something clicked.
Nine o’clock.
I knew Kasmine’s habits better than I knew my own.
Every night at exactly nine, she came downstairs for a glass of milk.
Every. Single. Night.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. Four minutes to nine.
A slow, wicked smile tugged at the corner of my lips as the perfect idea settled in my mind.
If Kasmine wanted to act like she didn’t care, then fine. I’d make her care.
I leaned in, brushing a hand along June’s bare thigh, dragging my fingers upward just enough to make her breath hitch.
“Anything?” I murmured.
Her eyes lit up.
“Yes,” she whispered eagerly. “Anything.”
I tilted her chin up, forcing her to look into my eyes.
“Then get on your knees.”
Her lips parted, her breathing uneven.
“W-what?”
I smirked, leaning in so our lips were just a breath apart.
“You want to prove your love?” My voice dropped to a whisper, dark and edged with amusement. “Then get on your fucking knees and suck my cock like a whore.”