Kai shook his head. “You’re good, I’ll give you that. Who are you working for?”
I blinked rapidly, spilling more tears. “What? I-I work for the Private Reserve Bank of Cloudcroft. Is that what this is about? Is my boss doing something illegal? I don’t know anything about—”
“Stop lying ,” Kai barked. His deep voice bounced through the empty house and reverberated against my skin with a power that made my insides twist. “You’re covert, I’m sure of it. CIA?”
More tears as I blinked my confusion. “What? CIA? No! Kai, I’m just a bank teller. I just—”
“No, you’re right,” he murmured, his brown eyes seemingly black in the darkness of the house. The only light came from the broken windows, and it cast an eerie shadow across his features. “You’re not American enough for CIA. MI6 maybe. Or Mossad. Possibly even DGSE. Stop me when I strike the right note, Danielle, it’ll be quicker that way.”
I almost laughed at his assumption I worked for a governmental agency. As though I was one of the self-proclaimed good guys . Cute. If he knew how appallingly they all paid their covert operatives, he’d understand why those guesses were amusing.
“Kai, I’m not a spy ,” I exclaimed, wringing my hands and giving a nervous laugh. “Is this a joke? You’re messing with me, right? Does Mo have anything to do with this?”
He didn’t answer, just stared at me a moment longer before pulling a phone from his costume belt and bringing it to his ear.
“Yeah, Cyryl?” He paused to listen, his eyes still locked on me. He wasn’t looking away, so I pushed more tears from my eyes, sniffing dramatically. “I’m handling it.” He ended the call, putting his phone away and leaning forward into my space.
“Here’s the thing, Danielle. I’m in a bit of a hurry and don’t have time to play games. Tell me who you work for, and let’s get this over with.” His tone was hard and threatening, but he had no idea who he was playing with.
I just sat there trembling like a cold Chihuahua and sniveling pleas for my life. I’d seen the flicker of uncertainty in Kai’s eyes when I’d first started crying. He wasn’t totally convinced I was under cover, so I was confident he wouldn’t actually shoot me until I gave him some kind of confirmation. Which I would never do. Not even under the most depraved torture.
“Give it up, Danielle,” Kai roared. “I saw you eyeing me up at the club, way before you targeted my sister in the bathrooms. I know you were there for me.”
More sobs. Damn, I was good at that. “Wh-what? Target Mo? She approached me! And I wasn’t—”
“I saw you. Before your boyfriend kissed you, I saw the way you looked at me. Just tell me who you’re working for, and I’ll end this quickly.” His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, but there was uncertainty in his posture. He was already second-guessing himself. Did most agents break so easily? Spy agencies really needed to train their people better if they did.
I dragged a shuddering breath, swiping my hand over my wet cheeks. The sting of my mascara running was helping to maintain the fake tears, though, so I didn’t wipe too much away.
“I thought you were hot ,” I blurted out like an accusation. “I was checking you out , not planning to kill you!”
His brows flicked up ever so briefly, betraying a hint of surprise. He hadn’t expected that. How curious.
“That was before I realized what a total psychopath you are, though,” I continued, spitting the words at him with fear-drenched venom. “Before you opened your mouth and showed me that beauty really is only skin-deep. How the fuck someone as lovely as Moana is related to you , I have no idea.”
He reared back slightly as though I’d slapped him. “You really want me to believe you were just flirting when you kept looking over at me?”
I gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah, Kai, I was. But right now, I’d rather have sex with a barbed wire dildo while swimming in crocodile-infested waters than kiss you. Sorry if that’s not the truth you were hoping to get out of me here, but that’s all I’ve got.”
He stared at me for a long moment, the shadows shifting to hide his expression. Frustrating as hell because I was relying on reading his moods to know which angle to push in my character. Aggressive, insulting, and terrified seemed to be the sweet spot, though.
I gave another shaking sob and sat up straighter in my chair. “If you’re going to kill me, then you should just do it. But you’ll be killing an innocent woman, Kai. Do you really want that on your shoulders for the rest of your life?”
He’d killed before, of course. Plenty of times, if his file was to be believed. But had he ever killed someone he believed to be an innocent in terms of his world? I didn’t think so. Regardless of his status and the countless deaths his gun sales had been responsible for, I hadn’t seen any real fuckups in his history. His kills had all been other criminals or people trying to take him down.
Me, though? As far as he was concerned, I was sweet innocent Danielle the bank teller, and nothing would prove that false even if I were dead.
Still, he raised his gun and flicked off the safety. The cool muzzle pressed against my forehead, and I froze, my eyes wide with fear.
“Danny,” Leon said softly in my ear. “You’re in over your head. I’m coming to help.”
“Stop,” I gasped, my gaze locked with Kai’s. “Please, stop . You’ll regret this.”
“Maybe I will,” Leon replied, knowing full fucking well I was talking to him. “But I can’t stay here and listen to you get killed.”
“Maybe I will,” Kai murmured, and the echo of Leon’s words jolted through me with a weird feeling. “But I can’t take chances. Who do you work for, Danny?”
I let more tears fall free, running down my cheeks as I raised my trembling chin with bravado. “I already told you. I work at the bank.”
For a split second, I wondered if I’d misjudged Kai. Maybe he really would pull the trigger? I didn’t care how close Leon might be, he wouldn’t be able to save me from a bullet to the head at this close range.
But then Kai exhaled a curse and lowered the gun.
I sagged in my chair, my whole body trembling as I gave soft, pathetic sobs.
“Go!” Kai roared, his free hand clenched in a fist on the arm of the chair. “Get the fuck out of here, and lose my sister’s number. I never want to see your angelic little face again, Danielle, or I swear I will pull the trigger.”
“Holy fuck,” Leon exclaimed in my ear. “That was too fucking close .”
He was telling me.
I scrambled out of my seat and hurried for the exit. “Trust me, you crazy fuck, you’ll never see me again.” I gave another shuddering gasp, wobbling on my heels as I reached for the door handle.
No sooner had I pulled it open, though, than it snatched out of my grip and slammed shut with an echoing bang.
“Just because I’m letting you live,” Kai growled from right behind me. His hand was still planted on the door, holding it shut as I stiffened in fake fear. “Doesn’t mean I will tolerate that kind of disrespect.” He bit the words off in anger, finally snapping on how many times I’d pushed his buttons tonight.