Alle Kapitel von Playing with the Enemy: Kapitel 171 – Kapitel 180

“What the fuck?!”I stepped back. Barry followed.“B., it’s nothing.”I may as well have been spitting in the wind.He grabbed my collar. I pushed his hand off, but not fast enough. He had gotten a solid grip. The ripping sound stilled everyone in the room.“The fuck –” My words stuck in my throat.Right there, behind Barry, was Marcus. His eyes on what Barry had been so curious about.He had pinched a spot along two of the lines Leon had scratched on my chest. The scab had cracked, and blood had slipped out, staining my shirt.I froze. Marcus’ eyes came up to mine. I turned away and pushed past Barry, keeping the large man between me and his boss.I ran. I took the stairs four at a time. I slammed my door so hard the wall shook.Shit, shit, shit! I cursed in my head, then out loud.“Shit!!”I threw my shirt on the ground.The wound on my chest would not have been the

Marcus raised his right arm, gazing at the stars between his fingers. “I placed my hand on her head. I patted it,” he said quietly.I was sitting now, my feet on grass, facing him.“Her teeth were locked on my flesh, but I stroked her head. It hurt. Bad. But I couldn’t hit her again. I felt her pain, or maybe… I understood it. Or… part of it. The desperation. I had been desperate often enough in my time.”“She let go after a minute or two and lifted her face. Her eyes were puffy, her cheek was swollen, and there was blood on her teeth. My blood.”“Her eyes filled and she started shaking. ‘You care more about him than you do about me,’ she said, her eyes accusing me like I had caused the situation we were both in.”“’You don’t give a fuck about me,’ she spat, running a hand over her nose and mouth. ‘I’m a chain to you. A burden. Why don’t you just kill me?’”“Those were probably the most words she had spoken to me in one sitting since the ord

I left it at that and hung up before either of us got any ideas.I went back to sleep.An hour and a half later, I called Rina, and she gave me a location to get to for the task ahead.My double and my other team members had gotten to Singapore ahead of me. I was covered to disappear as often and for as long as I liked. Though it was agreed that I would not be away for longer than three hours at any stretch.Sunday was the last day Marcus and I had agreed on. If I couldn’t get my Trojan horse, in this instance, Adrian, into Leon’s office premises, I would have to sit back and let my dark one handle Leon Ralis.But Leon came with a basket of issues. Ones Marcus and his group would spend too much time and risk too many lives solving.My plan was cleaner. Neater. Easier. Most importantly, Marcus and his people would not be anywhere near any potential fallout; it would all be on me and my very small, very flexible team.Every single one o

“Something is wrong. Somewhere. Somehow. Jayden has never asked me to do anything for him. Not once. Except for returning his car that time, but that was different.”“And the first time he does, that he actually does, it’s with Lee?”“You said I shouldn’t get between them. Help me, Liam. How do I create this space? I won’t play arbitrator. I don’t want to. But I don’t want Lee to get hurt.”“He says Jayden’s a good guy. I believe that too. But,” I shook my head, holding Liam’s steady gaze.“Jayden has a side to him. Something to him. I… I’ve glimpsed it. Twice,” I said, turning away, my mind flashing to the shower at the sports center, after our game of squash, and then that moment, in Florida, before he used the ice to –“I don’t want to know what that is,” I said out loud, cutting my mind off. “He doesn’t let me close, regardless.”My gaze went back to my companion of twelve years.“I don’t want him hurt either, but this is beyond m

So, I had done everything, used every inch of my body, my heart, my soul, to make him mine.What I had done in Malta was a result of my knowledge of the predator who wore a human mask and paraded himself around like a reasonable member of society.But Ralis was not reasonable.He wanted control. I gave it to him.He wanted my fear. I handed it to him.He wanted to use Marcus against me. That… I would not permit.He was a chain around my neck. My chain. My neck. Not my dark one’s.And I… was a boulder around his. On Ralis’.And before he strangled the life from me, I would sink him to the bottom of life’s ocean.But I would give him a chance. One last chance. I, after all, was a reasonable man.“Jade…”That was it. That was the tone. I had him. I always had, even when he hurt me, even when I thought he had abandoned me; I had him from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.“Sunday,” I said soft