32. Mina

THIRTY-TWO

mina

Brian pulls me against him in the darkened room, his mouth finding mine. I gasp, a tiny moan escaping me as I melt into his kiss. I’m about to ask about the target we still haven’t taken out when the door clangs against the wall, and I jump, spinning as the light flicks on. A masked man in a tuxedo fills the doorway.

Brian’s hand moves possessively up the back of my neck, gripping me. I expect him to move in front of me, to protect me from the intruder, but he doesn’t.

Finally, after what feels like my entire lifetime up until this moment, the man in the doorway speaks. “Mina, what in the hell do you think you’re doing with him?”

I try to spin around, but the man who now clearly isn’t Brian, has a grip on the back of my neck so tight I can’t move.

Brian removes his mask and puts it in the pocket of his jacket, then his eyes move away from me dismissively and on to the stranger. I feel suddenly like everything between us is gone in an instant—as though it was only ever a mirage.

“Brian?”

But he doesn’t look at me. It’s like I’m dead to him. My heartbeat picks up, thrumming faster and louder until my entire body is vibrating with the energetic pulses of life that could be taken from me at any time. I have never before been aware of just how close to death I live than in this moment. It’s as though my heart knows it’s almost over and is rushing to fit in as many beats as possible while it still can.

I’ve always known what Brian was—the monster he really is when he isn’t with me—and sometimes when he is with me—but I’ve never had the weight of his nature truly aimed in my direction. I thought I knew his darkness, his coldness, but if I thought I went to bed with death at night, I was adorably naive about what that meant.

This is Brian. The real Brian. The one he shields me from. And I didn’t realize until this moment just how much he still shielded me from what he is.

I feel like I’m meeting this man for the very first time—like my first night at the Pleasure House when he terrified me so much… except this is somehow so much worse because back then, he was intrigued by me. I may not have known it at the time but that’s what it was. And now…? He’s flipped that switch inside himself—the switch I never thought would be flipped on me. I was so stupid, dancing with the devil all this time—thinking somehow I was special, that his danger and darkness would never turn on me and that the death he wears like a shroud would never wrap its icy fingers around my throat.

Because I was special. I was so incredibly wrong.

“Brian, I didn’t know, I thought it was you.”

He chuckles humorlessly. “You thought it was me, Mina? You can’t tell the difference in my kiss and a stranger’s? Let’s not kid ourselves here.” There’s an edge of barely controlled rage in his voice, and the combination of his ice and his fire aimed at me is almost more than I can take.

“Everyone’s wearing a mask! The party was crowded. And…” I trail off, stopping myself in time because I don’t know how Brian would react to what I was about to say.

“And what, Mina? What lies are about to fall out of your faithless mouth?”

“He felt cold and empty... like you.”

I see the slightest flicker of something behind Brian’s eyes, but it’s gone in the next second.

He turns his attention back to the man I can’t see, the man I so stupidly thought was Brian. I get it. I understand why this seems so unbelievable, that I wouldn’t know my own lover’s touch, that I wouldn’t be able to discern Brian’s lips on my throat or on my mouth from a stranger’s. But he felt like him. All I know right now is that I’m alone in a room with two killers.

“Well, this takes the fun out of everything,” the stranger says.

“Gregor, how have you been?” Brian says. His tone is calm, casual. He knows this guy? Of course he does. They both carry the same energy, like they were inducted into the same secret society murder club together.

“I can’t complain,” Gregor says.

“The target is dead, and I already sent proof. The money has been wired to my account. I was going to take Mina on a nice tropical holiday, but… tonight has reminded me… I work better alone.”

Gregor’s grip tightens on the back of my neck. “I’ll kill her.” It’s painfully clear that he had a script and can’t keep up with the change that makes the script irrelevant now. I realize suddenly that the history between these two isn’t pleasant. This guy lured me away with the plan to what? Fuck what belongs to Brian? Kill me? Kill me while Brian watched? Did Dante know it wasn’t Brian leading me away from the party?

Brian rolls his eyes. “Did you miss the last couple of minutes? I don’t give a flying fuck. Fuck her, torture her, kill her. What the fuck do I care? She’s not mine anymore. She’s nothing to me. I would sell her to you, to try to recoup some of my losses—and frankly this contract is only a third of what I paid for her—but given the bad blood between you and I, I think it’s a pretty even trade. I’ll take the monetary loss and we can let bygones be bygones.”

“Brian… I swear I didn’t know… please. Master,” my voice cracks on that last word.

I see the muscle in his jaw tighten, but he ignores me.

“Master?” Gregor says. “What kind of kinky games do you two have going on behind the scenes?”

“It’s not a game,” Brian says. “I bought this worthless little whore, if you can believe it. She’s my actual real property. I paid five million for her.”

Gregor laughs. “If you paid that much, then she must be worth it.” The thumb of the hand gripping me so tightly begins to caress the side of my throat. “I bet you’re a smooth, slick ride, aren’t you, honey? Maybe I’ll fuck you before I kill you. Would you like that? I’ll make you moan my name while I sink my cock so deep inside you, you’ll forget all about Sloan, here. And who knows… maybe if you’re a good enough lay, I’ll keep you alive for a while.”

I look to Brian, hoping this is all just some kind of ruse to rescue me, but he is a wall of ice, completely shut off to me—emotionless. Surely these words from his rival would soften him, or give me even the tiniest hint that this is all some plan he has.

“Master… please. I swear I didn’t know. I’m yours, you know I’m yours. I love you.”

I’m not sure I’ve ever said these words out loud to him, at least not explicitly. I’ve held them close inside. They have always felt like such foolish words to say to a man like Brian. I know he cares for me… or… I thought he did, but I’m not sure love is a thing he’s capable of—even for me. And especially now, in light of this new unfolding situation.

I’m not sure he can work past the anger and betrayal he feels to get to a rational thought long enough to remember what we are to each other.

Finally he turns back to me and laughs. “It’s a convenient time to address me properly, isn’t it? A very convenient time to express your undying love, when you know you’re about to die. You haven’t really been mine for a long time, and we both know it, Mina.” He practically spits those last words out at me.

I know what he means. His ownership of me has been little more than a performance at the house since I rescued him from Matsumoto’s son at Easter. That feels like a lifetime ago.

The dynamic between us shifted irrevocably. I thought he was okay with it. I thought he was on board and that power flowing back and forth between us in a more balanced way was what he wanted.

Maybe not.

“So, it wouldn’t bother you then if I fucked her right in front of you before I killed her?” Gregor says.

This is not going at all according to his plan. He thought Brian would try to bargain for my life. Gregor no doubt had some big revenge plot playing through his head, but Brian’s cold indifference wasn’t at all what he expected or hoped.

I’m still trying to hold onto the frail hope that this IS some plan to rescue me from a dangerous situation, but if Gregor is buying it, and he’s like Brian, then maybe it’s the truth.

They all turn on me in the end. They all hurt me. I should have known Brian would be no different, but he seemed so different. I thought we had something real, but Brian is a sociopath. I’ve forgotten that fact a thousand times in his arms. He has no soul, no conscience. Everything is a mask, a game to him. He is an actor on the stage of life, perfectly playing his part. But the man who plays the character I’ve grown to love… that’s the man I’m faced with right now, and he is nothing like the character he plays.

“Not at all,” Brian says. “In fact, we should fuck and kill her together. Put the past in the past.”

My ears are ringing as every piece of his carefully crafted mask slips away and all I’m left with is the monster underneath.

Brian stalks me, his fierce black gaze locked on mine, as though he could consume me and burn me to ashes with only a look.

“Are you ready to take us both like a good little whore? Be good, and maybe he’ll keep you. I’ve certainly got no use for you anymore. You cramp my style.”

Tears stream down my face, and I shudder as Gregor’s other hand begins to drift down my back as the zipper slides down inch by creeping inch.

“Master…” I can’t beg him again because I know it won’t matter. I can’t break past this wall he’s erected between us.

Gregor finally lets go of the back of my neck, as he begins to move his hands slowly over me.

I look to Brian, hoping to see the tiniest flicker of any emotion that exists in the whole gradient of human feelings. But he’s empty. I’ve lost him. I can’t believe I’ve lost this one person I thought I’d have forever.

“Kiss me like it’s your last time, Mina, because it is.” Brian grips the back of my neck and pulls me into him. When our lips touch I feel all the coldness he’s held back from me, but I also feel intensity, passion, fire, anger. There are so many contradicting things inside this kiss, I can’t name them all, and I don’t understand how they all exist together.

The tears flow harder down my cheeks as his… friend? enemy? begins to kiss a trail down my back, and I shudder against the mouth I can’t believe I thought was Brian’s. This one miscalculation will cost me everything.

Then, a moment later, Gregor isn’t touching me anymore. I hear his body slump to the floor. I startle and turn to find an empty syringe in Brian’s hand. It clatters to the ground and he pulls me into him, just holding me, and I can feel his heart pounding against me. My heart beats just as hard, and it’s as though our two hearts are tiny panicked birds, flapping against the walls of our cages trying desperately to get to each other.

“I really thought it was you. I’m sorry, I know it was stupid. I…”

He pulls back from me and all the coldness has dropped away.

“I know, baby. But I once killed the woman he loved. He would have snapped your neck before I reached you. I’m sorry I had to go so cold. It was the only way he’d believe me. Anything less than a perfect show would have gotten you killed.”

I can’t stop crying.

I look up and our eyes meet. “It was a really convincing show,” I say.

Brian brushes a strand of hair out of my eyes and smirks. “What’s Halloween without a little scare?”

I feel his hard length pressed against me, and I wonder what part of this entire situation has him so worked up.

He wipes the tears off my face with the pads of his thumbs while he holds me like I’m the oxygen that makes his life possible. And I let out a long slow, steadying breath.

“What about him?” I ask, nodding at Gregor.