Tales of Darkness & Sin - Pepper Winters Page 0,91

thing I expected her to utter through her plump, red lips.

She needed me to kill someone? For her? Was this a fucking joke?

“What did you just say?” I asked, my voice rough and grating to my own ears. I tugged onto the lock of hair wrapped around my finger. There was something about her nearness, her warmth… her sweet fucking smell that made my cock throb.

They called me an animal for a reason. I sleep. I eat. I hunt. I kill. And I fuck. Hard.

Talia smelled of innocence and I wanted to rip it away from her; I wanted to bathe her in my depravity; I wanted to show her why little girls like Talia shouldn’t step foot into my world.

She swallowed hard, her pale throat bobbing with the action. I stepped closer, forcing her back… trapping her against the wall and my body. Her whole body trembled against mine and her teeth sunk into her bottom lip.

Talia held my eyes for a mere second before she dropped her gaze to my chest. “I need you to… kill someone… for me.”

A little whisper, her sweet fucking voice, candy breath and brown eyes filled with uncertainty and fear – Talia had absolutely no idea what she just walked into.

“Why?” I demanded.

She struggled to speak and her chest rattled with a harsh inhale. I tugged on her hair, a little harder than before. A silent warning. Talia shuddered, almost violently. She seemed to want to cower but couldn’t, since she was trapped.

“Because he’s a bad man,” she whispered.

Little one, so innocent… so young…so trusting… so fucking naïve.

“Because he’s a bad man,” I said aloud. Talia nodded, not realizing that I was indeed mocking her words.

If he was a bad man – whoever he was – then what am I?

“Why is he a bad man?” She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed hard. I saw her fighting for composure. Hmm, interesting.

Bringing my other hand up, I grasped her chin and tipped her head up. Her eyes opened and our gazes locked. Her pupils grew larger, a look of fright in her eyes. But there was something else…

“He hurt me and humiliated me,” Talia confessed, her voice so soft that I almost missed her words. “He doesn’t deserve to live.”

“How did he hurt you?” I don’t know why I asked the question since I never cared before. When offered a job, I never needed or asked for details. I only needed a name and location, then I made my kill.

Talia flinched but responded to my question anyway. “He…treated me like dirt, like I was less than a human to him, he hit me… and threatened me…. To hurt me...”

I let out a small, dry laugh. “Do you know who I am, Little One?”

“Killer,” Talia whispered my name.

“Do you know what I am?”

She bit on her lip, her shaking becoming worse. Poor girl was so frightened she was practically mute. She shouldn’t have come here. She shouldn’t have put herself in my path… or asked for my help.

Talia let out a low exhale and her shoulders squared, as if she was getting ready for a battle. A battle she already lost.

“I can pay you. Money, that’s what you need, right? I have money.”

I clucked my tongue, a merciless taunt to her words. Talia wasn’t a smart girl. If she were, she wouldn’t have walked into my territory, looking for a man like me to help her. Or… maybe she was just that desperate. A desperate maiden, falling right into the arms of the villain. What a lovely, fucked-up fairy tale.

“You can’t afford me.”

She seemed taken aback by my words. “What?”

I ducked my head to her level, leaning closer to her face. The top of her head barely came up to my shoulders. Her small frame trembled when I spoke, my voice low and provocative. “Do you know how much I’m offered for one job? Millions, Little One.”

“Millions?” she stuttered, sounding almost indignant.

“How much are you worth?” I enjoyed mocking her, reminding her that she was at my mercy. I enjoyed watching the fear flashing in her brown irises. I fucking loved the way she was vulnerable and open for me… to take, to tease… to taunt.

“Not millions…” Talia muttered, regretfully.

“Then, you’re worth nothing to me.” Her eyes watered as she flinched at my sharp, cold words.

“But… but, I will do anything. I’m sure there’s something I can offer you,” she rushed to say. “I can offer you… I mean, my sister’s got money. I could