Page 76 of Lethal Attraction

My eyes flutter at the serenity that washes over me—the pure comfort I feel in her presence. Even that hasn’t changed after this revelation. “Yeah, I am, aren’t I?”

Her hands travel further, spreading over my chest as her fingers splay. “Did anything interesting happen?”

There’s something hidden in her tone. A playful note that causes a sudden laugh to squeeze from my lungs. “Wouldn’t you know that?”

She hums. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

I take her wrist gently, lifting her knuckles to my lips as I try to still my pattering heart. My mouth ghosts over her flesh in a tender caress as I soften my tone and let everything spill over. “You were there the night Arthur Stout died.”

I no longer feel her breath fanning over my nape. She doesn’t even move as I continue. “You weren’t just some unlucky bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Reed.”

“Brooks isn’t just an ex-boyfriend—”

“Stop.” Her hand tightens on mine, but I don’t listen.

“—he’s a part of it too. You were completing a bounty—”

She grabs my cheeks between her fingers, forcing me to look over my shoulder at her. There’s desperation in her eyes—a silent plea to stop while I still can.

I swallow past the tension, keeping my expression calm and collected. “You killed Galene, didn’t you?” I whisper.

Every ounce of normalcy drains from her features. It doesn’t happen gradually. One moment she looks like herself, and the next it’s as if someone has reached inside and switched off something essential.

The warmth vanishes first.

Her eyes lose all trace of recognition, settling into a cold, half-lidded stare that seems to look through me rather than at me. It’s utterly empty and calculating.

The muscles in her face go still. Every tiny unconscious expression—the flicker of amusement, the twitch of uncertainty, the subtle signs of life that make a person feel human—disappears. The change is so complete it steals the air from the room.

A second ago, I knew how to read her. Now I can’t find a single familiar thing. Her features harden into something impossibly controlled, a mask stretched over thoughts I can no longer reach. There is no mundane hesitation in her anymore.

The silence between us thickens. Instinct screams that something has shifted, though I can't say exactly what. My pulse stumbles, and every nerve suddenly feels tuned to her, waiting for the smallest movement. The half-lidded gaze remains fixed on me.

And whatever humanity had been visible in her face a moment ago is gone without a trace. It’s almost as if she’s made up her mind, but I don’t know about what…

“And what if I did?” She asks, her tone so alluring it has the same effect as a siren calling out to a passing sailor. “She deserved it after what she did to you.”

She lifts a hand to my cheek, and I don’t recoil. I lean closer into her touch, unable to resist whatever spell she has over me. No matter how crazy all of this may seem, I still can’t find it in myself to think differently of the woman before me.

She’s my mystery girl.

Thalia sucks her teeth as her face softens. “No one gets to hurt you except me, Reed. No one.”

My eyes flutter as her thumb brushes over my skin. There’s so much…security in what she just said. She isn’t erasing what happened; she’s handling it for me.

“Okay…” I whisper. “Only you.”

Some of the life returns to her as she smiles. “And are you going to be my good boy and stay home tomorrow night like I asked you to?”

My spine shivers. “No.”

She tuts as her fingers comb through my hair. “Then I need you to realize something, Reed.” She grabs a fistful of my strands so tightly that pain licks across my scalp as she drags me closer. The air rushes from my lungs as my lips part and she nips at the bottom one. “If you do this, there’s no going back.” Her eyes shift downward, trailing until they touch my chest and rise again. “I can’t let you go after this…”

“Then don’t.” I breathe.

She braces both hands on my cheeks, staring into something much deeper than just my being as her eyes round with faux innocence. “You would give yourself completely to me?”