Page 135 of Merciless

Pumping my arms, I chase after her. She reaches her pink Corvette before me and throws open the back door. I slap the door shut and spin her around.

“Where do you think you’re going, little ghost?”

She looks up at me with tears clinging to her eyelashes, her eyes puffy and swollen from crying. My heart shatters. I didn’t think the icy organ would ever thaw, but the sight of my stepsister’s tears reduces it to a melted puddle.

I did that. Elijah did that.

“I don’t want anything to do with you or Elijah,” she wails, then shoves me in the middle of my chest.

I catch her wrists and walk her backward until she bumps against her car. Her chest rises and falls with heavy, uneven breaths.

“You don’t have a choice,” I murmur.

“Did I ever have a choice?” She glares at me and stomps her foot.

“You did,” I say. “Every step of the way. You had a choice, and you chose us. You can’t leave.”

“It was all a fucking lie!” She yanks her hands out of my grasp and shoves me. “It was all a stupid bet so you could spread it around the school that I slept with my brothers. You fucking won.”

Before I can say anything, she keeps going.

“Katie told me everything, Asher. She reminded me that you and Elijah are the Merciless Twins of Astar Elite. I’m nothing to you but a fucking joke. You win.”

She shoves me again.

“Are you happy now?”

Shove.

“Did you get what you wanted out of it?”

Shove.

I grab her wrists and push her backward against the car, pinning her hands against the top. The position thrusts her breasts upward, and her head falls against the warm metal.

“No,” I snarl. “I’m not happy about this.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” Her voice cracks, and she sniffles. “I have nothing else to give you.”

“You’re wrong.”

I want her heart. Her love. Her warmth. Her everything.

“It wasn’t a bet for me, little ghost.” I shove my leg between her thighs. “My feelings for you have always been genuine.”

She lets out a dry laugh. “You don’t feel anything but hate.”

I glare at her.

“You’re a selfish, cold-hearted, merciless asshole!” She spits in my face.

The glob runs down my cheek, cool and full of spite. For a split second, fear fills her eyes, then dims. The spark is gone, and I can’t fucking stand that.

When I said I wanted to know everything about her, to take her apart and learn, I didn’t mean for her to lose her spark.

I became the monster for her. Now I hate myself for it.

Gritting my teeth, I step back and release her. Eden sags against the car and drops her arms by her sides. Guilt, shame, and an unknown emotion pass over her features.