Dirty Little Secrets (Dirty Little #1)(47)

It makes me feel better that he was the one being shot at, not the one doing the shooting. But…who was doing the shooting?

“I always enjoy the moment when a target realizes that their situation is hopeless,” Privya says with a heavy accent. He’s stalking toward me, his eyes narrowed, slightly unsteady on his feet. He’s probably lost a ton of blood.

Good.

The first and only thing I want to ask is if Caleb is okay, but drawing attention to him is the absolute dumbest thing I could do right now. Surely Privya knows he exists, since he’s obviously seen the pictures of the two of us together, and was waiting to abduct me from outside of Caleb’s apartment. Still, letting Privya know that I care about Caleb would put a target on his back, provided there isn’t one there already.

I got into this mess because I was trying to keep Caleb out of it. Dragging him in at this point would be moronic.

The best thing I can do is keep my mouth shut.

When Privya comes to a stop, he spits on me. Somehow, I manage not to flinch away from it, which pleases me.

“You’re more goddamn trouble than you’re worth,” he says angrily, swiping at a trickle of blood that’s rolling down his arm. He winces at the movement, and I’m glad he’s in pain.

I make it a point to keep my mouth shut. He’s trying to goad me into a response, and I’m not going to give him the satisfaction.

“You’re smart, I’ll give you that. Out of all the people I’ve been hired to ‘locate’,” he says, actually using air quotes when he says “locate,” “it took me the longest to find you.” A sick grin pulls at his lips. “I knew you had gone east, but I wasn’t sure where. But, everyone f*cks up sometime. Lucky for me, you got pictured with your little boyfriend. My employer was beginning to question my abilities.”

“Your employer is a piece of shit,” I tell him. Screw not talking. If this guy is going to taunt me before he kills me, then I’m going to give it right back. “And so are you.”

That comment earns me a backhand across the face, which makes sharp, intense pain bloom from my throbbing cheek. It’s the same cheek the robber punched, and unfortunately for me, it still isn’t healed. I do my best to hide the fact that it hurts like hell.


“He told me I could do what I want with you,” he growls, sliding the tip of the gun along my jawline. I manage to maintain eye contact with him while he’s taunting me, even though I’m trying to brace myself for the shot. “I’d like to just be done with you. Quick. Simple.”

“If you were going to just be done with me, you would have shot me in the street.”

He grins, like the thought of ending my life like that is incredibly appealing. Sick bastard.

“I was going to have a little fun at first, I admit. But the more you talk, the less inclined I am to make this easy on you.”

“Can’t wait,” I reply sarcastically. “So, you just kill me, and that’s that? He doesn’t even want his money back?”

“He doesn’t care about the money. He cares about power, as most men of his stature do. Nobody crosses him and gets away with it, especially not some sarcastic, thieving, lying cunt.”

This time I spit on him, because nobody calls me that.

He laughs, and runs the backs of his fingers along the cheek he just slapped. It’s almost tender, apart from the fact that he’s an awful person who has been hired to, you know, kill me.

“I thought for sure that you would beg. That you would cry.”

“I’m not going to beg you for anything. So whatever you’re going to do, just do it.”

“Ah, you won’t beg me for your life, but you would beg for the life of your boyfriend.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” The lie feels disgusting and wrong coming out of my mouth, and I feel sick just saying them. But this man can’t know that I care about Caleb as much as I do. He has to think that he doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s a difficult sell, granted, considering the fact that he found me outside of Caleb’s apartment, but I have to do what I can to limit the scope of this thing.

“The pictures that I saw of you tell a different story,” he says, with a sadistic amount of pleasure. “Once I’m done with you, I’ll start with him.”

I shake my head. “You’ll never get him.”

“Won’t I, though? Who’s to say I don’t already have him?”

He’s lying, he’s trying to rattle me. It takes everything in me to fight off the tears. “I don’t believe you.”

Privya leans forward, pressing the tip of the gun against my jaw. “I’m going to take you to the point where you’ll be begging me to kill you. And then I’m going to bring your boyfriend in here, and make you watch him die. And then we’ll see if you’re still running that f*cking mouth of yours, huh? Maybe I’ll kill you then, maybe I won’t. Maybe living with what you’ve done and what you’ve seen will be enough.” He presses the gun into my skin until I’m sure I’m bleeding, but the shot never comes.

At this point, I’m glad I’m tied up, because it’s keeping me from shaking as badly as I probably would be if my arms were free. It’s fear, anger, and adrenaline all in one, and the force of it is making my teeth chatter. I have to keep my jaw clenched to stop it.