KIER
"I don't think it's a good idea to go back to the estate looking like this," Damon said, watching me slip into the car seat.
I gave him a look that clearly screamed, Do I look like I give a fuck what you think?
He sighed, always so fucking dramatic, then closed the damn door and got into the driver's seat. Leonardo, my other bodyguard, took the passenger seat next to him. If I had to choose, I'd pick Leo over Damon any day. The fucker knew how to mind his own business, unlike Damon, who always felt the need to fill the silence with useless words.
The engine purred to life, and for a second, just one blissful second, I thought I'd get to enjoy the ride in peace without anyone trying to bore holes into my headache-ridden skull.
I should have known better.
"What I'm trying to say is.."
"No." I cut him off, gritting the word through my teeth. Each syllable felt like someone was hammering nails into my skull. "You don't talk while driving. It's against... the driving code or whatever. And also... I don't give a fuck about what you're trying to say, so just drive."
For once, he actually listened, shutting up like the obedient little dog he was.
I leaned my head against the cool window, catching sight of my knuckles, bloodied, bruised, and raw. Some would call it stupid, fighting without gloves, but I liked the pain. I welcomed it. It made my blood pump, the sting, the ache, the reminder that I was alive. There was pain under my ribs too, probably from a well-placed punch, but I barely felt it. Pain was a perfect contradiction, something that hurt like hell but made me feel... whole.
And if I looked this bad, my opponents looked worse.
I liked giving them a chance to hit me back, though it was only fair. What kind of sick bastard would I be if I got to draw blood and they didn't? Fairness. That's what I called it. My own twisted little version of it.
"Boss, what.."
The sentence hit my skull like a brick.
I closed my eyes, exhaling slowly through my nose. I thought we were finally on the same page, no talking. But it seemed Damon's bad habits were rubbing off on Leo.
I didn't bother turning. If I looked at him, I might actually reach for the gun sitting next to me and put a bullet through his head. Not like there would be any consequences. I could make people disappear like they never existed.
So why not?
Simple.
I got used to them. And I never got used to people. I hated attachment. I wasn't attached to them, hell no, but... I was lazy.
Instead, I kept my eyes on the window, watching the everyday New Yorker hustle through life. Some of them would live to see the end of today. Others wouldn't. The circle of life. Some divine shit from above, they always said.
People moved like plastic bags in the wind never knowing where they'd land. My mother used to say tomorrow is pregnant. I never knew what the fuck that meant. Still don't. But it sounded poetic enough to keep.
I liked watching people. Maybe a little too much.
I partied, smoked, fucked, snorted anything to fill the nights that stretched too long. The good kind, if there was such a thing. But none of those things fascinated me like humans did.
So fragile.
So unaware of how close death hovered around them every second of the day.
I liked to watch them live, knowing I could take it all away with a flick of my finger.
But of course, I wouldn't.
I was Kier Blackwood, billionaire fuckboy, cold blooded Casanova who wouldn't hurt a fly... except for a few broken hearts. That was all anyone ever saw. The newly appointed CEO of the Blackwood Company, ruling over the world in tailored suits and expensive cologne.
And I wouldn't want it any other way.
"From what your father said to us, we need to be careful around the new lady of the house. You coming in looking like you committed a felony will only put her on edge."
At those words, my head turned slowly to Leo.
He caught me staring and kept shut. I didn't say a word, just watched him, letting the silence stretch between us. He tried to act unfazed, but I saw the way his fingers twitched on his knee.
They were both hard men, Leonardo and Damon. Built from whatever hell they'd survived before they came into my service. But even the toughest men falter when they stand in front of a devil pretending to be an angel.
Leo shifted in his seat but didn't break eye contact.
I tilted my head, letting a slow, lazy smile creep onto my face before pouting.
"I thought you both loved me."
Damon choked out a laugh, but I ignored him, eyes still locked on Leo. He didn't blink. They were used to this, used to me. If you lived with a chameleon long enough, you'd know it could take on a hundred forms.
"I need my beauty rest. I have a shoot tomorrow." I flicked the dried blood off my knuckles, acting like my ribs weren't screaming under my shirt. "And where exactly do you expect me to go? Should I forsake my bed because of some timid little brat they've dumped on me as a wife?"
The words tasted bitter on my tongue, but I let them fall with a lazy smile, acting like I didn't care.
Like she didn't matter.
But the second the words left my mouth, something gnawed at the edge of my mind.
If she was just some little, pitiful thing, so beneath me, then why the hell did I give her a bath with my own two hands? Why hadn't I just got one of the maids to clean her up? To take her shopping, slap some makeup on her, and send her back looking like a doll?
Why had I stayed?
Why did I care who hurt her?
Curiosity.
That was it.
It had to be.
Because anything else would mean I wasn't a devil pretending to be an angel.
It would mean I was human and that's so much worse."