Chapter Hundred and Twenty-Three
Markus was flabbergasted for so minutes, trying to figure out why she was smiling. He searched around to see if anyone was around. The street lights threw broken shadows across his face as his jaw flexed in thought.
He should have known better. He shouldn’t have co back to this place. Even though he had co here, he should have driven back when the man told him she was waiting for him. He shouldn’t have allowed her to sit in the car.
Rage, guilt and sothing else he didn’t dare na was coiling in his chest.
A shift beside him pulled him out of his thoughts.
Matilda.
She had smiled at him. In this turmoil, she had smiled and was now showing her teeth... at him. Proudly at him.
Matilda on the other hand was watching him, her fra still slightly curled in the seat, one hand resting on her lap, the other propped against the window.
Her eyes glimred under the faint dashboard light, curious, quiet. She looked innocent, too innocent. And maybe that was the problem.
He was never going to let her near him. Never again.
Markus blinked, his jaw tightening. "Shit," he muttered under his breath and rubbed his palm over his face.
The mont hung in the air, heavier than it should have. And then, without thinking, he curled his fist in his mouth.
What was Asli going to do to him if she found out?
"Damn it," he cursed under his breath, eyes wide as he removed his fist. What the hell was that? What the hell was she thinking?
He stared out the windshield as if it held the answers. Asli would definitely kill him.
And Matilda... how was she grinning like she had won a prize?
His thoughts cut off when her voice sliced through the thick air between them.
"Are you always this tense after kissing soone?" Was she kidding him?
His head whipped toward her.
She was still smiling. The sa way a thief would smile after getting away with a heist. Pleased. Victorious.
That was the kind of smile on her face.
He wished he could whip the smile off her face.
His brows furrowed. "Did you... did you do that on purpose?"
Why was he asking? She did it on purpose. He should scold her. However, he couldn’t.
He couldn’t scold her because he had almost initiated it.
Matilda raised her shoulders in a mock shrug, her grin never fading. Yet, her silence was louder than words.
Markus’ chest heaved. "Do you have any idea what Asli would do if she found out?"
Her brow arched delicately. "She won’t."
He was relieved. "You are insane," he hissed. However, it struck him. She casually placed her lips on his and if he hadn’t pulled away she wouldn’t have stopped him if he had gone deeper. "Have you done this before with anyone?" he couldn’t help but ask.
"No!" The answer was sharp, imdiate. "I haven’t. Just you."
"Is that supposed to make it better?" He felt better. For so unknown reason, he felt better knowing she wasn’t going around doing that with everyone she t.
She leaned back in her seat, folding her arms, head tilting to the side. "I said Asli won’t find out. Unless..."
Markus narrowed his eyes, every nerve in his body going rigid. "Unless what?" This was what he feared the most.
She turned her head, smile returning, yet this ti laced with sothing more dangerous. "Unless you do what I want."
He stared at her, stunned. "Are you trying to blackmail ?"
Her lips parted into a wider grin. "Obviously. Unless you are going to kill ." Her eyes glinted with challenge. "But we both know you can’t. Not when Asli is alive. You would have to kill her first to kill . But I don’t think you will want to go through all that hassle, do you?"
Markus’ breath stilled.
He stared at her... really stared this ti. The smooth curve of her cheek, the sly twitch of her lips, the wicked sparkle in her eyes. She was not joking.
Was Matilda, not soone they saw as a defenseless angel? When did she plan all these?
"You are out of your mind," he muttered, voice low. "This is not a ga."
"Exactly," she said, the lightness vanishing from her tone. "I am done playing. I was done the mont I set eyes on you. You are mine, Markus. You have been mine since the beginning. You just didn’t know it yet."
He would’ve laughed but sothing within him told him Matilda ant every word she was telling him. But he wasn’t going to give in.
His jaw clenched. "You need to behave."
She leaned forward slightly, voice barely a whisper, but sharp enough to cut. "If you yell at again, I will tell Asli you kissed ."
His head turned sharply. "I did not kiss you."
"It doesn’t matter," she said, her voice sweet as syrup. "She won’t know that."
"So what makes you think you can blackmail without any proof?" His hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"I have no proof," she continued casually, "but do not tempt . You might just give an idea or a couple of good ones."
Markus sank back into his seat, throat tightening. He did not dare to speak. Not yet. Not while his pulse roared in his ears and the punch Asli had given him still lingered on his cheeks.
Matilda glanced at him, her smile small now but unmistakably pleased. She had won. At least that was what she thought.
And he hated how she thought it was easy to play with him.
************
Asli’s fingers trembled as she peeled back the flap of the thick envelope with a pen drive in it. A fresh report, slick with new ink, thudded against her desk. Her na was scrawled on the corner.
She sat, barely. One leg bounced beneath the table as she opened it and pulled the first page into view.
The first photo hit her like a punch to the chest. She inserted the pendrive and began to watch according to the files in her hand.
Markus gripped a man by the collar, slamming him against a concrete wall. In another video and another, he had the sa stoic calm face as he ducked a knife, twisted his opponent’s arm, and brought him to the ground. She flipped faster now, pages whipping past her thumb like a broken fan.
Strike. Kick. Blood.
Her stomach coiled. This wasn’t the Markus she thought she knew. This wasn’t the guy who never took things seriously. This guy was not even close to the one he revealed during their last mission. The video and report before her revealed a man who answered orders without emotion.
This was soone dangerous.
Soone like her. Soone like Aht.
Her jaw tightened. "Why the hell are you pretending?" she muttered under her breath, standing now without realizing she was pacing.
She barely registered the next few lines until one sentence, highlighted in yellow, made her stop cold.
’Markus and Aht are still cool.’ she read. Still cool? Scratch that, they were never on bad terms.
The words blurred, and the page crinkled under her grip.
"No," she whispered, voice low and dangerous. Her heartbeat rang in her ears. "They played ."
Her breath hitched. She tossed the paper aside and grabbed the next sheet, eyes scanning, desperate. Her pulse thundered in her throat, in her skull.
What else? What else had they hidden?
She stumbled back a step, dragging a hand through her hair.
Was she a joke to them? Did they et in so dark corner, and trade notes about how well their little act was working on her? Did they laugh behind her back?
God, she could almost hear it.
Markus, with that guarded smirk always on his face, and Aht, acting cool as always. These fcking brothers were just playing with her... literally. How was it that she couldn’t see through them?
So what had all this been for? What had she been to them? A pawn? A ans to sothing?
What sothing? What was it?
Her hands trembled with the next page but she forced herself to keep reading.
She needed answers. Every paragraph felt like a gut punch.
She moved in circles now, her bare feet sliding against the wooden floor, breath uneven, muttering to herself. She didn’t notice how tightly she clutched the pages until the edge bit into her palm.
"Idiots," she hissed. "Both of you!" She scread at a picture of them laughing together in a scenery that showed they had just finished a mission.
What was the story she heard about Markus’ younger sister? She needed to take her ti to analyze all the information she had received.
But the tremble in her voice betrayed her. "Or maybe not."
Because sowhere in the firestorm of betrayal and danger, she was beyond humiliated.
Sothing had been growing between her and Markus, slowly, yet dangerously. She had refused to na it.
Now, she regretted even feeling it.
And still... she couldn’t stop flipping the pages.
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