Something Wicked 🏳️‍🌈 (bxb)

15: Keeping him close

MARÍA POLICE DEPARTMENT, November 23

Handcuffed in an interview room. As usual.

But I didn't care. Me and Dante were together. We weren't gonna let Sylvia or Vinnie or Steph's ghost come between us. I didn't know how long Dante would need me, but I was gonna take so much care of him that he'd stay long after he'd healed. Maybe even stay forever.

I was gonna do everything right by Dante, I knew it.

Sylvia tottered in, all pursed lips and furtive eyes, without her usual sneering confidence.

She waved a tired hand at the guarding officer. "Marisol, take his cuffs off. And there's no need to record anything. Just go."

"Inspector Payne, I'm not supposed to leave you alone with the detainee."

Sylvia threw Marisol a look that could dissolve rocks. Marisol scuttled outta the interview room.

"Don't lie." Sylvia dragged over a chair and settled next to me. "Gabi and Rayan told me everything."

No need to lie. Everyone knew why I'd gatecrashed the SWAT Team's operation.

"I wasn't gonna let Dante—"

"I told you to stay away from him!"

I couldn't fucking believe this woman.

"Is that what this is? You arrested me because you're pissed at me and Dante? Did you give Leila my number thinking she'd distract me from him?" I shoved my chair away from Sylvia's. I didn't wanna be anywhere fucking near her. "Since I got outta Alcor all you've done is fucking manipulate me and use me."

Sylvia rubbed at her temples. "I'm not trying to hurt you. I know how you feel about Dante, but—"

"You don't know anything about us."

"I've known Dante a lot longer than you have. I know he's mixed up. He's not thinking straight right now."

Again, the same old shit. Like this was all Dante's fault, and not just Sylvia and Vinnie conspiring to save Dante from the shame of an ex-criminal boyfriend. Unless...was there something else Sylvia was scared about? She didn't have time to waste on keeping me and Dante apart unless she needed us apart.

"What's this really about? Dante's personal life is none of your fucking business, so why are you meddling?"

Sylvia stood so abruptly that her chair almost toppled. She leaned over the interview table, smoky eyes locked on mine. "I'll offer you a deal. I'll tell you why you need to stay away from Dante, and in return you'll tell me what really happened to you in Riyadh." She folded her arms, as if waiting for a confession.

Was forever with Dante worth confessing my crimes?

Sylvia would tell me Dante's secrets, and in return I'd tell her everything. But Sylvia wouldn't keep my crimes to herself. Everyone in María PD would come to know what I'd done. Dante would learn what a vile, shameless murderer I was. I'd succumbed to the Demon. I'd killed dozens of Alcor's enemies: rivals, debtors, mutineers, escapees. I'd slept with her, the very woman who'd killed Dante's fiancée. The very woman who'd killed my own mother. If Dante knew half of what I'd done, he'd never wanna see me again.

Sylvia chuckled through barely-parted lips. "Didn't think so."

Sylvia didn't have shit on me. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

She raised a manicured finger at me. Her voice was a terse whisper. "It's written on your face, Jason. You're terrified of yourself, and you're terrified of Mira al Assad. What did she do to you?"