Chapter 6

"Trying to use me?" A low chuckle rumbled in his chest as he reached out to pick up a strand of my hair. He wound it around his finger, slow and careless, like he had nothing but time.

"You think you're the first woman in Westwick to try and crawl into my bed, Nina? What exactly makes you worth doing business with?"

He was too close, enough that I could see myself reflected in his eyes, small, cornered, and barely holding it together.

This was a game. And if I let him see me flinch now, I'd already have lost.

I lifted my chin and met his gaze head-on, refusing to let him intimidate me. Then I reached out and took the hand he had been toying my hair with, dragging my fingertips slowly across his palm.

Edward went perfectly still, and something unreadable flickered deep in his eyes.

"Because I'm the weakness Samuel has spent years trying to bury," I said, rising onto my toes and bringing my lips close to his ear.

I dropped my voice to barely a whisper, putting every last shred of desperation and defiance I had into it. "And because I'm RH-negative. If I've done my homework correctly, Mr. Pierce, so is the illegitimate younger brother you're keeping tucked away in a quiet recovery overseas.

"Samuel would bleed me dry for Lily's sake if he had to, so tell me, why wouldn't you want a walking blood bank on standby for your own brother?"

The air in the room seemed to freeze solid.

Every trace of amusement vanished from Edward's face, replaced by something far more dangerous, a barely restrained savagery that made the space between us feel like a cage.

He grabbed my jaw, his grip so hard I could feel the pressure threatening to crack bones.

"Who told you that?" His voice came out cold enough to cut, sharp and low and lethal. "You've been digging into my family, Nina? Do you want to die?"

Pain shot through my jaw, and I could feel tears burning at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to look away. I refused to let him see me break.

"I want to live. That's why I came to you." I stared straight into those bloodshot eyes and pushed every last chip I had to the center of the table.

"Marry me, Edward. I'll be your blood bank, and you can be my knife. We don't want the same things, but this deal? You come out ahead no matter how you crunch the numbers."

Edward held my gaze for what felt like an eternity, his eyes boring into mine as though he were trying to decide whether I was a liar or simply insane.

Then, without any warning at all, he let go.

I stumbled back, one hand flying to my throat as a ragged cough tore out of me.

Edward retreated to the sofa and lowered himself back onto the leather, taking a slow, deliberate drag from his cigarette. The smoke curled between us, softening the sharp lines of his face into something unreadable.

"Interesting," he said at last, grinding the cigarette out in a crystal ashtray on the table beside him.

When he looked up again, his eyes had gone dark and wolfish, and he tapped one finger against the table in front of him.

It was a lazy, almost careless gesture, but the command beneath it was unmistakable. "If you want to be my blood bank, I'll need to see what I'm buying.

"Take it off.

"Right here."

My stomach dropped straight through the floor.

Samuel could show up any second, and the box door wasn't even locked. And Edward expected me to undress here?

"What's the matter? Having second thoughts?" Edward lifted a brow, a faintly mocking smile tugging at his lips. "You were pretty fearless just a moment ago. What happened to that?"

I bit down hard, forcing my trembling hand to reach behind me for the zipper.

He was doing this deliberately, testing how far he could push me and stripping away my pride piece by piece.

But if this was what it took to get my revenge...