Chapter 48 Don't Cry Yet
Cole Ryder’s POV
The moment Celene disappeared from sight, the street changed.
I exhaled the cold night's air. Feeling the warmth she carried with her drained from the air, leaving behind just my cold, dark need to hear someone beg.
something colder. Sharper. Honest. I flexed my fingers once, feeling the blood dry against my skin, and rolled my neck slowly like a man warming up before a fight. Fuck it. If I fought him, it just would not be fair. In fact, it would be his privilege.
He’d stopped moving backwards, meaning he had stopped trying to escape. Good... very good.
That told me everything I needed to know.
Predators knew when they were being hunted. Amateurs froze. He was a beginner, a fucking child in this game of shadows.
I stepped off the sidewalk and into the shadows, letting the streetlight slip behind me. My boots made no sound against the pavement, it was a force of habit at this point. I angled my body just enough to catch the reflection in the dark glass again.
He was obviously tall, and lean,wearing a hoodie that was nearly covering his entire face. I watched the way his weight shifted on his feet.
Tnose were tell tale sighns of nervousness, uncertainty, and the futile work of a man caught, and already calculating exits. But it was too fucking late.
I changed direction abruptly, cutting across the street like I hadn’t noticed him at all.
He took the bait i had laid for him, walking towards me, he was... stalking me instead...
The situation was so fucking funny, i just did not have it in me to laugh.
He was following me, instead of at least trying to attack or even l running away from me.
He wasnt very clever then.
I smiled. This would be a walk in the oark... if only Celene was not involved... I.would have had savoured the chase more.
The fucker thought he was trailing me, but I was leading him exactly where I wanted.
I let him follow me for exactly forty-seven seconds.
Long enough for him to believe he was in control.
Then I vanished.
One step into an alley. Two. A turn sharp enough to break sightlines. I pressed myself flat against the wall and waited.
He came around the corner fast. His mistake wasn’t that he followed me.
It was that he ran. They semt a coward to trail my girl. Was she not important enough to send their best hand? The thought infuriated.
I caught him by the throat and slammed him into the brick before he could even gasp. The sound of bone meeting stone echoed once before I clamped a hand over his mouth and leaned in close.
“Breathe,” I murmured into his ear. “I want you conscious.”
His eyes were wild, darting, already glassy with fear. I loosened my grip just enough for air to rush back into his lungs, then tightened again when he tried to shout.
“Shh,” I said softly. “You don’t want to do that.”
I dragged him deeper into the alley, boots scraping uselessly against the ground as he struggled. He wasn’t strong. He wasn’t trained. He was just stupid enough to think proximity meant access.
I shoved him down onto his knees and stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the street completely.
“Who sent you?”
He shook his head violently.
Wrong answer.
I crouched in front of him, resting my forearms casually on my thighs like we were having a conversation. Up close, I could see the sweat soaking through his hoodie, the tremor in his hands.
“You followed her from the orphanage, didn't you” I said calmly. “You stayed back. Watched. Then you tried again tonight.”
His breathing hitched.
Confirmation.
“I’ll ask you once more,” I continued, voice even, patient. “Who. Sent. You.”
“I...I don’t know her,” he stammered. “I swear. I was just..
I hit him.
Not hard... it wasn’t time for that yet
I hit him again, just enough to knock his head sideways and split his lip.
“That,” I said, standing, “was for lying.”
I grabbed his collar and hauled him to his feet, marching him toward the waiting car I’d already parked two blocks away...black, unremarkable, invisible to anyone who wasn’t looking for it.
He fought harder then. S
He even fucking screamed.
"See!! I really dont know her... I was just asked to look into her, that's all, man".
I broke his nose with my elbow and kept walking.
By the time I shoved him into the backseat, he was crying.