The Merciless (h.s.)

Chapter Ten

Harry

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

My bruised hands clench around the hot leather of my steering wheel as I blaze past other cars on the freeway. My mind is clouded with every word I let loose in the past hour. I said too much. Way too fucking much. I shouldn't have said any of that. She just wouldn't stop fucking talking....

I speed all the way to my flat in a matter of minutes. My boots stomp to the elevator, clutching the packed duffle bag in my hand. I pay no mind to the smiling concierge. I almost tell her to shove that fucking smile where the sun doesn't shine, but I swallow it. I'm able to contain myself until I reach the top floor and swing my apartment door open.

I toss the duffle on my sofa without even glancing in its direction. My long strides lead me all the way to my bedroom without even bothering to turn the lights on. The bare ceiling to floor windows lining one wall of my entire apartment to allow the lights of the city to infiltrate the room and ignite my surroundings.

I still cannot wrap my head around the fact Bella was able to slither her way into the club. I cannot fathom how she was even allowed to be in New York to begin with. This is not how this was supposed to go. Not at all. This was all supposed to go differently. She is making my life so much harder and all she does to show for it is bat those pretty little blue eyes at me like a confused fucking doe.

She is ruining everything.

But she is my everything.

"Fuck," I can't help but curse out loud through my teeth. That is the only word I am able to coherently form at the moment.

My fingers tear through my sloppy hair while my mind roams to the possibilities. What if I hadn't torn my eyes away from that pathetic Russian the moment I did? If I waited a second longer, she would have been swallowed whole. Who knows what those assholes could have done to her? I nearly lost my entire head when I saw the missing buttons and scratches on her plush skin. My hands begins to shake recalling the mere sight.

I can't believe a girl can be such a mindless dimwit when it comes to her own safety. I have never ever met someone with such a lack of basic survival skills until coming across her. She's so clueless I can't help but educate her. I feel like she says overtly stupid shit on purpose because she know I feel like I have no choice but to correct her.

And she's so damn nosy. I did not picture her to be so fucking inquisitive about everything. Bella is so fucking curious about everything it's crazy how she isn't exhausted from it. It's like she can sense when information is nowhere near her business so she starts insisting she knows more. Bella's prying has made our life ten times more complicated than it needed to be in the first place. I thought keeping my distance would keep her in line. She only sniffed me out.

This girl is going to be the fucking death of me.

I dig my phone out of my pocket and stare at the contact that I have been dreading calling the minute I saw Bella outside the ring. My efforts to hide Bella's alluring face were mundane. People are already talking. I have to get ahead of this. I have to make sure I am always two steps ahead or everything I have built will crumble to a pile of worthless shit.

I tap the dial button and bring the phone to my ear. The line only rings once.

"Francesco..." the throaty voice greets me.

"It's Harry."

A dry chuckle. "Harry! So good to hear from you! I heard you did well tonight."

"Not too shabby."