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“…A single word of this, and they’re dead. You understand me?”
There’s some rustling, and Fox makes a noise as she thrashes against him. “I said. Get the fuck off me.”
My thumb punches Thorne’s number again, and I swear under my breath as the phone jostles against my ear. But there’s little chance the call will connect through to him, it seems that luck is refusing to join our side today. Sure enough, there’s the infuriating beep of his voicemail to greet me on the end of the line once more.
“Thorne Calliano’s little plan to get you under him at a Pledging ceremony is bullshit. There’s no way he’s high-ranking enough to have that kind of privilege. I’ve petitioned the council to throw it out.”
“Fuck you.”
I watch the man get right up close with a fat finger raised.
“I’ve already paid to buy you out of the ceremony; it’s only a small formality of the council signing it off, and the deal will be done. Your father promised you to me before he died, and I’ll be sure to break you in nice and good. Just how I always wanted.”
“They’ll kill you first.” She spits at him.
All I want to do is scream at her to fight. To defend herself the way I’ve shown her how to do. But I also know that Fox is still coming down off whatever drugs have barely left her system. On a good day, I’d have full confidence in our girl, but at this moment, she’s hardly in a fit state to fend off a man twice her size.
“Oh, the Anguis will make sure that doesn’t happen. Especially when they find out what those bastards did to Massimo.”
Fox doesn’t miss a beat. “He deserved it. Anything they did to him, I’d have gladly done myself ten times over.”
She might not be able to physically shove this prick off, but hearing how much she can’t stand any of his circle of sick fucks is about the only thing keeping my sanity hanging on by a thread.
I’ve already held the phone up to my ear, again, pinching my brow. This time I’m calling Hawke, but his line is also dead.
“Fuck. This is goddamn bullshit.” I growl.
Ven is deadly quiet, watching and listening to the whole altercation unfold in black and white on the laptop screen.
“Remember, you little bitch, if you dare breathe a word, those three men are going to be dead. But not before I’ve forced them to watch while I screw you until you bleed.”
Fox recoils and swears at him. Her back is up against the wall, and I can’t think straight. My palms sweat, and the room sways around me. If he dares do anything else…
But that’s the moment he finally releases her.
My pulse is through the roof as I watch him lean forward, getting right in her space again. “I own you. That cunt is my property, and Noire House is my right. Andreas signed a contract with me. You’d better believe that the Pledging Ceremony is happening, and it’s going to be me who claims what is rightfully mine.”
With that, he disappears down the long corridor, leaving Fox slumped against the wall.
Ven quickly brings up more footage to track the man’s movements through the building while I’m consumed by the need to keep eyes on my girl. She doesn’t move. Just looks down at her phone for a long moment, then wipes at her eyes with the heel of her palm.
Christ. I want to tear my hair out.
“He’s already pig food. We’ll make sure of it.” My voice comes out hoarse. “I don’t care what we have to do to make it happen. But he isn’t going anywhere near her.”
We watch as the dead man walking leaves the mansion, and the camera feed covering the gravel car park shows him getting in his car and driving off.
Meanwhile, Fox has slowly made her way back downstairs. She’s alone, and I don’t fucking like it one bit. But as we keep tracking our girl, she heads out to our vehicle and proceeds to shut herself inside. At least she had enough sense to get herself somewhere secure.
Ven clenches and unclenches his fists before pushing up away from the laptop. He crosses to the far side of the kitchen and leans on the edge of the sink, with his head sunk down between his shoulders.
The room hangs silent between us.
“You know what I’m here wondering?” His voice is way too fucking calm for what we just witnessed. “How the fuck Thorne made this arrangement anyway, when he’s not a council member? The Pledging ceremony. All of it.”
My jaw tightens.
Ven resembles a building tempest. “Something feels off.”
