“You married her,” I growl. “You brought that bitch into our world!”
Thomas stares at the screen, shock and horror on his face. “I can’t believe it. I can’t.” The frustration boils inside me. How the hell could he not see it? How the fuck didn’t I see her for what she was? I lower the gun, but the rage burns directed at myself more than at Thomas.
“I’m the fucking head of our family, and I let this happen,” I mutter. “Letting her into the family. I should’ve seen her for what she is.”
“No,” Thomas snaps. “This isn’t on you. It’s on me. I married her because of some dumb vow I made as a kid. I gave her access. I let her get close. She put our child’s life in danger. Fuck, Evie–.” His voice cracks, and he scrubs his eyes with the heels of his hands before raking them through his hair.
“Enough.” Gabriel’s voice cuts through the room. “Blaming each other won’t save Aria. We need a plan. Now.”
The wordnowlands heavy. I nod once. “Jake. Lucilla’s phone.”
Jake doesn’t look up from his screen. “Trying. It’s dark. Either powered down or bouncing through too many nodes.” A beat. “Location’s inconclusive.” A dead end.
I turn to Thomas. “Call her.” He pulls out his phone, puts it on speaker, and dials.We wait; the ring sounds too loud in the silence. It cuts to voicemail. He tries again. With the same result, Thomas lowers it and stares at me. “No answer.”
I scrub a hand down my face. Time presses in. “That car hits the Towers in three hours.” No one speaks.
“Trent. Liam. Sebastian,” I say. “Get them to L.A. Her parents. Now. I want answers.”
Thomas steps forward. “I should go. She’s my mess. Evie’s—.”
“No.” The word comes out harder than I mean it to. I don’t soften it. “You’re too close.”
I turn back to Jake. “If I get in that car…can you track me?”
He finally looks up. “Maybe,” he says carefully. “They blocked Aria’s bracelet. But I can try something else.” He exhales. “Subdermal chip. Between your toes. Short range with a booster. I’ll need a drone to keep the signal alive.” He pauses. “If they put you on a plane, we lose you.”
What other choice do I have? “Do it.”
Jake’s jaw tightens. “C, you’re sure?”
I don’t answer right away. I look around the room–at my brothers, my men. “Lorenzo will kill her if I don’t show.” Silence crashes down. The truth sits there, ugly and immovable. I might die.
“At dawn, I’ll get in the car.” I meet each of their eyes, one by one. “You track me. You follow until you find us.” For the first time, I don’t tell them how. I’m trusting them to rescue us, but in case the worst happens.
My tone is steel-cold.“You bring hell. Burn him to ash.” A beat. “Even if I’m already dead.”
Sixty-One
“If saving her means walking into hell with my eyes open... then light the fucking match.”–Cyan MacBrady.
At dawn, I step through the double doors of the Towers as a black SUV with dark windows pulls up. My brothers are right behind me. I know they’ve got my back, but there’s a very real chance I may not make it out of this. “Hey... if this doesn’t work—”
“Fuck no, we’re not going there,” Collin cuts me off before I can finish.
“Yeah. We need you, C,” Troy says, his voice low. “You’re the brains of this op.”
“You know our motto,” Gabriel adds with a half-smirk. “No brother left behind.” Both Jake and Thomas nod.
“If something goes wrong…” Johnny pauses, jaw tightening. “We’ll bring you back.” His eyes are harder now. Whatever boyish charm he once had burned away the moment Aria was taken. His gaze locks on mine. “I won’t fail again.”
The SUV door swings open, and Lucilla steps out. “Father’s dispatched me to retrieve you, Cyan,” she declares like it’s a coronation. I stare. It’s impossible that in all the years of accumulating information on Lorenzo, we missed that he has a daughter.
It still doesn’t compute. Lucilla is half Asian, and Lorenzo touches no one outside his precious culture. All his mistresses were Italian. Was she adopted? I scan her face, not seeing the woman who’s been in our lives for the past seven years. The woman we knew was an illusion. This is Lucilla.
“Stop staring, Cyan. Chop-chop. Father’s impatient, and he plans to make a gruesome example of you.” As I step forward, her gaze slides to Thomas. “Hello, husband, Do you see me now?” she purrs.
Those eyes, Lorenzo’s eyes, gleam in her face, sharp and predatory. Her features are his features. Now that the mask is gone, I see it clearly. She’s a wolf that’s been living among us, hidden in plain sight. “How’s Gracie?” she adds sweetly. “It’s a shame Anikina failed to kill her.”
