Anger pumps through my veins, bitter and caustic, and makes my heart pound even harder.
Aria killed Lenny and Robbie. Murdered them in cold blood. She’s a monster.
Did Reece escape?
Did we make the right decision trusting Doyle?
Are we?—?
“Ellie. Love. Darling.” Beckett attempts to grab my arm, but I pull free, continuing my incessant pacing. My feet wear a hole in the carpeting.
“She’s going to pay for this,” I seethe. Heat prickles the tips of my fingers, migrating up my arms until it congregates on the back of my neck. My entire body becomes ablaze in an incandescent inferno.
“She will. Ellie.” Beckett grabs my shoulders and gently turns me around to face him. His mismatched eyes—one dark green and the other buttery brown—ensnare my own, holding both me and my thoughts hostage. “Ellie, she will pay. I promise you. But you can’t lose your shit. Not now.”
Anger and fear pump into my veins with every erratic surge of my heart.
“She killed them,” I whisper.
Beckett’s eyes soften. “I know.”
“She fucking murdered them?—”
“I know,” he repeats.
“And she’ll be punished for it,” Zane promises me, his voice sounding from over my shoulder. “Soon.”
I open my mouth to respond but snap it closed when the door behind me opens. I whirl in Beckett’s arms, instantly on alert, and frown at the two masked men standing sentry.
The one on the right speaks first. “The Divine One wishes to see you.”
“What the hell does she want?” Suspicion lends an angry edge to Dom’s voice.
The two goons don’t answer, though the one on the left shifts his cloak slightly, allowing us to see the gun holstered on his waist.
The message is supremely clear.
We don’t have a choice.
“Let’s get this over with,” I growl, wondering what my sadistic bio mom has planned now. She obviously wasn’t pleased with my little stunt, though I have no idea what she has planned. Will she kill me?
I'd like to see her try.
Anger fuels my movements as I’m led back into the ballroom—which is now empty, save for a few staff members who are cleaning up—and toward a door at the end of the hall.
“Enter,” the man who first spoke instructs, jerking his chin toward the door.
Zane gives the asshole a one-finger salute and then skips ahead, Beckett behind him. Dominic remains at my back, so close I can feel his heat permeating my clothes and his breath on the nape of my neck.
I don’t know what I plan to say to Aria, but the words get trapped on my tongue when I enter the sparse bedroom and see what she has in store for us.
Aria has removed her mask, though her robe remains in place, dwarfing her figure. Her blonde hair sticks in all directions like she stuck her finger in an electric socket. Those icy eyes are, for once, not impassive.
They burn with unfettered fury.
In the center of the room, tied to two separate chairs, are Doyle and Harvey.
Dominic’s brother and father both look worse for wear. Harvey’s face is peppered in bruises and lacerations—a sight that brings me a tiny bit of demented pleasure. He’s strugglingagainst the ropes securing him, though his words of outrage are muffled by the gag in his mouth.
