“Haven—”
“When, Connor?”
He finally has the decency to look a little guilty. “The end of June?”
It’s the beginning of September now. Connor has known that Loni’s been in town for three months or so at the very least—and I’m only finding outnow?
I grit my teeth, forcing out the words. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
Connor winces. “Maybe.”
I glare at him.
He gives me a helpless shrug. “Desmond might not be the only one Adrian murdered.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I fist my hand on my hip, still waiting.
Lifting his, he scratches the back of his neck. His expression is one of remorse, though that’s probably more because he knows his chances of getting laid have been shot to hell, and whatever he’s about to tell me… it’s only going to get worse.
And that’s when Connor says a name that has my mouth dropping open.
“Jack Collins, sweetheart. Adrian arranged for him to drink poisoned whiskey. The King died at the beginning of August.”
Nowthat? That leaves me so damn gobsmacked, I don’t speak—not because I can’t, but because I have no fucking idea how to respond to that. Secretly, I’m relieved. Not saying that Dallas is going to be a great replacement King, but he’s better than Jack. Less cruel, and if Loni somehowwantsto be Mrs.Adrian Heller, I have no doubt in my mind that Dallas will back up his cousin when it comes to Adrian’s Claim to her.
Jack Collins was a bastard. He ran the Order into the ground, and at the beginning of summer, when Connor mentioned that the head of the Order was auctioning off non-Offering Order women in the basement of the Fortress for big amounts of cash, we both decided that it was safer for me to stay inside where I couldn’t be captured again.
But now he’s dead, and Loni’s home, and nothing is like what I thought it was two seconds ago and I… I’m suddenly completely overwhelmed.
I start to walk backward toward the bedroom door. Before I can get too far, Connor calls out to me: “Where are you going now, sweetheart?”
I point down.
“Maybe you should leave the knife with me.”
If it makes my husband happy…
I fling it at the nearest wall with enough force that the blade sticks into the plaster. Then, as Connor watches the way ittwangs, I hurry for the stairs.
The sanctuary room in the basement is still mine, and that’s where I’m heading.
The room has changed some over the last year. The bed is nicer now. The single bulb is one of those that can change colors with an app on my phone. There's a bookshelf against one wall, and a comfortable stool tucked beneath the tiny window where Connor likes to sit when I need to spend some time in there. These days, it’s another guest room if necessary, but as far as I know, the only two who have ever slept in the basement are Connor and me.
My husband is smart enough to stay upstairs while I go in search of some peace and quiet to help me make sense of all ofthis. I head into the basement, let myself into my sanctuary, and lock the door behind me.
For a long time, I sit on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing. I’m too busy thinking.
I honestly couldn’t care less that Desmond and Jack are gone; as long as their deaths didn’t hurt Connor, it’s good riddance as far as I’m concerned. But Loni…
I never gave up on her. For the first nine years, while I lived my life alone in Harmony Heights, I only hoped that she was happy in the one she’d chosen. That, if I ever had the chance to apologize for how I treated her before she left—yelling at her for getting caught when that was my own guilt at leaving her behind at Sebastien Reynolds’s party talking—I would take it, even if the words got caught in my throat.
Now, I might have it, and Loni’s spent three months as Adrian’s wife without reaching out.
Unless—
I grab my phone from the pocket in my leggings. Opening up the text message app, I select the only contact in there and tap out a quick message.
Does Loni know about what happened to me?
