Page 22 of Pucked Around and Found Out

I turn to face that bitch, using every ounce of strength I have left to stay upright. Omen stands at my side with his arm wrapped around my waist, to anyone watching we'd look like lovers, but the reality is he's holding me up because he knows I'll collapse without his support.

Tate is on my other side, glaring daggers at Fiona.

“She is in our custody⁠—"

“Is she under arrest?” Tate snaps, cutting her off with the precision of someone who knows exactly how to play this game.

I look around us, fighting not to cringe at the audience we've attracted. Dozens of agents stand watching, waiting for orders from their boss.

Fiona's jaw clenches, teeth grinding together.

That silence is all the answer we need.

“See you soon, Fiona,” I snarl, then force myself to turn and walk away with my head held high.

Each step is agony. My vision blurs. My legs feel like they're made of water.

The second we're outside, my knees buckle.

Omen catches me before I hit the concrete, scooping me up like I weigh nothing.

“I'll drive,” Tate says, her voice sounding distant, muffled, like I'm underwater.

I'm losing the battle to stay conscious and I'm too exhausted to fight it anymore.

“Alex is gonna want to see her,” I hear Omen say.

Then darkness swallows me whole, and I finally surrender to the exhaustion that's been clawing at me for what feels like forever.

My last thought before everything goes black:

I survived.

Again.

And when I wake up, I'm going to win.

CHAPTER NINE

XADEN

I'm sitting in the corner of her room, clutching the stuffed bear Miles won her at the fair.

It's old, ratty, missing an eye, but Em loved this fucking thing like it was precious. Neave joked around once and hid it from her. She absolutely lost her mind, nearly clawed his eyes out in her fury.

After that, we all stopped pulling pranks on my sister.

She was kind and good and gentle, but she was also a bad bitch who could be ruthless when she needed to be.

I rest my forearms on top of my knees and hold the bear in front of me, staring at its one remaining button eye.

“I fucked up, Em.”

I talk to the bear like it can understand me. Like it is my sister somehow. It's fucked up, I know it is, but now that I've started, I can't stop.

The words keep pouring out.

“I had them all right where I wanted them. Months of planning, months of careful strategy… gone down the fucking drain because I…”