Page 64 of Road to Redemption

My nose wrinkled as I looked up at her. My mind was racing with plenty of questions, and irritation still thrummed through my veins with each heartbeat. Everything was too raw right now, though. I wasn’t ready to give up on getting answers — and I certainly wasn’t agreeing to her stupid fucking rule — but I didn’t need to lay it all out right now.

“Fine, I’m… sorry.” I mumbled, glaring up at her. “But I’m getting tired of this cryptic bullshit. Next time I might die, tell me.”

Dom grumbled incoherently in response before stalking off toward one of the bedrooms, leaving me alone with Spencer and Leo.

I threw my hands up as I faced them, shaking my head with exasperation. But Spencer just shrugged, “That’s some of the best conflict resolution I’ve seen from her in years.”

Leo gave Lady a scratch on her head before nodding. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, Princess. Just give it some air, yeah?”

Swallowing down my irritation, I did as Leo suggested, parking my ass on the fancy arm chair and scrolling on my phone, trying to get my mind off of Dom. Spencer and Leo sat on the living room floor playing Gin Rummy after failing to suck me into another game of Texas Hold ’Em. And eventually, Dom emerged from her cave with her laptop in hand, sitting stiffly on the couch while she typed away.

God, could she type any louder?

I turned my back to her in my chair, hoping that keeping her out of sight would keep her out of mind. But she was a fucking parasite desperate to consume my every thought.

It’s a wonder she hasn’t pulverized that keyboard.

With a sigh, I tried desperately to tune her out, scrolling on social media for something more engaging than her clacking. But just as I was starting to get drawn into a sweet video about a small-town animal shelter, a text slid across the top of my screen: my mother.

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

I pulled down on the message, expanding another plea from Maura to meet up. As always, she was full of cryptic warnings; words like “immediately” and “not a joke” were littered through her litany.

Maybe my nerves were still shot from the jump scare back on the fairgrounds, but this time, I had a harder time swiping away her message.

What if something was actually wrong? Was I going to regret pushing her off?

Before I could reason with myself, the sharp tin of carnival music flooded the loft, loud enough to bleed through our metal shutters. I dropped the phone and cupped my ears, waiting for Spencer or Leo to take over the aux and cover up the sound. But as they fumbled with their phones, a new sound joined the cacophony outside: screams.

My saviors, usually calm and collected, visibly stiffened at the sound. I couldn’t see shit outside, but I’d bet money those freaks were hunting people. Who, though?

Only Dom seemed unfazed by the noise, as if she’d known all along what they got up to after dark. She didn’t need to open her mouth — the tight set of her lips communicated the I told you so looping through her mind clear as day.

Before I could call her out on her smugness, though, something on her screen made her expression darken. “Shit.”

Everyone turned to face her as she frowned, our mission of covering up the music forgotten. Nothing outside was as scary as the tenor Dom’s voice had taken on.

“What?” Leo furrowed her brows.

“An email from Zeus’ C-suite just came in. They’re launching an IPO.”

“In English?” Spencer frowned.

“They’re going to sell shares of Zeus in the stock market. They’re transitioning from private ownership to public.”

“That might be a good thing, right?” I tilted my head. “Isaac won’t have as much control over the company.”

Dom shook her head. “Isaac’s shares might get diluted, but so will ours. We’ll lose the majority we need to control votes, and he’ll hold on to the sycophants already on the board to sway things in his favor.”

“Fuck,” Spencer murmured. “Does the Oracle⁠—?”

“I’m telling them right now,” Dom muttered as she typed out a message on her phone. “Who knows how long they’ll take to call me back, though.”

“Shit,” Leo’s jaw tensed. Ever the strategist, I could already see her mind running through the logistics. “They haven’t gone public yet though, right?”

“No.” Dom frowned.

“Okay, so we have some time then.” Leo exhaled.