Page 101 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

Seated in the chair across from her was Lara Cavalieri. She was wearing a cashmere sweater over perfectly tailored slacks.

And she was holding a gun.

“Where’s Ava?” Cold fear slithered down Dani’s spine.

“My gods, you’re stupid.” Lara rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you actually fell for that.”

“Is she somewhere safe?”

“For now. We’re holding her at a secure location.”

“Please don’t hurt my sister.” Dani began to shake. “She’s only ten. She has to check her blood sugar levels at regular intervals. Please just let her go. I’m the one you want.”

Lara’s expression hardened. “I warned you to stay away from Alexander. I gave you so many chances to go back to your sisters and forget about him. But you had to take what was mine.”

“Please,” Dani whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“Like the greedy little whore you are, you just couldn’t stop. You had to keep taking things that weren’t yours.” Lara rose from the chair, crossing the room towards her. “What do you have to say for yourself now? You fucked him, didn’t you?” She raised the gun. “Don’t lie. I’ll know.”

“I’m sorry.” Dani closed her eyes, waiting for the shot to come.

“You’re sorry for what?” Lara taunted. “Sorry for sleeping with my fiancé? Sorry he thought you were good enough to fuck, but that he didn’t love you enough to make you his wife? I’ve seen the mark on your wrist. It explains so much. You’re an aberrant, a little blood witch. Somehow, you managed to put a blood spell on Alex, getting him all twisted up in his head so he couldn’t tell up from down. He doesn’t know what he wants anymore. You turned him away from me. Things were fine before he met you. We were going to get married.”

Dani swallowed, saying nothing. She needed to keep Lara talking. But was there any chance Evan or Alex would show up in time?

Her heart sank.

If the rescue operation at the prison or the illegal research facility was really happening right now, they wouldn’t be back for hours.

“That’s why you showed up at the auction,” Lara continued, eyes manic. “It was never about saving your sister at all. You wanted Alexander, wanted to take him from me. You knew the only way to get what you wanted was to enthrall him using blood magic.”

“I swear to you, I didn’t,” Dani said softly.

She had to try to calm Lara down. Could she convince her that she and Alex had broken things off, that he didn’t want her after all?

“He’s obsessed with you, won’t listen to reason.” Lara’s expression hardened. “It’s like he’s forgotten how good we are together, when just weeks ago, he felt that way about me.”

“He told you that?”

“He didn’t have to. Alex has always been very private. But things were moving in that direction. I was giving him time to get there on his own. And then you moved in and ruined everything.” Her nostrils flared. “If the only way to end his fixation with you is to sever the link you share, then so be it.”

It happened so fast.

One second, Lara was raising the pistol.

Dani started to cry out, to beg her to stop.

There was a flash, then a terrible pain in her side. She cried out, slumping over.

Hot, sticky blood soaked her right side. With her hands taped together, she couldn’t apply much pressure to the wound, but she tried anyway, pressing her arm into her side. The pain nearly made her black out.

“You left me no choice. It should be over quickly. You won’t feel too much pain before you lose consciousness.”

“Please,” Dani begged in a whisper, unable to manage anything else through the pain.

Her vision slowly began to dim. Was this how she was going to die? Alone, bleeding out, where Evan or Ava would find her? That thought, the image of her sisters never being able to enter their apartment again out of the trauma of finding her dead, forced her awake from the veil of gray that had begun to descend. She couldn’t get to her phone, was sure Lara had taken it.

Closing her eyes, she silently prayed.