Page 107 of The Devil

“Fuck’s sake,” Sev mutters as Cotton comes leaping around him, nearly knocking him down in her haste to get to me, a long line of drool hanging from her lip, her bad eye crusty.

“That is one ugly dog,” Cassian mutters as I crouch down and let her crash her full weight into me.

“My beautiful girl. My beautiful girl. Don’t listen to these idiots.” I pet her, let her lap at me. I look up at Cassian. “Don’t hurt her feelings,” I tell him, so fucking pleased to see her for two reasons. First, she’s the best. Second, she knows Amal’s scent. When we get back to the castle, she’ll find her.

“Get your eyes checked, man,” Cassian says.

“Why did you bring that fucking beast?” Sev asks him when Cotton goes to lick his hand. He feeds her and she knows it and I think secretly, Sev doesn’t mind her half as much as he likes to pretend.

“She scares the shit out of my men and well, I wasn’t going to leave her with Allegra. Didn’t want her to eat the baby.”

I glare but okay, fair. Cotton can be a little unhinged when triggered. “Either one of you call her ugly again and you’ll deal with me.”

I straighten, my mood back to what it was before I saw Cotton. I watch the island loom larger than ever as we near it. It’s like a fucking nightmare rising from the sea.

“Why do they want her?” Cassian asks. “Why go to all the trouble of having a look-alike take her place with you?”

“I think it has to do with her mother,” I say, reaching into my pocket to get the diary only to pull out a soaked, ruined thing. “Fuck.”

Cassian takes it from me. “Get changed,” he says, gesturing to the pile of dry clothes. Sev’s in a black long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans that almost fit. I guess the clothes he found me are the same size. I strip off my drenched things and put on the dry ones. At least the boots are my size.

“It’s the trust,” Sev says, stepping forward. We both turn to him.

“What trust?”

“I just caught a glimpse in that ledger. They’re out of money. All that bullshit with the castle, the extravagance, that ball? It’s smoke and mirrors. They’re fucking bankrupt.”

“What does Amal have to do with that?”

“Her mother. You’re right about that. From what I could piece together before Senna found us, she’s a Fairbairn. Not sure how the family’s connected to The Society but they are and there’s a trust. Her mother’s marriage to one of them was supposed to solve the problem of the bankruptcy but she ran before she had the baby.”

“Amal is that baby,” I clarify for Cassian and, honestly, for myself, because saying it out loud makes it make sense. Makes it real. Because it’s still so fucking unbelievable.

“The bloodline needs an heir before the trust pays out,” Sev continues.

It takes a long time before the words sink in. Before I understand the extent of their motive with Amal.

“From what I saw, it’s a substantial amount of money.”

“Enough to run that place?”

“And a second island just like it.”

“Fuck the trust. If there’s going to be an heir, it’ll be mine,” I say, approaching the table where firearms are laid out. I take a Glock, check the magazine and shove it into the back of my jeans, then pick up one of the hunting knives. I test the edge of it. Sharp. Good.

I return my gaze to Sev and Cassian. “Because Amal is already married. To me. Let’s go get my wife and kill those mother fuckers.”

37

AMAL

The chapel quiets as double doors are opened and I watch cloaked, masked men enter, their shoes loud on the stone floor, footsteps reverberating off the walls. My heart races as they take their places to form a circle around me. Their masks aren’t those worn by the men in the Great Hall. These are polished porcelain with slits for eyes, two holes for the nose and a third slit for the mouth.

And they’re creepy as fuck.

I kneel on the floor shivering with fear, and I count them. Eleven in total. Eleven cloaked, masked men encircle me. They fold their hands before them, each resting a cane with a polished brass knob for a handle although none needed one to walk.

Once they’re in place, the doors close and the chapel falls into complete silence once more.