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“Wait.” Ian Smith’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Where are you going? You said you wouldn’t leave me alone here.”

“I never said such a thing, Mr. Smith,” I replied with a small smile. “I think your brain is a little confused.”

For a second, he looked speechless, but I didn’t linger and walked away while he shouted behind my back. The men in the room did the same thing, closing the door on a screaming Ian Smith.

“You looked so fucking hot,” Jon said, his eyes gleaming as he walked by my side. “So hot that I almost wanted to fuck you then and there.”

I frowned at his crass words. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or being serious, and before his arms could swoop in around me, Arkane reacted in the blink of an eye and pushed him away with more force than needed, stepping between us. “Don’t touch her.” Arkane sent the low threat his way, which seemed to amuse Jon more than anger him.

“My bad.” Jon chuckled in sinister glee. “I didn’t know she was yours.”

“I’m not,” I muttered at the same time Arkane said, “She’s not.” My eyes immediately flashed to Arkane, who was looking right at me, and my pulse picked up without warning, so I quickly averted my gaze. This man was affecting me more and more.

All this only seemed to amuse Jon more, who continued to laugh in glee. It was almost as if it were all a deliberate act to get a rise out of Arkane, and it seemed to work.

“Shut the fuck up, you brat,” Arkane yelled as he slung his arm around Jon’s neck in a chokehold, and soon the two brothers were sparring and walking at the same time. My eyes only remained on Arkane. Something about him being playful with his brother tugged at my heart. I liked this side of him. I liked every side of him.

“How did you know it would work?” asked someone from my other side. Grayson Stormhold. I realized I was unfamiliar with his tone because it was the first time he had actually spoken to me cordially. His face was a blank mask, but his eyes were curious.

“I didn’t,” I admitted with a small smile. “But it worked.”

“My fists would’ve worked too,” he muttered.

“Maybe,” I replied. “But if I had gotten angry, I never would’ve gotten what I wanted out of him.”

Grayson looked like my answer only confused him more. Someone as aggravated as him would never understand that one’s own anger is one’s worst enemy.

A man emerged from the shadows, whispered to Mikhail, then handed him something. Mikhail nodded before letting him go and turned to Arkane.

“What is it?” Arkane asked, all the playfulness leaving his body in an instant.

“This came addressed to you.” Mikhail handed Arkane a white envelope.

Arkane’s expression was completely calm as he retrieved the paper and read it without a change in his eyes. “Who sent it?”

“We don’t know,” Mikhail replied.

“What does it say?” Jon asked, something oddly cold about his tone. It was clear that Jon Stormhold had two distinct sides. It was as opposite as death and life itself.

Arkane passed the paper to him, and both Jon and Grayson read the note. Jon’s face remained a mask of composed coldness, while Grayson’s expression morphed into fury.

“Who the fuck could it be?” Grayson fumed, his eyes dashing to Arkane and Mikhail.

Arkane simply shook his head.

My eyes took in the words on the plain white note.

You took one of us. Return him, or we’ll take one of yours.

I had no doubt in my head that it was Heath Glen. Because to a man like him, the threat wasn’t because he cared for his friend’s life; it was for his own selfish needs. He needed Ian Smith for his plan, and he wasn’t even trying to hide it.

CHAPTER 20

BELLE

We all soon went our own ways. Jon and Grayson disappeared down one of the many hallways, while Arkane and I descended to his man cave without speaking a single word.

“Impressive what you did. Didn’t know a womanly touch could work that well,” Arkane said after a long minute. We had just settled in our usual spot on the couch. It seemed stupid to phrase it that way. Our usual spot. It wasn’t like I was a permanent fixture in his life.