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And for the second time in my life, I watched Heath Glen walk away while I lay helpless on the floor. Only this time with a promise of vengeance.

That was the last thought in my head as darkness took over me once again.

“Belle,” a familiar voice called out to me, tapping softly on my cheek. “Belle-chan, wake up, please.” His voice felt like loudspeakers booming inside my head.

My throat felt raw and dry as I tried to speak, but no sound would even come out.

“Let her be,” someone warned in a cold voice. Arkane?

Willing every last ounce of my strength, I blinked my eyes open, and it took a while for the spots to fade and my vision to return.

The first thing I noticed was a pair of brown eyes grinning at me. “Ah, there are those pretty eyes.”

“Shouma-kun?” I frowned, trying to lift myself but failing terribly.

“Careful there.” Shouma-kun helped me up, having a firm grip on my shoulders. “You hit your head pretty bad.”

I could feel that. We were still in the same room, but it was completely shattered by the blast, with dust and rubble piled everywhere. Arkane sat opposite me, his legs spread forward, and his back slouched against the wall like some kind of defeated warrior. A paramedic was busy stitching up his arm, but he seemed least bothered by it as his eyes followed my every move. They looked empty, but beneath that emptiness lay a kind of torment. I sighed internally. Any man would be after a day like today.

“Do you feel any pain?” Shouma-kun’s voice pulled me back to him.

I shook my head, but immediately regretted it when a sharp stab snapped my head almost in two. I stilled, regulating my breath, and the pain faded a bit. That would do for now.

My eyes swept over the rest of the room. In the other corner, Mikhail and Jon were also getting patched up by a paramedic. Lucien seemed fine and was on his feet, a shadow in the corner as he observed everything. The men were too quiet, all too exhausted and at the same time too mad. I could see in their eyes that they didn’t like the turn of events tonight.

“What are you doing here?” I turned back to Shouma-kun.

“I’ve been in the city for a while. My team and I have been tracking the unusual inflow of Surman activity in the East. They’ve been nothing but pesky pests up my ass for a while.” That explained his presence in the Yellow Canary. “We got an alert that something big was going down here, and I was assigned to keep watch. When I saw the grenades going off, I came to check it out and almost had a heart attack when I saw the most beautiful girl in the world on the floor, covered in a pile of dust.” He smirked, his brown eyes gleaming as he tapped my cheek. “Still beautiful, though.”

I didn’t even have it in me to roll my eyes at his usual antics. “Does Sensi know?” I asked the obvious. Of course, he did. He knew everything.

Shouma gave me a dumb look that matched my thought. “Of course he does, Belle-chan. You’re in some serious trouble.”

I sighed, my eyes going straight to the dust-clouded doorway.

I didn’t even have to ask him to know that Heath Glen was gone. And the White Hand was still a mystery.

“Come on, let me help you up.” He jumped to his feet and bent down, putting his arms under my shoulders as he lifted me.

My knees wobbled, and my peripheral vision hazed with darkness as I held onto him for dear life. When my eyes finally regained focus, they went straight to Arkane’s, who was still watching me quietly, not saying a word.

I wondered what was going on inside that brilliant brain of his.

“Are you okay?” I whispered to him, and the only acknowledgment he gave me was a curt nod that I would’ve missed if I wasn’t watching him carefully.

I frowned, but my attention shifted when I heard someone pleading behind me. I turned to see Ian Smith on his knees, begging Simon and Eric to let him go. Guess Ian Smith was no longer useful to Heath Glen.

When he saw me approaching him, Ian Smith’s wild eyes jumped to me. “Please save me, you promised you would.”

“Like I said, I promised no such thing,” I muttered, standing over him. “You’re going to die, Ian Smith,” I stated the inevitable. “But before that, tell me why you killed Lylah Queen?”

Confusion swept over his face, but soon the wheels in his head turned, and his eyes widened in realization. “You’re Lylah Queen’s daughter. The eldest one,” he said, almost in disbelief.

“Yes,” I said. “Now answer me.”

“I…I can’t…,” he stammered, tears falling down his cheeks as terror flashed in his eyes. He knew. But he wasn’t going to tell me.

“Kill him,” Arkane whispered in my ear. “Or I will.”