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“N-No. Please, I... I’ve never killed anyone...”
“Then it’s time you started,” he hisses, suddenly losing his patience. “One bullet, Adelina, do it now.”
I aim the barrel at Juan, but sobs overtake me and I lower it again.
“If you fail your test, your proper punishment will be even worse,” Xander mutters in my ear. “Believe me, I will use every resource I can get my hands on to make you suffer like you’ve never suffered before.”
“Please.” I was determined I wouldn’t beg, but everything I’ve seen tonight has left me hopeless. “Don’t make me do this.”
“You kill him, or I’ll leave him like this,” he says with cruelty dripping from his words. “No one will find him up here. He’ll be ripped apart by animals. He’ll die slowly. Agonizingly slowly. You really want to do that to your old friend Juan?”
Another sob escapes my lips and I collapse to the ground, unable to bear the weight of this mental torture any longer.
“Useless,” Xander mutters to himself. “Fucking useless.”
A shot rings out, and I scream. But Juan doesn’t move, and as I turn to face Xander, he laughs out loud.
“That ought to draw the attention of the coyotes,” he smirks. “Come on, Adelina. It’s time for your proper punishment, since you failed this fun little test.”
I’ve no longer got the will to fight. He cuts off Juan’s ropes from the bumper while I watch helplessly. There’s nothing I can do for him anymore. I wasn’t strong enough to let him die as a man, not a... thing.
I let Xander drag me to the car and shove me back into the passenger seat. He belts me in and I don’t even flinch when he pushes the hair off my tear-streaked face.
“I really had high hopes for you, Adelina,” he sighs. “But it seems like you’re just like the rest of them. Hopeless. Useless. And in need of being broken.”
He steps on the gas again and my heart soars with fear of what’s going to happen once we get back to the house.
Chapter 4
HEATH
Rain’s absence has not gone unnoticed. Not just by me. The rest of the Serpent men seem just as worried about her. And yet Liberato still refuses to hear of my plan for attacking Xavier.
The only thing that gets me through each stressful fucking day is whatever drug I force into my system. My addiction has gotten worse. I now know I depend on drugs completely. But that is a truth I’ve hidden behind powerful walls and unbreakable doors, and nobody can force it out of me again.
After all, if I don’t have my woman, what is the point of living anymore?
Tonight, there’s another Serpent’s den, and I arrive late and already fucked up to find the guys in the company of several women. I shove one of them aside and take up a spot on the modern white leather sofa.
“This is fucked up,” I hiss at L. “We have a one-in-a-lifetime pass for women. Next time, don’t bring any bitches here.”
“You got it,” L nods stiffly. At least he knows better than to argue with me when I’m already fucking raging.
“What’s with your friend?” one girl mutters in Phoenix’s ear. “He pissed off?”
Phoenix distracts her with a meaningless question, and I scoff to myself.
“What’s up with you? This about Rain?” L takes a seat next to me, handing me a glass of whisky. “We’re doing everything we can to find her.”
“That’s not fucking enough,” I hiss. “Do you see her by my side right now?”
“Well, no, but-”
“No,” I shake my head, growling. “If she’s not by my side, it’s not fucking enough. We need to attack Xavier.”
“No, we can’t do that. It’ll be a bloodbath. We’re not ready for a face-off with your uncle.”
“But he has my woman!”
“Don’t you think you would be dead by now if it had been Xavier who took Rain?” Liberato hisses, grabbing me by the shoulders and forcibly shaking me. “Get a grip on yourself, Heath. These drugs, they’ve turned you into someone else.”
“Get your fucking hands off me.” I forcibly shove him off and pick myself up from the couch, stumbling forward. “Is no one on my side? None of you will tell me I’m right?”
Everyone stares at me. The woman from earlier sips quietly from her glass of champagne. I walk up to her and grab the glass. She shrieks as the bubbly liquid sprays the front of her dress. I toss the glass at the wall and scream in frustration, and still everyone is deathly quiet.
“Cowards, the lot of you,” I hiss. “Fucking cowards.”
I stumble out of the room, feeling my sense leaving along with my balance. I find my way into the bedroom, where I rattle the drawers until I find another needle and fill it with my favorite poison. Jamming the needle into my skin, I let out a relieved exhale once the drug hits my system.
