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“Hands off, asshole.” I jerk his touch away earning me an arrogant smirk.
He grunts something that sounds like a laugh. “My Nova would like you. Especially the dress.”
Whatever. I scoff. “I saw the mansion on the way in. This property. You didn’t get to your status by asking nicely and selling hot dogs on the corner. You think you’re better than everyone else out to do the same thing? Build power and wealth?”
Dark brows pinch over narrowed gray eyes. Shit, why do I always feel the need to say shit that will get me into trouble?
“Look, forget it.”
But my attempt to backtrack falls on deaf ears.
“I’m saying I don’t hurt others to get my wealth. Now answer my question. Who shot my man?”
He has me there. If he’s not lying. I know for a fact my father was up for no humanity award and his methods of securing money and power didn’t skate the fine gray lines of morality. He firmly walked over any boundary there was to cross. And long before Hark came into the family.
“He got shot protecting me from a man named the Druid.” Holding Hark’s gaze through gaps between the men, I continue. “You should also know my father is dead as of a handful of hours ago and the Druid won’t stop hunting me until I’m dead all because of a wounded ego. But don’t worry. I won’t be here much longer.”
“I know of him,” Ares offers, rubbing at his chin. I can tell he wants to ask me more, but I’m not here to help fill in whatever gaps he has.
“Most people don’t live to say that after meeting him, so good for you. Look, I have to go.” I shouldn’t be here, to begin with. Hark has bled enough for me. And I don’t trust myself to not want things with him I have no business fantasizing over.
“If you have a death wish, go to the main house. Find Casanova. He will take you where you want to go.” Ares places a gentle hand on my shoulder. It’s meant to comfort but it makes the steel wall of sheer determination I’ve erected buckle under the weight of what I have to do next.
I shrug him off and step closer to the stairs.
He nods as if he silently understands. I doubt it. “Do what you have to do. Try not to get killed. What you leave behind would be a mess I have no desire to clean up.” He doesn’t have to say Hark’s name for me to get the meaning. “Or, you’re welcome to stay here. My fight was with your father. You will come of no harm under the Savages’ protection. You are safe here.”
But are they? How many people did they have in that freakishly large mansion? Children?
No. Sean isn’t done with me. I need help and putting more people in danger because of me sits heavier than cement in my stomach.
“Thanks. But no. Tell your men thank you. And sorry I brought trouble to your home.”
I don’t dare look back when I feel the weight of Hark’s gaze pin me between the shoulders as I climb the stairs toward daylight. Nothing can stop the silent tears of dread and despair as New York City comes into view.
I know what I have to do now. But it doesn’t make it easy.
Nine
Asena
Five hours later I slam my open palm down on stainless steel. I try to reign in the hysteria from my voice, but the detective with the short blonde bob and cynical glint in her icy eyes makes me want to scream until my throat is raw. So do my numb ass and cold feet.
“You’re not listening to me and I am speaking plain English. I’ve been sitting in this damn cold metal chair for hours after I walked in here voluntarily. And you still wonder if I’m telling the truth?”
What the hell do they want? Video proof?
After Casanova dropped me off outside a “friend’s” apartment I booked it to the nearest precinct a couple of blocks away. The trek had been brutal on my feet but I didn’t start feeling the scrapes and cuts along the soles of my feet until about an hour in this chair.
People don’t go up against Sean alone for a reason. His scary-ass nickname holds weight. Every time I mention it the chick and her sidekick look down at their notepads for long seconds before taking the conversation in another direction.
“I’m telling you, go to my house and you will find a dead body, a trashed wedding suite, and at least one person who will talk to you. Look for Axel.” I think about how I escaped. “There’s no way you can miss the car with at least ten bullet holes and shattered windows outside Asylum.”
“We’ve been to your house, Ms. Titan.”
I sit up. “And?” I don’t mean to sound hopeful, but it’s been a long day.
“No body. No blood. No shot-up car. Just the nice housekeeper and her husband.”
