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My eyes pop open and realization dawns.The fucker just played me.“Goddamn you, Kain,” I say, shrugging my jacket back in place and taking a step forward. “You can’t manipulate me like that.” Tears threaten the back of my eyes. Pain slices through my chest. An old wound tearing open as someone uses my body against me … again.
I walk away from Kain and stand beside Daemon. I keep my expression neutral, now is so not the time to deal with this shit.
Daemon looks down at me and over to Kain. He doesn’t say anything, but I can hear the gears turning in his head and taste the question dying to escape his lips.
He slings an arm around my shoulders and leans in. “Stay with me, okay?” I nod my compliance; afraid my voice will crack with the overwhelming gratitude welling up inside of me for this man.
“Daemon,” Lucifer calls out, turning to spot the two of us standing together, “and Eden. You two take Donovan’s office.” Lucifer holds my gaze a second longer before continuing to bark orders.
“Let’s go.” The battle cry goes up, and a chorus of hoots and hollers echo off the red and brown brick buildings surrounding us. Scowls and grumbles of passersby roll off us as we hype ourselves up to take down Donovan.
It’s finally happening. In just a few short minutes, one of my biggest tormentors will finally get what’s coming to him. Doubt creeps in and the what-ifs start anew.
What if he’s not there?
What if the council lets him go after they question him?
What if he breaks free?
Will he come after me?
Would he come after the guys?
I squeeze my eyes shut and force all doubt and insecurity back into the steel trap of my mind. I will not allow them to take control. This is my mind.
Walking side by side with Daemon, we follow Harley to the main entrance. The pulse of my blood echoes in my ears, drowning all other noises out. Sweat trickles down my back and beads at my temples. My body flashes from hot to cold. Cold to hot.
Dammit. I am not panicking. I’m not under his control anymore. I’m here to take him down.I lace my fingers with Daemon’s and give his hand a squeeze. He squeezes back, seeming to understand without words what’s going on. The act grounds me, magnified by the comfort of his nearness.
Harley breaches the front door and quickly takes down the two bouncers. Daemon and I bypass the fray of fighting with Donovan’s other men, hang a left, and make for the stairs, taking them two at a time, and freeze on the landing at the top.
“You can do this,” Daemon says at my back, placing a hand on my hip and giving me a little nudge in the direction of Donovan’s office.
“You’re right. I can do this.” I swallow and pull my daggers free of their sheaths.One step at a time, Eden, I tell myself, picking up my feet and moving along the hall.
Donovan’s office door is hanging open, lights on, and blinds drawn looking over the main club floor. “It’s clear,” Daemon says after inspecting every corner of the room for anyone who might be hiding.
I flip through the papers on the desk, looking for anything that could be incriminating. Finding what looks like a ledger of payments made to Donovan, I slam it shut. They always said,follow the money, right? As the cover flops shut, an envelope flies free of the book. Bending down, I pick it up and gasp.
Little Dove,is scrolled on the outside in a delicate print.
Daemon walks over and stands behind me. “What is it?” he asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I sheathe my daggers and take the envelope in both hands. Dread fills my mind; I know whatever I find here is going to change everything. Steeling my spine, I slide my thumb under the seal. Inside is a single picture of a seventeen-year-old girl with raven hair and large golden eyes sitting in the corner of a small broom closet with a slanted ceiling.
I take a deep centering breath and flip the picture over. “The little raven will pay for your sins,” I read out loud then turn the picture back over and trace my finger absently over the marks carved into the wall beside her. “The closet under the stairs,” I say in a vacant voice.
“Eden?” Daemon’s concern rises as he repeats my name. “Eden. Talk to me.”
“A mark for every time I was locked inside this closet.”
“Shit,” Daemon whispers behind me, punching the wall. “Eden, who’s the girl in the photo?”
“C-Charlie,” I manage, carefully tucking the photo back inside. “Where are Donovan and Sid?
I attempt a subject change, but I’m stuck in the center of Daemon’s focus, and he’s not letting this go.
He glances at this phone and tucks it back into his pocket. “Kain and Darnell got Sid and his men locked down in the back room. Lucifer and Harley caught Donovan trying to escape through the VIP exit. Ollie got Kitty, she’s alive. Wyatt will meet them at Ollie’s apartment above the bar.”
