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When that didn’t work, I emptied my mind and just waited for whatever was happening outside to be over.
Like a well-trained dog, I sat on the bottom step of the dusty, concrete staircase, taking comfort in the cool temperature of the room, while I waited for Trig to return – or for the men to come take me.
Whichever came first.
Plagued with painful memories, I found myself thinking about what Jethro had once said…
"…He's going to get you killed. Or you'll get him killed. Or you'll both end up killing each other because you're both fucking insane. Either way, you're losing your mind in him, Ashton. It's not safe, and it won't end well…"
Maybe he was right, and maybe I should have heard his warning all of those years ago. I certainlyfeltlike I had lost my mind. Lost it in Trigger. Lost it in the madness surrounding the world I lived in. I couldn’t be sure anymore.
But I knew Jethro was right about one thing; Iwasgoing to die.
Before this war was over, someone with Crellid blood running through their veins was going to take my life away.
I didn’t know when or how it would happen, but I knew that it would.
I was going to die.
And in a sick way, I welcomed the thought.
18
Ispent several hours alone in the darkness before Trigger returned. When he finally came to get me, he was restless and on edge.
I couldn’t blame him. Feuding with Fabio was a nerve-racking concept.
Coming here was a strange move by Fabio. Surely, he had to know what the fate of his men would be the moment he unleashed them on Trig's new-found HQ.
Something wasn't right.
In fact, it was all wrong.
Without speaking a word, Trigger threw the trapdoor open, sending light into the cellar, as he thundered down the staircase to collect me.
"Can you walk?" he asked, tone irritated, as he stood several steps above me and extended his hand. He was breathing hard and the jacket he'd worn earlier was absent. "Corderito?"
"Is it over?" I asked instead, slowly dragging myself to my feet, still naked beneath the jacket I was wrapped in.
Asking him if it was over was a stupid question.
He wouldn't be here if it wasn't.
He answered me anyway in the form of a clipped nod and two simple words. "For now."
"A-are you okay?" I asked, shivering violently.
"Sí." Expelling a frustrated breath, he quickly reeled off a censored version of what had gone down before reaching for my hand.
My heart squeezed tight, finding no comfort in his words, but immense pleasure in his touch as he herded me up the concrete steps towards the small square of light ahead that symbolized the open hatch in the floor.
They were dead.
Every last one of Fabio's men.
They hadn't even breached the gates of the estate.
They were killed on sight.
