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His face softened when he caught my stricken expression, his hands cupping my face.
“You’re safe now,” he repeated. “No one can harm you here, Bianca. I promise you that.”
I believed him, but I was worried about the harm that might come to him because of me.
“I know,” I agreed. “But your empire—”
“I will burn it down if it means I get to be with you,” he said, rising. “I’ve started from scratch before, and I can do it again.”
Atlas would give up everything for me? I fought back tears that began to form. His words coating my insides with a warmth I didn’t expect.
He interrupted my thoughts. “I’m starving. I’ll see what’s in the kitchen to eat, all right?”
He didn’t bother with his pants, and I found my eyes trained on his sculpted ass, tongue lolling out like a dog in heat. As if he sensed me staring, he turned around, causing me to blush again. But it was his words that almost sent me into a dead faint, the headiness flooding me to a drowning.
“You’re mine, Bianca Barrett,” he told me. “And no one is going to take you away. Not again.”
Chapter26
Atlas
So Bianca and Dahlia stayed, and Jesse fumed. I didn’t see him, of course. He knew better than to show his face in Covale City, but I heard the whispers on the street. He sent hapless, unsuspecting minions to scout, ones who were easily captured and tortured by my pack to talk.
None of Jesse’s men were loyal to him, not the way my pack was to me. He reigned with fear and the promise of money that he never gave. I ruled with the promise of unity and prosperity. There was a distinct difference in our styles.
But the twins were safe, and day by day, Bianca let her guard down. She stopped looking out the windows, waiting for an armored car to pull up and take her away. Dahlia improved under the hands of my fae healers, who seemed baffled that she had not healed sooner.
“It was like they kept her ill,” Marcus declared, sounding annoyed. “There’s no reason she should have been down this long. She still has a long way to go, but I think someone has mildly poisoned her to keep her down.”
I didn’t know what to make of that information. Either the fae in Jesse’s camp thought they were helping Dahlia by keeping her weak, or they also needed to be dealt with—like Eugene.
Their father plagued my dreams. I saw his aging face every time I closed my eyes, and I knew I wouldn’t rest until he was found. Everyone who had harmed Bianca would face their justice.
Three days after they arrived, the first inkling of my wrongdoing reared its ugly head. Sage didn’t have to say a word after she found me in one of my casinos, the Pink Eagle. I read it all over her face.
“What happened?” I demanded, leaping out of my office chair. “Is it Bianca?”
She shook her head. “Someone set fire to The Azure.”
I blinked, the words not computing at first.
“What?”
“It’s definitely arson, and the insurance company isn’t going to like this, Atlas.”
“Jesse!” I growled, pounding a fist against the desk.
“It wasn’t Jesse,” Sage sighed. “The perpetrator was caught. He has no ties to Forny.”
“Who is it?”
She shrugged, but before she could speak another word, Petyr appeared. He and Virgil had come to work with me at the Pink Eagle while the Golden Halcyon was being restored. The Azure was our second biggest casino in Covale.
This is the curse. It’s coming down on us now.
“There’s been a fire,” Petyr panted. “Four are dead at Emerald City.”
Dizziness washed over me, and I fell into my chair.
