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My theory had been true, or at least a part of it must be if Vanessa had felt so threatened that she needed to risk drugging me. She was hiding something, and she was fighting with everything she had to protect that secret.
I would make sure it wasn’t hidden for much longer.
Liv and Nolan rushed toward me, their voices drifting around me asking if I was alright, but all I cared about was bringing this part of the mission to a close.
“No,” I growled, pushing Liv and Nolan out of the way. “Let me.”
I took over Beckett’s hold on her, wrapping her wrists in a tight grip so she couldn’t escape. She struggled, still kicking the wooden sides of the desk, her hair coming loose of the tight bun on top of her head.
“You don’t understand,” she hissed, her voice muffled against the desk.
“Vanessa Relantis,” I kept her face down on the surface, my chest heaving as I grabbed the pair of metal cuffs from Lucas’s outstretched hands and secured her wrists behind her back, “you are under arrest for accessory to murder and treason against Kazola.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
My entire Faction was against my decision to lead Vanessa’s interrogation.
They said I shouldn’t come in, tried to convince me that others would be better fit for this, but I couldn’t let that happen. This might be our battle to fight, but our enemy had made it personal, and I wouldn’t stop until I put this whole ordeal to rest.
Vanessa sat across from me in the plain, dark interrogation room, mostly empty except for the long wooden table and three chairs that took up the claustrophobic space. Beckett sat beside me, his posture rigid, eyes trained on the tousled woman in front of us. I had never seen her so disheveled; her typical perfectionist air quickly shattered the moment she showed her true colors.
“What do you want from me?” Vanessa broke the silence first. Excellent, she was nervous, eyes darting between the two of us, attempting to hide her shaking fingers beneath her long-sleeved shirt.
“You attacked an Onyx Guard member,” I said blandly, keeping a chill to my words. “We have every right to hold you here.”
“Fine, but I don’t know anything.”
“Well, that can’t be true.” I leaned forward, forearms braced on the table, breaching her personal space by a few more inches. “According to our investigation, you seem to be connected to someone we’ve been hunting for a while now.”
“I don’t know anything about him.” She shook her head, shoulders vibrating.
“Who said it was a him?” Beckett said, an extra gravelly quality laced throughout his voice making him seem much more menacing than he actually was.
Vanessa’s face fell, mouth open, yet no noise came out as she realized the first mistake she’d made.
“Are you Elliot Wells?” I asked, the one question we were all on the edge of our seats to know the answer to.
No surprise, Vanessa kept her mouth clamped shut, cuffed and chained hands curling into fists on the table, her eyes shifting to bright Shrivika red. She was struggling, but she was determined to keep her mouth shut.
“Do you know who Elliot Wells is?”
No words escaped her lips, but she pulled them even thinner, almost disappearing between the sharp confines of her fangs.
“Is he threatening you?”
Her cheek twitched, showing the distress my question caused her, but still no words.
I could read her body language all day long, but we didn’t have time for that. I didn’t have the patience. I needed answers—we all did.
So, it was time to stop playing nice.
“You’re a Shrivika, Vanessa,” I leaned forward, dropping my voice a few threatening octaves. “You know we have a way to pull the truth from you. So, you can either answer our questions, or Beckett here will make sure you give us what we want against your will. What’s your choice?”
Fear rippled across her features, that perfect façade breaking just a little bit more as she sat up straighter. “You have no idea what you are doing.” Her eyes clouded with a darkness only found in those who hid secrets for far too long. “Don’t do this, and we’ll all be safe.”
“We don’t have time to waste on pointless interrogations and warnings, so we’re getting right to the point.” I nodded to Beckett, who dragged his chair around the table to sit right beside Vanessa; her eyes widened, knowing exactly the tactic we were about to use.
TheFirinne na Fola—The Blood Truth.
