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Pain flares in my wrists and my body slams back down onto the bed before I make it upright, and I twist around to stare up at my outstretched arms in disbelief.
“Fuckingfuck,” I grit out, rage and terror flooding through me in equal measure when I realize I’m handcuffed to the bed.
I shot Maddoc.
Dante took his side.
And then I ran into Logan…
I swallow a sob and yank against the cuffs, desperation fueling me as the cold metal bites into my flesh. Logan, that fucker, must have drugged me.
I ignore the pain and fight against the cuffs even harder. Chloe’s out there alone. At least she has my cell phone and the envelope of cash I stole back from Maddoc’s office, but that’s cold comfort given that there’s nowhere in Halston safe for her to go right now. Not when the entire city is crawling with gang members, most of whom are either loyal to lying assholes like Maddoc, or to sadistic fuckers like West Point’s sorry excuse for a leader.
My eyes sting with a hot rush of tears, but I blink them away before they can fall. There’s no time for that shit. I honestly don’t know which would be worse, having one of the Reapers spot Chloe and return her to Maddoc so he can use her for I still don’t know what, or Austin McKenna realizing she’s still alive… and then wondering why.
Fuck, evenIdon’t know why.
I still don’t know what the hell the Reapers saved her from West Point for, since it sure as shit wasn’t for me.
“Goddammit,” I curse through gritted teeth, welcoming the pain as I keep struggling against the handcuffs. Thinking about the shit storm I might have sent my sister out into hurts a hell of a lot worse.
I pull against them hard enough that it feels like my thumbs are about to rip off. Twist and yank with all my might, knowing I’m shredding my skin and not caring at all.
I can’t let anything else happen to Chloe. That's all that matters. I’ve got to find her before anyone else does.
I jerk against the unyielding restraints with another violent curse, and Dante’s low drawl rolls out of the darkness, making me freeze like a cornered rabbit.
I thought I was alone.
“Don’t bother, princess,” he says. “Not the first time I’ve had to restrain someone with cuffs, and no one’s ever managed to slip out yet. Since I don’t plan on having that record broken tonight, all you’re gonna manage to do is hurt yourself.”
“As if you fucking care,” I spit out viciously, twisting toward his voice and finding nothing but darkness.
But my eyes start to adjust, and after a second, I can just make out the shape of him, a darker shadow wreathed in black, sprawled out on a chair by the wall with his legs kicked out into a patch of moonlight that’s spearing through the window.
I can’t see his face, but I don’t need to. I already know him well enough to picture him perfectly.
Those intense green eyes of his will be hooded and ever so slightly amused, beefy arms crossed in front of his chest and a lazy smile on his firm lips as he watches me like I’m fucking entertainment.
Which, I realize all at once, must be exactly what I am to him. What I’ve been this whole time.
Hurt flares in my chest, so bold and bright that I gasp when it hits me, as if it’s physical pain.
Then I lock that shit down and glare at him.
He’s not fucking worth it.
No man is, not when every last one of them only wants to use me.
It’s a lesson I thought I’d already learned, but apparently not. I damn well won’t ever let myself forget it again, though.
“Get these handcuffs off me,” I hiss, glaring at him. “Let me fuckinggo, Dante.”
He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and bringing his face out of the shadows, into the silvery moonlight.
The sight hits me like a punch in the gut. Not just because of how handsome he is, but because he still has the balls to look at me like he fucking cares.
“You know that’s not gonna happen,” he says gently, the words driving home the truth.
