AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It doesn’t matter. Call it an offering, a blood sacrifice, to anyone listening.
Please,pleaselet her be too smart to come back.
Although if I’m going to bother with prayers when there’s fuck-all chance of getting them answered, what I should pray for is that Chloe gets herself out of Halston.
But I know better. She won’t leave the city without me. And even if I’m somehow wrong about that, it’s not like she has enough to make a new start anywhere else. Not on her own.
I don’t even try to stop the tears that slip out as I keep struggling in vain against the cuffs. The few thousand dollars in that envelope I gave her will run out all too soon, and she’s got no good way to get more, no ID of her own, and no way to use her own name safely even if she did.
Not with Austin McKenna’s gang thinking she’s dead right now.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, hating that I’ve failed her.
Then my eyes pop open and I go still, my heart suddenly racing. I’ve gotten used to thinking of West Point as the enemy over these last few weeks and the Reapers as some kind of fucked-up safe haven for us, but that’s only half true. West Pointisthe enemy, and staying out of sight might keep Chloe off their radar, but the Reapers? Well, now I know that they’re our enemy too. And they not only know Chloe is still alive, but Maddoc has probably had his people out looking for her all night while I’ve been lying here doingnothing.
What if they’ve already found her?
What if they brought her back to the house while I was sleeping?
What if they’ve already forced her to do… whatever the fuck it is they want to use her for?
“Chloe!” I scream before I can decide whether or not it’s smart, yanking so hard on the cuffs that the pain feels like liquid fire and a distant part of me, buried underneath the panic that claws at my heart at the thought of my sister back in the hands of theseliars, is surprised I haven’t ripped my hands off already. “Chloe!” I can’t stop shouting for her. Can’t stop the fear that all but chokes me. “Chloe!”
Blood runs down my forearms in earnest now, and I don’t care if calling out for her is smart. If she’s here, I need to know it. If the Reapers found her, if they’re holding her, I need her to know that she’s not alone. I need her to trust that I’ll… I’ll…
Fuck. I don’t know what, but I’ll dosomething.
Protect her.
Save her.
Whatever it takes.
“Chloe!” I yell again, desperation fueling my voice even though it’s so hoarse that the word feels like sandpaper scraping my throat raw from the inside out.
But at least this time, I get a response.
Just not one from my sister.
The door bursts open, and Maddoc—flanked by Dante and Logan—strides into the room like he owns it.
I glare at them, panting. Trying to ignore the way seeing them walk in together as a group, a united front, makes my heart stutter with a whole different kind of pain than the fire in my wrists. Each one of them is intimidating on his own, but with all three men together—together and clearly aligned against me—I can’t even pretend that I have a chance here.
But I can still fight for one.
And I’ll be damned if I let them see how hopeless I feel at the thought of standing against them.
I grit my teeth and use the handcuffs as leverage, pulling myself up into a sitting position. A fresh, hot wave of agony makes me hiss, threatening to steal all my attention for a moment.
But it can’t have it… and neither can Dante when his eyes dart toward my wrists and his lips turn down, just for a moment, in a fierce frown. Or Logan, whose icy gaze flickers with something else as he rakes it over me before blanking out his face again.
I ignore both of them and lift my chin, fixing my own gaze on Maddoc. He’s in charge. Dante and Logan had made it crystal clear that they’re loyal to him, so he’s the only one who matters right now.
“Why are you screaming your sister’s name?” he asks me, so coldly that only the telltale twitch of his jaw muscles proves how furious he still is.
I lift my chin, refusing to answer.
“Chloe’s gone, remember?” he presses on. “You helped her run.”
