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“I’d rather stand.” My voice is firm, and I feel myself stand taller. “We won’t be here for long.”
She sits, casually crossing her legs at the knees. “Have it your way,little bird.”
The emphasis on my nickname makes me snort a dark laugh. “Still sour over your canning?”
Her eyes spear through me. “Just sour that Ollie didn’t get to finalize his bid on you.”
“Vaughn was there. Surely, you knew he wouldn’t let you—”
Her malice-filled voice cuts me off. “He broke his own fucking rules. He stole you from that damn auction. You were meant to be sold, dammit.”
“Butwhy?” I try to keep my voice neutral, knowing that I need answers just as much as I need revenge on her.
“Because then I’d have had leverage over Vaughn.” Her words are spat as she rises in a fluid motion, her body bristling with rage. “I would have appeased Ollie with another lot and taken you off the block. A simple trade, Wren. Your honor, in exchange for the club.”
I shake my head with a deep frown. “That was never going to happen. Even if Vaughn hadn’t ended the auction, he’d never have given up Rogue.”
She arches a dubious brow. “You really are blind, aren’t you?”
“Rogue is Vaughn’s life. He would never—”
“It was supposed to be mine, you know. Valentinesworeit.” Her eyes glaze over as her tone softens. “I loved him with everything inside of me. When I accidentally fell pregnant, he begged me to terminate because the timing wasn’t right, and like the lovestruck, stupid girl that I was, I listened to him.”
She sighs heavily. “But the clinic botched it—or so heclaimed—and as a result, I can’t…”
Her eyes harden. “His compromise was to leave me the club in his will. I poured mywholelife into that place, and then he fucked me over, leaving it to hisdarlingdaughter, Verity, who sold it to Vaughn, the unwanted bastard child, at the first opportunity.”
Jules turns wide eyes to me, shaking his head in disbelief, but all I feel is anger at her, referring to Vaughn as an unwanted bastard. My blood boils, and my fingers itch with the need to take action.
She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Now you know. Cut to the chase. Why are you—”
“You really do think you’re champagne in a tall glass, don’t you, Lucia?”
She opens her mouth to retort, but freezes when I open my bag, pulling out the small handgun that I’d taken from Vaughn’s room. Her face is paralyzed in horror as I flick off the safety and point it at her with a steady hand.
“When really you’re just lukewarm piss in a plastic cup.”
“Christ, kid!” Jules sounds panicked at my back. “What are youdoing?”
Both of us ignore Jules as Lucia’s eyes flick from the barrel of the gun up to my cold, steely gaze, and I stare her down without mercy.
“The thugs you and that motherfucker hired could havekilledthe man I love.”
My feet bring me closer to her as she tries to edge backward, but she has nowhere to go when the back of her knees hits the couch. She sits heavily, fear dripping from every pore.
I can feel Jules at my back, ensuring my safety should something go awry, when I achingly slowly bring the gun closer and closer to her perspiration-slick temple.
She cries out when the cool metal touches her skin, her eyes slamming shut as she shivers uncontrollably.
“Are you scared, Lucia? Like I was on the auction block.” My voice drops to a dangerous murmur. “Like I was on that fucking sidewalk, hmm?”
My smile is venomous when her throat works uselessly. I press the barrel more forcefully, making her whimper.
“I—I—I…”
I chuckle darkly.
“You should be.” I twist the handle, angling the gun sideways, and she begins to cry.
